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  1. ELG×LRG Distribution through Dark Matter Halo Dynamics

    Abstract We investigate the clustering and halo occupation distribution (HOD) of DESI Y1 emission-line (ELGs) and luminous red (LRGs) galaxies at 0.8 <  z  < 1.1, including their cross-correlation (ELG×LRG), using the AbacusSummit suite and a new Halo Occupation Model ( Hom e) for galaxy multitracers. This integrates intrahalo dynamics, halo exclusion, and quenching, bridging insights from hydrodynamical, HOD, abundance-matching, and semianalytic studies. Leveraging full phase-space information from the Uchuu N -body simulation, and sampling satellites from dark-matter particle positions via physically motivated prescriptions, Hom e reproduces the anisotropic clustering down to s  = 200 h −1 kpc with unprecedented accuracy. Model parametersmore » are inferred solely from two-point statistics using a two-level Bayesian framework, yielding high-fidelity ELG, LRG, and cross-reference catalogs. We find that satellite ELGs behave as incoherent flows within their parent halos, dominating the clustering below 4 h −1 Mpc. The HOD from the best-fit Hom e has the following properties: (i) 90.50% (85.91%) of ELGs (LRGs) are central galaxies without satellites, residing in halos of M vir  ∼ 6.6 × 10 11 (1.2 × 10 13 ) h −1 M ⊙ ; (ii) the ELG×LRG cross-correlation is governed by central-central pairs and shaped by halo exclusion on 2–5 h −1 Mpc scales; (iii) 9.50% (14.09%) of ELGs (LRGs) are satellites, of which 1.09% (3.52%) inhabit halos with a central galaxy of the same species in a maximally conformal configuration, 7.02% (0.005%) orbit complementary hosts in a minimally conformal state, and 0.58% (10.57%) are orphans. The high sensitivity of Hom e precisely captures the dynamics of satellites in different host environments, opening a promising avenue for understanding systematics and the dynamical nature of dark matter, potentially distinguishing gravity models.« less
  2. Fast baryonic field painting for Sunyaev-Zel’dovich analyses: Transfer function vs hybrid effective field theory

    We present two approaches for “painting” baryonic properties relevant to the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (SZ) effect—optical depth and Compton-y—onto three-dimensional N-body simulations, using the MillenniumTNG suite as a benchmark. The goal of these methods is to produce fast and accurate reconstruction methods to aid future analyses of baryonic feedback using the SZ effect. The first approach employs a Gaussian process emulator to model the SZ quantities via a transfer function, while the second utilizes hybrid effective field theory (HEFT) to reproduce these quantities within the simulation. Our analysis involves comparing both methods to the true MillenniumTNG optical depth and Compton-y fields usingmore » several metrics, including the cross-correlation coefficient, power spectrum, and power spectrum error. Additionally, we assess how well the reconstructed fields correlate with dark matter haloes across various mass thresholds. The results indicate that the transfer function method yields more accurate reconstructions for fields with initially high correlations (r≈1), such as between the optical depth and dark matter fields. Conversely, the HEFT-based approach proves more effective in enhancing correlations for fields with weaker initial correlations (r∼0.5), such as between the Compton-y and dark matter fields. Lastly, we discuss extensions of our methods to improve the reconstruction performance at the field level.« less
  3. Mapping the gas density with the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich and patchy screening effects: A self-consistent comparison

    The secondary anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) provide a wealth of astrophysical and cosmological information. Pairing measurements of the CMB temperature map obtained by DR5 of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) with the imaging survey conducted by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument for the purposes of target selection, DECaLS DR9, we investigate two effects that are sensitive to the gas density 𝜏: kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (kSZ) and patchy screening or anisotropic screening (resulting from the Thomson scattering of CMB photons away from the line-of-sight by free electrons). In particular, we measure the stacked profiles of the gas density aroundmore » luminous red galaxies (LRGs) at a mean redshift of 𝑧 ≈ 0.7. We detect the kSZ signal at 7.2⁢𝜎, and we find a signal at ∼ 4.1⁢𝜎 for the patchy screening estimator, which is in excess relative to the kSZ signal. We attribute this excess to contamination from CMB lensing. Here, we demonstrate the effect of lensing using 𝑁-body simulations, and we show that the screening signal is dominated by it. Accounting for lensing, our measurement places a 95% upper bound on the optical depth of the Extended DESI LRG sample of 𝜏 < 2.5 10−4 for a mean value of the sample of 𝜏 ≈ 1.6 10−4. Furthermore, via hydro simulations, we show that the underlying optical depth signal measured by both effects (after removing the CMB lensing contribution) is in perfect agreement when adopting either a compensated aperture photometry (CAP) filter or a high-pass filter. Consistent with previous measurements, we see evidence for excess baryonic feedback around DESI LRGs in the patchy screening measurement. In the future, when both effects can be measured with high signal-to-noise, one can measure the amplitude ratio between them, which is proportional to the root-mean-square velocity of the host halo sample, and even place constraints on velocity-sensitive models such as modified gravity and phantom dark energy.« less
  4. Detection of the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect and pairwise velocity with DESI DR1 galaxies and ACT DR6 and Planck CMB data

    We present a 9.3⁢𝜎 detection of the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (kSZ) effect by combining a sample of 913,286 Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Data Release 1 (DESI DR1) catalog and coadded Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT DR6) and Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature maps. This represents the highest-significance pairwise kSZ measurement to date. The analysis uses three ACT CMB temperature maps: coadded 150 GHz, total frequency maps, and a component separated Internal Linear Combination (ILC) map, all of which cover 19,000 square degrees of the sky from Advanced ACTPol observations conducted between 2017 and 2022.more » Comparison of the results of these three maps serves as a consistency check for potential foreground contamination that may depend on the observation frequency. An estimate of the best-fit mass-averaged optical depth is obtained by comparing the pairwise kSZ curve with the linear theory prediction of the pairwise velocity under the best-fit Planck cosmology and is compared with predictions from simulations. This estimate serves as a reference point for future comparisons with thermal SZ–derived optical depth measurements for the same DESI cluster samples, which will be presented in a companion paper. Finally, we employ a machine learning approach, trained on simulations to estimate the optical depth for 456,803 DESI LRG-identified clusters within the simulated mass range ( ≳ 1013 ⁢𝑀). These are combined with the measured kSZ signal to infer the individual cluster peculiar velocities, providing the opportunity to constrain the behavior of gravity and the dark sector over a range of cosmic scales and epochs.« less
  5. Probing cosmic velocities with the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich signal in DESI Bright Galaxy Sample DR1 and ACT DR6

    We present a measurement of the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (kSZ) signal using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Bright Galaxy Sample (BGS) Data Release 1 (DR1) galaxy sample overlapping with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) CMB temperature map. Our analysis makes use of 1.6 million galaxies with stellar masses log⁡ 𝑀/𝑀 >10, and we explore measurements across a range of aperture sizes (2.1′ <𝜃ap <3.5′) and stellar mass selections. This statistic directly probes the velocity field of the large-scale structure, a unique observable of cosmic dynamics and modified gravity. In particular, at low redshifts, this quantity is especially interesting, asmore » deviations from General Relativity are expected to be largest. Notably, our result represents the highest-significance low-redshift (𝑧 ∼ 0.3) detection of the kSZ pairwise effect yet. In our most optimal configuration (𝜃ap =3.3′, log⁡ 𝑀 >11), we achieve a 5⁢𝜎 detection. Assuming that an estimate of the optical depth and galaxy bias of the sample exists via e.g., external observables, this measurement constrains the fundamental cosmological combination 𝐻0⁡𝑓⁡𝜎$$^2_8$$. A key challenge is the degeneracy with the galaxy optical depth. We address this by combining CMB lensing, which allows us to infer the halo mass and galaxy population properties, with hydrodynamical simulation estimates of the mean optical depth, $$\bar{𝜏}$$ . We stress that this is a proof-of-concept analysis; with BGS DR2 data we expect to improve the statistical precision by roughly a factor of two, paving the way toward robust tests of modified gravity with kSZ-informed velocity-field measurements at low redshift.« less
  6. Bias-hardened estimators of patchy screening profiles

    Detecting anisotropic screening of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) holds the promise of revealing the distribution of gas in the Universe, characterizing the complex processes of galaxy formation and feedback, and studying the epoch of reionization. Estimators for inhomogeneous screening, including some recently proposed small-scale (stacked) estimators, are quadratic or higher order in the CMB temperature or polarization fields and are therefore subject to contamination from CMB lensing. We review the origin of this lensing bias and show that, when stacking on unWISE galaxies, the expected lensing bias dominates the signal if left unmitigated. Hardening techniques that null the lensingmore » bias have been proposed for standard quadratic estimators, whereas only approximate methods have been proposed for stacked estimators. In conclusion, we review these techniques and apply the former to stacked estimators, presenting several strategies (including the optimal strategy) to null lensing contamination when stacking on any large-scale structure tracer.« less
  7. Missing baryons recovered: A measurement of the gas fraction in galaxies and groups with the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect and CMB lensing

    We present new constraints on the halo masses and matter density profiles of DESI galaxy groups by cross-correlating samples of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) and bright galaxy survey (BGS) galaxies with the publicly available CMB lensing convergence map from ACT DR6. This provides an independent, lensing-based calibration of halo masses, complementary to methods relying on clustering or dynamics. We derive constraints on the mean halo mass for three DESI-selected samples, finding log⁡(𝑀halo/(𝑀/ℎ)) ≈ 13.18, 13.03 and 13.02 for the main LRG, extended LRG, and BGS samples, respectively. Using a halo model approach, we also compare the projected galaxy-matter density profilesmore » with previously reported gas profiles inferred from measurements of the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (kSZ) effect. This work addresses one of the key uncertainties in interpreting kSZ signals—the unknown host halo mass distribution—by providing an independent and consistent mass calibration. The agreement between the gas and total mass profiles at large aperture suggests that sufficiently far from the group center (2–3 virial radii), we recover all the baryons, offering a resolution to the missing baryon problem. We further study the cumulative gas fractions for all galaxies as well as for the most massive galaxy groups in the sample [log⁡(𝑀halo/(𝑀/ℎ)) ≈ 13.5], finding values that are physically sensible and in agreement with previous findings using kSZ and x-ray data: compared to the TNG300 simulation, the observed gas fractions are systematically lower at fixed radius by ≳ 4⁢𝜎, providing compelling, independent evidence for stronger baryonic feedback in the real Universe. These findings highlight the power of combining CMB lensing with galaxy surveys to probe the interplay between baryons and dark matter in group-sized halos.« less
  8. Refining localtype primordial non-Gaussianity: Sharpened bϕ constraints through bias expansion

    Local-type primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG), predicted by many nonminimal models of inflation, creates a scale-dependent contribution to the power spectrum of large-scale structure tracers. Its amplitude is characterized by the product bϕfNLloc, where bϕ is an astrophysical parameter dependent on the properties of the tracer. However, bϕ exhibits significant secondary dependence on halo concentration and other astrophysical properties, which may bias and weaken the constraints on fNLloc. In this work, we demonstrate that incorporating knowledge of the relation between Lagrangian bias parameters and bϕ can significantly enhance PNG constraints. We employ the hybrid effective field theory approach at the field levelmore » and a linear regression model to seek a connection between the bias parameters and bϕ for halo and galaxy samples, constructed using the abacussummit simulation suite and mimicking the luminous red galaxies and quasistellar objects of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument survey. For the fixed-mass halo samples, our full bias model reduces the uncertainty by more than 70%, with most of that improvement coming from b∇, which we find to be an excellent proxy for concentration. For the galaxy samples, our model reduces the uncertainty on bϕ by 80% for all tracers. By adopting Lagrangian-bias informed priors on the parameter bϕ, future analyses can thus constrain fNLloc with less bias and smaller errors.« less
  9. Measuring and unbiasing the BAO shift in the Ly α forest with AbacusSummit

    ABSTRACT The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) places sub- per cent constraints on measurements of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) scaling parameters from the Ly $$\alpha$$ forest. However, no systematic error budget stemming from non-linearities in the three-dimensional clustering of the Ly $$\alpha$$ forest is included in the DESI-Ly $$\alpha$$ analysis. In this work, we measure the size of the shift of the BAO peak using large Ly $$\alpha$$ forest mocks produced on the N-body simulation suite AbacusSummit, which adopt the Fluctuating–Gunn–Peterson Approximation (FGPA). Specifically, we measure the Ly $$\alpha$$ autocorrelation and the Ly $$\alpha$$-quasar cross-correlation functions. To mitigate the noise,more » we adopt a linear control variates technique, reducing the error bars by a factor of up to $$\sim \sqrt{50}$$ on large scales. From the autocorrelation, we detect a small positive shift in radial direction of $$\Delta \alpha _{\parallel }= 0.35~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$ at the 3$$\sigma$$ level and virtually no shift in the transverse direction, $$\alpha _\perp$$. From the cross-correlation, we see a similar shift to $$\Delta \alpha _\parallel$$, albeit with larger error bars, and a small negative shift, $$\Delta \alpha _{\perp }=\sim$$0.25  per cent, at the 2$$\sigma$$ level. We also make a connection with the Ly $$\alpha$$ forest effective field theory (EFT) framework and find that the one-loop EFT power spectrum yields unbiased measurements of the BAO shift parameters in radial and transverse direction for Ly $$\alpha$$ auto- and the Ly $$\alpha$$-quasar cross-correlation measurements. When using the one-loop EFT framework, we find that we can recover the BAO parameters without a shift, which has important implications for future Ly $$\alpha$$ forest analyses based on EFT. This work paves the way for novel full-shape analyses of the currently observing DESI and future surveys such as the PFS, WEAVE-QSO, and 4MOST.« less
  10. High-redshift millennium and astrid galaxies in effective field theory at the field level

    Effective field theory (EFT) modeling is expected to be a useful tool in the era of future higher-redshift galaxy surveys such as DESI-II and Spec-S5 due to its robust description of various large-scale structure tracers. However, large values of EFT bias parameters of higher-redshift galaxies could jeopardize the convergence of the perturbative expansion. Here, in this paper we measure the bias parameters and other EFT coefficients from samples of two types of star-forming galaxies in the state-of-the-art MilleniumTNG and astrid hydrodynamical simulations. Our measurements are based on the field-level EFT forward model that allows for precision EFT parameter measurements bymore » virtue of cosmic variance cancellation. Specifically, we consider approximately representative samples of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) and Lyman-𝛼 emitters (LAEs) that are consistent with the observed (angular) clustering and number density of these galaxies at 𝑧 = 3. Reproducing the linear biases and number densities observed from existing LAE and LBG data, we find quadratic bias parameters that are roughly consistent with those predicted from the halo model coupled with a simple halo occupation distribution model. We also find nonperturbative velocity contributions (fingers of God) of a similar size for LBGs to the familiar case of luminous red galaxies. However, these contributions are quite small for LAEs despite their large satellite fraction values of up to ∼ 30%. Our results indicate that the effective momentum reach 𝑘max at 𝑧 = 3 for LAEs (LBGs) will be in the range 0.3−0.6⁢ℎ Mpc−1 (0.2−0.8⁢ℎ Mpc−1), suggesting that EFT will perform well for high-redshift galaxy clustering. This work provides the first step toward obtaining realistic simulation-based priors on EFT parameters for LAEs and LBGs.« less
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"Hadzhiyska, Boryana"

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