Blinding multiprobe cosmological experiments

Journal Article · 14 April 2020 · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa965 · OSTI ID:1617058

Muir, J.  ^[1]; Bernstein, G. M. ^[2]; Huterer, D. ^[3]; Elsner, F.  ^[4]; Krause, E. ^[5]; Roodman, A. ^[6]; Allam, S. ^[7]; Annis, J. ^[7]; Avila, S. ^[8]; Bechtol, K. ^[9]; Bertin, E. ^[10]; Brooks, D. ^[11]; Buckley-Geer, E. ^[7]; Burke, D. L. ^[6]; Carnero Rosell, A. ^[12]; Carrasco Kind, M. ^[13]; Carretero, J. ^[14]; Cawthon, R. ^[15]; Costanzi, M. ^[16]; da Costa, L. N. ^[17] ; De Vicente, J. ^[18]; Desai, S. ^[19]; Dietrich, J. P. ^[20]; Doel, P. ^[11]; Eifler, T. F. ^[21]; Everett, S. ^[22]; Fosalba, P. ^[23]; Frieman, J. ^[24]; García-Bellido, J. ^[8]; Gerdes, D. W. ^[25]; Gruen, D. ^[26]; Gruendl, R. A. ^[13]; Gschwend, J. ^[17]; Hartley, W. G. ^[27]; Hollowood, D. L. ^[22]; James, D. J. ^[28]; Jarvis, M. ^[2]; Kuehn, K. ^[29]; Kuropatkin, N. ^[7]; Lahav, O. ^[11]; March, M. ^[2]; Marshall, J. L. ^[30]; Melchior, P. ^[31]; Menanteau, F. ^[13]; Miquel, R. ^[32]; Ogando, R. L. C. ^[17]; Palmese, A. ^[24]; Paz-Chinchón, F. ^[13]; Plazas, A. A. ^[31]; Romer, A. K. ^[33]; Sanchez, E. ^[18]; Scarpine, V. ^[7]; Schubnell, M. ^[3]; Serrano, S. ^[23]; Sevilla-Noarbe, I. ^[18]; Smith, M. ^[34]; Suchyta, E. ^[35]; Tarle, G. ^[3]; Thomas, D. ^[36]; Troxel, M. A. ^[37]; Walker, A. R. ^[38]; Weller, J. ^[39]; Wester, W. ^[7]; Zuntz, J. ^[40]

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1. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, PO Box 2450, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA, Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
3. Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
4. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany
5. Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721-0065, USA
6. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, PO Box 2450, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
7. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, PO Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA
8. Instituto de Fisica Teorica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, E-28049 Madrid, Spain
9. LSST, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA, Physics Department, 2320 Chamberlin Hall, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1150 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706-1390, USA
10. CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, F-75014 Paris, France, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, F-75014 Paris, France
11. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
12. Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), E-28040 Madrid, Spain, Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia – LIneA, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ-20921-400, Brazil
13. Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1002 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, 1205 West Clark St., Urbana, IL 61801, USA
14. Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
15. Physics Department, 2320 Chamberlin Hall, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1150 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706-1390, USA
16. INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via G. B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143 Trieste, Italy, Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe, Via Beirut 2, I-34014 Trieste, Italy
17. Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia – LIneA, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ-20921-400, Brazil, Observatório Nacional, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ-20921-400, Brazil
18. Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), E-28040 Madrid, Spain
19. Department of Physics, IIT Hyderabad, Kandi, Telangana 502285, India
20. Excellence Cluster Origins, Boltzmannstr. 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany, Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Scheinerstr. 1, D-81679 Munich, Germany
21. Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721-0065, USA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
22. Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
23. Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), E-08034 Barcelona, Spain, Institute of Space Sciences (ICE, CSIC), Campus UAB, Carrer de Can Magrans, s/n, E-08193 Barcelona, Spain
24. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, PO Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
25. Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA, Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
26. Department of Physics, Stanford University, 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, PO Box 2450, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
27. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK, Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 16, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
28. Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
29. Australian Astronomical Optics, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2113, Australia, Lowell Observatory, 1400 Mars Hill Rd, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA
30. George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
31. Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
32. Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, E-08010 Barcelona, Spain
33. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Pevensey Building, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
34. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
35. Computer Science and Mathematics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
36. Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3FX, UK
37. Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
38. Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Casilla 603, La Serena, Chile
39. Excellence Cluster Origins, Boltzmannstr. 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse, D-85748 Garching, Germany, Universitäts-Sternwarte, Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Scheinerstr. 1, D-81679 München, Germany
40. Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK

ABSTRACT The goal of blinding is to hide an experiment’s critical results – here the inferred cosmological parameters – until all decisions affecting its analysis have been finalized. This is especially important in the current era of precision cosmology, when the results of any new experiment are closely scrutinized for consistency or tension with previous results. In analyses that combine multiple observational probes, like the combination of galaxy clustering and weak lensing in the Dark Energy Survey (DES), it is challenging to blind the results while retaining the ability to check for (in)consistency between different parts of the data. We propose a simple new blinding transformation, which works by modifying the summary statistics that are input to parameter estimation, such as two-point correlation functions. The transformation shifts the measured statistics to new values that are consistent with (blindly) shifted cosmological parameters while preserving internal (in)consistency. We apply the blinding transformation to simulated data for the projected DES Year 3 galaxy clustering and weak lensing analysis, demonstrating that practical blinding is achieved without significant perturbation of internal-consistency checks, as measured here by degradation of the χ2 between the data and best-fitting model. Our blinding method’s performance is expected to improve as experiments evolve to higher precision and accuracy.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR); USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25)
• Contributing Organization: DES Collaboration
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231; AC02-07CH11359; AC02-76SF00515; AC05-00OR22725; FG02-95ER40899; SC0007859; SC0007901; SC0019193
• OSTI ID: 1617058
• Report Number(s): DES--2019-0427; FERMILAB-PUB--19-563-AE; arXiv:1911.05929
• Journal Information: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 494; ISSN 0035-8711
• Publisher: Royal Astronomical SocietyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English