Mock simulations of galaxies, quasars and other tracers of large-scale structure for the J-PAS and WEAVE-QSO surveys

• Grant number: 23/18127-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: April 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Astronomy - Extragalactic Astrophysics
• Principal Investigator: Luis Raul Weber Abramo
• Grantee: Victor Roberto Soares da Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The J-PAS and the WEAVE surveys have finally started observations in 2023. J-PAS will detect $\sim10^4$ galaxies/deg$^2$ to produce a high-density 3D map of the Universe up to $z\sim 1$, but one of its key science drivers is cosmology with quasars. By combining J-PAS with the WEAVE-QSO survey we can unlock the full potential of high-redshift quasars, using those objects not only as tracers of large-scale structure but also as background light for the neutral Hydrogen of the inter-galactic medium, which can then be observed through absorption of the Ly-$\alpha$ line on the spectra of those background quasars.The main goal of this project is to construct mock simulations of the universe at high redshifts, in order to study the statistical and systematic errors that will be found on the real data, and to computecovariance matrices for the auto- and cross-correlations of high-redshift tracers.Further down the line, another goal of this project is to include Ly-$\alpha$ absorption systems into the picture. This part of the project will be developed with my collaborators in WEAVE-QSO (with whom we have the 4-year ANR-FAPESP project 2022/03426-8) can be achieved by starting from the LSS mocks with highly biased tracers (e.g., QSOs), which should capture the large-scale clustering. Starting from that skeleton we can then use codes such as LyaColoRe to fill in the small-scale clustering of the low-bias Ly-$\alpha$ absorption systems.