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1. The Ninth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

Author

Collaboration, SDSS-III, Ahn, Christopher P., Alexandroff, Rachael, Prieto, Carlos Allende, Anderson, Scott F., Anderton, Timothy, Andrews, Brett H., Bailey, Éric Aubourg Stephen, Barnes, Rory, Bautista, Julian, Beers, Timothy C., Beifiori, Alessandra, Berlind, Andreas A., Bhardwaj, Vaishali, Bizyaev, Dmitry, Blake, Cullen H., Blanton, Michael R., Blomqvist, Michael, Bochanski, John J., Bolton, Adam S., Borde, Arnaud, Bovy, Jo, Brandt, W. N., Brinkmann, J., Brown, Peter J., Brownstein, Joel R., Bundy, Kevin, Busca, N. G., Carithers, William, Carnero, Aurelio R., Carr, Michael A., Casetti-Dinescu, Dana I., Chen, Yanmei, Chiappini, Cristina, Comparat, Johan, Connolly, Natalia, Crepp, Justin R., Cristiani, Stefano, Croft, Rupert A. C., Cuesta, Antonio J., da Costa, Luiz N., Davenport, James R. A., Dawson, Kyle S., de Putter, Roland, De Lee, Nathan, Delubac, Timothée, Dhital, Saurav, Ealet, Anne, Ebelke, Garrett L., Edmondson, Edward M., Eisenstein, Daniel J., Escoffier, S., Esposito, Massimiliano, Evans, Michael L., Fan, Xiaohui, Castellá, Bruno Femení a, Alvar, Emma Fernández, Ferreira, Leticia D., Ak, N. Filiz, Finley, Hayley, Fleming, Scott W., Font-Ribera, Andreu, Frinchaboy, Peter M., García-Hernández, D. A., Pérez, A. E. García, Ge, Jian, Génova-Santos, R., Gillespie, Bruce A., Girardi, Léo, Hernández, Jonay I. González, Grebel, Eva K., Gunn, James E., Haggard, Daryl, Hamilton, Jean-Christophe, Harris, David W., Hawley, Suzanne L., Hearty, Frederick R., Ho, Shirley, Hogg, David W., Holtzman, Jon A., Honscheid, Klaus, Huehnerhoff, J., Ivans, Inese I., Ivezić, Zeljko, Jacobson, Heather R., Jiang, Linhua, Johansson, Jonas, Johnson, Jennifer A., Kauffmann, Guinevere, Kirkby, David, Kirkpatrick, Jessica A., Klaene, Mark A., Knapp, Gillian R., Kneib, Jean-Paul, Goff, Jean-Marc Le, Leauthaud, Alexie, Lee, Khee-Gan, Lee, Young Sun, Long, Daniel C., Loomis, Craig P., Lucatello, Sara, Lundgren, Britt, Lupton, Robert H., Ma, Bo, Ma, Zhibo, MacDonald, Nicholas, Mahadevan, Suvrath, Maia, Marcio A. G., Majewski, Steven R., Makler, Martin, Malanushenko, Elena, Malanushenko, Viktor, Manchado, A., Mandelbaum, Rachel, Manera, Marc, Maraston, Claudia, Margala, Daniel, Martell, Sarah L., McBride, Cameron K., McGreer, Ian D., McMahon, Richard G., Ménard, Brice, Meszaros, Sz., Miralda-Escudé, Jordi, Montero-Dorta, Antonio D., Montesano, Francesco, Morrison, Heather L., Muna, Demitri, Munn, Jeffrey A., Murayama, Hitoshi, Myers, Adam D., Neto, A. F., Nguyen, Duy Cuong, Nichol, Robert C., Nidever, David L., Noterdaeme, Pasquier, Ogando, Ricardo L. C., Olmstead, Matthew D., Oravetz, Daniel J., Owen, Russell, Padmanabhan, Nikhil, Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie, Pan, Kaike, Parejko, John K., Parihar, Prachi, Pâris, Isabelle, Pattarakijwanich, Petchara, Pepper, Joshua, Percival, Will J., Pérez-Fournon, Ismael, Pérez-Ráfols, Ignasi, Petitjean, Patrick, Pforr, Janine, Pieri, Matthew M., Pinsonneault, Marc H., de Mello, G. F. Porto, Prada, Francisco, Price-Whelan, Adrian M., Raddick, M. Jordan, Rebolo, Rafael, Rich, James, Richards, Gordon T., Robin, Annie C., Rocha-Pinto, Helio J., Rockosi, Constance M., Roe, Natalie A., Ross, Ashley J., Ross, Nicholas P., Rubiño-Martin, J. A., Samushia, Lado, Almeida, J. Sanchez, Sánchez, Ariel G., Santiago, Basílio, Sayres, Conor, Schlegel, David J., Schlesinger, Katharine J., Schmidt, Sarah J., Schneider, Donald P., Schwope, Axel D., Scóccola, C. G., Seljak, Uros, Sheldon, Erin, Shen, Yue, Shu, Yiping, Simmerer, Jennifer, Simmons, Audrey E., Skibba, Ramin A., Slosar, A., Sobreira, Flavia, Sobeck, Jennifer S., Stassun, Keivan G., Steele, Oliver, Steinmetz, Matthias, Strauss, Michael A., Swanson, Molly E. C., Tal, Tomer, Thakar, Aniruddha R., Thomas, Daniel, Thompson, Benjamin A., Tinker, Jeremy L., Tojeiro, Rita, Tremonti, Christy A., Magaña, M. Vargas, Verde, Licia, Viel, Matteo, Vikas, Shailendra K., Vogt, Nicole P., Wake, David A., Wang, Ji, Weaver, Benjamin A., Weinberg, David H., Weiner, Benjamin J., West, Andrew A., White, Martin, Wilson, John C., Wisniewski, John P., Wood-Vasey, W. M., Yanny, Brian, Yèche, Christophe, York, Donald G., Zamora, O., Zasowski, Gail, Zehavi, Idit, Zhao, Gong-Bo, Zheng, Zheng, Zhu, Guangtun, and Zinn, Joel C.

Subjects
Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) presents the first spectroscopic data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This ninth data release (DR9) of the SDSS project includes 535,995 new galaxy spectra (median z=0.52), 102,100 new quasar spectra (median z=2.32), and 90,897 new stellar spectra, along with the data presented in previous data releases. These spectra were obtained with the new BOSS spectrograph and were taken between 2009 December and 2011 July. In addition, the stellar parameters pipeline, which determines radial velocities, surface temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities of stars, has been updated and refined with improvements in temperature estimates for stars with T_eff<5000 K and in metallicity estimates for stars with [Fe/H]>-0.5. DR9 includes new stellar parameters for all stars presented in DR8, including stars from SDSS-I and II, as well as those observed as part of the SDSS-III Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration-2 (SEGUE-2). The astrometry error introduced in the DR8 imaging catalogs has been corrected in the DR9 data products. The next data release for SDSS-III will be in Summer 2013, which will present the first data from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) along with another year of data from BOSS, followed by the final SDSS-III data release in December 2014., Comment: 9 figures; 2 tables. Submitted to ApJS. DR9 is available at http://www.sdss3.org/dr9

Published
2012
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2. The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III

Author

collaboration, SDSS-III, Aihara, Hiroaki, Prieto, Carlos Allende, An, Deokkeun, Anderson, Scott F., Aubourg, Éric, Balbinot, Eduardo, Beers, Timothy C., Berlind, Andreas A., Bickerton, Steven J., Bizyaev, Dmitry, Blanton, Michael R., Bochanski, John J., Bolton, Adam S., Bovy, Jo, Brandt, W. N., Brinkmann, J., Brown, Peter J., Brownstein, Joel R., Busca, Nicolas G., Campbell, Heather, Carr, Michael A., Chen, Yanmei, Chiappini, Cristina, Comparat, Johan, Connolly, Natalia, Cortes, Marina, Croft, Rupert A. C., Cuesta, Antonio J., da Costa, Luiz N., Davenport, James R. A., Dawson, Kyle, Dhital, Saurav, Ealet, Anne, Ebelke, Garrett L., Edmondson, Edward M., Eisenstein, Daniel J., Escoffier, Stephanie, Esposito, Massimiliano, Evans, Michael L., Fan, Xiaohui, Castellá, Bruno Femení a, Font-Ribera, Andreu, Frinchaboy, Peter M., Ge, Jian, Gillespie, Bruce A., Gilmore, G., Hernández, Jonay I. González, Gott, J. Richard, Gould, Andrew, Grebel, Eva K., Gunn, James E., Hamilton, Jean-Christophe, Harding, Paul, Harris, David W., Hawley, Suzanne L., Hearty, Frederick R., Ho, Shirley, Hogg, David W., Holtzman, Jon A., Honscheid, Klaus, Inada, Naohisa, Ivans, Inese I., Jiang, Linhua, Johnson, Jennifer A., Jordan, Cathy, Jordan, Wendell P., Kazin, Eyal A., Kirkby, David, Klaene, Mark A., Knapp, G. R., Kneib, Jean-Paul, Kochanek, C. S., Koesterke, Lars, Kollmeier, Juna A., Kron, Richard G., Lampeitl, Hubert, Lang, Dustin, Goff, Jean-Marc Le, Lee, Young Sun, Lin, Yen-Ting, Long, Daniel C., Loomis, Craig P., Lucatello, Sara, Lundgren, Britt, Lupton, Robert H., Ma, Zhibo, MacDonald, Nicholas, Mahadevan, Suvrath, Maia, Marcio A. G., Makler, Martin, Malanushenko, Elena, Malanushenko, Viktor, Mandelbaum, Rachel, Maraston, Claudia, Margala, Daniel, Masters, Karen L., McBride, Cameron K., McGehee, Peregrine M., McGreer, Ian D., Ménard, Brice, Miralda-Escudé, Jordi, Morrison, Heather L., Mullally, F., Muna, Demitri, Munn, Jeffrey A., Murayama, Hitoshi, Myers, Adam D., Naugle, Tracy, Neto, Angelo Fausti, Nguyen, Duy Cuong, Nichol, Robert C., O'Connell, Robert W., Ogando, Ricardo L. C., Olmstead, Matthew D., Oravetz, Daniel J., Padmanabhan, Nikhil, Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie, Pan, Kaike, Pandey, Parul, Pâris, Isabelle, Percival, Will J., Petitjean, Patrick, Pfaffenberger, Robert, Pforr, Janine, Phleps, Stefanie, Pichon, Christophe, Pieri, Matthew M., Prada, Francisco, Price-Whelan, Adrian M., Raddick, M. Jordan, Ramos, Beatriz H. F., Reylé, Céline, Rich, James, Richards, Gordon T., Rix, Hans-Walter, Robin, Annie C., Rocha-Pinto, Helio J., Rockosi, Constance M., Roe, Natalie A., Rollinde, Emmanuel, Ross, Ashley J., Ross, Nicholas P., Rossetto, Bruno M., Sánchez, Ariel G., Sayres, Conor, Schlegel, David J., Schlesinger, Katharine J., Schmidt, Sarah J., Schneider, Donald P., Sheldon, Erin, Shu, Yiping, Simmerer, Jennifer, Simmons, Audrey E., Sivarani, Thirupathi, Snedden, Stephanie A., Sobeck, Jennifer S., Steinmetz, Matthias, Strauss, Michael A., Szalay, Alexander S., Tanaka, Masayuki, Thakar, Aniruddha R., Thomas, Daniel, Tinker, Jeremy L., Tofflemire, Benjamin M., Tojeiro, Rita, Tremonti, Christy A., Vandenberg, Jan, Magaña, M. Vargas, Verde, Licia, Vogt, Nicole P., Wake, David A., Wang, Ji, Weaver, Benjamin A., Weinberg, David H., White, Martin, White, Simon D. M., Yanny, Brian, Yasuda, Naoki, Yeche, Christophe, and Zehavi, Idit

Subjects
Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Abstract

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) started a new phase in August 2008, with new instrumentation and new surveys focused on Galactic structure and chemical evolution, measurements of the baryon oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies and the quasar Ly alpha forest, and a radial velocity search for planets around ~8000 stars. This paper describes the first data release of SDSS-III (and the eighth counting from the beginning of the SDSS). The release includes five-band imaging of roughly 5200 deg^2 in the Southern Galactic Cap, bringing the total footprint of the SDSS imaging to 14,555 deg^2, or over a third of the Celestial Sphere. All the imaging data have been reprocessed with an improved sky-subtraction algorithm and a final, self-consistent photometric recalibration and flat-field determination. This release also includes all data from the second phase of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Evolution (SEGUE-2), consisting of spectroscopy of approximately 118,000 stars at both high and low Galactic latitudes. All the more than half a million stellar spectra obtained with the SDSS spectrograph have been reprocessed through an improved stellar parameters pipeline, which has better determination of metallicity for high metallicity stars., Comment: Astrophysical Journal Supplements, in press (minor updates from submitted version)

Published
2011
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3. MARVELS: Revealing the Formation and Dynamical Evolution of Giant Planet Systems

Author

Ge, Jian, Eisenstein, Daniel, Gaudi, B. Scott, and collaboration, with input from the SDSS-III

Subjects
Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Abstract

MARVELS, the Multi-Object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey, is a 6-year program to characterize the distribution of gas giant planets with orbital periods ranging from several hours to two years. MARVELS will use multi-fiber interferometric spectrographs on the wide-field, 2.5-meter Sloan Foundation telescope at Apache Point Observatory to monitor ~11,000 stars in the magnitude range V=8-12, visiting each star ~30 times over an 18-month interval, with velocity precision of 14, 18, and 35 m/s at V=8, 10, and 12. MARVELS will survey far more stars with a wider range of spectral types and metallicities than previous radial velocity searches, yielding a statistically well defined sample of ~150 giant planets drawn from a host sample with well understood selection biases. With a unique combination of large numbers and well characterized sensitivity, MARVELS will provide a critical data set for testing theories of the formation and dynamical evolution of giant planet systems. The MARVELS detections will also be an ideal sample for follow-up observations to identify multiple planet systems and understand the influence of giant planet migration on the formation and survival of less massive planets. MARVELS is one of four surveys that comprise SDSS-III (the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III), a 6-year program that will use highly multiplexed spectrographs on the Sloan Foundation Telescope to investigate cosmological parameters, the history and structure of the Milky Way galaxy, and the population of giant planet systems., Comment: Unpublished SDSS-III white paper for the US Decadal Survey. See http://www.sdss3.org/ for details of the international SDSS-III project

Published
2009

4. SEGUE-2 and APOGEE: Revealing the History of the Milky Way

Author

Rockosi, Constance, Beers, Timothy C., Majewski, Steven, Schiavon, Ricardo, Eisenstein, Daniel, and Collaboration, with input from the SDSS-III

Subjects
Astrophysics - Galaxy Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Abstract

The history of the Milky Way is encoded in the spatial distributions, kinematics, and chemical enrichment patterns of its resolved stellar populations. SEGUE-2 and APOGEE, two of the four surveys that comprise SDSS-III (the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III), will map these distributions and enrichment patterns at optical and infrared wavelengths, respectively. Using the existing SDSS spectrographs, SEGUE-2 will obtain spectra of 140,000 stars in selected high-latitude fields to a magnitude limit r ~ 19.5, more than doubling the sample of distant halo stars observed in the SDSS-II survey SEGUE (the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration). With spectral resolution R ~ 2000 and typical S/N per pixel of 20-25, SEGUE and SEGUE-2 measure radial velocities with typical precision of 5-10 km/s and metallicities ([Fe/H]) with a typical external error of 0.25 dex. APOGEE (the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment) will use a new, 300-fiber H-band spectrograph (1.5-1.7 micron) to obtain high-resolution (R ~ 24,000), high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ~ 100 per pixel) spectra of 100,000 red giant stars to a magnitude limit H ~ 12.5. Infrared spectroscopy penetrates the dust that obscures the inner Galaxy from our view, allowing APOGEE to carry out the first large, homogeneous spectroscopic survey of all Galactic stellar populations. APOGEE spectra will allow radial velocity measurements with < 0.5 km/s precision and abundance determinations (with ~ 0.1 dex precision) of 15 chemical elements for each program star, which can be used to reconstruct the history of star formation that produced these elements. (abridged), Comment: Unpublished SDSS-III white paper for the US Decadal Survey. See http://www.sdss3.org for details of the international SDSS-III project

Published
2009

6. The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III

Author

Collaboration : H. Aihara C. Allende Prieto D. An S. F. Anderson É. Aubourg E. Balbinot T. C. Beers A. A. Berlind S. J. Bickerton D. Bizyaev M. R. Blanton J. J. Bochanski A. S. Bolton J. Bovy W. N. Brandt J. Brinkmann P. J. Brown J. R. Brownstein N. G. Bu, Sdss-Iii, Univers, Transport, Interfaces, Nanostructures, Atmosphère et environnement, Molécules (UMR 6213) (UTINAM), Université de Franche-Comté (UFC), and Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] (UBFC)-Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] (UBFC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)

Subjects
ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS
Abstract

International audience

Published
2011

7. Baryon acoustic oscillations in the Lyα forest of BOSS quasars

Author

Patrick Petitjean, David W. Hogg, Claudia Maraston, Matteo Viel, J. C. Hamilton, Éric Aubourg, Kushal T. Mehta, Emmanuel Rollinde, Andreu Font-Ribera, Erin Sheldon, Stephen Bailey, Kyle S. Dawson, Donald G. York, Stephanie Snedden, Daniel Margala, Robert C. Nichol, Bill Carithers, David J. Schlegel, Dmitry Bizyaev, J. Brinkmann, David H. Weinberg, P. Noterdaeme, Anze Slosar, Adam S. Bolton, Graziano Rossi, Matthew M. Pieri, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Viktor Malanushenko, Kaike Pan, Elena Malanushenko, Khee-Gan Lee, Garrett Ebelke, Matthew D. Olmstead, K. Honscheid, Nicholas P. Ross, J. M. Le Goff, Britt Lundgren, Natalie A. Roe, Rupert A. C. Croft, Jordi Miralda-Escudé, Arnaud Borde, Michael Blomqvist, Donald P. Schneider, Christophe Yèche, Daniel Oravetz, Jeremy L. Tinker, Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille, Benjamin A. Weaver, Audrey Simmons, Alaina Shelden, D. Kirkby, Howard Brewington, Adam D. Myers, Martin White, Shirley Ho, Isabelle Pâris, Timothée Delubac, James Rich, Jo Bovy, Nicolás G. Busca, Will J. Percival, Julian E. Bautista, APC - Cosmologie, Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (IRFU), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay, AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), SDSS-III, Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)

Subjects
[SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], media_common.quotation_subject, Astrophysics, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Correlation function (astronomy), 01 natural sciences, [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], Settore FIS/05 - Astronomia e Astrofisica, 0103 physical sciences, cosmological parameters, dark energy, 010303 astronomy & astrophysics, Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics, media_common, Physics, 010308 nuclear & particles physics, Oscillation, Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astronomy, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Quasar, Redshift, Baryon, 13. Climate action, Space and Planetary Science, Sky, cosmology: observations, Dark energy, Baryon acoustic oscillations, large-scale structure of Universe, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

We report a detection of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature in the three-dimensional correlation function of the transmitted flux fraction in the \Lya forest of high-redshift quasars. The study uses 48,640 quasars in the redshift range $2.1\le z \le 3.5$ from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III). At a mean redshift $z=2.3$, we measure the monopole and quadrupole components of the correlation function for separations in the range $20\hMpc, Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

Published
2013
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8. The Clustering of Galaxies in SDSS-III DR9 Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Constraints on Primordial Non-Gaussianity

Author

Howard Brewington, Rita Tojeiro, Garrett Ebelke, Molly E. C. Swanson, Gong-Bo Zhao, Éric Aubourg, Donald P. Schneider, David J. Schlegel, A. Carnero, Audrey Simmons, Daniel Oravetz, Jean Christophe Hamilton, Kaike Pan, Hee-Jong Seo, Jon Brinkmann, Luiz N. da Costa, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Claudia Maraston, Viktor Malanushenko, Elena Malanushenko, Stephanie A. Snedden, Hong Guo, Daniel Thomas, Francisco Prada, Marc Manera, Ashley J. Ross, Alaina Sheldon, Jeremy L. Tinker, Ariel G. Sánchez, Robert C. Nichol, Francesco Montesano, Lado Samushia, Alvise Raccanelli, Idit Zehavi, Mariana Vargas Magaña, Dmitry Bizyaev, Antonio J. Cuesta, Joel R. Brownstein, Will J. Percival, APC - Cosmologie, AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), SDSS-III, University of St Andrews. School of Physics and Astronomy, Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, and PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)

Subjects
Cosmology and Gravitation, Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), Large-scale structure of Universe, (Cosmology:) Inflation, [SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], media_common.quotation_subject, FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, 01 natural sciences, Cosmology, [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], (cosmology:) Large-scale structure of Universe, Observations, Non-Gaussianity, 0103 physical sciences, QB Astronomy, 010303 astronomy & astrophysics, Inflation (cosmology), Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics, media_common, QB, Physics, [PHYS]Physics [physics], 010308 nuclear & particles physics, Astronomy, Spectral density, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Redshift, Galaxy, Baryon, Amplitude, observations (cosmology) [Cosmology], Space and Planetary Science, Sky, [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph], Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

We analyze the density field of 264,283 galaxies observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) and included in the SDSS data release nine (DR9). In total, the SDSS DR9 BOSS data includes spectroscopic redshifts for over 400,000 galaxies spread over a footprint of more than 3,000 deg^2. We measure the power spectrum of these galaxies with redshifts 0.43 < z < 0.7 in order to constrain the amount of local non-Gaussianity, f_NL,local, in the primordial density field, paying particular attention to the impact of systematic uncertainties. The BOSS galaxy density field is systematically affected by the local stellar density and this influences the ability to accurately measure f_NL,local. In the absence of any correction, we find (erroneously) that the probability that f_NL,local is greater than zero, P(f_NL,local >0), is 99.5%. After quantifying and correcting for the systematic bias and including the added uncertainty, we find -45 < f_NL,local < 195 at 95% confidence, and P(f_NL,local >0) = 91.0%. A more conservative approach assumes that we have only learned the k-dependence of the systematic bias and allows any amplitude for the systematic correction; we find that the systematic effect is not fully degenerate with that of f_NL,local, and we determine that -82 < f_NL,local < 178 (at 95% confidence) and P(f_NL,local >0) = 68%. This analysis demonstrates the importance of accounting for the impact of Galactic foregrounds on f_NL,local measurements. We outline the methods that account for these systematic biases and uncertainties. We expect our methods to yield robust constraints on f_NL,local for both our own and future large-scale-structure investigations., Matches version to be published in MNRAS. While in press, we found an error that caused all of our fNL values to be off by a factor of h^2. Our conclusions (and nearly 100% of the text) are unchanged because they were all in reference to the probability of fNL > 0 and the relative effect of systematics on the recovered constraints

Published
2013
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9. Luminosity function from dedicated SDSS-III and MMT data of quasars in 0.7 < z < 4.0 selected with a new approach

Author

N. Palanque-Delabrouille, Ch. Magneville, Ch. Yèche, S. Eftekharzadeh, A. D. Myers, P. Petitjean, I. Pâris, E. Aubourg, I. McGreer, X. Fan, A. Dey, D. Schlegel, S. Bailey, D. Bizayev, A. Bolton, K. Dawson, G. Ebelke, J. Ge, E. Malanushenko, V. Malanushenko, D. Oravetz, K. Pan, N. P. Ross, D. P. Schneider, E. Sheldon, A. Simmons, J. Tinker, M. White, Ch. Willmer, Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (IRFU), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), APC - Cosmologie, AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), SDSS-III, Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, and Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Subjects
[SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics, 01 natural sciences, Cosmology, Luminosity, [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], surveys, quasars: general, 0103 physical sciences, Range (statistics), dark energy, 010303 astronomy & astrophysics, Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics, Luminosity function (astronomy), Physics, 010308 nuclear & particles physics, Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Quasar, Redshift, Space and Planetary Science, Magnitude (astronomy), Baryon acoustic oscillations, [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph], Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

We present a measurement of the quasar luminosity function in the range 0.682.15. Using pure luminosity evolution models, we fitted our LF measurements, and predicted quasar number counts as a function of redshift and observed magnitude. These predictions are useful inputs for future cosmology surveys such as those relying on the observation of quasars to measure baryon acoustic oscillations., Comment: 15 pages, 14 figs, accepted for publication in A&A

Published
2013
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10. The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Data Release 9 Spectroscopic Galaxy Sample

Author

Anderson, Lauren, Aubourg, E., Bailey, Stephen, Bizyaev, Dmitry, Blanton, Michael, Bolton, Adam S., Brinkmann, J., Brownstein, Joel R., Burden, Angela, Cuesta, Antonio J., da Costa, Luiz N. A., Dawson, Kyle S., de Putter, Roland, Eisenstein, Daniel J., Gunn, James E., Guo, Hong, Hamilton, J.-C., Harding, Paul, Ho, Shirley, Honscheid, Klaus, Kazin, Eyal, Kirkby, D., Kneib, J.-P., Labatie, Antoine, Loomis, Craig, Lupton, Robert H., Malanushenko, Elena, Malanushenko, Viktor, Mandelbaum, Rachel, Manera, Marc, Maraston, Claudia, Mcbride, Cameron K., Mehta, Kushal T., Mena, Olga, Montesano, Francesco, Muna, Demetri, Nichol, Robert C., Nuza, Sebastian E., Olmstead, Matthew D., Oravetz, Daniel, Padmanabhan, Nikhil, Palanque-Delabrouille, N., Pan, Kaike, Parejko, John, Pâris, I., Percival, Will J., Petitjean, P., Prada, Francisco, Reid, Beth, Roe, Natalie A., Ross, Ashley J., Ross, Nicholas P., Samushia, Lado, Sanchez, Ariel G., Schneider, David J., Schlegel, Donald P., Scoccola, Claudia G., Seo, Hee-Jong, Sheldon, Erin S., Simmons, Audrey, Skibba, Ramin A., Strauss, Michael A., Swanson, Molly E. C., Thomas, Daniel, Tinker, Jeremy L., Tojeiro, Rita, Vargas Magana, M., Verde, Licia, Wagner, Christian, Wake, David A., Weaver, Benjamin A., Weinberg, David H., White, Martin, Xu, Xiaoying, Yèche, C., Zehavi, Idit, Zhao, Gong-Bo, AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES), Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (IRFU), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), SDSS-III, Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universitat de Barcelona, APC - Cosmologie, Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), and UAM. Departamento de Física Teórica

Subjects
Astrofísica, Cosmology and Gravitation, Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), Large-scale structure of Universe, [SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], Cosmological parameters, FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Energia fosca (Astronomia), Astrophysics, 01 natural sciences, [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], Measurement of distances, Observacions astronòmiques, Dark energy, 0103 physical sciences, observations [Cosmology], Dark energy (Astronomy), 010303 astronomy & astrophysics, Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics, Distance scale, Cosmologia, 010308 nuclear & particles physics, Cosmology: observations, Física, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Cosmology, Mesurament de les distàncies, Space and Planetary Science, [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph], Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Astronomical observations
Abstract

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2012 RAS © 2012 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved., We present measurements of galaxy clustering from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III). These use the Data Release 9 (DR9) CMASS sample, which contains 264 283 massive galaxies covering 3275 square degrees with an effective redshift z = 0.57 and redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.7. Assuming a concordance λCDM cosmological model, this sample covers an effective volume of 2.2 Gpc3, and represents the largest sample of the Universe ever surveyed at this density, n̄ ~3 × 10-4 h-3 Mpc3. We measure the angle-averaged galaxy correlation function and power spectrum, including density-field reconstruction of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature. The acoustic features are detected at a significance of 5σ in both the correlation function and power spectrum. Combining with the SDSS-II luminous red galaxy sample, the detection significance increases to 6.7σ. Fitting for the position of the acoustic features measures the distance to z = 0.57 relative to the sound horizon DV/rs = 13.67 ± 0.22 at z = 0.57. Assuming a fiducial sound horizon of 153.19 Mpc, which matches cosmic microwave background constraints, this corresponds to a distance DV (z = 0.57) = 2094 ± 34 Mpc. At 1.7 per cent, this is the most precise distance constraint ever obtained from a galaxy survey. We place this result alongside previous BAO measurements in a cosmological distance ladder and find excellent agreement with the current supernova measurements. We use these distance measurements to constrain various cosmological models, finding continuing support for a flat Universe with a cosmological constant, WJP is grateful for support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust, and the European Research Council.AJR is grateful to theUKScience and Technology Facilities Council for financial support through the grant ST/I001204/1. CGS acknowledges funding from project AYA2010- 21766-C03-02 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN). DJE, XX, and KM were supported by NSF grant AST-0707725 and NASA grant NNX07AH11G. NP and AJC are partially supported by NASA grant NNX11AF43G. FP acknowledges support from the SpanishMICINNs Consolider grantMultiDark CSD2009- 00064. MAS was supported by NSF grant AST-0707266. MECS was supported by the NSF under Award No. AST-0901965. Support for LAMBDA is provided by the NASA Office of Space Science

Published
2012
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11. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasar catalog: ninth data release

Author

Ismael Perez-Fournon, Nao Suzuki, Claudia Maraston, Richard G. McMahon, Jordi Miralda-Escudé, Jian Ge, Eduard Arnau, Michael A. Strauss, Kyle S. Dawson, Andreu Font-Ribera, Khee-Gan Lee, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Scott F. Anderson, Adam S. Bolton, Nicholas P. Ross, Hayley Finley, Benjamin A. Weaver, Yue Shen, Kaike Pan, Matthew M. Pieri, Julian E. Bautista, Jeremy L. Tinker, Jo Bovy, Patrick B. Hall, Pasquier Noterdaeme, Martin White, David J. Schlegel, Jean-Marc Le Goff, Isabelle Pâris, Anze Slosar, Garrett Ebelke, Gordon T. Richards, Zeljko Ivezic, Éric Aubourg, D. Kirkby, Howard Brewington, Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille, Donald P. Schneider, Joseph F. Hennawi, Robert R. Gibson, Demitri Muna, Amy Kimball, Xiaohui Fan, Ian D. McGreer, Viktor Malanushenko, Shirley Ho, Erin S. Sheldon, Britt Lundgren, Audrey Simmons, Emmanuel Rollinde, Stephen Bailey, Elena Malanushenko, Jessica A. Kirkpatrick, Alaina Shelden, Matteo Viel, Timothée Delubac, David H. Weinberg, W. Michael Wood-Vasey, William Carithers, W. N. Brandt, Chelsea L. MacLeod, Patrick Petitjean, Nur Filiz Ak, Daniel M. Capellupo, Dmitry Bizyaev, Fred Hamann, David W. Hogg, Rupert A. C. Croft, Joel R. Brownstein, Stephanie A. Snedden, Nicolás G. Busca, Adam D. Myers, Christophe Yèche, Daniel Oravetz, Linhua Jiang, Philip Engelke, AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), SDSS-III, APC - Cosmologie, Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, and Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Subjects
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), [SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], media_common.quotation_subject, Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 01 natural sciences, Spectral line, Photometry (optics), [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], Settore FIS/05 - Astronomia e Astrofisica, surveys, quasars: general, 0103 physical sciences, Emission spectrum, 010303 astronomy & astrophysics, Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics, media_common, Physics, [PHYS]Physics [physics], general [quasars], 010308 nuclear & particles physics, Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Quasar, Redshift, Boss, Space and Planetary Science, Sky, astro-ph.CO, [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph], Data release, Astronomical and Space Sciences, catalogs, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

We present the Data Release 9 Quasar (DR9Q) catalog from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III. The catalog includes all BOSS objects that were targeted as quasar candidates during the survey, are spectrocopically confirmed as quasars via visual inspection, have luminosities Mi[z=2]2.15$ (61,931) is ~2.8 times larger than the number of z>2.15 quasars previously known. Redshifts and FWHMs are provided for the strongest emission lines (CIV, CIII], MgII). The catalog identifies 7,533 broad absorption line quasars and gives their characteristics. For each object the catalog presents five-band (u,g,r,i,z) CCD-based photometry with typical accuracy of 0.03 mag, and information on the morphology and selection method. The catalog also contains X-ray, ultraviolet, near-infrared, and radio emission properties of the quasars, when available, from other large-area surveys., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, Catalog available online at http://www.sdss3.org/dr9/algorithms/qso_catalog.php

Published
2012
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12. Spectral Classification and Redshift Measurement for the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

Author

James E. Gunn, Stephen Bailey, Kyle S. Dawson, Adam D. Myers, Joel R. Brownstein, Benjamin A. Weaver, Claudia Maraston, Robert H. Lupton, Nikhil Padmanabhan, Constance M. Rockosi, Michael A. Strauss, Gillian R. Knapp, Christy Tremonti, Daniel Thomas, Nicholas P. Ross, David J. Schlegel, W. Michael Wood-Vasey, Donald P. Schneider, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Patrick Petitjean, Adam S. Bolton, Vaishali Bhardwaj, Demitri Muna, Yiping Shu, Craig P. Loomis, David A. Wake, Éric Aubourg, Scott Burles, Will J. Percival, Matthew D. Olmstead, Yanmei Chen, Isabelle Paris, AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), SDSS-III, APC - Cosmologie, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)

Subjects
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), [SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], media_common.quotation_subject, FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Stellar classification, 01 natural sciences, [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], surveys, 0103 physical sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, 010303 astronomy & astrophysics, Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM), Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics, media_common, Physics, [PHYS]Physics [physics], 010308 nuclear & particles physics, Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Quasar, methods: data analysis, Galaxy, Redshift, Baryon, Stars, Boss, Space and Planetary Science, Sky, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph], techniques: spectroscopic, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

(abridged) We describe the automated spectral classification, redshift determination, and parameter measurement pipeline in use for the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) as of Data Release 9, encompassing 831,000 moderate-resolution optical spectra. We give a review of the algorithms employed, and describe the changes to the pipeline that have been implemented for BOSS relative to previous SDSS-I/II versions, including new sets of stellar, galaxy, and quasar redshift templates. For the color-selected CMASS sample of massive galaxies at redshift 0.4, Comment: 20 pages, multiple figures. Minor changes relative to version 1. Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal

Published
2012
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13. Column density distribution and cosmological mass density of neutral gas: Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III Data Release 9

Author

Hayley Finley, V. Malanushenko, Éric Aubourg, Adam D. Myers, K. Pan, Patrick Petitjean, Nicholas P. Ross, Stephen Bailey, Daniel Oravetz, Isabelle Pâris, Garrett Ebelke, Donald P. Schneider, Jordi Miralda-Escudé, Matthew M. Pieri, Andreu Font-Ribera, William Carithers, Donald G. York, Dmitry Bizyaev, Audrey Simmons, Elena Malanushenko, Pasquier Noterdaeme, Jian Ge, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), SDSS-III, Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), APC - Cosmologie, Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, and PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)

Subjects
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), [SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], media_common.quotation_subject, FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics, 01 natural sciences, Spectral line, law.invention, Telescope, [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], law, 0103 physical sciences, 010303 astronomy & astrophysics, media_common, Physics, [PHYS]Physics [physics], 010308 nuclear & particles physics, Oscillation, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Quasar, Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Billion years, Galaxy, Baryon, 13. Climate action, Space and Planetary Science, Sky, [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph], Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

We present the first results from an ongoing survey for Damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs) in the spectra of z>2 quasars observed in the course of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III. Our full (non-statistical) sample, based on Data Release 9, comprises 12,081 systems with log N(HI)>=20, out of which 6,839 have log N(HI)>=20.3. This is the largest DLA sample ever compiled, superseding that from SDSS-II by a factor of seven. Using a statistical sub-sample and estimating systematics from realistic mock data, we probe the N(HI) distribution at = 2.5. Contrary to what is generally believed, the distribution extends beyond 10^22 cm^-2 with a moderate slope of index\approx-3.5. This result matches surprisingly well the opacity-corrected distribution observed at z = 0. The cosmological mass density of neutral gas in DLAs is found to be Omega_g_DLA~10^-3, evolving only mildly over the past 12 billion years., Accepted for publication as Letter to the Editor in A&A

Published
2012
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14. The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: cosmological implications of the large-scale two-point correlation function

Author

Sanchez, Ariel G., Scoccola, C. G., Ross, A. J., Percival, W., Manera, M., Montesano, F., Mazzalay, X., Cuesta, A. J., Eisenstein, D. J., Kazin, E., Mcbride, C. K., Mehta, K., Montero-Dorta, A. D., Padmanabhan, N., Prada, F., Rubino-Martin, J. A., Tojeiro, R., Xu, X., Vargas Magana, M., Aubourg, E., Bahcall, N. A., Bailey, S., Bizyaev, D., Bolton, A. S., Brewington, H., Brinkmann, J., Brownstein, J. R., Gott, J. Richard, Hamilton, J.-C., Ho, S., Honscheid, K., Labatie, A., Malanushenko, E., Malanushenko, V., Maraston, C., Muna, D., Nichol, R. C., Oravetz, D., Pan, K., Ross, N. P., Roe, N. A., Reid, B. A., Schlegel, D. J., Shelden, A., Schneider, D. P., Simmons, A., Skibba, R., Snedden, S., Thomas, D., Tinker, J., Wake, D. A., Weaver, B. A., Weinberg, David H., White, Martin, Zehavi, I., Zhao, G., AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), SDSS-III, Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of St Andrews. School of Physics and Astronomy, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), APC - Cosmologie, Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), and PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris

Subjects
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), Large-scale structure of Universe, [SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], Cosmological parameters, FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics, [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], QC Physics, QB Astronomy, [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph], QC, QB, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

We obtain constraints on cosmological parameters from the spherically averaged redshift-space correlation function of the CMASS Data Release 9 (DR9) sample of the Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). We combine this information with additional data from recent CMB, SN and BAO measurements. Our results show no significant evidence of deviations from the standard flat-Lambda CDM model, whose basic parameters can be specified by Omega_m = 0.285 +- 0.009, 100 Omega_b = 4.59 +- 0.09, n_s = 0.96 +- 0.009, H_0 = 69.4 +- 0.8 km/s/Mpc and sigma_8 = 0.80 +- 0.02. The CMB+CMASS combination sets tight constraints on the curvature of the Universe, with Omega_k = -0.0043 +- 0.0049, and the tensor-to-scalar amplitude ratio, for which we find r < 0.16 at the 95 per cent confidence level (CL). These data show a clear signature of a deviation from scale-invariance also in the presence of tensor modes, with n_s, 26 pages, 15 figures. Minor changes to match version accepted by MNRAS

Published
2012
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15. The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Analysis of potential systematics

Author

Ross, A. J., Percival, W. J., Sánchez, A. G., Samushia, L., Ho, S., Kazin, E., Manera, M., Reid, B., White, M., Tojeiro, R., McBride, C. K., Xu, X., Wake, D. A., Strauss, M. A., Montesano, F., Swanson, M. E. C., Bailey, S., Bolton, A. S., Dorta, A. M., Eisenstein, D. J., Guo, H., Hamilton, J.-C., Nichol, R. C., Padmanabhan, N., Prada, F., Schlegel, D. J., Magaña, M. V., Zehavi, I., Blanton, M., Bizyaev, D., Brewington, H., Cuesta, A. J., Malanushenko, E., Malanushenko, V., Oravetz, D., Parejko, J., Pan, K., Schneider, D. P., Shelden, A., Simmons, A., Snedden, S., Zhao, G.-b., AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), SDSS-III, Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), APC - Cosmologie, Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), and University of St Andrews. School of Physics and Astronomy

Subjects
Cosmology and Gravitation, Distance scale, Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), Large-scale structure of Universe, [SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics, [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], QC Physics, QB Astronomy, observations [Cosmology], [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph], QC, Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics, QB, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

We analyze the density field of galaxies observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) included in the SDSS Data Release Nine (DR9). DR9 includes spectroscopic redshifts for over 400,000 galaxies spread over a footprint of 3,275 deg^2. We identify, characterize, and mitigate the impact of sources of systematic uncertainty on large-scale clustering measurements, both for angular moments of the redshift-space correlation function and the spherically averaged power spectrum, P(k), in order to ensure that robust cosmological constraints will be obtained from these data. A correlation between the projected density of stars and the higher redshift (0.43 < z < 0.7) galaxy sample (the `CMASS' sample) due to imaging systematics imparts a systematic error that is larger than the statistical error of the clustering measurements at scales s > 120h^-1Mpc or k < 0.01hMpc^-1. We find that these errors can be ameliorated by weighting galaxies based on their surface brightness and the local stellar density. We use mock galaxy catalogs that simulate the CMASS selection function to determine that randomly selecting galaxy redshifts in order to simulate the radial selection function of a random sample imparts the least systematic error on correlation function measurements and that this systematic error is negligible for the spherically averaged correlation function. The methods we recommend for the calculation of clustering measurements using the CMASS sample are adopted in companion papers that locate the position of the baryon acoustic oscillation feature (Anderson et al. 2012), constrain cosmological models using the full shape of the correlation function (Sanchez et al. 2012), and measure the rate of structure growth (Reid et al. 2012). (abridged), Matches version accepted by MNRAS. Clarifications and references have been added. See companion papers that share the "The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey:" title

Published
2012
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16. Dense Sampling and Large Volume: The Structure of the Intergalactic Medium from 50,000 SDSS3 BOSS Quasar Absorption Spectra

Author

Croft, Rupert A., Arnau, E., Aubourg, E., Bailey, S., Bechtold, J., Bhardwaj, V., Bolton, A., Borde, A., Brinkmann, J., Busca, N., Carithers, W., Cen, R., Charlassier, R., Cortes, M., Dall Aglio, A., Stefano Cristiani, Dawson, K., Delubac, T., Font-Ribera, A., Hamilton, J., Ho, S., Lee, K., Legoff, J., Kirkby, D., Lundgren, B., Menard, B., Miralda-Escude, J., Palanque-Delabrouille, N., Myers, A., Paris, I., Peirani, S., Petitjean, P., Pieri, M., Rich, J., Rollinde, E., Ross, N., Schlegel, D., Skibba, R., Slosar, A., Suzuki, N., Trac, H., Vikas, S., Viel, M., Wake, D., Weinberg, D., White, M., Yeche, C., APC - Cosmologie, Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (IRFU), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), SDSS-III, Hamilton, Jean-Christophe, Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, and Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Subjects
[SDU.ASTR.CO] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], [PHYS.ASTR.CO] Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], [SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics
Abstract

International audience; The BOSS quasar spectra analyzed so far contain over a quarter billion pixels of information on the intervening intergalactic medium. The statistical power of BOSS has previously enabled 10% of the eventual full dataset to yield the first measurements of three dimensional large-scale structure in the Lya forest (Slosar et al 2011). Here we present results from a sample several times larger, covering several topics in cosmology and intergalactic medium science which are qualitatively transformed by the dense sampling (20 quasars per square degree) and enormous sky area. These include new constraints on cosmology and the neutrino mass from a Lya forest power spectrum measurement using 20 times more spectra than the largest previously published analysis (from SDSS), a new catalog of metal absorbers and a stacking analysis which has uncovered many metal species never before seen in the intergalactic medium. Cross-correlations of quasars, galaxies, metal lines and Lyman series absorption provide us with a wide variety of probes, including of cosmology, quasar host masses, lifetimes, and absorber galaxy masses. We show several of these results. We also show through correlation function analysis that the prime task, of making a BAO detection from Lya forest clustering, (the first BAO constraint between z=1 and the CMB) is well on the way to completion.

Published
2012

17. Erratum: 'The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III' (2011, ApJS, 193, 29)

Author

Thirupathi Sivarani, Sara Lucatello, Gillian R. Knapp, Viktor Malanushenko, Timothy C. Beers, Brian Yanny, Isabelle Pâris, Natalia Connolly, M. Jordanraddick, Garrettl Ebelke, Andreas A. Berlind, Andreu Font-Ribera, Nicholasp Ross, Brice Ménard, Patrick Petitjean, Erin Sheldon, Michaelr Blanton, Constance M. Rockosi, Marcioa G. Maia, Conor Sayres, Emmanuel Rollinde, Eduardo Balbinot, Nicolás G. Busca, Peterj Brown, Jeffrey A. Munn, Dan Long, Zhibo Ma, Naoki Yasuda, Rupert A. C. Croft, David W. Hogg, Nicholas MacDonald, Adrianm Price-Whelan, Deokkeun An, Arielg Sánchez, Joel R. Brownstein, Steven J. Bickerton, Adam S. Bolton, Licia Verde, Cathy Jordan, Céline Reylé, Yanmei Chen, Michael L. Evans, David J. Schlegel, Jon A. Holtzman, Jean-Paul Kneib, Cameron K. McBride, Jonay I. González Hernández, Frederick R. Hearty, Matthias Steinmetz, Gerry Gilmore, Peterm Frinchaboy, John J. Bochanski, Luiz N. da Costa, Ricardo L. C. Ogando, Will J. Percival, Jean Marc Le Goff, Kaike Pan, Demitri Muna, Kyle S. Dawson, Benjamina Weaver, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Fergal Mullally, Xiaohui Fan, Lars Koesterke, J. Richard Gott, Heather L. Morrison, Simon D. M. White, Shirley Ho, David W. Harris, Hiroaki Aihara, Daniel Thomas, Janine Pforr, Eva K. Grebel, K. Honscheid, Scott F. Anderson, Benjaminm Tofflemire, Claudia Maraston, M. Esposito, James E. Gunn, Karen L. Masters, Jian Ge, Christy Tremonti, Donaldp Schneider, Christophe Pichon, Robert H. Lupton, Carlos Allende Prieto, Jennifer A. Johnson, Sarah J. Schmidt, Daniel Margala, Dustin Lang, James R. A. Davenport, Masayuki Tanaka, Angelo Fausti Neto, Naohisa Inada, Andrew Gould, Hitoshi Murayama, Martin Makler, Ji Wang, Cristina Chiappini, Eyal A. Kazin, Suzanne L. Hawley, Jan Vandenberg, P. M. McGehee, David H. Weinberg, Alexander S. Szalay, Yen-Ting Lin, Natalie A. Roe, Aniruddha R. Thakar, Matthewd Olmstead, Jo Bovy, Rita Tojeiro, Christophe Yèche, Daniel Oravetz, David A. Wake, Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille, Christopher S. Kochanek, Gordont Richards, Jennifer Simmerer, Stefanie Phleps, Linhua Jiang, Beatriz H. F. Ramos, Martin White, Rachel Mandelbaum, Nicole P. Vogt, W. N. Brandt, Edward M. Edmondson, Jordi Miralda-Escudé, Matthewm Pieri, James Rich, Hans-Walter Rix, Stephanie Escoffier, Richard G. Kron, Annie C. Robin, Craig P. Loomis, Suvrath Mahadevan, Robert C. Nichol, Duy Cuong Nguyen, Idit Zehavi, Jean Christophe Hamilton, Katharine J. Schlesinger, Saurav Dhital, Inese I. Ivans, Jennifer Sobeck, Britt Lundgren, Marina Cortês, Bruno Femenía Castellá, Adam D. Myers, Robert W. O'Connell, Jeremyl Tinker, H. Campbell, Iand McGreer, Nikhil Padmanabhan, Robert Pfaffenberger, Parul Pandey, Mark A. Klaene, Bruce Gillespie, Bruno M. Rossetto, Johan Comparat, Antonioj Cuesta, Tracy Naugle, D. Kirkby, Hubert Lampeitl, Éric Aubourg, H. J. Rocha-Pinto, Michael A. Carr, J. Brinkmann, Young Sun Lee, Ashleyj Ross, Anne Ealet, Michael A. Strauss, Yiping Shu, Stephanie A. Snedden, Wendellp Jordan, Francisco Prada, Dmitry Bizyaev, Elena Malanushenko, M. Vargas Magaña, Juna A. Kollmeier, Paul Harding, Audrey Simmons, APC - Cosmologie, AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille (CPPM), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (IRFU), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Univers, Transport, Interfaces, Nanostructures, Atmosphère et environnement, Molécules (UMR 6213) (UTINAM), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Franche-Comté (UFC), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] (UBFC)-Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] (UBFC), SDSS-III, Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)

Subjects
Systematic error, Physics, 010308 nuclear & particles physics, [SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], media_common.quotation_subject, Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astronomy, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics, Astrometry, 01 natural sciences, Declination, Imaging data, [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], Celestial pole, 13. Climate action, Space and Planetary Science, Sky, 0103 physical sciences, 010303 astronomy & astrophysics, Data release, Quality information, Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics, media_common
Abstract

Section 3.5 of Aihara et al. (2011) described various sources of systematic error in the astrometry of the imaging data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). In addition to these sources of error, there is an additional and more serious error, which introduces a large systematic shift in the astrometry over a large area around the north celestial pole. The region has irregular boundaries but in places extends as far south as declination δ ≈ 41◦. The sense of the shift is that the positions of all sources in the affected area are offset by roughly 250 mas in a northwest direction. We have updated the SDSS online documentation to reflect these errors, and to provide detailed quality information for each SDSS field.

Published
2011
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18. The SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Quasar Target Selection for Data Release Nine

Author

Khee-Gan Lee, James Rich, Nao Suzuki, Jo Bovy, Michael R. Blanton, David J. Schlegel, Kyle S. Dawson, David Schiminovich, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Joseph F. Hennawi, Anže Slosar, Christophe Yèche, Shirley Ho, A. Weyant, Donald P. Schneider, Michael A. Strauss, Éric Aubourg, Richard G. McMahon, Gordon T. Richards, Adam D. Myers, David H. Weinberg, Matthew M. Pieri, W. Michael Wood-Vasey, William Carithers, Britt Lundgren, Nicholas P. Ross, Patrick Petitjean, Jessica A. Kirkpatrick, Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille, Robert L. da Silva, Martin White, Jeremy L. Tinker, W. N. Brandt, Rupert A. C. Croft, David W. Hogg, Isabelle Paris, Jordi Miralda-Escudé, Natalie A. Roe, Erin S. Sheldon, APC - Cosmologie, AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), SDSS-III, Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Observatoire de Paris, and Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)

Subjects
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), [SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, 01 natural sciences, Spectral line, [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], surveys, quasars: general, 0103 physical sciences, 010303 astronomy & astrophysics, Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics, Physics, 010308 nuclear & particles physics, Oscillation, Angular diameter distance, Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Quasar, First light, quasars: absorption lines, Baryon, Boss, techniques: miscellaneous, Space and Planetary Science, cosmology: observations, intergalactic medium, Baryon acoustic oscillations, [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph], Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

The SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), a five-year spectroscopic survey of 10,000 deg^2, achieved first light in late 2009. One of the key goals of BOSS is to measure the signature of baryon acoustic oscillations in the distribution of Ly-alpha absorption from the spectra of a sample of ~150,000 z>2.2 quasars. Along with measuring the angular diameter distance at z\approx2.5, BOSS will provide the first direct measurement of the expansion rate of the Universe at z > 2. One of the biggest challenges in achieving this goal is an efficient target selection algorithm for quasars over 2.2 < z < 3.5, where their colors overlap those of stars. During the first year of the BOSS survey, quasar target selection methods were developed and tested to meet the requirement of delivering at least 15 quasars deg^-2 in this redshift range, out of 40 targets deg^-2. To achieve these surface densities, the magnitude limit of the quasar targets was set at g 2.2 quasars were spectroscopically confirmed by BOSS. Our current algorithms select an average of 15 z > 2.2 quasars deg^-2 from 40 targets deg^-2 using single-epoch SDSS imaging. Multi-epoch optical data and data at other wavelengths can further improve the efficiency and completeness of BOSS quasar target selection. [Abridged], 33 pages, 26 figures, 12 tables and a whole bunch of quasars. Submitted to ApJ

Published
2011
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19. Variability selected high-redshift quasars on SDSS Stripe 82

Author

Isabelle Pâris, Ch Yèche, Kyle S. Dawson, Nicholas P. Ross, Patrick Petitjean, J. M. Le Goff, Donald P. Schneider, Erin Sheldon, Éric Aubourg, Benjamin A. Weaver, N. Palanque-Delabrouille, Adam D. Myers, T. Delubac, Jeffrey A. Rich, Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (IRFU), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), APC - Cosmologie, AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), SDSS-III, Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), and Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Subjects
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), [SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], Population, FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, 01 natural sciences, Spectral line, [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], 0103 physical sciences, Range (statistics), education, 010303 astronomy & astrophysics, Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics, Physics, education.field_of_study, 010308 nuclear & particles physics, Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Sampling (statistics), Astronomy and Astrophysics, Quasar, Redshift, Square degree, Space and Planetary Science, Baryon acoustic oscillations, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

The SDSS-III BOSS Quasar survey will attempt to observe z>2.15 quasars at a density of at least 15 per square degree to yield the first measurement of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Ly-alpha forest. To help reaching this goal, we have developed a method to identify quasars based on their variability in the u g r i z optical bands. The method has been applied to the selection of quasar targets in the SDSS region known as Stripe 82 (the Southern equatorial stripe), where numerous photometric observations are available over a 10-year baseline. This area was observed by BOSS during September and October 2010. Only 8% of the objects selected via variability are not quasars, while 90% of the previously identified high-redshift quasar population is recovered. The method allows for a significant increase in the z>2.15 quasar density over previous strategies based on optical (ugriz) colors, achieving a density of 24.0 deg^{-2} on average down to g~22 over the 220 deg^2 area of Stripe 82. We applied this method to simulated data from the Palomar Transient Factory and from Pan-STARRS, and showed that even with data that have sparser time sampling than what is available in Stripe 82, including variability in future quasar selection strategies would lead to increased target selection efficiency in the z>2.15 redshift range. We also found that Broad Absorption Line quasars are preferentially present in a variability than in a color selection., 14 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Published
2011
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20. Artificial neural networks for quasar selection and photometric redshift determination

Author

Ch Yèche, C. Pichon, I. Paris, Mariana Vargas-Magaña, Nicolás G. Busca, J. M. Le Goff, S. Peirani, Éric Aubourg, Jeffrey A. Rich, J.-Ch. Hamilton, Emmanuel Rollinde, Patrick Petitjean, Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (IRFU), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), APC - Cosmologie, AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), SDSS-III, Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, and Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Subjects
[SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], media_common.quotation_subject, Astrophysics, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, 01 natural sciences, Photometry (optics), [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], 0103 physical sciences, 010303 astronomy & astrophysics, Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics, Photometric redshift, media_common, Physics, 010308 nuclear & particles physics, Matter power spectrum, Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astronomy, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Quasar, Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Redshift survey, Redshift, Space and Planetary Science, Sky, Baryon acoustic oscillations
Abstract

7 pages, 7 figures; Context. Baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) and their effects on the matter power spectrum can be studied using the Lyman-α absorption signature of the matter density field along quasar (QSO) lines of sight. A measurement sufficiently accurate to provide useful cosmological constraints requires the observation of ~105 quasars in the redshift range 2.2 < z < 3.5 over ~8000 deg2. Such a survey is planned by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) project of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III). Aims: We assess one of the challenges for this project, that of building from five-band imaging data a list of targets that contains the largest number of quasars in the required redshift range. In practice, we perform a stellar rejection of more than two orders of magnitude with a selection efficiency for quasars better than 50% to magnitudes as bright as g ~ 22. Methods: To obtain an appropriate target list and estimate quasar redshifts, we develop artificial neural networks (ANNs) with a multilayer perceptron architecture. The input variables are photometric measurements, i.e., the object magnitudes and their errors in the five bands (ugriz) of the SDSS photometry. The ANN developed for target selection provides a continuous output variable between 0 for non-quasar point-like objects to 1 for quasars. A second ANN estimates the QSO redshift z using the photometric information. Results: For target selection, we achieve a non-quasar point-like object rejection of 99.6% and 98.5% for a quasar efficiency of, respectively, 50% and 85%, comparable to the performances of traditional methods. The photometric redshift precision is on the order of 0.1 over the region relevant to BAO studies. These statistical methods, developed in the context of the BOSS project, can easily be extended to any quasar selection and/or determination of their photometric redshift.

Published
2010
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21. THE BOSS Lyα FOREST SAMPLE FROM SDSS DATA RELEASE 9

Author

Nao Suzuki, Nicholas P. Ross, Stephen Bailey, David N. Spergel, Elena Malanushenko, Nicolás G. Busca, Rupert A. C. Croft, Éric Aubourg, Matteo Viel, Pasquier Noterdaeme, Garrett Ebelke, Britt Lundgren, Jian Ge, Khee-Gan Lee, Adam D. Myers, Jean-Marc Le Goff, Stephanie A. Snedden, Timothée Delubac, William Carithers, Daniel Margala, David J. Schlegel, Kyle S. Dawson, James Rich, Dmitry Bizyaev, Jean-Christophe Hamilton, Christophe Yèche, Patrick Petitjean, Daniel Oravetz, Joseph F. Hennawi, Benjamin A. Weaver, Julian E. Bautista, Viktor Malanushenko, Michael Blomqvist, Donald P. Schneider, Graziano Rossi, David H. Weinberg, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Matthew M. Pieri, Kaike Pan, Jordi Miralda-Escudé, Audrey Simmons, Anze Slosar, Arnaud Borde, D. Kirkby, Howard Brewington, Adam S. Bolton, Emmanuel Rollinde, Shirley Ho, Leslie E. Bartsch, Isabelle Paris, Andreu Font-Ribera, Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille, K. Honscheid, APC - Cosmologie, AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), SDSS-III, Physique Corpusculaire et Cosmologie - Collège de France (PCC), Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France (CdF)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University (PSL)-PSL Research University (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, and Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Subjects
Cosmology and Gravitation, [SDU.ASTR.CO]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], Continuum (design consultancy), Flux, Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics, 01 natural sciences, [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO], Settore FIS/05 - Astronomia e Astrofisica, 0103 physical sciences, 010303 astronomy & astrophysics, Physics, 010308 nuclear & particles physics, Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Quasar, Lyman-alpha forest, methods: data analysis, Redshift, quasars: absorption lines, quasars: emission lines, Data set, Boss, Space and Planetary Science, intergalactic medium, Baryon acoustic oscillations
Abstract

We present the BOSS Lyman-α (Lyα) Forest Sample from SDSS Data Release 9, comprising 54,468 quasar spectra with z qso > 2.15 suitable for Lyα forest analysis. This data set probes the intergalactic medium with absorption redshifts 2.0 < z α < 5.7 over an area of 3275 deg2, and encompasses an approximate comoving volume of 20 h –3 Gpc3. With each spectrum, we have included several products designed to aid in Lyα forest analysis: improved sky masks that flag pixels where data may be unreliable, corrections for known biases in the pipeline estimated noise, masks for the cores of damped Lyα systems and corrections for their wings, and estimates of the unabsorbed continua so that the observed flux can be converted to a fractional transmission. The continua are derived using a principal component fit to the quasar spectrum redward of rest-frame Lyα (λ > 1216 Å), extrapolated into the forest region and normalized by a linear function to fit the expected evolution of the Lyα forest mean flux. The estimated continuum errors are 5% rms. We also discuss possible systematics arising from uncertain spectrophotometry and artifacts in the flux calibration; global corrections for the latter are provided. Our sample provides a convenient starting point for users to analyze clustering in BOSS Lyα forest data, and it provides a fiducial data set that can be used to compare results from different analyses of baryon acoustic oscillations in the Lyα forest. The full data set is available from the SDSS-III DR9 Web site.

Published
2013
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