Clues from $\mathcal{Q}$--A null test designed for line intensity mapping cross-correlation studies

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Autori principali: Sarkar, Debanjan, Iles, Ella, Liu, Adrian
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Sarkar, Debanjan
Iles, Ella
Liu, Adrian
author_facet Sarkar, Debanjan
Iles, Ella
Liu, Adrian
contents Estimating the auto power spectrum of cosmological tracers from line-intensity mapping (LIM) data is often limited by instrumental noise, residual foregrounds, and systematics. Cross-power spectra between multiple lines offer a robust alternative, mitigating noise bias and systematics. However, inferring the auto spectrum from cross-correlations relies on two key assumptions: that all tracers are linearly biased with respect to the matter density field, and that they are strongly mutually correlated. In this work, we introduce a new diagnostic statistic, \(\mathcal{Q}\), which serves as a data-driven null test of these assumptions. Constructed from combinations of cross-spectra between four distinct spectral lines, \(\mathcal{Q}\) identifies regimes where cross-spectrum-based auto-spectrum reconstruction is unbiased. We validate its behavior using both analytic toy models and simulations of LIM observables, including star formation lines ([CII], [NII], [CI],[OIII]) and the 21-cm signal. We explore a range of redshifts and instrumental configurations, incorporating noise from representative surveys. Our results demonstrate that the criterion \( \mathcal{Q} \approx 1 \) reliably selects the modes where cross-spectrum estimators are valid, while significant deviations are an indicator that the key assumptions have been violated. The \( \mathcal{Q} \) diagnostic thus provides a simple yet powerful data-driven consistency check for multi-tracer LIM analyses.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_09984
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Clues from $\mathcal{Q}$--A null test designed for line intensity mapping cross-correlation studies
Sarkar, Debanjan
Iles, Ella
Liu, Adrian
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
Estimating the auto power spectrum of cosmological tracers from line-intensity mapping (LIM) data is often limited by instrumental noise, residual foregrounds, and systematics. Cross-power spectra between multiple lines offer a robust alternative, mitigating noise bias and systematics. However, inferring the auto spectrum from cross-correlations relies on two key assumptions: that all tracers are linearly biased with respect to the matter density field, and that they are strongly mutually correlated. In this work, we introduce a new diagnostic statistic, \(\mathcal{Q}\), which serves as a data-driven null test of these assumptions. Constructed from combinations of cross-spectra between four distinct spectral lines, \(\mathcal{Q}\) identifies regimes where cross-spectrum-based auto-spectrum reconstruction is unbiased. We validate its behavior using both analytic toy models and simulations of LIM observables, including star formation lines ([CII], [NII], [CI],[OIII]) and the 21-cm signal. We explore a range of redshifts and instrumental configurations, incorporating noise from representative surveys. Our results demonstrate that the criterion \( \mathcal{Q} \approx 1 \) reliably selects the modes where cross-spectrum estimators are valid, while significant deviations are an indicator that the key assumptions have been violated. The \( \mathcal{Q} \) diagnostic thus provides a simple yet powerful data-driven consistency check for multi-tracer LIM analyses.
title Clues from $\mathcal{Q}$--A null test designed for line intensity mapping cross-correlation studies
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.09984