The FLAMINGO Project: An assessment of the systematic errors in the predictions of models for galaxy cluster counts used to infer cosmological parameters

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Kugel, Roi, Schaye, Joop, Schaller, Matthieu, Moreno, Victor J. Forouhar, McGibbon, Robert J.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866916569625395200
author Kugel, Roi
Schaye, Joop
Schaller, Matthieu
Moreno, Victor J. Forouhar
McGibbon, Robert J.
author_facet Kugel, Roi
Schaye, Joop
Schaller, Matthieu
Moreno, Victor J. Forouhar
McGibbon, Robert J.
contents Galaxy cluster counts have historically been important for the measurement of cosmological parameters and upcoming surveys will greatly reduce the statistical errors. To exploit the potential of current and future cluster surveys, theoretical uncertainties on the predicted abundance must be smaller than the statistical errors. Models used to predict cluster counts typically combine a model for the dark matter only (DMO) halo mass function (HMF) with an observable - mass relation that is assumed to be a power-law with lognormal scatter. We use the FLAMINGO suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to quantify the biases in the cluster counts and cosmological parameters resulting from the different ingredients of conventional models. For the observable mass proxy we focus on the Compton-Y parameter quantifying the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, which is expected to result in cluster samples that are relatively close to mass-selected samples. We construct three mock samples based on existing (Planck and SPT) and upcoming (Simons Observatory) surveys. We ignore measurement uncertainties and compare the biases in the counts and inferred cosmological parameters to each survey's Poisson errors. We find that widely used models for the DMO HMF differ significantly from each other and from the DMO version of FLAMINGO, leading to significant biases for all three surveys. For upcoming surveys, dramatic improvements are needed for all additional model ingredients, i.e. the functional forms of the fits to the observable-mass scaling relation and the associated scatter, the priors on the scaling relation and the prior on baryonic effects associated with feedback processes on the HMF.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_17217
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The FLAMINGO Project: An assessment of the systematic errors in the predictions of models for galaxy cluster counts used to infer cosmological parameters
Kugel, Roi
Schaye, Joop
Schaller, Matthieu
Moreno, Victor J. Forouhar
McGibbon, Robert J.
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Galaxy cluster counts have historically been important for the measurement of cosmological parameters and upcoming surveys will greatly reduce the statistical errors. To exploit the potential of current and future cluster surveys, theoretical uncertainties on the predicted abundance must be smaller than the statistical errors. Models used to predict cluster counts typically combine a model for the dark matter only (DMO) halo mass function (HMF) with an observable - mass relation that is assumed to be a power-law with lognormal scatter. We use the FLAMINGO suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to quantify the biases in the cluster counts and cosmological parameters resulting from the different ingredients of conventional models. For the observable mass proxy we focus on the Compton-Y parameter quantifying the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, which is expected to result in cluster samples that are relatively close to mass-selected samples. We construct three mock samples based on existing (Planck and SPT) and upcoming (Simons Observatory) surveys. We ignore measurement uncertainties and compare the biases in the counts and inferred cosmological parameters to each survey's Poisson errors. We find that widely used models for the DMO HMF differ significantly from each other and from the DMO version of FLAMINGO, leading to significant biases for all three surveys. For upcoming surveys, dramatic improvements are needed for all additional model ingredients, i.e. the functional forms of the fits to the observable-mass scaling relation and the associated scatter, the priors on the scaling relation and the prior on baryonic effects associated with feedback processes on the HMF.
title The FLAMINGO Project: An assessment of the systematic errors in the predictions of models for galaxy cluster counts used to infer cosmological parameters
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.17217