The Subaru FMOS galaxy redshift survey (FastSound). IV. New constraint on gravity theory from redshift space distortions at z ∼ 1.4

TLDR: In this article, the authors measured the redshift-space correlation function from a spectroscopic sample of 2783 emission line galaxies from the FastSound survey and obtained the first cosmological study at such high redshifts.

Abstract: We measure the redshift-space correlation function from a spectroscopic sample of 2783 emission line galaxies from the FastSound survey. The survey, which uses the Subaru Telescope and covers the redshift ranges of $1.19<$z$<1.55$, is the first cosmological study at such high redshifts. We detect clear anisotropy due to redshift-space distortions (RSD) both in the correlation function as a function of separations parallel and perpendicular to the line of sight and its quadrupole moment. RSD has been extensively used to test general relativity on cosmological scales at $z<1$. Adopting a LCDM cosmology with the fixed expansion history and no velocity dispersion $\sigma_{\rm v}=0$, and using the RSD measurements on scales above 8Mpc/h, we obtain the first constraint on the growth rate at the redshift, $f(z)\sigma_8(z)=0.482\pm 0.116$ at $z\sim 1.4$ after marginalizing over the galaxy bias parameter $b(z)\sigma_8(z)$. This corresponds to $4.2\sigma$ detection of RSD. Our constraint is consistent with the prediction of general relativity $f\sigma_8\sim 0.392$ within the $1-\sigma$ confidence level. When we allow $\sigma_{\rm v}$ to vary and marginalize it over, the growth rate constraint becomes $f\sigma_8=0.494^{+0.126}_{-0.120}$. We also demonstrate that by combining with the low-z constraints on $f\sigma_8$, high-z galaxy surveys like the FastSound can be useful to distinguish modified gravity models without relying on CMB anisotropy experiments.