Related papers: The Fisher gAlaxy suRvey cOde ($\texttt{FARO}$)
Cosmological simulations are useful tools for studying the evolution of galaxies, and it is critical to accurately identify galaxies and their halos from raw simulation data. The friends-of-friend (FoF) algorithm has been widely adopted for…
We perform a cosmic shear analysis of the COMBO-17 survey -- a unique dataset with shear quality R-band imaging and accurate photometric redshift estimates (dz=0.05) for ~90% of galaxies to R=24.0. We undertake a full maximum likelihood…
We present a comparison of Fisher matrix forecasts for cosmological probes with Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) posterior likelihood estimation methods. We analyse the performance of future Dark Energy Task Force (DETF) stage-III and stage-…
We explore the feasibility of HI galaxy redshift surveys with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) and its proposed Core Array interferometry. Using semi-analytical simulations, we compare the performance of the FAST…
The combined CfA2/SSRS redshift catalog has recently been improved and made public. We compute the redshift-space power spectrum of this catalog using the regions at -2.5 < delta < 50 north (8h < alpha < 17h) and south (20h < alpha < 3h, b…
Dedicated 'Stage IV' observatories will soon observe the entire extragalactic sky, to measure the 'cosmic shear' distortion of galaxy shapes by weak gravitational lensing. To measure the apparent shapes of those galaxies, we present an…
There are several wide field galaxy and cluster surveys planned for the nearest future, e.g. BOSS, WFMOS, ADEPT, Hetdex, SPT, eROSITA. In the simplest approach one would analyze these independently, thus neglecting the extra information…
I present a new technique for the measurement of the growth of cosmic structures via the power spectrum of weak lensing cosmic shear. It is based on a template-fitting approach, where a redshift-dependent amplitude of lensing modulates a…
Galaxy-galaxy weak lensing is a direct probe of the mean matter distribution around galaxies. The depth and sky coverage of the CFHT Legacy Survey yield statistically significant galaxy halo mass measurements over a much wider range of…
Fisher matrices are used frequently in the analysis of combining cosmological constraints from various data sets. They encode the Gaussian uncertainties of multiple variables. They are simple to use, and I show how to get up and running…
We present a toolbox of new techniques and concepts for the efficient forecasting of experimental sensitivities. These are applicable to a large range of scenarios in (astro-)particle physics, and based on the Fisher information formalism.…
Fisher-matrix methods are widely used to predict how accurately parameters can be estimated. Being computationally efficient, this approach is prompted by the large number of signals simulated in forecast studies for future…
Three galaxy redshifts surveys and their analyses are discussed. (i) The recently completed Optical Redshift Survey (ORS) includes galaxies larger than 1.9 arcmin and/or brighter than $14.5^m$. It provides redshifts for $\sim 8300 $…
Methods for compression and classification of galaxy spectra, which are useful for large galaxy redshift surveys (such as the SDSS, 2dF, 6dF and VIRMOS), are reviewed. In particular, we describe and contrast three methods: (i) Principal…
We have investigated, using both a theoretical and an empirical approach, the frequency of low redshift galaxy-galaxy lensing systems in which the signature of weak lensing might be directly detectable. We find good agreement between these…
We make use of recent developments in the analysis of galaxy redshift surveys to present an easy to use matrix-based analysis framework for the galaxy power spectrum multipoles, including wide-angle effects and the survey window function.…
The number of galaxies at a given flux as a function of the redshift, $z$, is derived when the $z$-distance relation is non-standard. In order to compare different models, the same formalism is also applied to the standard cosmology. The…
The installation of the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) will revolutionize the study of high-redshift galaxy populations. Initial observations of the HST Ultra Deep Field (UDF) have yielded multiple z>~7…
We analyze the sensitivity of galaxy and weak-lensing surveys to detect preferred directions in the gravitational interaction. We consider general theories of gravity involving additional vector degrees of freedom with non-vanishing spatial…
Peculiar velocity surveys present a very promising route to measuring the growth rate of large-scale structure and its scale dependence. However, individual peculiar velocity surveys suffer from large statistical errors due to the intrinsic…