The Dark Energy Survey Year 3 high-redshift sample: selection, characterization, and analysis of galaxy clustering
Bechtol, K.; Smith, M.; Abbott, T. M. C.; Allam, S.; Bertin, E.; Brooks, D.; Burke, D. L.; Carretero, J.; Castander, F. J.; Crocce, M.; Desai, S.; Diehl, H. T.; Doel, P.; Eifler, T. F.; Flaugher, B.; Fosalba, P.; Frieman, J.; García-Bellido, J.; Gruen, D.; Gruendl, R. A.; Gutierrez, G.; Honscheid, K.; James, D. J.; Kuehn, K.; Kuropatkin, N.; Marshall, J. L.; Menanteau, F.; Miquel, R.; Ogando, R. L. C.; Rykoff, E. S.; Sanchez, E.; Scarpine, V.; Schubnell, M.; Sevilla-Noarbe, I.; Suchyta, E.; Tarle, G.; Choi, A.; Zhang, Y.; Hollowood, D. L.; Palmese, A.; Aguena, M.; Costanzi, M.; Hartley, W. G.; Hinton, S. R.; Paz-Chinchón, F.; Thomas, D.; Sanchez, J.; Baxter, E.; Becker, M. R.; Blazek, J.; Campos, A.; Cawthon, R.; Chang, C.; DeRose, J.; Dodelson, S.; Drlica-Wagner, A.; Elvin-Poole, J.; Jain, B.; Krause, E.; Raveri, M.; Secco, L. F.; Troxel, M. A.; Weaverdyck, N.; Yanny, B.; Zuntz, J.; Andrade-Oliveira, F.; Bocquet, S.; Conselice, C.; Everett, S.; Ferrero, I.; Pereira, M. E. S.; Pieres, A.; Prat, J.; Rodriguez-Monroy, M.; To, C.; Fang, X.; Harrison, I.; Sánchez, C.; Bernstein, G. M.; MacCrann, N.; Porredon, A.; Sheldon, E.; Amon, A.; (DES Collaboration); Alves, O.; Mena-Fernández, J.; Huff, E. M.; Omori, Y.; Eckert, K.; Myles, J.; Pandey, S.; Rosell, A. Carnero; Herner, K.; Alarcon, A.; Kind, M. Carrasco; Doux, C.; McCullough, J.; Yin, B.; Cross, D.; Malagón, A. A. Plazas; Huang, H.
Spain, United States, Italy, United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Chile, France, India, Norway, Australia
Abstract
The fiducial cosmological analyses of imaging surveys like DES typically probe the Universe at redshifts z < 1. We present the selection and characterization of high-redshift galaxy samples using DES Year 3 data, and the analysis of their galaxy clustering measurements. In particular, we use galaxies that are fainter than those used in the previous DES Year 3 analyses and a Bayesian redshift scheme to define three tomographic bins with mean redshifts around z ~ 0.9, 1.2, and 1.5, which extend the redshift coverage of the fiducial DES Year 3 analysis. These samples contain a total of about 9 million galaxies, and their galaxy density is more than 2 times higher than those in the DES Year 3 fiducial case. We characterize the redshift uncertainties of the samples, including the usage of various spectroscopic and high-quality redshift samples, and we develop a machine-learning method to correct for correlations between galaxy density and survey observing conditions. The analysis of galaxy clustering measurements, with a total signal to noise S/N ~ 70 after scale cuts, yields robust cosmological constraints on a combination of the fraction of matter in the Universe Ωm and the Hubble parameter h, $\Omega _m h = 0.195^{+0.023}_{-0.018}$, and 2-3 per cent measurements of the amplitude of the galaxy clustering signals, probing galaxy bias and the amplitude of matter fluctuations, bσ8. A companion paper (in preparation) will present the cross-correlations of these high-z samples with cosmic microwave background lensing from Planck and South Pole Telescope, and the cosmological analysis of those measurements in combination with the galaxy clustering presented in this work.