Baryon acoustic oscillation theory and modelling systematics for the DESI 2024 results

Journal Article · 05 September 2024 · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2090 · OSTI ID:2447527

Chen, S -F  ^[1]; Howlett, C  ^[2]; White, M  ^[3]; McDonald, P ^[4]; Ross, A J  ^[5]; Seo, H -J  ^[6]; Padmanabhan, N  ^[7]; Aguilar, J ^[4]; Ahlen, S ^[8]; Alam, S ^[9]; Alves, O ^[10]; Andrade, U ^[11]; Blum, R ^[12]; Brooks, D ^[13]; Chen, X ^[7]; Cole, S ^[14]; Dawson, K ^[15]; de la Macorra, A ^[16]; Dey, A ^[12]; Ding, Z ^[17] ; Doel, P ^[13]; Ferraro, S ^[18]; Font-Ribera, A ^[19]; Forero-Sánchez, D ^[20]; Forero-Romero, J E ^[21]; Garcia-Quintero, C ^[22]; Gaztañaga, E ^[23]; Gontcho, S G A ^[4]; Hanif, M M S ^[10]; Honscheid, K ^[24]; Kisner, T ^[4]; Kremin, A ^[4]; Lambert, A ^[4]; Landriau, M ^[4]; Levi, M E ^[4]; Manera, M ^[25]; Meisner, A ^[12]; Mena-Fernández, J ^[26]; Miquel, R ^[27]; Munoz-Gutierrez, A ^[16]; Paillas, E ^[28]; Palanque-Delabrouille, N ^[29]; Percival, W J ^[30]; Pérez-Fernández, A ^[31]; Prada, F ^[32]; Rashkovetskyi, M ^[33]; Rezaie, M ^[34]; Rosado-Marin, A ^[6]; Rossi, G ^[35]; Ruggeri, R ^[36]; Sanchez, E ^[37]; Schlegel, D ^[4]; Silber, J ^[4]; Tarlé, G ^[10]; Vargas-Magaña, M ^[16]; Weaver, B A ^[12]; Yu, J ^[20]; Yuan, S ^[38]; Zhou, R ^[4]; Zhou, Z ^[39]

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1. Institute for Advanced Study , 1 Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540 , USA
2. School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland , Brisbane, QLD 4072 , Australia
3. Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley , 366 LeConte Hall MC 7300, Berkeley, CA 94720-7300 , USA; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 , USA
4. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 , USA
5. Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, The Ohio State University , 191 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 , USA
6. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ohio University , Athens, OH 45701 , USA
7. Physics Department, Yale University , PO Box 208120, New Haven, CT 06511 , USA
8. Physics Department, Boston University , 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215 , USA
9. Department of Theoretical Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road , Mumbai 400005 , India
10. Department of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109 , USA
11. Department of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109 , USA; Leinweber Center for Theoretical Physics, University of Michigan , 450 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1040 , USA
12. NSF NOIRLab , 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719 , USA
13. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT , UK
14. Institute for Computational Cosmology, Department of Physics, Durham University , South Road, Durham DH1 3LE , UK
15. Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Utah , 115 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 , USA
16. Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , Cd. de México C.P. 04510 , México
17. Department of Astronomy, School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University , Shanghai 200240 , China
18. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 , USA; Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics, Department of Physics, University of California , Berkeley, 110 Sproul Hall 5800 Berkeley, CA 94720 , USA
19. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT , UK; Institut de Física dÕAltes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra Barcelona , Spain
20. Institute of Physics, Laboratory of Astrophysics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , CH-1015 Lausanne , Switzerland
21. Departamento de Física, Universidad de los Andes , Cra. 1 No. 18A-10, Edificio Ip, CP 111711, Bogotá , Colombia; Observatorio Astronómico, Universidad de los Andes , Cra. 1 No. 18A-10, Edificio H, CP 111711, Bogotá , Colombia
22. Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 , USA; Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Dallas , Richardson, TX 75080 , USA
23. Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC) , E-08034 Barcelona , Spain; Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Dennis Sciama Building , Portsmouth, PO1 3FX , UK; Institute of Space Sciences, ICE-CSIC, Campus UAB, Carrer de Can Magrans s/n , E-08913 Bellaterra, Barcelona , Spain
24. Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, The Ohio State University , 191 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 , USA; Department of Physics, The Ohio State University , 191 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 , USA; The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH 43210 , USA
25. Institut de Física dÕAltes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra Barcelona , Spain; Departament de Física, Serra Húnter, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona , E-08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
26. Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie , 53 Avenue des Martyrs, F-38000 Grenoble , France
27. Institut de Física dÕAltes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra Barcelona , Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Passeig de Lluís Companys , 23, E-08010 Barcelona , Spain
28. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo , 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 , Canada; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, University of Waterloo , 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 , Canada
29. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 , USA; IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay , F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette , France
30. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo , 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 , Canada; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, University of Waterloo , 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 , Canada; Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics , 31 Caroline St. North, Waterloo, ON N2L 2Y5 , Canada
31. Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , Cd. de México C.P. 04510 , México; Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics , Gießenbachstraße 1, D-85748 Garching , Germany
32. Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC), Glorieta de la Astronomía , s/n, E-18008 Granada , Spain
33. Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 , USA
34. Department of Physics, Kansas State University , 116 Cardwell Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506 , USA
35. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sejong University , Seoul 143-747 , Korea
36. School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland , Brisbane, QLD 4072 , Australia; Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , P.O. Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122 , Australia
37. CIEMAT, Avenida Complutense 40 , E-28040 Madrid , Spain
38. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory , Menlo Park, CA 94305 , USA
39. National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences , A20 Datun Rd., Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100012 , PR China

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of how fitting of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) is carried out within the upcoming Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument’s (DESI) 2024 results using its DR1 data set, and the associated systematic error budget from theory and modelling of the BAO. We derive new results showing how non-linearities in the clustering of galaxies can cause potential biases in measurements of the isotropic (⁠α_iso⁠) and anisotropic (⁠α_ap) BAO distance scales, and how these can be effectively removed with an appropriate choice of reconstruction algorithm. We then demonstrate how theory leads to a clear choice for how to model the BAO and develop, implement, and validate a new model for the remaining smooth-broad-band (i.e. without BAO) component of the galaxy clustering. Finally, we explore the impact of all remaining modelling choices on the BAO constraints from DESI using a suite of high-precision simulations, arriving at a set of best practices for DESI BAO fits, and an associated theory and modelling systematic error. Overall, our results demonstrate the remarkable robustness of the BAO to all our modelling choices and motivate a combined theory and modelling systematic error contribution to the post-reconstruction DESI BAO measurements of no more than 0.1 per cent (0.2 per cent) for its isotropic (anisotropic) distance measurements. We expect the theory and best practices laid out to here to be applicable to other BAO experiments in the era of DESI and beyond.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Astronomical Sciences; USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Contributing Organization: DESI collaboration
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231; SC0009959; SC0019091; SC0023241
• OSTI ID: 2447527
• Journal Information: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 534; ISSN 0035-8711; ISSN 1365-2966
• Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English