分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: We report the first results of a high-redshift ($z$ >~ 5) quasar survey using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). As a DESI secondary target program, this survey is designed to carry out a systematic search and investigation of quasars at $z$ >~ 5, up to redshift 6.8. The target selection is based on the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys (the Legacy Surveys) DR9 photometry, combined with the Pan-STARRS1 data and $J$-band photometry from public surveys. A first quasar sample has been constructed from the DESI Survey Validation 3 (SV3) and first-year observations until May 2022. This sample includes more than 400 new quasars at redshift 4.7 = 5, more than one third of existing quasars previously published at this redshift. The observations so far result in an average success rate of 23% at $z$ > 4.7. The current spectral dataset has already allowed analysis of interesting individual objects (e.g., quasars with damped Ly$\alpha$ absorbers and broad absorption line features), and statistical analysis will follow the survey's completion. A set of science projects will be carried out leveraging this program, including quasar luminosity function, quasar clustering, intergalactic medium, quasar spectral properties, intervening absorbers, and properties of early supermassive black holes. Additionally, a sample of 38 new quasars at $z$ ~ 3.8-5.7 discovered from a pilot survey in the DESI SV1 is also published in this paper.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: We investigate the metal species associated with the Ly$\alpha$ forest in the
eBOSS quasar spectra. Metal absorption lines are revealed in the stacked
spectra from cross-correlating the selected Ly$\alpha$ absorbers in the forest
and the flux fluctuation field. Up to 13 metal species are identified
associated with relatively strong Ly$\alpha$ absorbers (those with flux
fluctuation $-1.0<\delta_{\rm Ly\alpha}<-0.6$ and with neutral hydrogen column
density of ~ $10^{15-16}$ $\rm cm^{-2}$) over absorber redshift range of
$2
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will construct a large and precise three-dimensional map of our Universe. The survey effective volume reaches $\sim20\Gpchcube$. It is a great challenge to prepare high-resolution simulations with a much larger volume for validating the DESI analysis pipelines. \textsc{AbacusSummit} is a suite of high-resolution dark-matter-only simulations designed for this purpose, with $200\Gpchcube$ (10 times DESI volume) for the base cosmology. However, further efforts need to be done to provide a more precise analysis of the data and to cover also other cosmologies. Recently, the CARPool method was proposed to use paired accurate and approximate simulations to achieve high statistical precision with a limited number of high-resolution simulations. Relying on this technique, we propose to use fast quasi-$N$-body solvers combined with accurate simulations to produce accurate summary statistics. This enables us to obtain 100 times smaller variance than the expected DESI statistical variance at the scales we are interested in, e.g. $k < 0.3\hMpc$ for the halo power spectrum. In addition, it can significantly suppress the sample variance of the halo bispectrum. We further generalize the method for other cosmologies with only one realization in \textsc{AbacusSummit} suite to extend the effective volume $\sim 20$ times. In summary, our proposed strategy of combining high-fidelity simulations with fast approximate gravity solvers and a series of variance suppression techniques sets the path for a robust cosmological analysis of galaxy survey data.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: We describe the Milky Way Survey (MWS) that will be undertaken with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) on the Mayall 4m telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. Over the next 5 yr DESI MWS will observe approximately seven million stars at Galactic latitudes |b|>20 degrees, with an inclusive target selection scheme focused on the thick disk and stellar halo. MWS will also include several high-completeness samples of rare stellar types, including white dwarfs, low-mass stars within 100pc of the Sun, and horizontal branch stars. We summarize the potential of DESI to advance understanding of Galactic structure and stellar evolution. We introduce the final definitions of the main MWS target classes and estimate the number of stars in each class that will be observed. We describe our pipelines for deriving radial velocities, atmospheric parameters, and chemical abundances. We use ~500,000 spectra of unique stellar targets from the DESI Survey Validation program (SV) to demonstrate that our pipelines can measure radial velocities to ~1 km/s and [Fe/H] accurate to ~0.2 dex for typical stars in our main sample. We find the stellar parameter distributions from ~100 sq. deg of SV observations with >90% completeness on our main sample are in good agreement with expectations from mock catalogs and previous surveys.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: In 2021 May, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) began a 5 yr survey of approximately 50 million total extragalactic and Galactic targets. The primary DESI dark-time targets are emission line galaxies (ELGs), luminous red galaxies (LRGs) and quasars (QSOs). In bright time, DESI will focus on two surveys known as the Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS) and the Milky Way Survey (MWS). DESI also observes a selection of "secondary" targets for bespoke science goals. This paper gives an overview of the publicly available pipeline (desitarget) used to process targets for DESI observations. Highlights include details of the different DESI survey targeting phases, the targeting ID (TARGETID) used to define unique targets, the bitmasks used to indicate a particular type of target, the data model and structure of DESI targeting files, and examples of how to access and use the desitarget code base. This paper will also describe "supporting" DESI target classes, such as standard stars, sky locations, and random catalogs that mimic the angular selection function of DESI targets. The DESI target selection pipeline is complex and sizable; this paper attempts to summarize the most salient information required to understand and work with DESI targeting data.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: SubHalo Abundance Matching (SHAM) is an empirical method for constructing
galaxy catalogues based on high-resolution $N$-body simulations. We apply SHAM
on the UNIT simulation to simulate SDSS BOSS/eBOSS Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs)
within a wide redshift range of $0.2 < z < 1.0$. Besides the typical SHAM
scatter parameter $\sigma$, we include $v_{\rm smear}$ and $V_{\rm ceil}$ to
take into account the redshift uncertainty and the galaxy incompleteness
respectively. These two additional parameters are critical for reproducing the
observed 2PCF multipoles on 5--25$\,h^{-1}\,{\rm Mpc}$. The redshift
uncertainties obtained from the best-fitting $v_{\rm smear}$ agree with those
measured from repeat observations for all SDSS LRGs except for the LOWZ sample.
We explore several potential systematics but none of them can explain the
discrepancy found in LOWZ. Our explanation is that the LOWZ galaxies might
contain another type of galaxies which needs to be treated differently. The
evolution of the measured $\sigma$ and $V_{\rm ceil}$ also reveals that the
incompleteness of eBOSS galaxies decreases with the redshift. This is the
consequence of the magnitude lower limit applied in eBOSS LRG target selection.
Our SHAM also set upper limits for the intrinsic scatter of the galaxy--halo
relation given a complete galaxy sample: $\sigma_{\rm int}<0.31$ for LOWZ at
$0.2
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: Using synthetic Lyman-$\alpha$ forests from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey, we present a study of the impact of errors in the estimation of quasar redshift on the Lyman-$\alpha$ correlation functions. Estimates of quasar redshift have large uncertainties of a few hundred $\text{km s}^{-1}\,$ due to the broadness of the emission lines and the intrinsic shifts from other emission lines. We inject Gaussian random redshift errors into the mock quasar catalogues, and measure the auto-correlation and the Lyman-$\alpha$-quasar cross-correlation functions. We find a smearing of the BAO feature in the radial direction, but changes in the peak position are negligible. However, we see a significant unphysical correlation for small separations transverse to the line of sight which increases with the amplitude of the redshift errors. We interpret this contamination as a result of the broadening of emission lines in the measured mean continuum, caused by quasar redshift errors, combined with the unrealistically strong clustering of the simulated quasars on small scales.