No Arabic abstract
We present results from the 2D anisotropic Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) signal present in the final dataset from the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey. We analyse the WiggleZ data in two ways: firstly using the full shape of the 2D correlation function and secondly focussing only on the position of the BAO peak in the reconstructed data set. When fitting for the full shape of the 2D correlation function we use a multipole expansion to compare with theory. When we use the reconstructed data we marginalise over the shape and just measure the position of the BAO peak, analysing the data in wedges separating the signal along the line of sight from that parallel to the line of sight. We verify our method with mock data and find the results to be free of bias or systematic offsets. We also redo the pre-reconstruction angle averaged (1D) WiggleZ BAO analysis with an improved covariance and present an updated result. The final results are presented in the form of $Omega_c h^2$, $H(z)$, and $D_A(z)$ for three redshift bins with effective redshifts $z = 0.44$, $0.60$, and $0.73$. Within these bins and methodologies, we recover constraints between 5% and 22% error. Our cosmological constraints are consistent with Flat $Lambda$CDM cosmology and agree with results from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS).
We derive constraints on cosmological parameters and tests of dark energy models from the combination of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements with cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Type Ia supernova (SN) data. We take advantage of high-precision BAO measurements from galaxy clustering and the Ly-alpha forest (LyaF) in the BOSS survey of SDSS-III. BAO data alone yield a high confidence detection of dark energy, and in combination with the CMB angular acoustic scale they further imply a nearly flat universe. Combining BAO and SN data into an inverse distance ladder yields a 1.7% measurement of $H_0=67.3 pm1.1$ km/s/Mpc. This measurement assumes standard pre-recombination physics but is insensitive to assumptions about dark energy or space curvature, so agreement with CMB-based estimates that assume a flat LCDM cosmology is an important corroboration of this minimal cosmological model. For open LCDM, our BAO+SN+CMB combination yields $Omega_m=0.301 pm 0.008$ and curvature $Omega_k=-0.003 pm 0.003$. When we allow more general forms of evolving dark energy, the BAO+SN+CMB parameter constraints remain consistent with flat LCDM. While the overall $chi^2$ of model fits is satisfactory, the LyaF BAO measurements are in moderate (2-2.5 sigma) tension with model predictions. Models with early dark energy that tracks the dominant energy component at high redshifts remain consistent with our constraints. Expansion history alone yields an upper limit of 0.56 eV on the summed mass of neutrino species, improving to 0.26 eV if we include Planck CMB lensing. Standard dark energy models constrained by our data predict a level of matter clustering that is high compared to most, but not all, observational estimates. (Abridged)
In the paper, we consider two models in which dark energy is coupled with either dust matter or dark matter, and discuss the conditions that allow more time for structure formation to take place at high redshifts. These models are expected to have a larger age of the universe than that of $Lambda$CDM [universe consists of cold dark matter (CDM) and dark energy (a cosmological constant, $Lambda$)], so it can explain the formation of high redshift gravitationally bound systems which the $Lambda$CDM model cannot interpret. We use the observational Hubble parameter data (OHD) and Hubble parameter obtained from cosmic chronometers method ($H(z)$) in combination with baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data to constrain these models. With the best-fitting parameters, we discuss how the age, the deceleration parameter, and the energy density parameters evolve in the new universes, and compare them with that of $Lambda$CDM.
We study the large-scale clustering of galaxies in the overlap region of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) CMASS sample and the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey. We calculate the auto-correlation and cross-correlation functions in the overlap region of the two datasets and detect a Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) signal in each of them. The BAO measurement from the cross-correlation function represents the first such detection between two different galaxy surveys. After applying density-field reconstruction we report distance-scale measurements $D_V r_s^{rm fid} / r_s = (1970 pm 47, 2132 pm 67, 2100 pm 200)$ Mpc from CMASS, the cross-correlation and WiggleZ, respectively. We use correlated mock realizations to calculate the covariance between the three BAO constraints. The distance scales derived from the two datasets are consistent, and are also robust against switching the displacement fields used for reconstruction between the two surveys. This approach can be used to construct a correlation matrix, permitting for the first time a rigorous combination of WiggleZ and CMASS BAO measurements. Using a volume-scaling technique, our result can also be used to combine WiggleZ and future CMASS DR12 results. Finally, we use the cross-correlation function measurements to show that the relative velocity effect, a possible source of systematic uncertainty for the BAO technique, is consistent with zero for our samples.
We measure the imprint of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) in the galaxy clustering pattern at the highest redshift achieved to date, z=0.6, using the distribution of N=132,509 emission-line galaxies in the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey. We quantify BAOs using three statistics: the galaxy correlation function, power spectrum and the band-filtered estimator introduced by Xu et al. (2010). The results are mutually consistent, corresponding to a 4.0% measurement of the cosmic distance-redshift relation at z=0.6 (in terms of the acoustic parameter A(z) introduced by Eisenstein et al. (2005) we find A(z=0.6) = 0.452 +/- 0.018). Both BAOs and power spectrum shape information contribute toward these constraints. The statistical significance of the detection of the acoustic peak in the correlation function, relative to a wiggle-free model, is 3.2-sigma. The ratios of our distance measurements to those obtained using BAOs in the distribution of Luminous Red Galaxies at redshifts z=0.2 and z=0.35 are consistent with a flat Lambda Cold Dark Matter model that also provides a good fit to the pattern of observed fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. The addition of the current WiggleZ data results in a ~ 30% improvement in the measurement accuracy of a constant equation-of-state, w, using BAO data alone. Based solely on geometric BAO distance ratios, accelerating expansion (w < -1/3) is required with a probability of 99.8%, providing a consistency check of conclusions based on supernovae observations. Further improvements in cosmological constraints will result when the WiggleZ Survey dataset is complete.
We examine the impact of baryon-dark matter relative velocities on intergalactic small-scale structure and the 21 cm signal during reionization. Streaming velocities reduced clumping in the intergalactic medium (IGM) on mass scales of $sim 10^4 - 10^8$ M$_{odot}$. This effect produced a distinct baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature in the 21 cm power spectrum at wave numbers $ksim 0.1$ h/Mpc, near which forthcoming surveys will be most sensitive. In contrast to the highly uncertain impact of streaming velocities on star formation, the effect on clumping is better constrained because it is set mainly by cosmology and straightforward gas dynamics. We quantify the latter using coupled radiation-hydrodynamic simulations that capture the Jeans scale of pre-reionization gas. The clumping factor of ionized gas is reduced by 5-10% in regions with RMS streaming velocities. The suppression peaks $approx 5$ Myr after a region is reionized, but disappears within 200 Myr due to pressure smoothing. We model the corresponding impact on the 21 cm signal and find that the BAO feature is most likely to appear at $approx$ 10 % ionization. During this phase, the feature may appear at the 1 % (5 %) level at $k sim 0.1 (0.06)$ h/Mpc with an amplitude that varies by a factor of $< 10$ across a range of reionization histories. We also provide a model for the signal originating from streaming velocitys impact on ionizing sources, which can vary by 4 orders of magnitude depending on highly uncertain source properties. We find that the clumping signal probably dominates the source one unless Population III star formation in $10^6 - 10^8$ M$_{odot}$ halos contributed significantly to the first 10% of reionization.