Cosmology Without Windows: Quadratic Estimators for the Galaxy Power Spectrum

Abstract

Conventional algorithms for galaxy power spectrum estimation measure the true spectrum convolved with a survey window function, which, for parameter inference, must be compared with a similarly convolved theory model. In this work, we directly estimate the unwindowed power spectrum multipoles using quadratic estimators akin to those introduced in the late 1990s. Under Gaussian assumptions, these are optimal and free from the leading-order effects of pixellization and non-Poissonian shot-noise. They may be straightforwardly computed given the survey data-set and a suite of simulations of known cosmology. We implement the pixel-based maximum-likelihood estimator and a simplification based on the FKP weighting scheme, both of which can be computed via FFTs and conjugate gradient descent methods. Furthermore, the estimators allow direct computation of spectrum coefficients in an arbitrary linear compression scheme, without needing to first bin the statistic. Applying the technique to a subset of the BOSS DR12 galaxies, we find that the pixel-based quadratic estimators give statistically consistent power spectra, compressed coefficients, and cosmological parameters to those obtained with the usual windowed approaches. Due to the sample's low number density and compact window function, the optimal weighting scheme gives little improvement over the simplified form; this may change for dense surveys or those focusing on primordial non-Gaussianity. The technique is shown to be efficient and robust, and shows significant potential for measuring the windowless power spectrum and bispectrum in the presence of weak non-Gaussianity.

21+9 pages, 12 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev. D

References in corpus (8)

• The DESI Experiment Part I: Science,Targeting, and Survey Design
• Why your model parameter confidences might be too optimistic -- unbiased estimation of the inverse covariance matrix
• The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Anisotropic galaxy clustering in Fourier-space
• The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurement of the BAO and growth rate of structure of the luminous red galaxy sample from the anisotropic power spectrum between redshifts 0.6 and 1.0
• Fewer Mocks and Less Noise: Reducing the Dimensionality of Cosmological Observables with Subspace Projections
• Quantifying lost information due to covariance matrix estimation in parameter inference
• Beyond Yamamoto: Anisotropic Power Spectra and Correlation Functions with Pairwise Lines-of-Sight
• On the use of the Edgeworth expansion in cosmology I: how to foresee and evade its pitfalls

Cited by in corpus (36)

• Constraints on Multi-Field Inflation from the BOSS Galaxy Survey
• Constraints on Single-Field Inflation from the BOSS Galaxy Survey
• Precision analysis of the redshift-space galaxy bispectrum
• Cosmology with the EFTofLSS and BOSS: dark energy constraints and a note on priors
• Unified galaxy power spectrum measurements from 6dFGS, BOSS, and eBOSS
• Cosmology with the Galaxy Bispectrum Multipoles: Optimal Estimation and Application to BOSS Data
• Ultra-light axions and the $S_8$ tension: joint constraints from the cosmic microwave background and galaxy clustering
• Updated constraints from the effective field theory analysis of BOSS power spectrum on Early Dark Energy
• Consistency of effective field theory analyses of the BOSS power spectrum
• The observed galaxy power spectrum in General Relativity
• Can we actually constrain $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ using the scale-dependent bias effect? An illustration of the impact of galaxy bias uncertainties using the BOSS DR12 galaxy power spectrum
• Cosmological constraints without fingers of God
• Cosmology Without Window Functions: Cubic Estimators for the Galaxy Bispectrum
• Determining the Hubble Constant without the Sound Horizon: A $3.6\%$ Constraint on $H_0$ from Galaxy Surveys, CMB Lensing and Supernovae
• Assembly bias in the local PNG halo bias and its implication for $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ constraints
• Full-shape BOSS constraints on dark matter interacting with dark radiation and lifting the $S_8$ tension
• Observational constraints on early dark energy
• The two-mode puzzle: Confronting self-interacting neutrinos with the full shape of the galaxy power spectrum
• Modified gravity and massive neutrinos: constraints from the full shape analysis of BOSS galaxies and forecasts for Stage IV surveys
• A Parameter-Masked Mock Data Challenge for Beyond-Two-Point Galaxy Clustering Statistics
• Constraints on anisotropic primordial non-Gaussianity from intrinsic alignments of SDSS-III BOSS galaxies
• A First Detection of the Connected 4-Point Correlation Function of Galaxies Using the BOSS CMASS Sample
• Strong constraints on a simple self-interacting neutrino cosmology
• Light Fields during Inflation from BOSS and Future Galaxy Surveys
• Optimal Estimation of the Binned Mask-Free Power Spectrum, Bispectrum, and Trispectrum on the Full Sky: Scalar Edition
• Beyond Yamamoto: Anisotropic Power Spectra and Correlation Functions with Pairwise Lines-of-Sight
• Wide-angle effects in the galaxy bispectrum
• Exploring neutrino interactions in light of present and upcoming galaxy surveys
• Window function convolution with deep neural network models
• Accurate estimation of angular power spectra for maps with correlated masks
• Anatomy of Parity-violating Trispectra in Galaxy Surveys
• Window convolution of the galaxy clustering bispectrum
• Testing Quadratic Maximum Likelihood estimators for forthcoming Stage-IV weak lensing surveys
• Linear Relativistic Corrections in the Spherical Fourier-Bessel Power Spectrum
• The large-scale monopole of the power spectrum in a Euclid-like survey: wide-angle effects, lensing, and the `finger of the observer'
• Cosmology behind the mask: Constraining the parameters of $\Lambda$CDM with the unmasked galaxy density field from VIPERS