Galaxy Number Counts Research Articles

Exploring the evidence for a large local void with supernovae Ia data

Abstract In the present work we utilise the most recent publicly available SN Ia compilations and implement a well formulated cosmological model based on LTB metric in presence of cosmological constant Λ (ΛLTB) to test for signatures of large local inhomogeneities at z ≤ 0.15. Local underdensities in this redshift range have been previously found based on luminosity density data and galaxy number counts. Our main constraints on the possible local void using the Pantheon SN Ia dataset are: redshift size of $z_{\rm size}=0.068^{+0.021}_{-0.030}$; density contrast of $\delta \Omega _0/\Omega _0 = -10.5_{-7.4}^{+9.3}\%$ between 16th and 84th percentiles. Investigating the possibility to alleviate the ∼ $9\%$ disagreement between measurements of present expansion rate H0 coming from calibrated local SN Ia and high-z CMB data, we find large local void to be a very unlikely explanation alone, consistently with previous studies. However, the level of matter inhomogeneity at a scale of ∼100Mpc that is allowed by SN Ia data, although not expected from ΛCDM cosmic variance calculations, could be the origin of additonal systematic error in distance ladder measurements based on SN Ia. Fitting low-redshift Pantheon data with a cut 0.023 < z < 0.15 to the ΛLTB model and to the Taylor expanded luminosity distance formula we estimate that this systematic error amounts to $1.1\%$ towards the lower H0 value. A test for local anisotropy in Pantheon SN Ia data yields null evidence. Analysis of luminosity density data provides a constraint on contrast of large isotropic void $\delta \Omega _0/\Omega _0 = -51.9\%\pm 6.3\%$, which is in ∼ 4σ tension with SN Ia results. More data is necessary to better constrain the local matter density profile and understand the disagreement between SN Ia and luminosity density samples.

J-PLUS: Synthetic galaxy catalogues with emission lines for photometric surveys

We present a synthetic galaxy lightcone specially designed for narrow-band optical photometric surveys. To reduce time-discreteness effects, unlike previous works, we directly include the lightcone construction in theL-Galaxiessemi-analytic model applied to the subhalo merger trees of theMillenniumsimulation. Additionally, we add a model for the nebular emission in star-forming regions, which is crucial for correctly predicting the narrow- and medium-band photometry of galaxies. Specifically, we consider, individually for each galaxy, the contribution of 9 different lines: Lyα(1216 Å), Hβ(4861 Å), Hα(6563 Å), [O II] (3727 Å, 3729 Å), [O III] (4959 Å, 5007 Å), [Ne III] (3870 Å), [O I] (6300 Å), [N II] (6548 Å, 6583 Å), and [S II] (6717 Å, 6731 Å). We validate our lightcone by comparing galaxy number counts, angular clustering, and Hα, Hβ, [O II], and [O III]5007luminosity functions to a compilation of observations. As an application of our mock lightcones, we generated catalogues tailored for J-PLUS, a large optical galaxy survey featuring five broad-band and seven medium-band filters. We study the ability of the survey to correctly identify, with a simple three-filter method, a population of emission-line galaxies at various redshifts. We show that the 4000 Å break in the spectral energy distribution of galaxies can be misidentified as line emission. However, all significant excess (> 0.4 mag) can be correctly and unambiguously attributed to emission-line galaxies. Our catalogues are publicly released to facilitate their use in interpreting narrow-band surveys and in quantifying the impact of line emission in broad-band photometry.

Prediction of H α and [O iii] emission line galaxy number counts for future galaxy redshift surveys

ABSTRACT We perform a simulation with Galacticus, a semi-analytical galaxy formation model, to predict the number counts of H α and [O iii] emitting galaxies. With a state-of-the-art N-body simulation, UNIT, we first calibrate Galacticus with the current observation of H α luminosity function. The resulting model coupled with a dust attenuation model, can reproduce the current observations, including the H α luminosity function from HiZELS and number density from WISP. We extrapolate the model prediction to higher redshift and the result is found to be consistent with previous investigations. We then use the same galaxy formation model to predict the number counts for [O iii] emitting galaxies. The result provides further validation of our galaxy formation model and dust model. We present number counts of H α and [O iii] emission line galaxies for three different line flux limits: 5 × 10−17erg s−1 cm−2, 1 × 10−16 erg s−1 cm−2 (6.5σ nominal depth for WFIRST GRS), and 2 × 10−16 erg s−1 cm−2 (3.5σ depth of Euclid GRS). At redshift 2 < z < 3, our model predicts that WFIRST can observe hundreds of [O iii] emission line galaxies per square degree with a line flux limit of 1 × 10−16 erg s−1 cm−2. This will provide accurate measurement of large-scale structure to probe dark energy over a huge cosmic volume to an unprecedented high redshift. Finally, we compare the flux ratio of H α/[O iii] within the redshift range of 0 < z < 3. Our results show the known trend of increasing H α/[O iii] flux ratio with H α flux at low redshift, which becomes a weaker trend at higher redshifts.

Towards detection of relativistic effects in galaxy number counts using kSZ tomography

High-resolution, low-noise observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) planned for the near-future will enable new cosmological probes based on re-scattered CMB photons—the secondary CMB . At the same time, enormous galaxy surveys will map out huge volumes of the observable Universe. Using the technique of kinetic Sunyaev Zel'dovich (kSZ) tomography these new probes can be combined to reconstruct the remote dipole field, the CMB dipole as observed from different vantage points in our Universe. The volume accessible to future galaxy surveys is large enough that general relativistic corrections to the observed distribution of galaxies must be taken into account. These corrections are interesting probes of gravity in their own right, but can also obscure potential signatures of primordial non-Gaussianity. In this paper, we demonstrate that correlations between the reconstructed remote dipole field and the observed galaxy number counts can in principle be used to detect general relativistic corrections. We show that neglecting general relativistic corrections leads to an \U0001d4aa(1) bias on the inferred amplitude of primordial non-Gaussianity, fNL. In addition, we demonstrate that the reconstructed remote dipole field can provide useful constraining power on various bias parameters appearing in the galaxy number counts, and can significantly mitigate the effects of alignment bias.

Forecasting super-sample covariance in future weak lensing surveys with SuperSCRAM

The observable universe contains density perturbations on scales larger than any finite volume survey. Perturbations on scales larger than a survey can measure degrade its power to constrain cosmological parameters. The dependence of survey observables such as the weak lensing power spectrum on these long-wavelength modes results in super-sample covariance. Accurately forecasting parameter constraints for future surveys requires accurately accounting for the super-sample effects. If super-sample covariance is in fact a major component of the survey error budget, it may be necessary to investigate mitigation strategies that constrain the specific realization of the long-wavelength modes. We present a Fisher matrix based formalism for approximating the magnitude of super-sample covariance and the effectiveness of mitigation strategies for realistic survey geometries. We implement our formalism in the public code SuperSCRAM: Super-Sample Covariance Reduction and Mitigation. We illustrate SuperSCRAM with an example application, where the modes contributing to super-sample covariance in the WFIRST weak lensing survey are constrained by the low-redshift galaxy number counts in the wider LSST footprint. We find that super-sample covariance increases the volume of the error ellipsoid in 7D cosmological parameter space by a factor of 4.5 relative to Gaussian statistical errors only, but our simple mitigation strategy more than halves the contamination, to a factor of 2.0.

The CFHT Large Area U-band Deep Survey (CLAUDS)

Abstract The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) Large Area U-band Deep Survey (CLAUDS) uses data taken with the MegaCam mosaic imager on CFHT to produce images of 18.60 deg2 with median seeing of FWHM=0.92″ and to a median depth of U = 27.1 AB (5σ in 2″ apertures), with selected areas that total 1.36 deg2 reaching a median depth of U = 27.7 AB. These are the deepest U-band images assembled to date over this large an area. These data are located in four fields also imaged to comparably faint levels in grizy and several narrowband filters as part of the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP). These CFHT and Subaru datasets will remain unmatched in their combination of area and depth until the advent of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). This paper provides an overview of the scientific motivation for CLAUDS and gives details of the observing strategy, observations, data reduction, and data merging with the HSC-SSP. Three early applications of these deep data are used to illustrate the potential of the dataset: deep U-band galaxy number counts, z∼3 Lyman break galaxy (LBG) selection, and photometric redshifts improved by adding CLAUDS U to the Subaru HSC grizy photometry.

Developing a unified pipeline for large-scale structure data analysis with angular power spectra – I. The importance of redshift-space distortions for galaxy number counts

ABSTRACT We develop a cosmological parameter estimation code for (tomographic) angular power spectra analyses of galaxy number counts, for which we include, for the first time, redshift-space distortions (RSDs) in the Limber approximation. This allows for a speed-up in computation time, and we emphasize that only angular scales where the Limber approximation is valid are included in our analysis. Our main result shows that a correct modelling of RSD is crucial not to bias cosmological parameter estimation. This happens not only for spectroscopy-detected galaxies, but even in the case of galaxy surveys with photometric redshift estimates. Moreover, a correct implementation of RSD is especially valuable in alleviating the degeneracy between the amplitude of the underlying matter power spectrum and the galaxy bias. We argue that our findings are particularly relevant for present and planned observational campaigns, such as the Euclid satellite or the Square Kilometre Array, which aim at studying the cosmic large-scale structure and trace its growth over a wide range of redshifts and scales.

The diverse galaxy counts in the environment of high-redshift massive black holes in Horizon-AGN

ABSTRACT High-redshift quasars are believed to reside in highly biased regions of the Universe, where black hole growth is sustained by an enhanced number of mergers and by being at the intersection of filaments bringing fresh gas. This assumption should be supported by an enhancement of the number counts of galaxies in the field of view of quasars. While the current observations of quasar environments do not lead to a consensus on a possible excess of galaxies, the future missions JWST, WFIRST, and Euclid will provide new insights on quasar environments, and will substantially increase the number of study-cases. We are in a crucial period, where we need to both understand the current observations and predict how upcoming missions will improve our understanding of BH environments. Using the large-scale simulation Horizon-AGN, we find that statistically the most massive BHs reside in environments with the largest galaxy number counts. However, we find a large variance in galaxy number counts, and some massive BHs do not show enhanced counts in their neighbourhood. Interestingly, some massive BHs have a very close galaxy companion but no further enhancement at larger scales, in agreement with recent observations. We find that AGN feedback in the surrounding galaxies is able to decrease their luminosity and stellar mass, and therefore to make them unobservable when using restrictive galaxy selection criteria. Radiation from the quasars can spread over large distances, which could affect the formation history of surrounding galaxies, but a careful analysis of these processes requires radiative transfer simulations.

All-sky angular power spectra from cleaned WISE×SuperCOSMOS galaxy number counts

Aiming to extract cosmological information from linear scales of the WISE×SuperCOSMOS photometric redshift catalog, we perform a characterization of the systematic effects associated with stellar content, evidencing the presence of contamination and obscuration. We create an integrated model for these effects (which together we call “usurper contamination”), devise a method to remove both of them simultaneously and show its functionality by applying it to a set of mock catalogs. When administered to WISE×SuperCOSMOS data, our method shows to improve the measurements of angular power spectra on scales ℓ≲15 and the extraction of cosmological parameters therefrom, even though a significant excess of power remains at these scales. When ignoring scales ℓ<15, we still find strong indications of systematics, albeit these can be localized in the southern equatorial hemisphere. An independent analysis of the northern hemisphere at ℓ⩾ 15 agrees with the ΛCDM model with parameters from the Planck satellite and gives Ωc=0.254±0.020 and Ωb<0.065 at 95% confidence limit when combined with priors on H0, As and ns.

The evolving X-ray spectrum of active galactic nuclei: evidence for an increasing reflection fraction with redshift

The cosmic X-ray background (XRB) spectrum and active galaxy number counts encode essential information about the spectral evolution of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and have been successfully modeled by XRB synthesis models for many years. Recent measurements of the $8$--$24$ keV AGN number counts by NuSTAR and Swift-BAT are unable to be simultaneously described by existing XRB synthesis models, indicating a fundamental breakdown in our understanding of AGN evolution. Here we show that the $8$--$24$ keV AGN number counts can be successfully modeled with an XRB synthesis model in which the reflection strength ($R$) in the spectral model increases with redshift. We show that an increase in reflection strength with redshift is a natural outcome of (1) connecting $R$ to the incidence of high column density gas around AGNs, and (2) the growth in the AGN obscured fraction to higher redshifts. In addition to the redshift evolution of $R$, we also find tentative evidence that an increasing Compton-thick fraction with $z$ is necessary to describe the $8$--$24$ keV AGN number counts determined by NuSTAR. These results show that, in contrast to the traditional orientation-based AGN unification model, the nature and covering factor of the absorbing gas and dust around AGNs evolve over time and must be connected to physical processes in the AGN environment. Future XRB synthesis models must allow for the redshift evolution of AGN spectral parameters. This approach may reveal fundamental connections between AGNs and their host galaxies.

The full-sky angular bispectrum in redshift space

We compute the redshift-dependent angular bispectrum of galaxy number counts at tree-level, including nonlinear clustering bias and estimating numerically for the first time the effect of redshift space distortions (RSD). We show that for narrow redshift bins the amplitude of nonlinear RSD is comparable with the matter density perturbations. While our numerical results only include terms relevant on sub-horizon scales, the formalism can readily be extended to the full tree-level bispectrum. Our approach does not rely on the flat-sky approximation and it can be easily generalized to different sources by including the appropriate bias expansion. We test the accuracy of Limber approximation for different z-bins. We highlight the subtle but relevant differences in the angular bispectrum of galaxy number counts with respect to CMB, due to the different scale dependence of perturbations. Our formalism can also be directly applied to the angular HI intensity mapping bispectrum.

J-PLUS: Morphological star/galaxy classification by PDF analysis

Aims. Our goal is to morphologically classify the sources identified in the images of the J-PLUS early data release (EDR) as compact (stars) or extended (galaxies) using a dedicated Bayesian classifier. Methods. J-PLUS sources exhibit two distinct populations in the r-band magnitude versus concentration plane, corresponding to compact and extended sources. We modelled the two-population distribution with a skewed Gaussian for compact objects and a log-normal function for the extended objects. The derived model and the number density prior based on J-PLUS EDR data were used to estimate the Bayesian probability that a source is a star or a galaxy. This procedure was applied pointing-by-pointing to account for varying observing conditions and sky positions. Finally, we combined the morphological information from the g, r, and i broad bands in order to improve the classification of low signal-to-noise sources. Results. The derived probabilities are used to compute the pointing-by-pointing number counts of stars and galaxies. The former increases as we approach the Milky Way disk, and the latter are similar across the probed area. The comparison with SDSS in the common regions is satisfactory up to r ~ 21, with consistent numbers of stars and galaxies, and consistent distributions in concentration and (g−i) colour spaces. Conclusions. We implement a morphological star/galaxy classifier based on probability distribution function analysis, providing meaningful probabilities for J-PLUS sources to one magnitude deeper (r ~ 21) than a classical Boolean classification. These probabilities are suited for the statistical study of 150 thousand stars and 101 thousand galaxies with 15 &lt; r ≤ 21 present in the 31.7 deg2 of the J-PLUS EDR. In a future version of the classifier, we will include J-PLUS colour information from 12 photometric bands.

The analysis of effective galaxies number count for Chinese Space Station Optical Survey (CSS-OS) by image simulation

The Chinese Space Station Optical Survey (CSS-OS) is a mission to explore the vast universe. This mission will equip a 2-meter space telescope to perform a multi-band NUV-optical large area survey (over 40% of the sky) and deep survey (~1% of the sky) for the cosmological and astronomical goals. Galaxy detection is one of the most important methods to achieve scientific goals. In this paper, we evaluate the galaxy number density for CSS-OS in i band (depth, i ~26 for large area survey and ~27 for the deep survey, point source, 5-sigma by the method of image simulation. We also compare galaxies detected by CSS-OS with that of LSST (i~27, point source, 5-sigma. In our simulation, the HUDF galaxy catalogs are used to create mock images due to long enough integration time which meets the completeness requirements of the galaxy analysis for CSS-OS and LSST. The galaxy surface profile and spectrum are produced by the morphological information, photometric redshift and SEDs from the catalogs. The instrumental features and the environmental condition are also considered to produce the mock galaxy images. The galaxies of CSS-OS and LSST are both extracted by SExtractor from the mock i band image and matched with the original catalog. Through the analysis of the extracted galaxies, we find that the effective galaxy number count is ~13 arcmin^-2, ~40 arcmin^-2 and ~42 arcmin^-2 for CSS-OS large area survey, CSS-OS deep survey and LSST, respectively. Moreover, CSS-OS shows the advantage in small galaxy detection with high spatial resolution, especially for the deep survey: about 20% of the galaxies detected by CSS-OS deep survey are not detected by LSST, and they have a small effective radius of re < 0.3".

The Spitzer-HETDEX Exploratory Large Area Survey. II. The Dark Energy Camera and Spitzer/IRAC Multiwavelength Catalog

Abstract We present the ugriz-band Dark Energy Camera (DECam) plus 3.6 and 4.5 μm IRAC catalogs for the Spitzer/HETDEX Exploratory Large-Area (SHELA) survey. SHELA covers ∼24 deg2 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) “Stripe 82” region, with seven bandpasses spanning a wavelength range of 0.35 to 4.5 μm. SHELA falls within the footprint of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX), which will provide spectroscopic redshifts for ∼200,000 Lyα emitters at 1.9 &lt; z &lt; 3.5 and also for ∼200,000 [O ii] emitters at z &lt; 0.5. SHELA’s deep, wide-area multiwavelength images, combined with HETDEX’s spectroscopic information, will facilitate many extragalactic studies, including measuring the evolution of galaxy stellar mass, halo mass, and environment from 1.5 &lt; z &lt; 3.5. Here we present riz-band-selected ugriz-band DECam catalogs that reach a 5σ depth of ∼24.5 AB mag (for point sources with an aperture that encloses 70% of the total flux) and cover 17.5 deg2 of the overall SHELA field. We validate our DECam catalog by comparison to the DECam Legacy Survey (DECaLS) DR5 and the Dark Energy Survey (DES) DR1. We perform IRAC forced photometry with The Tractor image modeling code to measure 3.6 and 4.5 μm fluxes for all objects within our DECam catalog. We demonstrate the utility of our catalog by computing galaxy number counts and estimating photometric redshifts. Our photometric redshifts recover the available SDSS spectroscopic redshifts with a 1σ scatter in Δz/(1 + z) of 0.04.

Constraining the Volume Density of Dusty Star-forming Galaxies through the First 3 mm Number Counts from ALMA

Abstract We carry out a blind search of 3 mm continuum sources using the ALMA Science Archive to derive the first galaxy number counts at this wavelength. The analyzed data are drawn from observations toward three extragalactic legacy fields: COSMOS, CDF-S, and the UDS comprising more than 130 individual ALMA Band 3 pointings and an effective survey area of ≈200 arcmin2 with a continuum sensitivity that allows for the direct detection of unlensed Dusty Star-forming Galaxies (DSFGs) dust emission beyond the epoch of reionization. We present a catalog of 16 sources detected at &gt;5σ with flux densities from which number counts are derived. These number counts are then used to place constraints on the volume density of DSFGs with an empirical backward evolution model. Our measured 3 mm number counts indicate that the contribution of DSFGs to the cosmic star formation rate density at z ≳ 4 is non-negligible. This is contrary to the generally adopted assumption of a sharply decreasing contribution of obscured galaxies at z &gt; 4 as inferred by optical and near-infrared surveys. This work demonstrates the power of ALMA-3 mm observations, which can reach outstanding continuum sensitivities during typical spectral line science programs. Further constraints on 3 mm selected galaxies will be essential to refine models of galaxy formation and evolution as well as models of early universe dust production mechanisms.

Semi-analytic forecasts forJWST– I. UV luminosity functions atz = 4–10

In anticipation of the upcoming deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we present high-redshift predictions by the well-established Santa Cruz semi-analytic model. We update the models by re-calibrating them after adopting cosmological parameters consistent with recent constraints from Planck. We provide predictions for rest-frame UV luminosity functions for galaxy populations over a wide range of MUV from ∼−6 to ∼−24 between |$z$| = 4–10. In addition, we present the corresponding predictions for observed-frame galaxy number counts in different redshift bins in the full set of NIRCam filters. We provide predictions of the quantitative effect on these observables of varying the physical recipes implemented in the models, such as the molecular gas depletion time (star formation efficiency), scalings or the scalings of outflow rates driven by stars, and supernovae with galaxy circular velocity. Based on these results, we discuss what may be learned about the physical processes that shape galaxy formation from JWST observations of galaxy number densities at different intrinsic luminosities. All data tables for the results presented in this work are available at https://www.simonsfoundation.org/semi-analytic-forecasts-for-jwst/.

Observational determination of the galaxy bias from cosmic variance with a random pointing survey: clustering ofz∼ 2 galaxies from Hubble’s BoRG survey

Gravitational clustering broadens the count-in-cells distribution of galaxies for surveys along uncorrelated (well-separated) lines of sight beyond Poisson noise. A number of methods have proposed to measure this excess "cosmic" variance to constrain the galaxy bias (i.e. the strength of clustering) independently of the two-point correlation function. Here we present an observational application of these methods using data from 141 uncorrelated fields (~700 arcmin$^2$ total) from Hubble's Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies (BoRG) survey. We use BoRG's broad-band imaging in optical and near infrared to identify N~1000 photometric candidates at z~2 through a combination of colour selection and photometric redshift determination, building a magnitude-limited sample with $m_{AB}\leq24.5$ in F160W. We detect a clear excess in the variance of the galaxy number counts distribution compared to Poisson expectations, from which we estimate a galaxy bias $b \approx 3.63 \pm 0.57$. When divided by SED-fit classification into ~400 early-type and ~600 late-type candidates, we estimate biases of $b_{early} \approx 4.06 \pm 0.67$ and $b_{late} \approx 2.98 \pm 0.98$ respectively. These estimates are consistent with previous measurements of the bias from the two-point correlation function, and demonstrate that with $N\gtrsim100$ sight-lines, each containing $N\gtrsim5$ objects, the counts-in-cell analysis provides a robust measurement of the bias. This implies that the method can be applied effectively to determine clustering properties (and characteristic dark-matter halo masses) of z~6-9 galaxies from a pure-parallel James Webb Space Telescope survey similar in design to Hubble's BoRG survey.

Survey of Gravitationally Lensed Objects in HSC Imaging (SuGOHI). II. Environments and Line-of-Sight Structure of Strong Gravitational Lens Galaxies to z ∼ 0.8

Abstract We investigate the local and line-of-sight (LOS) overdensities of strong gravitational lens galaxies using wide-area multiband imaging from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program. We present 41 new definite or probable lens candidates discovered in Data Release 2 of the survey. Using a combined sample of 87 galaxy-scale lenses out to a lens redshift of z L ∼ 0.8, we compare galaxy number counts in LOSs toward known and newly discovered lenses in the survey to those of a control sample consisting of random LOSs. We also compare the local overdensity of lens galaxies to a sample of “twin” galaxies that have similar redshift and velocity dispersion to test whether lenses lie in different environments from similar nonlens galaxies. We find that lens fields contain higher number counts of galaxies compared to the control fields, but this effect arises from the local environment of the lens. Once galaxies in the lens plane are removed, the lens LOSs are consistent with the control sample. The local environments of the lenses are overdense compared to the control sample, and are slightly overdense compared to those of the twin sample, although the significance is marginal. There is no significant evidence of the evolution of the local overdensity of lens environments with redshift.

Optimized angular power spectra for spectroscopic galaxy surveys

The angular power spectrum is a gauge-independent observable that is in principle the natural tool for analysing galaxy number counts. In practice, the problem is that the computational requirements for next-generation spectroscopic surveys such as Euclid and the Square Kilometre Array are currently unfeasible. We propose a new method to save computational time for spectroscopic angular power spectra. This hybrid method is modelled on the Fourier power spectrum approach of treating relatively thick redshift bins (redshift width ~0.1) as separate surveys. In the hybrid method, each thick bin is further subdivided into thin bins (redshift width ~0.01); all the correlations within each thick bin are computed, while cross-bin correlations beyond the thick bins are neglected. Constraints on cosmological parameters from the hybrid method are comparable to those from the standard galaxy power spectrum analysis - but they have the advantage that cosmic evolution, wide-angle and lensing effects are naturally included, while no Alcock-Paczynski correction is needed. The hybrid method delivers much tighter constraints than a 2D tomographic approach that is typical for photometric surveys, which considers only thick bins and the correlations between them. Furthermore, for standard cosmological parameters our method is not biased by neglecting the effects of lensing on number counts, while the tomographic method is strongly biased.

Effects of primordial black holes quantum gravity decay on galaxy clustering

It has been recently suggested that small mass black holes (BHs) may become unstable due to quantum-gravitational effects and eventually decay, producing radiation, on a timescale shorter than the Hawking evaporation time. We argue that the existence of a population of low-mass Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) acting as a fraction of the Universe dark matter component can be used to test proposed models of quantum decay of BHs via their effect on galaxy number counts. We study what constraints future galaxy clustering measurements can set on quantum-gravity parameters governing the BH lifetime and PBH abundance. In case of no detection of such effects, this would rule out either the existence of a non-negligible number of small PBHs, or the BH quantum decay scenario (or both). In case of independent observations of PBHs, the observables discussed here could be used to study the quantum effects that modify the final fate of BHs.