Warrick J. Couch

Bio: Warrick J. Couch is an academic researcher from Swinburne University of Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Galaxy & Galaxy cluster. The author has an hindex of 109, co-authored 410 publications receiving 63088 citations. Previous affiliations of Warrick J. Couch include Australian National University & Australian Astronomical Observatory.

Luminosity segregation in three clusters of galaxies (A119, A2443, A2218)

Abstract: We use deep wide-field V-band imaging obtained with the Wide Field Camera at the prime focus of the Issac Newton Telescope to study the spatial and luminosity distribution of galaxies in three low redshift (0.04 < z < 0.2) clusters: Abell 119, Abell 2443 and Abell 2218. The absolute magnitude limits probed in these clusters are M V - 5 log h 0.7 = -13.3, -15.4 and -16.7 mag, respectively. The galaxy population, at all luminosities, along the line-of-sight to the clusters can be described by the linear combination of a King profile and a constant surface density of field galaxies. We find that, for these three clusters, the core radius is invariant with intrinsic luminosity of the cluster population to the above limits and thus there is no evidence for luminosity segregation in these clusters. The exception is the brightest galaxies in A2218 which exhibit a more compact spatial distribution. We find that the total projected luminosity distribution (within 1 h -1 0.7 Mpc of the cluster centre) can be well represented by a single Schechter function with moderately flat faint-end slopes: a = -1.22 +0.07 -0.06 (A119), a = -1.11 +0.10 -0.09 (A2443) and α = -1.14 +0.08 -0.07 (A2218). We perform a geometric deprojection of the cluster galaxy population and confirm that no 'statistically significant' evidence of a change in the shape of the luminosity distribution with cluster-centric radius exists. Again, the exception being A2218 which exhibits a core region with a flatter faint-end slope.

Observation of Cosmological Time Dilation Using Type Ia Supernovae as Clocks

Abstract: This work is based on the first results from a systematic search for high redshift Type Ia supernovae. Using filters in the R-band we discovered seven such SNe, with redshift z = 0.3 — 0.5, before or at maximum light. Type Ia SNe are known to be a homogeneous group of SNe, to first order, with very similar light curves, spectra and peak luminosities. In this talk we report that the light curves we observe are all broadened (time dilated) as expected from the expanding universe hypothesis. Small variations from the expected 1 + z broadening of the light curve widths can be attributed to a width-brightness correlation that has been observed for nearby SNe (z < 0.1). We show in this talk the first clear observation of the cosmological time dilation for macroscopic objects.

The environments and clustering properties of 2dFGRS-selected starburst galaxies

Abstract: We investigate the environments and clustering properties of starburst galaxies selected from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) in order to determine which, if any, environmental factors play a role in triggering a starburst. We quantify the local environments, clustering properties and luminosity functions of our starburst galaxies and compare to random control samples. The starburst galaxies are also classified morphologically in terms of their broad Hubble type and evidence of tidal merger/interaction signatures. We find the starburst galaxies to be much less clustered on large (5-15 Mpc) scales compared to the overall 2dFGRS galaxy population. In terms of their environments, we find just over half of the starburst galaxies to reside in low to intermediate luminosity groups, and a further ~30 per cent residing in the outskirts and infall regions of rich clusters. Their luminosity functions also differ significantly from that of the overall 2dFGRS galaxy population, with the sense of the difference being critically dependent on the way their star formation rates are measured. In terms of pin-pointing what might trigger the starburst, it would appear that factors relating to their local environment are most germane. Specifically, we find clear evidence that the presence of a near neighbour of comparable luminosity/mass within 20 kpc is likely to be important in triggering a starburst. We also find that a significant fraction (20-30 per cent) of our starburst galaxies have morphologies indicative of either an ongoing or recent tidal interaction and/or merger. These findings notwithstanding, there remain a significant portion of starburst galaxies where local environmental influences are not in any obvious way playing a triggering role, leading us to conclude that starbursts can also be internally driven.

The Gigaparsec WiggleZ simulations: characterizing scale-dependant bias and associated systematics in growth of structure measurements

Abstract: We present the Gigaparsec WiggleZ simulation suite and use this resource to characterize galaxy bias and its scale dependence for a range of redshifts and halo masses in a standard Lambda cold dark matter cosmology. Under the ansatz that bias converges to a scale-independent form at large scales, we develop an eight-parameter phenomenological model which fully expresses the mass and redshift dependence of bias and its scale dependence in real-or redshift space. This is then used to illustrate how scale-dependent bias can systematically skew measurements of the growth rate of cosmic structure obtained from redshift-space distortion measurements. When data is fit only to scales k(max) <= 0.1 [h(-1) Mpc](-1), we find that these effects are significant only for large biases (b greater than or similar to 3) at large redshifts (z greater than or similar to 1). However, when smaller scales are incorporated (k(max) less than or similar to 0.2 [h(-1) Mpc](-1)) to increase measurement precision, the combination of reduced statistical uncertainties and increased scale-dependent bias can result in highly significant systematics for most large haloes across all redshifts. We identify several new interesting aspects of bias, including a significant large-scale bias boost for small haloes at low redshifts due to substructure effects (similar to 20 per cent for Milky Way-like systems) and a nearly redshift-independent halo mass (corresponding to a redshift-space bias of similar to 1.5) for which halo bias has little or no scale dependence on scales greater than 3 [h(-1)Mpc]. This suggests an optimal strategy of targeting bias similar to 1.5 systems for clustering studies which are dominated more by systematic uncertainties in how observed halo (or galaxy) distributions map to their underlying mass distribution than by observational statistical precision, such as cosmological measurements of neutrino masses. Code for generating our fitting formula is publicly available at http://gbpoole.github.io/Poole_2014a_code/.

Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae

Abstract: We report measurements of the mass density, Omega_M, and cosmological-constant energy density, Omega_Lambda, of the universe based on the analysis of 42 Type Ia supernovae discovered by the Supernova Cosmology Project. The magnitude-redshift data for these SNe, at redshifts between 0.18 and 0.83, are fit jointly with a set of SNe from the Calan/Tololo Supernova Survey, at redshifts below 0.1, to yield values for the cosmological parameters. All SN peak magnitudes are standardized using a SN Ia lightcurve width-luminosity relation. The measurement yields a joint probability distribution of the cosmological parameters that is approximated by the relation 0.8 Omega_M - 0.6 Omega_Lambda ~= -0.2 +/- 0.1 in the region of interest (Omega_M <~ 1.5). For a flat (Omega_M + Omega_Lambda = 1) cosmology we find Omega_M = 0.28{+0.09,-0.08} (1 sigma statistical) {+0.05,-0.04} (identified systematics). The data are strongly inconsistent with a Lambda = 0 flat cosmology, the simplest inflationary universe model. An open, Lambda = 0 cosmology also does not fit the data well: the data indicate that the cosmological constant is non-zero and positive, with a confidence of P(Lambda > 0) = 99%, including the identified systematic uncertainties. The best-fit age of the universe relative to the Hubble time is t_0 = 14.9{+1.4,-1.1} (0.63/h) Gyr for a flat cosmology. The size of our sample allows us to perform a variety of statistical tests to check for possible systematic errors and biases. We find no significant differences in either the host reddening distribution or Malmquist bias between the low-redshift Calan/Tololo sample and our high-redshift sample. The conclusions are robust whether or not a width-luminosity relation is used to standardize the SN peak magnitudes.

Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant

Abstract: We present spectral and photometric observations of 10 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in the redshift range 0.16 " z " 0.62. The luminosity distances of these objects are determined by methods that employ relations between SN Ia luminosity and light curve shape. Combined with previous data from our High-z Supernova Search Team and recent results by Riess et al., this expanded set of 16 high-redshift supernovae and a set of 34 nearby supernovae are used to place constraints on the following cosmo- logical parameters: the Hubble constant the mass density the cosmological constant (i.e., the (H 0 ), () M ), vacuum energy density, the deceleration parameter and the dynamical age of the universe ) " ), (q 0 ), ) M \ 1) methods. We estimate the dynamical age of the universe to be 14.2 ^ 1.7 Gyr including systematic uncer- tainties in the current Cepheid distance scale. We estimate the likely e†ect of several sources of system- atic error, including progenitor and metallicity evolution, extinction, sample selection bias, local perturbations in the expansion rate, gravitational lensing, and sample contamination. Presently, none of these e†ects appear to reconcile the data with and ) " \ 0 q 0 " 0.

Seven-year wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe (wmap *) observations: cosmological interpretation

Abstract: The combination of seven-year data from WMAP and improved astrophysical data rigorously tests the standard cosmological model and places new constraints on its basic parameters and extensions. By combining the WMAP data with the latest distance measurements from the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the distribution of galaxies and the Hubble constant (H0) measurement, we determine the parameters of the simplest six-parameter ΛCDM model. The power-law index of the primordial power spectrum is ns = 0.968 ± 0.012 (68% CL) for this data combination, a measurement that excludes the Harrison–Zel’dovich–Peebles spectrum by 99.5% CL. The other parameters, including those beyond the minimal set, are also consistent with, and improved from, the five-year results. We find no convincing deviations from the minimal model. The seven-year temperature power spectrum gives a better determination of the third acoustic peak, which results in a better determination of the redshift of the matter-radiation equality epoch. Notable examples of improved parameters are the total mass of neutrinos, � mν < 0.58 eV (95% CL), and the effective number of neutrino species, Neff = 4.34 +0.86 −0.88 (68% CL), which benefit from better determinations of the third peak and H0. The limit on a constant dark energy equation of state parameter from WMAP+BAO+H0, without high-redshift Type Ia supernovae, is w =− 1.10 ± 0.14 (68% CL). We detect the effect of primordial helium on the temperature power spectrum and provide a new test of big bang nucleosynthesis by measuring Yp = 0.326 ± 0.075 (68% CL). We detect, and show on the map for the first time, the tangential and radial polarization patterns around hot and cold spots of temperature fluctuations, an important test of physical processes at z = 1090 and the dominance of adiabatic scalar fluctuations. The seven-year polarization data have significantly improved: we now detect the temperature–E-mode polarization cross power spectrum at 21σ , compared with 13σ from the five-year data. With the seven-year temperature–B-mode cross power spectrum, the limit on a rotation of the polarization plane due to potential parity-violating effects has improved by 38% to Δα =− 1. 1 ± 1. 4(statistical) ± 1. 5(systematic) (68% CL). We report significant detections of the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) effect at the locations of known clusters of galaxies. The measured SZ signal agrees well with the expected signal from the X-ray data on a cluster-by-cluster basis. However, it is a factor of 0.5–0.7 times the predictions from “universal profile” of Arnaud et al., analytical models, and hydrodynamical simulations. We find, for the first time in the SZ effect, a significant difference between the cooling-flow and non-cooling-flow clusters (or relaxed and non-relaxed clusters), which can explain some of the discrepancy. This lower amplitude is consistent with the lower-than-theoretically expected SZ power spectrum recently measured by the South Pole Telescope Collaboration.

Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant To Appear in the Astronomical Journal

Abstract: We present spectral and photometric observations of 10 type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in the redshift range 0.16 � z � 0.62. The luminosity distances of these objects are determined by methods that employ relations between SN Ia luminosity and light curve shape. Combined with previous data from our High-Z Supernova Search Team (Garnavich et al. 1998; Schmidt et al. 1998) and Riess et al. (1998a), this expanded set of 16 high-redshift supernovae and a set of 34 nearby supernovae are used to place constraints on the following cosmological parameters: the Hubble constant (H0), the mass density (M), the cosmological constant (i.e., the vacuum energy density, �), the deceleration parameter (q0), and the dynamical age of the Universe (t0). The distances of the high-redshift SNe Ia are, on average, 10% to 15% farther than expected in a low mass density (M = 0.2) Universe without a cosmological constant. Different light curve fitting methods, SN Ia subsamples, and prior constraints unanimously favor eternally expanding models with positive cosmological constant (i.e., � > 0) and a current acceleration of the expansion (i.e., q0 < 0). With no prior constraint on mass density other than M � 0, the spectroscopically confirmed SNe Ia are statistically consistent with q0 < 0 at the 2.8�

Planck 2015 results - XIII. Cosmological parameters

Abstract: This paper presents cosmological results based on full-mission Planck observations of temperature and polarization anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. Our results are in very good agreement with the 2013 analysis of the Planck nominal-mission temperature data, but with increased precision. The temperature and polarization power spectra are consistent with the standard spatially-flat 6-parameter ΛCDM cosmology with a power-law spectrum of adiabatic scalar perturbations (denoted “base ΛCDM” in this paper). From the Planck temperature data combined with Planck lensing, for this cosmology we find a Hubble constant, H0 = (67.8 ± 0.9) km s-1Mpc-1, a matter density parameter Ωm = 0.308 ± 0.012, and a tilted scalar spectral index with ns = 0.968 ± 0.006, consistent with the 2013 analysis. Note that in this abstract we quote 68% confidence limits on measured parameters and 95% upper limits on other parameters. We present the first results of polarization measurements with the Low Frequency Instrument at large angular scales. Combined with the Planck temperature and lensing data, these measurements give a reionization optical depth of τ = 0.066 ± 0.016, corresponding to a reionization redshift of . These results are consistent with those from WMAP polarization measurements cleaned for dust emission using 353-GHz polarization maps from the High Frequency Instrument. We find no evidence for any departure from base ΛCDM in the neutrino sector of the theory; for example, combining Planck observations with other astrophysical data we find Neff = 3.15 ± 0.23 for the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, consistent with the value Neff = 3.046 of the Standard Model of particle physics. The sum of neutrino masses is constrained to ∑ mν < 0.23 eV. The spatial curvature of our Universe is found to be very close to zero, with | ΩK | < 0.005. Adding a tensor component as a single-parameter extension to base ΛCDM we find an upper limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio of r0.002< 0.11, consistent with the Planck 2013 results and consistent with the B-mode polarization constraints from a joint analysis of BICEP2, Keck Array, and Planck (BKP) data. Adding the BKP B-mode data to our analysis leads to a tighter constraint of r0.002 < 0.09 and disfavours inflationarymodels with a V(φ) ∝ φ2 potential. The addition of Planck polarization data leads to strong constraints on deviations from a purely adiabatic spectrum of fluctuations. We find no evidence for any contribution from isocurvature perturbations or from cosmic defects. Combining Planck data with other astrophysical data, including Type Ia supernovae, the equation of state of dark energy is constrained to w = −1.006 ± 0.045, consistent with the expected value for a cosmological constant. The standard big bang nucleosynthesis predictions for the helium and deuterium abundances for the best-fit Planck base ΛCDM cosmology are in excellent agreement with observations. We also constraints on annihilating dark matter and on possible deviations from the standard recombination history. In neither case do we find no evidence for new physics. The Planck results for base ΛCDM are in good agreement with baryon acoustic oscillation data and with the JLA sample of Type Ia supernovae. However, as in the 2013 analysis, the amplitude of the fluctuation spectrum is found to be higher than inferred from some analyses of rich cluster counts and weak gravitational lensing. We show that these tensions cannot easily be resolved with simple modifications of the base ΛCDM cosmology. Apart from these tensions, the base ΛCDM cosmology provides an excellent description of the Planck CMB observations and many other astrophysical data sets.