A topological analysis of large-scale structure, studied using the CMASS sample of SDSS-III
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Peyton Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-1001 (United States)
- Department of Physics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Space Science, Kyung Hee University, Gyeonggi 446-701 (Korea, Republic of)
- Center for Advanced Computation, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Heogiro 85, Seoul 130-722 (Korea, Republic of)
- School of Space Research, Kyung Hee University, Gyeonggi 446-701 (Korea, Republic of)
- New York University Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 129188, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, 115 S 1400 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States)
We study the three-dimensional genus topology of large-scale structure using the northern region of the CMASS Data Release 10 (DR10) sample of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We select galaxies with redshift 0.452 < z < 0.625 and with a stellar mass M {sub stellar} > 10{sup 11.56} M {sub ☉}. We study the topology at two smoothing lengths: R {sub G} = 21 h {sup –1} Mpc and R {sub G} = 34 h {sup –1} Mpc. The genus topology studied at the R {sub G} = 21 h {sup –1} Mpc scale results in the highest genus amplitude observed to date. The CMASS sample yields a genus curve that is characteristic of one produced by Gaussian random phase initial conditions. The data thus support the standard model of inflation where random quantum fluctuations in the early universe produced Gaussian random phase initial conditions. Modest deviations in the observed genus from random phase are as expected from shot noise effects and the nonlinear evolution of structure. We suggest the use of a fitting formula motivated by perturbation theory to characterize the shift and asymmetries in the observed genus curve with a single parameter. We construct 54 mock SDSS CMASS surveys along the past light cone from the Horizon Run 3 (HR3) N-body simulations, where gravitationally bound dark matter subhalos are identified as the sites of galaxy formation. We study the genus topology of the HR3 mock surveys with the same geometry and sampling density as the observational sample and find the observed genus topology to be consistent with ΛCDM as simulated by the HR3 mock samples. We conclude that the topology of the large-scale structure in the SDSS CMASS sample is consistent with cosmological models having primordial Gaussian density fluctuations growing in accordance with general relativity to form galaxies in massive dark matter halos.
- OSTI ID:
- 22370177
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 796, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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