A first model-independent radial BAO constraint from the final BOSS sample
ABSTRACT Using almost one million galaxies from the final Data Release 12 of the SDSS’s Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), we have obtained, albeit with low significance, a first model-independent determination of the radial baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) peak with 9 per cent error: ΔzBAO(zeff = 0.51) = 0.0456 ± 0.0042. In order to obtain this measurement, the radial correlation function was computed in 7700 angular pixels, from which the mean correlation function and covariance matrix were obtained, making the analysis completely model-independent. This novel method of obtaining the covariance matrix was validated via comparison with 500 BOSS mock catalogues. This ΔzBAO determination can be used to constrain the background expansion of exotic models for which the assumptions adopted in the standard analysis cannot be satisfied. Future galaxy catalogues from J-PAS, DESI, and Euclid are expected to significantly increase the quality and significance of model-independent determinations of the BAO peak, possibly determined at various redshift and angular positions. We stress that it is imperative to test the standard paradigm in a model-independent way in order to test its foundations, maximize the extraction of information from the data, and look for clues regarding the poorly understood dark energy and dark matter.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI ID:
- 1632212
- Journal Information:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 487; ISSN 0035-8711
- Publisher:
- Oxford University PressCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
The completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: large-scale structure catalogues and measurement of the isotropic BAO between redshift 0.6 and 1.1 for the Emission Line Galaxy Sample
The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: tomographic BAO analysis of DR12 combined sample in configuration space