• DOI:10.1093/mnras/stu778
• Corpus ID: 40156695

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: improved distance measurements to z = 1 with reconstruction of the baryonic acoustic feature

@article{Kazin2014TheWD,
  title={The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: improved distance measurements to z = 1 with reconstruction of the baryonic acoustic feature},
  author={Eyal A. Kazin and J. Koda and Chris Blake and Nikhil Padmanabhan and Sarah Brough and Matthew Colless and Carlos Contreras and Warrick J. Couch and Scott M. Croom and Darren J. Croton and Tamara M. Davis and Michael J. Drinkwater and Karl Forster and David Gilbank and Michael G. Gladders and Karl Glazebrook and Ben Jelliffe and Russell J. Jurek and I. H. Li and Barry F. Madore and D. Christopher Martin and Kevin Pimbblet and Gregory B. Poole and Michael B. Pracy and Rob Sharp and Emily Wisnioski and David Woods and Ted K. Wyder and Howard K. C. Yee},
  journal={Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  year={2014},
  volume={441},
  pages={3524-3542}
}

• E. Kazin, J. Koda, +26 authors H. Yee
• Published 2 January 2014
• Physics
• Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

We present significant improvements in cosmic distance measurements from the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey, achieved by applying the reconstruction of the baryonic acoustic feature technique. We show using both data and simulations that the reconstruction technique can often be effective despite patchiness of the survey, significant edge effects and shot-noise. We investigate three redshift bins in the redshift range 0.2 < z < 1, and in all three find improvement after reconstruction in the detection of the baryonic acoustic feature and its usage as a standard ruler. We measure model-independent distance measures D_V(r_s^(fid)/r_s) of 1716 ± 83, 2221 ± 101, 2516 ± 86 Mpc (68 per cent CL) at effective redshifts z = 0.44, 0.6, 0.73, respectively, where D_V is the volume-averaged distance, and r_s is the sound horizon at the end of the baryon drag epoch. These significantly improved 4.8, 4.5 and 3.4 per cent accuracy measurements are equivalent to those expected from surveys with up to 2.5 times the volume of WiggleZ without reconstruction applied. These measurements are fully consistent with cosmologies allowed by the analyses of the Planck Collaboration and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We provide the D_V(r_s^(fid)/r_s) posterior probability distributions and their covariances. When combining these measurements with temperature fluctuations measurements of Planck, the polarization of Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 9, and the 6dF Galaxy Survey baryonic acoustic feature, we do not detect deviations from a flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model. Assuming this model, we constrain the current expansion rate to H_0 = 67.15 ± 0.98 km s^(−1)Mpc^(−1). Allowing the equation of state of dark energy to vary, we obtain w_(DE) = −1.080 ± 0.135. When assuming a curved ΛCDM model we obtain a curvature value of Ω_K = −0.0043 ± 0.0047.