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Anderson, L. et al, de Putter, R., & Mena, O. (2012). The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: baryon acoustic oscillations in the Data Release 9 spectroscopic galaxy sample. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 427(4), 3435–3467.
Abstract: We present measurements of galaxy clustering from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III). These use the Data Release 9 (DR9) CMASS sample, which contains 264 283 massive galaxies covering 3275 square degrees with an effective redshift z = 0.57 and redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.7. Assuming a concordance Lambda CDM cosmological model, this sample covers an effective volume of 2.2 Gpc(3), and represents the largest sample of the Universe ever surveyed at this density, (n) over bar approximate to 3 x 10(-4) h(-3) Mpc(3). We measure the angle-averaged galaxy correlation function and power spectrum, including density-field reconstruction of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature. The acoustic features are detected at a significance of 5 sigma in both the correlation function and power spectrum. Combining with the SDSS-II luminous red galaxy sample, the detection significance increases to 6.7 sigma. Fitting for the position of the acoustic features measures the distance to z = 0.57 relative to the sound horizon D-V/r(s) = 13.67 +/ 0.22 at z = 0.57. Assuming a fiducial sound horizon of 153.19 Mpc, which matches cosmic microwave background constraints, this corresponds to a distance D-V (z = 0.57) = 2094 +/- 34 Mpc. At 1.7 per cent, this is the most precise distance constraint ever obtained from a galaxy survey. We place this result alongside previous BAO measurements in a cosmological distance ladder and find excellent agreement with the current supernova measurements. We use these distance measurements to constrain various cosmological models, finding continuing support for a flat Universe with a cosmological constant.
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Dawson, K. S. et al, de Putter, R., & Mena, O. (2013). The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III. Astron. J., 145(1), 10–41pp.
Abstract: The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is designed to measure the scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter over a larger volume than the combined efforts of all previous spectroscopic surveys of large-scale structure. BOSS uses 1.5 million luminous galaxies as faint as i = 19.9 over 10,000 deg(2) to measure BAO to redshifts z < 0.7. Observations of neutral hydrogen in the Ly alpha forest in more than 150,000 quasar spectra (g < 22) will constrain BAO over the redshift range 2.15 < z < 3.5. Early results from BOSS include the first detection of the large-scale three-dimensional clustering of the Ly alpha forest and a strong detection from the Data Release 9 data set of the BAO in the clustering of massive galaxies at an effective redshift z = 0.57. We project that BOSS will yield measurements of the angular diameter distance d(A) to an accuracy of 1.0% at redshifts z = 0.3 and z = 0.57 and measurements of H(z) to 1.8% and 1.7% at the same redshifts. Forecasts for Ly alpha forest constraints predict a measurement of an overall dilation factor that scales the highly degenerate D-A(z) and H-1(z) parameters to an accuracy of 1.9% at z similar to 2.5 when the survey is complete. Here, we provide an overview of the selection of spectroscopic targets, planning of observations, and analysis of data and data quality of BOSS.
Keywords: cosmology: observations; surveys
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Lopez-Honorez, L., Mena, O., Moline, A., Palomares-Ruiz, S., & Vincent, A. C. (2016). The 21 cm signal and the interplay between dark matter annihilations and astrophysical processes. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 08(8), 004–40pp.
Abstract: Future dedicated radio interferometers, including HERA and SKA, are very promising tools that aim to study the epoch of reionization and beyond via measurements of the 21 cm signal from neutral hydrogen. Dark matter (DM) annihilations into charged particles change the thermal history of the Universe and, as a consequence, affect the 21 cm signal. Accurately predicting the effect of DM strongly relies on the modeling of annihilations inside halos. In this work, we use up-to-date computations of the energy deposition rates by the products from DM annihilations, a proper treatment of the contribution from DM annihilations in halos, as well as values of the annihilation cross section allowed by the most recent cosmological measurements from the Planck satellite. Given current uncertainties on the description of the astrophysical processes driving the epochs of reionization, X-ray heating and Lyman-alpha pumping, we find that disentangling DM signatures from purely astrophysical effects, related to early-time star formation processes or late-time galaxy X-ray emissions, will be a challenging task. We conclude that only annihilations of DM particles with masses of similar to 100 MeV, could leave an unambiguous imprint on the 21 cm signal and, in particular, on the 21cm power spectrum. This is in contrast to previous, more optimistic results in the literature, which have claimed that strong signatures might also be present even for much higher DM masses. Additional measurements of the 21cm signal at different cosmic epochs will be crucial in order to break the strong parameter degeneracies between DM annihilations and astrophysical effects and undoubtedly single out a DM imprint for masses different from similar to 100 MeV.
Keywords: dark matter theory; intergalactic media; reionization
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Giusarma, E., de Putter, R., & Mena, O. (2013). Testing standard and nonstandard neutrino physics with cosmological data. Phys. Rev. D, 87(4), 043515–9pp.
Abstract: Cosmological constraints on the sum of neutrino masses and on the effective number of neutrino species in standard and nonstandard scenarios are computed using the most recent available cosmological data. Our cosmological data sets include the measurement of the baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature in the data release 9 CMASS sample of the baryon oscillation spectroscopic survey. We study in detail the different degeneracies among the parameters, as well as the impact of the different data sets used in the analyses. When considering bounds on the sum of the three active neutrino masses, the information in the BAO signal from galaxy clustering measurements is approximately equally powerful as the shape information from the matter power spectrum. The most stringent bound we find is Sigma m(nu) < 0.32 eV at 95% C.L. When nonstandard neutrino scenarios with N-eff massless or massive neutrino species are examined, power spectrum shape measurements provide slightly better bounds than the BAO signal only, due to the breaking of parameter degeneracies. Cosmic microwave background data from high multipoles from the South Pole Telescope turns out to be crucial for extracting the number of effective neutrino species. Recent baryon oscillation spectroscopic survey data combined with cosmic microwave background and Hubble Space Telescope measurements give N-eff = 3.66(-0.21-0.69)(+0.20+0.73) in the massless neutrino scenario, and similar results are obtained in the massive case. The evidence for extra radiation N-eff > 3 often claimed in the literature therefore remains at the 2 sigma level when considering up-to-date cosmological data sets. Measurements from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe combined with a prior on the Hubble parameter from the Hubble Space Telescope are very powerful in constraining either the sum of the three active neutrino masses or the number of massless neutrino species. If the former two parameters are allowed to freely vary, however, the bounds from the combination of these two cosmological probes get worse by an order of magnitude.
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Gerbino, M. et al, Martinez-Mirave, P., Mena, O., Tortola, M., & Valle, J. W.. (2023). Synergy between cosmological and laboratory searches in neutrino physics. Phys. Dark Universe, 42, 101333–36pp.
Abstract: The intersection of the cosmic and neutrino frontiers is a rich field where much discovery space still remains. Neutrinos play a pivotal role in the hot big bang cosmology, influencing the dynamics of the universe over numerous decades in cosmological history. Recent studies have made tremendous progress in understanding some properties of cosmological neutrinos, primarily their energy density. Upcoming cosmological probes will measure the energy density of relativistic particles with higher precision, but could also start probing other properties of the neutrino spectra. When convolved with results from terrestrial experiments, cosmology can become even more acute at probing new physics related to neutrinos or even Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Any discordance between laboratory and cosmological data sets may reveal new BSM physics and/or suggest alternative models of cosmology. We give examples of the intersection between terrestrial and cosmological probes in the neutrino sector, and briefly discuss the possibilities of what different laboratory experiments may see in conjunction with cosmological observatories.
Keywords: Neutrinos; Cosmology; Neutrino phenomenology
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