RascalC: A Jackknife Approach to Estimating Single and Multi-Tracer Galaxy Covariance Matrices

Abstract

To make use of clustering statistics from large cosmological surveys, accurate and precise covariance matrices are needed. We present a new code to estimate large scale galaxy two-point correlation function (2PCF) covariances in arbitrary survey geometries that, due to new sampling techniques, runs $\sim 10^4$ times faster than previous codes, computing finely-binned covariance matrices with negligible noise in less than 100 CPU-hours. As in previous works, non-Gaussianity is approximated via a small rescaling of shot-noise in the theoretical model, calibrated by comparing jackknife survey covariances to an associated jackknife model. The flexible code, RascalC, has been publicly released, and automatically takes care of all necessary pre- and post-processing, requiring only a single input dataset (without a prior 2PCF model). Deviations between large scale model covariances from a mock survey and those from a large suite of mocks are found to be be indistinguishable from noise. In addition, the choice of input mock are shown to be irrelevant for desired noise levels below $\sim 10^5$ mocks. Coupled with its generalization to multi-tracer data-sets, this shows the algorithm to be an excellent tool for analysis, reducing the need for large numbers of mock simulations to be computed.

arXiv comment29 pages, 8 figures. Accepted by MNRAS. Code is available at http://github.com/oliverphilcox/RascalC with documentation at http://rascalc.readthedocs.io/

References in corpus (40)

• HEALPix -- a Framework for High Resolution Discretization, and Fast Analysis of Data Distributed on the Sphere
• The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: cosmological analysis of the DR12 galaxy sample
• The Eleventh and Twelfth Data Releases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Final Data from SDSS-III
• SDSS-III: Massive Spectroscopic Surveys of the Distant Universe, the Milky Way Galaxy, and Extra-Solar Planetary Systems
• The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III
• The DESI Experiment Part I: Science,Targeting, and Survey Design
• Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and Weak Lensing
• KiDS-450: Cosmological parameter constraints from tomographic weak gravitational lensing
• Power Spectrum Analysis of Three-Dimensional Redshift Surveys
• Euclid Definition Study Report
• Why your model parameter confidences might be too optimistic -- unbiased estimation of the inverse covariance matrix
• The SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Overview and Early Data
• Statistical Analysis of Galaxy Surveys - I. Robust error estimation for 2-point clustering statistics
• The DESI Experiment, a whitepaper for Snowmass 2013
• Optimal rates of convergence for covariance matrix estimation
• The Clustering of Galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Including covariance matrix errors
• The clustering of the SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey DR14 quasar sample: a tomographic measurement of cosmic structure growth and expansion rate based on optimal redshift weights
• Putting the Precision in Precision Cosmology: How accurate should your data covariance matrix be?
• Mock galaxy catalogs using the quick particle mesh method
• Gaussian covariance matrices for anisotropic galaxy clustering measurements
• Modeling the angular correlation function and its full covariance in Photometric Galaxy Surveys
• Analysis of two-point statistics of cosmic shear: III. Covariances of shear measures made easy
• Estimating Cosmological Parameter Covariance
• The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: theoretical systematics and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the galaxy correlation function
• Comparing approximate methods for mock catalogues and covariance matrices I: correlation function
• Dark matter statistics for large galaxy catalogs: power spectra and covariance matrices
• Complete super-sample lensing covariance in the response approach
• Performance of internal Covariance Estimators for Cosmic Shear Correlation Functions
• Combining Probes of Large-Scale Structure with CosmoLike
• Improving the precision matrix for precision cosmology
• Large Covariance Matrices: Smooth Models from the 2-Point Correlation Function
• WFIRST Science Investigation Team "Cosmology with the High Latitude Survey" Annual Report 2017
• Precision matrix expansion - efficient use of numerical simulations in estimating errors on cosmological parameters
• Non-linear shrinkage estimation of large-scale structure covariance
• Analysis of two-point statistics of cosmic shear: II. Optimizing the survey geometry
• Galaxy 2-Point Covariance Matrix Estimation for Next Generation Surveys
• Estimating Covariance Matrices for Two- and Three-Point Correlation Function Moments in Arbitrary Survey Geometries
• Estimating the power spectrum covariance matrix with fewer mock samples
• Disconnected Covariance of 2-point Functions in Large-Scale Structure
• Large Covariance Matrices: Accurate Models Without Mocks

Cited by in corpus (28)

• DESI DR2 Results II: Measurements of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and Cosmological Constraints
• DESI 2024 III: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from Galaxies and Quasars
• The completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: 1000 multi-tracer mock catalogues with redshift evolution and systematics for galaxies and quasars of the final data release
• Cosmological constraints from BOSS with analytic covariance matrices
• Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Covariance Modelling and its Impact on Parameter Estimation and Quality of Fit
• DESI 2024 V: Full-Shape Galaxy Clustering from Galaxies and Quasars
• Fewer Mocks and Less Noise: Reducing the Dimensionality of Cosmological Observables with Subspace Projections
• The clustering of the SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey DR16 luminous red galaxy and emission line galaxy samples: cosmic distance and structure growth measurements using multiple tracers in configuration space
• First Detection of the BAO Signal from Early DESI Data
• Estimating Covariance Matrices for Two- and Three-Point Correlation Function Moments in Arbitrary Survey Geometries
• Computing the Small-Scale Galaxy Power Spectrum and Bispectrum in Configuration-Space
• Analytic Gaussian Covariance Matrices for Galaxy $N$-Point Correlation Functions
• Semi-analytical covariance matrices for two-point correlation function for DESI 2024 data
• Optimal Reconstruction of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations for DESI 2024
• Analytical and EZmock covariance validation for the DESI 2024 results
• Fiducial-Cosmology-dependent systematics for the DESI 2024 BAO Analysis
• The PDF perspective on the tracer-matter connection: Lagrangian bias and non-Poissonian shot noise
• HOD-Dependent Systematics in Emission Line Galaxies for the DESI 2024 BAO analysis
• A Faster Fourier Transform? Computing Small-Scale Power Spectra and Bispectra for Cosmological Simulations in $\mathcal{O}(N^2)$ Time
• Validation of semi-analytical, semi-empirical covariance matrices for two-point correlation function for Early DESI data
• HOD-Dependent Systematics for Luminous Red Galaxies in the DESI 2024 BAO Analysis
• Bayesian Control Variates for optimal covariance estimation with pairs of simulations and surrogates
• The 2-point correlation function covariance with fewer mocks
• Modelling the covariance matrix for the power spectra before and after the BAO reconstruction
• Cosmological constraints from galaxy multi-tracers in the nearby Universe
• A comparison of shrinkage estimators of the cosmological precision matrix
• An analytic approximation to the covariance between pre- and post-reconstruction galaxy two-point statistics
• Residual Smoothing: Using Mocks to Correct Model Covariance Matrices