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Tracing the sound horizon scale with photometric redshift surveys

Sánchez, E. ; Carnero, A. ; García-Bellido, J. ; Gaztañaga, E. ; de Simoni, F. ; Crocce, M. ; Cabré, A. ; Fosalba, P. ; Alonso, D.

In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2011, vol. 411, no. 1, p. 277-288

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    Title
    • Tracing the sound horizon scale with photometric redshift surveys
    Author
    • Sánchez, E.. Centro de Investigaciones Enérgeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), 28040 Madrid, Spain
    • Carnero, A.. Centro de Investigaciones Enérgeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), 28040 Madrid, Spain
    • García-Bellido, J.. Instituto de Física Teórica (UAM-CSIC), 28006 Madrid, Spain
    • Gaztañaga, E.. Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (IEEC-CSIC), 08193 Barcelona, Spain
    • de Simoni, F.. Observatório Nacional, 77CEP: 20921-400, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
    • Crocce, M.. Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (IEEC-CSIC), 08193 Barcelona, Spain
    • Cabré, A.. Center for Particle Cosmology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6322, USA
    • Fosalba, P.. Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (IEEC-CSIC), 08193 Barcelona, Spain
    • Alonso, D.. Instituto de Física Teórica (UAM-CSIC), 28006 Madrid, Spain
    Document Type
    • Postprint
    OAI-PMH Identifier
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:304704
    Summary
    We propose a new method for the extraction cosmological parameters using the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale as a standard ruler in deep galaxy surveys with photometric determination of redshifts. The method consists in a simple empirical parametric fit to the angular two-point correlation function ω(θ). It is parametrized as a power law to describe the continuum and as a Gaussian to describe the BAO bump. The location of the Gaussian is used as the basis for the measurement of the sound horizon scale. This method, although simple, actually provides a robust estimation, since the inclusion of the power law and the use of the Gaussian remove the shifts which affect the local maximum. We discuss the effects of projection bias, non-linearities, redshift space distortions and photo-z precision and apply our method to a mock catalogue of the Dark Energy Survey, built upon a large N-body simulation provided by the MICE collaboration. We discuss the main systematic errors associated with our method and show that they are dominated by the photo-z uncertainty