DES Y1 Results: Validating cosmological parameter estimation using simulated Dark Energy Surveys

DES Collaboration

doi:10.1093/MNRAS/STY1899

DES Y1 Results: Validating cosmological parameter estimation using simulated Dark Energy Surveys

DES Collaboration

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Abstract

We use mock galaxy survey simulations designed to resemble the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 (DES Y1) data to validate and inform cosmological parameter estimation. When similar analysis tools are applied to both simulations and real survey data, they provide powerful validation tests of the DES Y1 cosmological analyses presented in companion papers. We use two suites of galaxy simulations produced using different methods, which therefore provide independent tests of our cosmological parameter inference. The cosmological analysis we aim to validate is presented in DES Collaboration et al. (2017) and uses angular two-point correlation functions of galaxy number counts and weak lensing shear, as well as their crosscorrelation, in multiple redshift bins. While our constraints depend on the specific set of simulated realisations available, for both suites of simulations we find that the input cosmology is consistent with the combined constraints from multiple simulated DES Y1 realizations in the Ω_m - σ₈ plane. For one of the suites, we are able to show with high confidence that any biases in the inferred S₈ = σ₈(Ω_m/0.3)^0.5 and Ω_m are smaller than the DES Y1 1-σ uncertainties. For the other suite, for which we have fewer realizations, we are unable to be this conclusive; we infer a roughly 60 per cent (70 per cent) probability that systematic bias in the recovered Ω_m (S₈) is sub-dominant to the DES Y1 uncertainty. As cosmological analyses of this kind become increasingly more precise, validation of parameter inference using survey simulations will be essential to demonstrate robustness.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4614-4635
Number of pages	22
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	480
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/MNRAS/STY1899
State	Published - 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).

Funding

The DES data management system is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers AST-1138766 and AST-1536171. The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by MINECO under grants AYA2015-71825, ESP2015-66861, FPA2015-68048, SEV-2016-0588, SEV-2016-0597, and MDM-2015-0509, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. IFAE is partially funded by the CERCA program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) including ERC grant agreements 240672, 291329, and 306478. We acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAAS-TRO), through project number CE110001020, and the Brazilian In-stituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT) e-Universe (CNPq grant 465376/2014-2). This research used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, a DOE Office of Science User Facility supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Part of the BCC simulations used in this studies were performed using resources provided by the University of Chicago Research Computing Center, which we acknowledge for its support. Thanks to Chris Hirata for useful discussions. Funding for the DES Projects has been provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation, theMinistry of Science and Education of Spain, the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago, the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at the Ohio State University, the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico and the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Collaborating Institutions in the Dark Energy Survey. The Collaborating Institutions are Argonne National Laboratory, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Cambridge, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas-Madrid, the University of Chicago, University College London, the DES-Brazil Consortium, the University of Edinburgh, the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (IEEC/CSIC), the Institut de Física d'Altes Energies, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Ludwig-Maximilians Universit ät München and the associated Excellence Cluster Universe, the University of Michigan, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the University of Nottingham, The Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Portsmouth, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, the University of Sussex, TexasA&MUniversity, and the OzDESMembership Consortium. Based in part on observations at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The DES data management system is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers AST-1138766 and AST-1536171. The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by MINECO under grants AYA2015-71825, ESP2015-66861, FPA2015-68048, SEV-2016-0588, SEV-2016-0597, and MDM-2015-0509, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. IFAE is partially funded by the CERCA program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) includingERCgrant agreements 240672, 291329, and 306478.We acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO), through project number CE110001020, and the Brazilian Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT) e-Universe (CNPq grant 465376/2014-2). This manuscript has been authored by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics. TheUnited StatesGovernment retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. This research used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, a DOE Office of Science User Facility supported by the Office of Science of theU.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Part of the BCC simulations used in this studies were performed using resources provided by the University of Chicago Research Computing Center, which we acknowledge for its support. This manuscript has been authored by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by Funding for the DES Projects has been provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Education of Spain, the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago, the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at the Ohio State University, the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Fundac¸ão Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Conselho Nacional de Desen-volvimento Científico e Tecnológico and the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovac¸ão, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Collaborating Institutions in the Dark Energy Survey.

Funders	Funder number
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics
CAAS-TRO	CE110001020
Collaborating Institutions in the Dark Energy Survey
Conselho Nacional de Desen-volvimento Científico e Tecnológico
European Union’s Seventh Framework Program
FP7/2007
Fermi Research Alliance, LLC	DE-AC02-07CH11359
INCT
Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago
Ministry of Science and Education of Spain
Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University
National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
U.S. National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation	AST-1138766, AST-1536171
National Science Foundation
U.S. Department of Energy	DE-AC02-05CH11231
U.S. Department of Energy
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Stanford University
University of California
Office of Science
High Energy Physics
University of Pennsylvania
Ohio State University
University of Chicago
University of Michigan
University of Portsmouth
Seventh Framework Programme	1138766, 240672, 306478, 291329
Seventh Framework Programme
Higher Education Funding Council for England
Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Ohio State University
Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia Midas
Engineering Research Centers
Science and Technology Facilities Council
University College London
European Commission
European Research Council
University of Nottingham
University of Sussex
University of Edinburgh
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Generalitat de Catalunya
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad	SEV-2016-0588, SEV-2016-0597, ESP2015-66861, MDM-2015-0509, FPA2015-68048, AYA2015-71825
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico	465376/2014-2
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos
Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia
European Regional Development Fund

Keywords

Cosmological parameters
Large-scale structure of Universe

Access to Document

10.1093/MNRAS/STY1899

Cite this

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title = "DES Y1 Results: Validating cosmological parameter estimation using simulated Dark Energy Surveys",

abstract = "We use mock galaxy survey simulations designed to resemble the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 (DES Y1) data to validate and inform cosmological parameter estimation. When similar analysis tools are applied to both simulations and real survey data, they provide powerful validation tests of the DES Y1 cosmological analyses presented in companion papers. We use two suites of galaxy simulations produced using different methods, which therefore provide independent tests of our cosmological parameter inference. The cosmological analysis we aim to validate is presented in DES Collaboration et al. (2017) and uses angular two-point correlation functions of galaxy number counts and weak lensing shear, as well as their crosscorrelation, in multiple redshift bins. While our constraints depend on the specific set of simulated realisations available, for both suites of simulations we find that the input cosmology is consistent with the combined constraints from multiple simulated DES Y1 realizations in the Ωm - σ8 plane. For one of the suites, we are able to show with high confidence that any biases in the inferred S8 = σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.5 and Ωm are smaller than the DES Y1 1-σ uncertainties. For the other suite, for which we have fewer realizations, we are unable to be this conclusive; we infer a roughly 60 per cent (70 per cent) probability that systematic bias in the recovered Ωm (S8) is sub-dominant to the DES Y1 uncertainty. As cosmological analyses of this kind become increasingly more precise, validation of parameter inference using survey simulations will be essential to demonstrate robustness.",

keywords = "Cosmological parameters, Large-scale structure of Universe",

author = "{DES Collaboration} and N. MacCrann and J. DeRose and Wechsler, {R. H.} and J. Blazek and E. Gaztanaga and M. Crocce and Rykoff, {E. S.} and Becker, {M. R.} and B. Jain and E. Krause and Eifler, {T. F.} and D. Gruen and J. Zuntz and Troxel, {M. A.} and J. Elvin-Poole and J. Prat and M. Wang and S. Dodelson and A. Kravtsov and P. Fosalba and Busha, {M. T.} and Evrard, {A. E.} and D. Huterer and Abbott, {T. M.C.} and Abdalla, {F. B.} and S. Allam and J. Annis and S. Avila and Bernstein, {G. M.} and D. Brooks and E. Buckley-Geer and Burke, {D. L.} and Rosell, {A. Carnero} and Kind, {M. Carrasco} and J. Carretero and Castander, {F. J.} and R. Cawthon and Cunha, {C. E.} and D'Andrea, {C. B.} and {da Costa}, {L. N.} and C. Davis and {De Vicente}, J. and Diehl, {H. T.} and P. Doel and J. Frieman and J. Garc{\'i}a-Bellido and Gerdes, {D. W.} and Gruendl, {R. A.} and G. Gutierrez and E. Suchyta",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 The Author(s).",

year = "2018",

doi = "10.1093/MNRAS/STY1899",

language = "English",

volume = "480",

pages = "4614--4635",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

issn = "0035-8711",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - DES Y1 Results

T2 - Validating cosmological parameter estimation using simulated Dark Energy Surveys

AU - DES Collaboration

AU - MacCrann, N.

AU - DeRose, J.

AU - Wechsler, R. H.

AU - Blazek, J.

AU - Gaztanaga, E.

AU - Crocce, M.

AU - Rykoff, E. S.

AU - Becker, M. R.

AU - Jain, B.

AU - Krause, E.

AU - Eifler, T. F.

AU - Gruen, D.

AU - Zuntz, J.

AU - Troxel, M. A.

AU - Elvin-Poole, J.

AU - Prat, J.

AU - Wang, M.

AU - Dodelson, S.

AU - Kravtsov, A.

AU - Fosalba, P.

AU - Busha, M. T.

AU - Evrard, A. E.

AU - Huterer, D.

AU - Abbott, T. M.C.

AU - Abdalla, F. B.

AU - Allam, S.

AU - Annis, J.

AU - Avila, S.

AU - Bernstein, G. M.

AU - Brooks, D.

AU - Buckley-Geer, E.

AU - Burke, D. L.

AU - Rosell, A. Carnero

AU - Kind, M. Carrasco

AU - Carretero, J.

AU - Castander, F. J.

AU - Cawthon, R.

AU - Cunha, C. E.

AU - D'Andrea, C. B.

AU - da Costa, L. N.

AU - Davis, C.

AU - De Vicente, J.

AU - Diehl, H. T.

AU - Doel, P.

AU - Frieman, J.

AU - García-Bellido, J.

AU - Gerdes, D. W.

AU - Gruendl, R. A.

AU - Gutierrez, G.

AU - Suchyta, E.

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - We use mock galaxy survey simulations designed to resemble the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 (DES Y1) data to validate and inform cosmological parameter estimation. When similar analysis tools are applied to both simulations and real survey data, they provide powerful validation tests of the DES Y1 cosmological analyses presented in companion papers. We use two suites of galaxy simulations produced using different methods, which therefore provide independent tests of our cosmological parameter inference. The cosmological analysis we aim to validate is presented in DES Collaboration et al. (2017) and uses angular two-point correlation functions of galaxy number counts and weak lensing shear, as well as their crosscorrelation, in multiple redshift bins. While our constraints depend on the specific set of simulated realisations available, for both suites of simulations we find that the input cosmology is consistent with the combined constraints from multiple simulated DES Y1 realizations in the Ωm - σ8 plane. For one of the suites, we are able to show with high confidence that any biases in the inferred S8 = σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.5 and Ωm are smaller than the DES Y1 1-σ uncertainties. For the other suite, for which we have fewer realizations, we are unable to be this conclusive; we infer a roughly 60 per cent (70 per cent) probability that systematic bias in the recovered Ωm (S8) is sub-dominant to the DES Y1 uncertainty. As cosmological analyses of this kind become increasingly more precise, validation of parameter inference using survey simulations will be essential to demonstrate robustness.

AB - We use mock galaxy survey simulations designed to resemble the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 (DES Y1) data to validate and inform cosmological parameter estimation. When similar analysis tools are applied to both simulations and real survey data, they provide powerful validation tests of the DES Y1 cosmological analyses presented in companion papers. We use two suites of galaxy simulations produced using different methods, which therefore provide independent tests of our cosmological parameter inference. The cosmological analysis we aim to validate is presented in DES Collaboration et al. (2017) and uses angular two-point correlation functions of galaxy number counts and weak lensing shear, as well as their crosscorrelation, in multiple redshift bins. While our constraints depend on the specific set of simulated realisations available, for both suites of simulations we find that the input cosmology is consistent with the combined constraints from multiple simulated DES Y1 realizations in the Ωm - σ8 plane. For one of the suites, we are able to show with high confidence that any biases in the inferred S8 = σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.5 and Ωm are smaller than the DES Y1 1-σ uncertainties. For the other suite, for which we have fewer realizations, we are unable to be this conclusive; we infer a roughly 60 per cent (70 per cent) probability that systematic bias in the recovered Ωm (S8) is sub-dominant to the DES Y1 uncertainty. As cosmological analyses of this kind become increasingly more precise, validation of parameter inference using survey simulations will be essential to demonstrate robustness.

KW - Cosmological parameters

KW - Large-scale structure of Universe

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U2 - 10.1093/MNRAS/STY1899

DO - 10.1093/MNRAS/STY1899

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85055283909

SN - 0035-8711

VL - 480

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JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 4

ER -

DES Y1 Results: Validating cosmological parameter estimation using simulated Dark Energy Surveys

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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