Institut de Ciències del Cosmos

Context. We present the third data release of the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, Gaia DR3. This release includes a large variety of new data products, notably a much expanded radial velocity survey and a very extensive astrophysical characterisation of Gaia sources. Aims. We outline the content and the properties of Gaia DR3, providing an overview of the main improvements in the data processing in comparison with previous data releases (where applicable) and a brief discussion of the limitations of the data in this release. Methods. The Gaia DR3 catalogue is the outcome of the processing of raw data collected with the Gaia instruments during the first 34 months of the mission by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium. Results. The Gaia DR3 catalogue contains the same source list, celestial positions, proper motions, parallaxes, and broad band photometry in the G , G BP , and G RP pass-bands already present in the Early Third Data Release, Gaia EDR3. Gaia DR3 introduces an impressive wealth of new data products. More than 33 million objects in the ranges G RVS < 14 and 3100 < T eff < 14 500, have new determinations of their mean radial velocities based on data collected by Gaia . We provide G RVS magnitudes for most sources with radial velocities, and a line broadening parameter is listed for a subset of these. Mean Gaia spectra are made available to the community. The Gaia DR3 catalogue includes about 1 million mean spectra from the radial velocity spectrometer, and about 220 million low-resolution blue and red prism photometer BP/RP mean spectra. The results of the analysis of epoch photometry are provided for some 10 million sources across 24 variability types. Gaia DR3 includes astrophysical parameters and source class probabilities for about 470 million and 1500 million sources, respectively, including stars, galaxies, and quasars. Orbital elements and trend parameters are provided for some 800 000 astrometric, spectroscopic and eclipsing binaries. More than 150 000 Solar System objects, including new discoveries, with preliminary orbital solutions and individual epoch observations are part of this release. Reflectance spectra derived from the epoch BP/RP spectral data are published for about 60 000 asteroids. Finally, an additional data set is provided, namely the Gaia Andromeda Photometric Survey, consisting of the photometric time series for all sources located in a 5.5 degree radius field centred on the Andromeda galaxy. Conclusions. This data release represents a major advance with respect to Gaia DR2 and Gaia EDR3 because of the unprecedented quantity, quality, and variety of source astrophysical data. To date this is the largest collection of all-sky spectrophotometry, radial velocities, variables, and astrophysical parameters derived from both low- and high-resolution spectra and includes a spectrophotometric and dynamical survey of SSOs of the highest accuracy. The non-single star content surpasses the existing data by orders of magnitude. The quasar host and galaxy light profile collection is the first such survey that is all sky and space based. The astrophysical information provided in Gaia DR3 will unleash the full potential of Gaia ’s exquisite astrometric, photometric, and radial velocity surveys.

This paper describes the Hubble Space Telescope imaging data products and data reduction procedures for the Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS). This survey is designed to document the evolution of galaxies and black holes at $z\sim1.5-8$, and to study Type Ia SNe beyond $z>1.5$. Five premier multi-wavelength sky regions are selected, each with extensive multiwavelength observations. The primary CANDELS data consist of imaging obtained in the Wide Field Camera 3 / infrared channel (WFC3/IR) and UVIS channel, along with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The CANDELS/Deep survey covers \sim125 square arcminutes within GOODS-N and GOODS-S, while the remainder consists of the CANDELS/Wide survey, achieving a total of \sim800 square arcminutes across GOODS and three additional fields (EGS, COSMOS, and UDS). We summarize the observational aspects of the survey as motivated by the scientific goals and present a detailed description of the data reduction procedures and products from the survey. Our data reduction methods utilize the most up to date calibration files and image combination procedures. We have paid special attention to correcting a range of instrumental effects, including CTE degradation for ACS, removal of electronic bias-striping present in ACS data after SM4, and persistence effects and other artifacts in WFC3/IR. For each field, we release mosaics for individual epochs and eventual mosaics containing data from all epochs combined, to facilitate photometric variability studies and the deepest possible photometry. A more detailed overview of the science goals and observational design of the survey are presented in a companion paper.

DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) is a Stage IV ground-based dark energy experiment that will study baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) and the growth of structure through redshift-space distortions with a wide-area galaxy and quasar redshift survey. To trace the underlying dark matter distribution, spectroscopic targets will be selected in four classes from imaging data. We will measure luminous red galaxies up to $z=1.0$. To probe the Universe out to even higher redshift, DESI will target bright [O II] emission line galaxies up to $z=1.7$. Quasars will be targeted both as direct tracers of the underlying dark matter distribution and, at higher redshifts ($ 2.1 < z < 3.5$), for the Ly-$α$ forest absorption features in their spectra, which will be used to trace the distribution of neutral hydrogen. When moonlight prevents efficient observations of the faint targets of the baseline survey, DESI will conduct a magnitude-limited Bright Galaxy Survey comprising approximately 10 million galaxies with a median $z\approx 0.2$. In total, more than 30 million galaxy and quasar redshifts will be obtained to measure the BAO feature and determine the matter power spectrum, including redshift space distortions.

Context. The second Gaia data release ( Gaia DR2) provides precise five-parameter astrometric data (positions, proper motions, and parallaxes) for an unprecedented number of sources (more than 1.3 billion, mostly stars). This new wealth of data will enable the undertaking of statistical analysis of many astrophysical problems that were previously infeasible for lack of reliable astrometry, and in particular because of the lack of parallaxes. However, the use of this wealth of astrometric data comes with a specific challenge: how can the astrophysical parameters of interest be properly inferred from these data? Aims. The main focus of this paper, but not the only focus, is the issue of the estimation of distances from parallaxes, possibly combined with other information. We start with a critical review of the methods traditionally used to obtain distances from parallaxes and their shortcomings. Then we provide guidelines on how to use parallaxes more efficiently to estimate distances by using Bayesian methods. In particular we also show that negative parallaxes, or parallaxes with relatively large uncertainties still contain valuable information. Finally, we provide examples that show more generally how to use astrometric data for parameter estimation, including the combination of proper motions and parallaxes and the handling of covariances in the uncertainties. Methods. The paper contains examples based on simulated Gaia data to illustrate the problems and the solutions proposed. Furthermore, the developments and methods proposed in the paper are linked to a set of tutorials included in the Gaia archive documentation that provide practical examples and a good starting point for the application of the recommendations to actual problems. In all cases the source code for the analysis methods is provided. Results. Our main recommendation is to always treat the derivation of (astro-)physical parameters from astrometric data, in particular when parallaxes are involved, as an inference problem which should preferably be handled with a full Bayesian approach. Conclusions. Gaia will provide fundamental data for many fields of astronomy. Further data releases will provide more data, and more precise data. Nevertheless, to fully use the potential it will always be necessary to pay careful attention to the statistical treatment of parallaxes and proper motions. The purpose of this paper is to help astronomers find the correct approach.

We measure the large-scale cross-correlation of quasars with the Lyα forest absorption, using over 164,000 quasars from Data Release 11 of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We extend the previous study of roughly 60,000 quasars from Data Release 9 to larger separations, allowing a measurement of the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) scale along the line of sight c /( H ( z = 2.36) r s ) = 9.0±0.3 and across the line of sight D A ( z = 2.36)/ r s = 10.8±0.4, consistent with CMB and other BAO data. Using the best fit value of the sound horizon from Planck data ( r s = 147.49 Mpc), we can translate these results to a measurement of the Hubble parameter of H ( z = 2.36) = 226±8 km s −1 Mpc −1 and of the angular diameter distance of D A ( z = 2.36) = 1590±60 Mpc. The measured cross-correlation function and an update of the code to fit the BAO scale (baofit) are made publicly available.

Aims. The scientific community needs to be prepared to analyse the data from Gaia, one of the most ambitious ESA space missions, which is to be launched in 2012. The purpose of this paper is to provide data and tools to predict how Gaia photometry is expected to be. To do so, we provide relationships among colours involving Gaia magnitudes (white light G, blue GBP, red GRP and GRVS bands) and colours from other commonly used photometric systems (Johnson-Cousins, Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Hipparcos and Tycho).

Using HST/WFC3 imaging taken as part of the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS), we examine the role that major galaxy mergers play in triggering active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity at z~2. Our sample consists of 72 moderate-luminosity (Lx ~ 1E42-1E44 erg/s) AGN at 1.5

We use HST/WFC3 imaging from the CANDELS Multicycle Treasury Survey, in conjunction with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, to explore the evolution of galactic structure for galaxies with stellar masses >3e10M_sun from z=2.2 to the present epoch, a time span of 10Gyr. We explore the relationship between rest-frame optical color, stellar mass, star formation activity and galaxy structure. We confirm the dramatic increase from z=2.2 to the present day in the number density of non-star-forming galaxies above 3e10M_sun reported by others. We further find that the vast majority of these quiescent systems have concentrated light profiles, as parametrized by the Sersic index, and the population of concentrated galaxies grows similarly rapidly. We examine the joint distribution of star formation activity, Sersic index, stellar mass, inferred velocity dispersion, and stellar surface density. Quiescence correlates poorly with stellar mass at all z<2.2. Quiescence correlates well with Sersic index at all redshifts. Quiescence correlates well with `velocity dispersion' and stellar surface density at z>1.3, and somewhat less well at lower redshifts. Yet, there is significant scatter between quiescence and galaxy structure: while the vast majority of quiescent galaxies have prominent bulges, many of them have significant disks, and a number of bulge-dominated galaxies have significant star formation. Noting the rarity of quiescent galaxies without prominent bulges, we argue that a prominent bulge (and perhaps, by association, a supermassive black hole) is an important condition for quenching star formation on galactic scales over the last 10Gyr, in qualitative agreement with the AGN feedback paradigm.

We present the Data Release 9 Quasar (DR9Q) catalog from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III. The catalog includes all BOSS objects that were targeted as quasar candidates during the survey, are spectrocopically confirmed as quasars via visual inspection, have luminosities M i [z = 2] < -20.5 (in a CDM cosmology with H 0 = 70 km s -1 Mpc -1 , M = 0.3, and = 0.7) and either display at least one emission line with full width at half maximum (FWHM) larger than 500 km s -1 or, if not, have interesting/complex absorption features. It includes as well, known quasars (mostly from SDSS-I and II) that were reobserved by BOSS. This catalog contains 87 822 quasars (78 086 are new discoveries) detected over 3275 deg 2 with robust identification and redshift measured by a combination of principal component eigenspectra newly derived from a training set of 8632 spectra from SDSS-DR7. The number of quasars with z > 2.15 (61 931) is 2.8 times larger than the number of z > 2.15 quasars previously known. Redshifts and FWHMs are provided for the strongest emission lines (C iv, C iii], Mg ii). The catalog identifies 7533 broad absorption line quasars and gives their characteristics. For each object the catalog presents five-band (u, g, r, i, z) CCD-based photometry with typical accuracy of 0.03 mag, and information on the morphology and selection method. The catalog also contains X-ray, ultraviolet, near-infrared, and radio emission properties of the quasars, when available, from other large-area surveys. The calibrated digital spectra cover the wavelength region 3600-10 500 at a spectral resolution in the range 1300 < R < 2500; the spectra can be retrieved from the SDSS Catalog Archive Server. We also provide a supplemental list of an additional 949 quasars that have been identified, among galaxy targets of the BOSS or among quasar targets after DR9 was frozen.

Despite the many outstanding cosmological observations leading to a strong evidence for a non-vanishing cosmological constant (CC) term Λ in the gravitational field equations, the theoretical status of this quantity seems to be lagging well behind the observational successes. It thus seems timely to revisit some fundamental aspects of the CC term in Quantum Field Theory (QFT). We emphasize that, in curved space–time, nothing a priori prevents this term from potentially having a mild running behavior associated to quantum effects. Remarkably, this could be the very origin of the dynamical nature of the Dark Energy, in contrast to many other popular options considered in the literature. In discussing this possibility, we also address some recent criticisms concerning the possibility of such running. Our conclusion is that, while there is no comprehensive proof of the CC running, there is no proof of the non-running either. The problem can be solved only through a deeper understanding of the vacuum contributions of massive quantum fields on a curved space–time background. We suggest that such investigations are at the heart of one of the most important endeavors of fundamental theoretical cosmology in the years to come.

DESI (Dark Energy Spectropic Instrument) is a Stage IV ground-based dark energy experiment that will study baryon acoustic oscillations and the growth of structure through redshift-space distortions with a wide-area galaxy and quasar redshift survey. The DESI instrument is a robotically-actuated, fiber-fed spectrograph capable of taking up to 5,000 simultaneous spectra over a wavelength range from 360 nm to 980 nm. The fibers feed ten three-arm spectrographs with resolution $R= λ/Δλ$ between 2000 and 5500, depending on wavelength. The DESI instrument will be used to conduct a five-year survey designed to cover 14,000 deg$^2$. This powerful instrument will be installed at prime focus on the 4-m Mayall telescope in Kitt Peak, Arizona, along with a new optical corrector, which will provide a three-degree diameter field of view. The DESI collaboration will also deliver a spectroscopic pipeline and data management system to reduce and archive all data for eventual public use.

We measure the quasar two-point correlation function over the redshift range 2.2 < z < 2.8 using data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We use a homogeneous subset of the data consisting of 27 129 quasars with spectroscopic redshifts -by far the largest such sample used for clustering measurements at these redshifts to date. The sample covers 3600 deg 2 , corresponding to a comoving volume of 9.7 (h -1 Gpc) 3 assuming a fiducial cold dark matter cosmology, and it has a median absolute i-band magnitude of -26, k-corrected to z = 2. After accounting for redshift errors we find that the redshift-space correlation function is fitted well by a power law of slope -2 and amplitude s 0 = (9.7 0.5) h -1 Mpc over the range 3 < s < 25 h -1 Mpc. The projected correlation function, which integrates out the effects of peculiar velocities and redshift errors, is fitted well by a power law of slope -1 and r 0 = (8.4 0.6) h -1 Mpc over the range 4 < R < 16 h -1 Mpc. There is no evidence for strong luminosity or redshift dependence to the clustering amplitude, in part because of the limited dynamic range

Abstract Despite the fact that a rigid -term is a fundamental building block of the concordance ΛCDM model, we show that a large class of cosmological scenarios with dynamical vacuum energy density together with a dynamical gravitational coupling G or a possible non‐conservation of matter, are capable of seriously challenging the traditional phenomenological success of the ΛCDM. In this paper, we discuss these “running vacuum models” (RVMs), in which consists of a nonvanishing constant term and a series of powers of the Hubble rate. Such generic structure is potentially linked to the quantum field theoretical description of the expanding universe. By performing an overall fit to the cosmological observables SN Ia+BAO+ H ( z )+LSS+BBN+CMB (in which the WMAP9, Planck 2013, and Planck 2015 data are taken into account), we find that the class of RVMs appears significantly more favored than the ΛCDM, namely, at an unprecedented level of . Furthermore, the Akaike and Bayesian information criteria confirm that the dynamical RVMs are strongly preferred compared to the conventional rigid -picture of the cosmic evolution.

We investigate the properties of the FLRW flat cosmological models in which the vacuum energy density evolves with time, $\ensuremath{\Lambda}(t)$. Using different versions of the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}(t)$ model, namely, quantum field vacuum, power series vacuum and power law vacuum, we find that the main cosmological functions such as the scale factor of the Universe, the Hubble expansion rate $H$, and the energy densities are defined analytically. Performing a joint likelihood analysis of the recent supernovae type Ia data, the cosmic microwave background shift parameter and the baryonic acoustic oscillations traced by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies, we put tight constraints on the main cosmological parameters of the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}(t)$ scenarios. Furthermore, we study the linear matter fluctuation field of the above vacuum models. We find that the patterns of the power series vacuum $\ensuremath{\Lambda}={n}_{1}H+{n}_{2}{H}^{2}$ predict stronger small scale dynamics, which implies a faster growth rate of perturbations with respect to the other two vacuum cases (quantum field and power law), despite the fact that all the cosmological models share the same equation of state parameter. In the case of the quantum field vacuum $\ensuremath{\Lambda}={n}_{0}+{n}_{2}{H}^{2}$, the corresponding matter fluctuation field resembles that of the traditional $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ cosmology. The power law vacuum ($\ensuremath{\Lambda}\ensuremath{\propto}{a}^{\ensuremath{-}n}$) mimics the classical quintessence cosmology, the best fit being tilted in the phantom phase. In this framework, we compare the observed growth rate of clustering measured from the optical galaxies with those predicted by the current $\ensuremath{\Lambda}(t)$ models. Performing a Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test we show that the cosmological models which contain a constant vacuum ($\ensuremath{\Lambda}\mathrm{CDM}$), quantum field vacuum, and power law vacuum provide growth rates that match well with the observed growth rate. However, this is not the case for the power series vacuum models (in particular, the frequently adduced $\ensuremath{\Lambda}\ensuremath{\propto}H$ model) in which clusters form at significantly earlier times ($z\ensuremath{\ge}4$) with respect to all other models ($z\ensuremath{\sim}2$). Finally, we derived the theoretically predicted dark matter halo mass function and the corresponding distribution of cluster-size halos for all the models studied. Their expected redshift distribution indicates that it will be difficult to distinguish the closely resembling models (constant vacuum, quantum field, and power law vacuum), using realistic future x-ray surveys of cluster abundances. However, cluster surveys based on the Sunayev-Zeldovich detection method give some hope to distinguish the closely resembling models at high redshifts.

Mergers of galaxies are thought to cause significant gas inflows to the inner parsecs, which&#13;\ncan activate rapid accretion on to supermassive black holes (SMBHs), giving rise to active&#13;\ngalactic nuclei (AGN). During a significant fraction of this process, SMBHs are predicted to&#13;\nbe enshrouded by gas and dust. Studying 52 galactic nuclei in infrared-selected local luminous&#13;\nand ultraluminous infrared galaxies in different merger stages in the hard X-ray band, where&#13;\nradiation is less affected by absorption, we find that the amount of material around SMBHs&#13;\nincreases during the last phases of the merger. We find that the fraction of Compton-thick&#13;\n(CT, NH ≥ 10^(24) cm^−2) AGN in late-merger galaxies is higher (fCT = 65+12&#13;\n−13 per cent) than&#13;\nin local hard X-ray selected AGN (f CT = 27 ± 4 per cent), and that obscuration reaches&#13;\nits maximum when the nuclei of the two merging galaxies are at a projected distance of&#13;\nD12 ≃ 0.4–10.8 kpc (fCT = 77+13&#13;\n−17 per cent). We also find that all AGN of our sample in&#13;\nlate-merger galaxies have NH &gt; 10^(23) cm^−2, which implies that the obscuring material covers&#13;\n95+4&#13;\n−8 per cent of the X-ray source. These observations show that the material is most effectively&#13;\nfunnelled from the galactic scale to the inner tens of parsecs during the late stages of&#13;\ngalaxy mergers, and that the close environment of SMBHs in advanced mergers is richer in&#13;\ngas and dust with respect to that of SMBHs in isolated galaxies, and cannot be explained by&#13;\nthe classical AGN unification model in which the torus is responsible for the obscuration.

The Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey is a multiwavelength photometric and spectroscopic&#13;\nsurvey, using the AAOmega spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope to obtain&#13;\nspectra for up to _ 300 000 galaxies over 280 square degrees, to a limiting magnitude of&#13;\nrpet &lt; 19.8mag. The target galaxies are distributed over 0 &lt; z . 0.5 with a median redshift&#13;\nof z _ 0.2, although the redshift distribution includes a small number of systems, primarily&#13;\nquasars, at higher redshifts, up to and beyond z = 1. The redshift accuracy ranges from&#13;\nσv _ 50 kms−1 to σv _ 100 kms−1 depending on the signal-to-noise of the spectrum. Here&#13;\nwe describe the GAMA spectroscopic reduction and analysis pipeline. We present the steps&#13;\ninvolved in taking the raw two-dimensional spectroscopic images through to flux-calibrated&#13;\none-dimensional spectra. The resulting GAMA spectra cover an observed wavelength range&#13;\nof 3750 . λ . 8850 °A at a resolution of R _ 1300. The final flux calibration is typically&#13;\naccurate to 10 − 20%, although the reliability is worse at the extreme wavelength ends, and&#13;\npoorer in the blue than the red. We present details of the measurement of emission and absorption&#13;\nfeatures in the GAMA spectra. These measurements are characterised through a variety&#13;\nof quality control analyses detailing the robustness and reliability of the measurements. We&#13;\nillustrate the quality of the measurements with a brief exploration of elementary emission line&#13;\nproperties of the galaxies in the GAMA sample. We demonstrate the luminosity dependence&#13;\nof the Balmer decrement, consistent with previously published results, and explore further&#13;\nhow Balmer decrement varies with galaxy mass and redshift. We also investigate the mass&#13;\nand redshift dependencies of the [NII]/Hα vs [OIII]/Hβ spectral diagnostic diagram, commonly&#13;\nused to discriminate between star forming and nuclear activity in galaxies.

Context. This study has been developed in the framework of the computational simulations that are executed for the preparation of the ESA Gaia astrometric mission.

The XMM Cluster Survey (XCS) is a serendipitous search for galaxy clusters using all publicly available data in the XMM-Newton Science Archive. Its main aims are to measure cosmological parameters and trace the evolution of X-ray scaling relations. In this paper we present the first data release from the XMM Cluster Survey (XCS-DR1). This consists of 503 optically confirmed, serendipitously detected, X-ray clusters. Of these clusters, 256 are new to the

We present the first measurement of the large-scale cross-correlation of Lyα forest absorption and Damped Lyman α systems (DLA), using the 9th Data Release of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). The cross-correlation is clearly detected on scales up to 40h-1Mpc and is well fitted by the linear theory prediction of the standard Cold Dark Matter model of structure formation with the expected redshift distortions, confirming its origin in the gravitational evolution of structure. The amplitude of the DLA-Lyα cross-correlation depends on only one free parameter, the bias factor of the DLA systems, once the Lyα forest bias factors are known from independent Lyα forest correlation measurements. We measure the DLA bias factor to be bD = (2.17±0.20)βF0.22, where the Lyα forest redshift distortion parameter βF is expected to be above unity. This bias factor implies a typical host halo mass for DLAs that is much larger than expected in present DLA models, and is reproduced if the DLA cross section scales with halo mass as Mhα, with α = 1.1±0.1 for βF = 1. Matching the observed DLA bias factor and rate of incidence requires that atomic gas remains extended in massive halos over larger areas than predicted in present simulations of galaxy formation, with typical DLA proper sizes larger than 20 kpc in host halos of masses ~ 1012Msun. We infer that typical galaxies at z simeq 2 to 3 are surrounded by systems of atomic clouds that are much more extended than the luminous parts of galaxies and contain ~ 10% of the baryons in the host halo.

We propose a novel cosmological scenario with the space-time emerging from a pure initial de Sitter stage and subsequently evolving into the radiation, matter and dark energy dominated epochs, thereby avoiding the initial singularity and providing a complete description of the expansion history and a natural solution to the horizon problem.The model is based on a running vacuum energy density which evolves as a power series of the Hubble rate. The transit from the inflation into the standard radiation epoch is universal, giving a clue for a successful description of the graceful exit.The Universe is finally driven into the present slow accelerated expansion, characterized by a residual (but dynamical) vacuum energy. While the resulting late time cosmic history is very close to the cosmic concordance model, the new framework embodies a more complete past cosmic evolution than the standard cosmology.