KICC papers

We investigate cosmological structure formation in Fuzzy Dark Matter (FDM) with an attractive self-interaction (SI) with numerical simulations. Such a SI would arise if the FDM boson were an ultra-light axion, which has a strong CP symmetry-breaking scale (decay constant). Although weak, the attractive SI may be strong enough to counteract the quantum 'pressure' and alter structure formation. We find in our simulations that the SI can enhance small-scale structure formation, and soliton cores above a critical mass undergo a phase transition, transforming from dilute to dense solitons.

On large cosmological scales, anisotropic gravitational collapse is manifest in the dark cosmic web. Its statistical properties are well known for the standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmology, yet become modified for alternative dark matter models such as fuzzy dark matter (FDM). In this work, we assess for the first time the relative importance of cosmic nodes, filaments, walls and voids in a cosmology with small-scale suppression of power such as FDM. By applying the NEXUS+ Multiscale Morphology Filter technique to cosmological $N$-body simulations of FDM-like cosmologies, we quantify the mass and volume filling fractions of cosmic environments at redshifts $z\sim 3.4-5.6$ and find that 2D cosmic sheets host a larger share of the matter content of the Universe ($\sim 5$% increase for the $m=7 \times 10^{-22}$ eV model compared to CDM) as the particle mass $m$ is reduced. We find that the suppression of node-, filament-, wall- and void-conditioned halo mass functions at the low-mass end can occur well above the half-mode mass $M_{1/2}$. We show that log overdensity PDFs are more peaked in FDM-like cosmologies with medians shifted to higher values, a result of the suppression of the low overdensity tail as $m$ is reduced. Skewness estimates $S_3$ of the unconditioned overdensity PDF $P(\delta)$ in FDM-like cosmologies are systematically higher than in CDM, more so at high redshift $z\sim 5.5$ where the $m=10^{-22}$ eV model differs from CDM by $\sim 2 \sigma$. Accordingly, we advocate for the usage of $P(\delta)$ as a testbed for constraining FDM and other alternative dark matter models.

The reported detection of the global 21-cm signal by the EDGES collaboration is significantly stronger than standard astrophysical predictions. One possible explanation is an early radio excess above the cosmic microwave background. Such a radio background could have been produced by high redshift galaxies, if they were especially efficient in producing low-frequency synchrotron radiation. We have previously studied the effects of such an inhomogeneous radio background on the 21-cm signal; however, we made a simplifying assumption of isotropy of the background seen by each hydrogen cloud. Here we perform a complete calculation that accounts for the fact that the 21-cm absorption occurs along the line of sight, and is therefore sensitive to radio sources lying behind each absorbing cloud. We find that the complete calculation strongly enhances the 21-cm power spectrum during cosmic dawn, by up to two orders of magnitude; on the other hand, the effect on the global 21-cm signal is only at the $5\%$ level. In addition to making the high-redshift 21-cm fluctuations potentially more easily observable, the line of sight radio effect induces a new anisotropy in the 21-cm power spectrum. While these effects are particularly large for the case of an extremely-enhanced radio efficiency, they make it more feasible to detect even a moderately-enhanced radio efficiency in early galaxies. This is especially relevant since the EDGES signal has been contested by the SARAS experiment.

Observations of the first billion years of cosmic history are currently limited. We demonstrate the synergy between observations of the sky-averaged 21-cm signal from neutral hydrogen and interferometric measurements of the corresponding spatial fluctuations. By jointly analysing data from SARAS3 (redshift $z\approx15-25$) and limits from HERA ($z\approx8$ and $10$), we produce the tightest constraints to date on the astrophysics of galaxies 200 million years after the Big Bang. We disfavour at $95\%$ confidence scenarios in which power spectra are $\geq126$ mK$^{2}$ at $z=25$ and the sky-averaged signals are $\leq-277$ mK.

We present direct constraints on galaxy intrinsic alignments using the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 (DES Y3), the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) and its precursor, the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Our measurements incorporate photometric red sequence (redMaGiC) galaxies from DES with median redshift $z\sim0.2-1.0$, luminous red galaxies (LRGs) from eBOSS at $z\sim0.8$, and also a SDSS-III BOSS CMASS sample at $z\sim0.5$. We measure two point intrinsic alignment correlations, which we fit using a model that includes lensing, magnification and photometric redshift error. Fitting on scales $6<r_{\rm p} < 70$ Mpc$/h$, we make a detection of intrinsic alignments in each sample, at $5\sigma-22\sigma$ (assuming a simple one parameter model for IAs). Using these red samples, we measure the IA-luminosity relation. Our results are statistically consistent with previous results, but offer a significant improvement in constraining power, particularly at low luminosity. With this improved precision, we see detectable dependence on colour between broadly defined red samples. It is likely that a more sophisticated approach than a binary red/blue split, which jointly considers colour and luminosity dependence in the IA signal, will be needed in future. We also compare the various signal components at the best fitting point in parameter space for each sample, and find that magnification and lensing contribute $\sim2-18\%$ of the total signal. As precision continues to improve, it will certainly be necessary to account for these effects in future direct IA measurements. Finally, we make equivalent measurements on a sample of Emission Line Galaxies (ELGs) from eBOSS at $z\sim 0.8$. We report a null detection, constraining the IA amplitude (assuming the nonlinear alignment model) to be $A_1=0.07^{+0.32}_{-0.42}$ ($|A_1|<0.78$ at $95\%$ CL).

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is an endemic problem in radio astronomy. Information in contaminated frequency channels is lost and it can lead to significant systematic error if not properly modelled. In this paper we propose a RFI mitigation methodology that takes a Bayesian approach, where contaminated data is both flagged and managed as part of a single step fitting process. To the authors knowledge, our approach is first-of-its-kind. The techniques described in this paper can be incorporated into a Bayesian data analysis pipeline with just a few lines of code. A usage example can be found at \href{https://github.com/samleeney/Publications}{github.com/samleeney/publications}.

Dark matter-baryon interactions can cool the baryonic fluid, which has been shown to modify the cosmological 21-cm global signal. We show that in a two-component dark sector with an interacting millicharged component, dark matter-baryon scattering can produce a 21-cm power spectrum signal with acoustic oscillations. The signal can be up to three orders of magnitude larger than expected in $\Lambda$CDM cosmology, given realistic astrophysical models. This model provides a new-physics target for near-future experiments such as HERA or NenuFAR, which can potentially discover or strongly constrain the dark matter explanation of the putative EDGES anomaly.

In a sky-averaged 21-cm signal experiment aiming to measure the sky-averaged brightness temperature of neutral hydrogen at high redshifts, the uncertainty on the extracted signal depends mainly on the covariance between the foreground and 21-cm signal models. In this paper, we construct these models using the modes of variation obtained from the Singular Value Decomposition of a set of simulated foreground and 21-cm signals. We present a strategy to reduce this overlap between the 21-cm and foreground modes by simultaneously fitting the spectra from multiple different antennas, which can be used in combination with the method of utilizing the time dependence of foregrounds while fitting multiple drift scan spectra. To demonstrate this idea, we consider two different foreground models (i) a simple foreground model, where we assume a constant spectral index over the sky, and (ii) a more realistic foreground model, where we assume a spatial variation of the spectral index. For the simple foreground model, with just a single antenna design, we are able to extract the signal with good accuracy if we simultaneously fit the data from multiple time slices. The 21-cm signal extraction is further improved when we simultaneously fit the data from different antennas as well. The impact of including different antennas in the fitting becomes prominent while using the more realistic mock observations generated from a detailed foreground model. We find that even if we fit multiple time slices, the recovered signal is biased and inaccurate if only a single antenna type is used. However, simultaneously fitting the data from multiple antenna types reduces the bias and the uncertainty by a factor of 2-3 on the extracted 21-cm signal. Although our analysis is based on the three antenna designs considered in the REACH experiment, these results can be utilized for any global 21-cm signal experiment.

Galaxy clusters detected through the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect are a powerful cosmological probe from which constraints on cosmological parameters such as $\Omega_{\mathrm{m}}$ and $\sigma_8$ can be derived. The measured cluster tSZ signal can be, however, contaminated by Cosmic Infrared Background (CIB) emission, as the CIB is spatially correlated with the cluster tSZ field. We quantify the extent of this contamination by applying the iterative multi-frequency matched filter (iMMF) cluster-finding method to mock Planck-like data from the Websky simulation. We find a significant bias in the retrieved cluster tSZ observables (signal-to-noise and Compton-$y$ amplitude), at the level of about $0.5\, \sigma$ per cluster. This CIB-induced bias translates into about $20$% fewer detections than expected if all the Planck HFI channels are used in the analysis, which can potentially bias derived cosmological constraints. We introduce a spectrally constrained iMMF, or sciMMF, which proves to be highly effective at suppressing this CIB-induced bias from the tSZ cluster observables by spectrally deprojecting the cluster-correlated CIB at the expense of a small signal-to-noise penalty. Our sciMMF is also robust to modelling uncertainties, namely to the choice of deprojection spectral energy distribution. With it, CIB-free cluster catalogues can be constructed and used for cosmological inference. We provide a publicly available implementation of our sciMMF as part of the SZiFi package.

Large-scale outflows are believed to be an important mechanism in the evolution of galaxies. We can determine the impact of these outflows by studying either current galaxy outflows and their effect in the galaxy or by studying the effect of past outflows on the gas surrounding the galaxy. In this work, we examine the CO(7-6), [CI]\,($^{3} \rm P_{1} \rightarrow {\rm ^3 P}_{0}$), H$_2$O 2$_{11}$--2$_{02}$ and dust continuum emission of 15 extremely red quasars (ERQs) at z$\sim$2.3 using ALMA. By investigating the radial surface brightness profiles of both the individual sources and the stacked emission, we detect extended cold gas and dust emission on scales of $\sim$14 kpc in CO(7-6), [CI](2-1), and dust continuum. This is the first time that the presence of a large amount of molecular gas was detected on large, circum-galactic medium scales around quasar host galaxies using [CI] extended emission. We estimate the dust and molecular gas mass of these halos to be 10$^{7.6}$ and 10$^{10.6}$ M$_\odot$, indicating significant dust and molecular gas reservoirs around these extreme quasars. By estimating the timescale at which this gas can reach these distances by molecular gas outflows (7-32 Myr), we conclude that these halos are a relic of past AGN or starburst activity, rather than an effect of the current episode of extreme quasar activity.

We present a method for improving the performance of nested

sampling as well as its accuracy. Building on previous work by

Chen et al., we show that posterior repartitioning

may be used to reduce the amount of time nested sampling spends in

compressing from prior to posterior if a suitable ``proposal''

distribution is supplied. We showcase this on a cosmological example

with a Gaussian posterior, and release the code as an LGPL licensed,

extensible Python package

https://gitlab.com/a-p-petrosyan/sspr.

Observations of the redshifted 21-cm line of atomic hydrogen have resulted in several upper limits on the 21-cm power spectrum and a tentative detection of the sky-averaged signal at $z\sim17$. Made with the EDGES Low-Band antenna, this claim was recently disputed by the SARAS3 experiment, which reported a non-detection and is the only available upper limit strong enough to constrain cosmic dawn astrophysics. We use these data to constrain a population of radio-luminous galaxies $\sim 200$ million years after the Big Bang ($z\approx 20$). We find, using Bayesian data analysis, that the data disfavours (at 68% confidence) radio-luminous galaxies in dark matter halos with masses of $4.4\times10^{5}$ M$_\odot \lesssim M \lesssim 1.1\times10^{7}$M$_\odot$ (where $M_\odot$ is the mass of the Sun) at $z = 20$ and galaxies in which $>5$% of the gas is converted into stars. The data disfavour galaxies with radio luminosity per star formation rate of $L_\mathrm{r}/\mathrm{SFR} \gtrsim 1.549 \times 10^{25}$ W Hz$^{-1}$M$_\odot^{-1}$ yr at 150 MHz, a thousand times brighter than today, and, separately, a synchrotron radio background in excess of the CMB by $\gtrsim 6%$ at 1.42 GHz.

We discuss the challenges of motivating, constructing, and quantising a canonically-normalised inflationary perturbation in spatially curved universes. We show that this has historically proved challenging due to the interaction of non-adiabaticity with spatial curvature. We propose a novel curvature perturbation which is canonically normalised, unique up to a single scalar parameter. This corrected quantisation has potentially observational consequences via modifications to the primordial power spectrum at large angular scales, as well as theoretical implications for quantisation procedures in curved cosmologies filled with a scalar field.

Here we use the Horizon-AGN simulation to test whether the spins of SMBHs in merger-free galaxies are higher. We select samples using an observationally motivated bulge-to-total mass ratio of < 0.1, along with two simulation motivated thresholds selecting galaxies which have not undergone a galaxy merger since z = 2, and those SMBHs with < 10% of their mass due to SMBH mergers. We find higher spins (> 5{\sigma} ) in all three samples compared to the rest of the population. In addition, we find that SMBHs with their growth dominated by BH mergers following galaxy mergers, are less likely to be aligned with their galaxy spin than those that have grown through accretion in the absence of galaxy mergers (3.4{\sigma} ). We discuss the implications this has for the impact of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback, finding that merger-free SMBHs spend on average 91% of their lifetimes since z = 2 in a radio mode of feedback (88% for merger-dominated galaxies). Given that previous observational and theoretical works have concluded that merger-free processes dominate SMBH-galaxy co-evolution, our results suggest that this co-evolution could be regulated by radio mode AGN feedback.

While it is well established that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) co-evolve with their host galaxy, it is currently less clear how lower mass black holes, so-called intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs), evolve within their dwarf galaxy hosts. In this paper, we present results on the evolution of a large sample of IMBHs from the NewHorizon simulation. We show that occupation fractions of IMBHs in dwarf galaxies are at least 50 percent for galaxies with stellar masses down to 1E6 Msun, but BH growth is very limited in dwarf galaxies. In NewHorizon, IMBH growth is somewhat more efficient at high redshift z = 3 but in general IMBH do not grow significantly until their host galaxy leaves the dwarf regime. As a result, NewHorizon under-predicts observed AGN luminosity function and AGN fractions. We show that the difficulties of IMBH to remain attached to the centres of their host galaxies plays an important role in limiting their mass growth, and that this dynamic evolution away from galactic centres becomes stronger at lower redshift.

We investigate the relationship between the star formation rate (SFR), stellar mass ($M_*$) and molecular gas mass ($M_{H_2}$) for local star-forming galaxies. We further investigate these relationships for high-z (z=1-3) galaxies and for the hosts of a local sample of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). We explore which of these dependencies are intrinsic and which are an indirect by-product by employing partial correlation coefficients and random forest regression. We find that for local star-forming galaxies, high-z galaxies, and AGN host galaxies, the Schmidt-Kennicutt relation (SK, between $M_{H_2}$ and SFR), and the Molecular Gas Main Sequence (MGMS, between $M_{H_2}$ and $M_*$) are intrinsic primary relations, while the relationship between $M_*$ and SFR, i.e. the Star-Forming Main Sequence (SFMS), is an indirect by-product of the former two. Hence the Star-Forming Main Sequence is not a fundamental scaling relation for local or high-redshift galaxies. We find evidence for both the evolution of the MGMS and SK relation over cosmic time, where, at a given stellar mass, the higher the redshift, the greater the molecular gas mass and the star formation efficiency. We offer a parameterisation of both the MGMS and SK relation's evolution with redshift, showing how they combine to form the observed evolution of the SFMS. In addition, we find that the local AGN host galaxies follow an AGN-MGMS relation (as well as a AGN-SK relation), where the MGMS is offset to lower $M_{H_2}$ for a given $M_*$ compared to local SF galaxies.

In galaxy clusters, the hot intracluster medium (ICM) can develop a striking multi-phase structure around the brightest cluster galaxy. Much work has been done on understanding the origin of this central nebula, but less work has studied its eventual fate after the originally filamentary structure is broken into individual cold clumps. In this paper we perform a suite of 30 (magneto-)hydrodynamical simulations of kpc-scale cold clouds with typical parameters as found by galaxy cluster simulations, to understand whether clouds are mixed back into the hot ICM or can persist. We investigate the effects of radiative cooling, small-scale heating, magnetic fields, and (anisotropic) thermal conduction on the long-term evolution of clouds. We find that filament fragments cool on timescales shorter than the crushing timescale, fall out of pressure equilibrium with the hot medium, and shatter, forming smaller clumplets. These act as nucleation sites for further condensation, and mixing via Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, causing cold gas mass to double within 75 Myr. Cloud growth depends on density, as well as on local heating processes, which determine whether clouds undergo ablation- or shattering-driven evolution. Magnetic fields slow down but don't prevent cloud growth, with the evolution of both cold and warm phase sensitive to the field topology. Counter-intuitively, anisotropic thermal conduction increases the cold gas growth rate compared to non-conductive clouds, leading to larger amounts of warm phase as well. We conclude that dense clumps on scales of $500$ pc or more cannot be ignored when studying the long-term cooling flow evolution of galaxy clusters.

Enshrouded in several well-known controversies, dwarf galaxies have been extensively studied to learn about the underlying cosmology, notwithstanding that physical processes regulating their properties are poorly understood. To shed light on these processes, we introduce the Pandora suite of 17 high-resolution (3.5 parsec half-cell side) dwarf galaxy formation cosmological simulations. Commencing with thermo-turbulent star formation and mechanical supernova feedback, we gradually increase the complexity of physics incorporated leading to full-physics models combining magnetism, on-the-fly radiative transfer and the corresponding stellar photoheating, and SN-accelerated cosmic rays. We investigate combinations of these processes, comparing them with observations to constrain what are the main mechanisms determining dwarf galaxy properties. We find hydrodynamical `SN feedback-only' simulations struggle to produce realistic dwarf galaxies, leading either to overquenched or too centrally concentrated, dispersion dominated systems when compared to observed field dwarfs. Accounting for radiation with cosmic rays results in extended and rotationally-supported systems. Spatially `distributed' feedback leads to realistic stellar and HI masses as well as kinematics. Furthermore, resolved kinematic maps of our full-physics models predict kinematically distinct clumps and kinematic misalignments of stars, HI and HII after star formation events. Episodic star formation combined with its associated feedback induces more core-like dark matter central profiles, which our `SN feedback-only' models struggle to achieve. Our results demonstrate the complexity of physical processes required to capture realistic dwarf galaxy properties, making tangible predictions for integral field unit surveys, radio synchrotron emission, and for galaxy and multi-phase interstellar medium properties that JWST will probe.

The local distance ladder estimate of the Hubble constant ($H_0$) is important in cosmology, given the recent tension with the early universe inference. We estimate $H_0$ from the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) distance ladder, inferring SN Ia distances with the hierarchical Bayesian SED model, BayeSN. This method has a notable advantage of being able to continuously model the optical and near-infrared (NIR) SN Ia light curves simultaneously. We use two independent distance indicators, Cepheids or the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB), to calibrate a Hubble-flow sample of 67 SNe Ia with optical and NIR data. We estimate $H_0 = 74.82 \pm 0.97$ (stat) $\pm\, 0.84$ (sys) km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ when using the calibration with Cepheid distances to 37 host galaxies of 41 SNe Ia, and $70.92 \pm 1.14$ (stat) $\pm\,1.49$ (sys) km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ when using the calibration with TRGB distances to 15 host galaxies of 18 SNe Ia. For both methods, we find a low intrinsic scatter $\sigma_{\rm int} \lesssim 0.1$ mag. We test various selection criteria and do not find significant shifts in the estimate of $H_0$. Simultaneous modelling of the optical and NIR yields up to $\sim$15% reduction in $H_0$ uncertainty compared to the equivalent optical-only cases. With improvements expected in other rungs of the distance ladder, leveraging joint optical-NIR SN Ia data can be critical to reducing the $H_0$ error budget.

Enhanced ionizing radiation in close proximity to redshift $z\gtrsim 6$ quasars creates short windows of intergalactic Ly$\alpha$ transmission blueward of the quasar Ly$\alpha$ emission lines. The majority of these Ly$\alpha$ near-zones are consistent with quasars that have optically/UV bright lifetimes of $t_{\rm Q}\sim 10^{5}-10^{7}\rm\,yr$. However, lifetimes as short as $t_{\rm Q}\lesssim 10^{4}\rm\,yr$ appear to be required by the smallest Ly$\alpha$ near-zones. These short lifetimes present an apparent challenge for the growth of $\sim 10^{9}\rm\,M_{\odot}$ black holes at $z\gtrsim 6$. Accretion over longer timescales is only possible if black holes grow primarily in an obscured phase, or if the quasars are variable on timescales comparable to the equilibriation time for ionized hydrogen. Distinguishing between very young quasars and older quasars that have experienced episodic accretion with Ly$\alpha$ absorption alone is challenging, however. We therefore predict the signature of proximate 21-cm absorption around $z\gtrsim 6$ radio-loud quasars. For modest pre-heating of intergalactic hydrogen by the X-ray background, where the spin temperature $T_{\rm S} \lesssim 10^{2}\rm\,K$ prior to any quasar heating, we find proximate 21-cm absorption should be observable in the spectra of radio-loud quasars. The extent of the proximate 21-cm absorption is sensitive to the integrated lifetime of the quasar. Evidence for proximate 21-cm absorption from the diffuse intergalactic medium within $2-3\rm\,pMpc$ of a (radio-loud) quasar would be consistent with a short quasar lifetime, $t_{\rm Q}\lesssim 10^{5}\rm\,yr$, and would provide a complementary constraint on models for high redshift black hole growth.