We study the dependence of quasar clustering on quasar luminosity andblack hole mass by measuring the angular overdensity of photometricallyselected galaxies imaged by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer(WISE) about z ˜ 0.8 quasars from SDSS. By measuring thequasar-galaxy cross-correlation function and using photometricallyselected galaxies, we achieve a higher density of tracer objects and amore sensitive detection of clustering than measurements of the quasarautocorrelation function. We test models of quasar formation andevolution by measuring the luminosity dependence of clusteringamplitude. We find a significant overdensity of WISE galaxies about z˜ 0.8 quasars at 0.2-6.4 h^-1 Mpc in projectedcomoving separation. We find no appreciable increase in clusteringamplitude with quasar luminosity across a decade in luminosity, and apower-law fit between luminosity and clustering amplitude gives anexponent of -0.01 ± 0.06 (1 σ error). We also fail tofind a significant relationship between clustering amplitude and blackhole mass, although our dynamic range in true mass is suppressed due tothe large uncertainties in virial black hole mass estimates. Our resultsindicate that a small range in host dark matter halo mass maps to alarge range in quasar luminosity.

We investigate the effects of galaxy environment on the evolution of thequiescent fraction ({{f}_Q}) from z=0.8 to 0.0 usingspectroscopic redshifts and multi-wavelength imaging data from the PRIsmMUlti-object Survey (PRIMUS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).Our stellar mass limited galaxy sample consists of ˜14,000 PRIMUSgalaxies within z = 0.2-0.8 and ˜64,000 SDSS galaxies within z= 0.05-0.12. We classify the galaxies as quiescent or star-forming(SF) based on an evolving specific star formation cut, and as low orhigh density environments based on fixed cylindrical apertureenvironment measurements on a volume-limited environment definingpopulation. For quiescent and SF galaxies in low or high densityenvironments, we examine the evolution of their stellar mass function(SMF). Then using the SMFs we compute{{f}_Q}({{M}_*}) and quantify its evolution withinour redshift range. We find that the quiescent fraction is higher athigher masses and in denser environments. The quiescent fraction riseswith cosmic time for all masses and environments. At a fiducial mass of{{10}^10.5} {{M}_⊙ }, from z˜ 0.7 to 0.1,

We report small-scale clustering measurements from the PRIsmMUlti-object Survey (PRIMUS) spectroscopic redshift survey as a functionof color and luminosity. We measure the real-space cross-correlationsbetween 62,106 primary galaxies with PRIMUS redshifts and a tracerpopulation of ∼545,000 photometric galaxies over redshifts from z =0.2 to z = 1. We separately fit a power-law model in redshift andluminosity to each of three independent color-selected samples ofgalaxies. We report clustering amplitudes at fiducial values of z = 0.5and L=1.5{L}^*. The clustering of the red galaxies is ∼ 3times as strong as that of the blue galaxies and ∼ 1.5 as strong asthat of the green galaxies. We also find that the luminosity dependenceof the clustering is strongly dependent on physical scale, with greaterluminosity dependence being found between r=0.0625 {h}^-1{Mpc} and r=0.25 {h}^-1 {Mpc}, compared to the r=0.5{h}^-1 {Mpc} to r=2 {h}^-1 {Mpc} range. Moreover,over a range of two orders of magnitude in luminosity, a singlepower-law fit to the luminosity dependence is not sufficient to explainthe increase in clustering at both the bright and faint ends at thesmaller scales. We argue that luminosity-dependent clustering at smallscales is a necessary component of galaxy-halo occupation models forblue, star-forming galaxies as well as for red, quenched galaxies.

We study the evidence for a connection between active galactic nuclei(AGNs) fueling and star formation by investigating the relationshipbetween the X-ray luminosities of AGNs and the star formation rates(SFRs) of their host galaxies. We identify a sample of 309 AGNs with{10}⁴¹\lt {L}_X\lt {10}⁴⁴ ergs^-1 at 0.2\lt z\lt 1.2 in the PRIMUS redshift survey.We find AGNs in galaxies with a wide range of SFR at a givenL_X. We do not find a significant correlation between SFR andthe observed instantaneous L_X for star-forming AGN hostgalaxies. However, there is a weak but significant correlation betweenthe mean L_X and SFR of detected AGNs in star-forminggalaxies, which likely reflects that L_X varies on shortertimescales than SFR. We find no correlation between stellar mass andL_X within the AGN population. Within both populations ofstar-forming and quiescent galaxies, we find a similar power-lawdistribution in the probability of hosting an AGN as a function ofspecific accretion rate. Furthermore, at a given stellar mass, we find astar-forming galaxy ˜2-3 more likely than a quiescent galaxyto host an AGN of a given specific accretion rate. The probability of agalaxy hosting an AGN is constant across the main sequence of starformation. These results indicate that there is an underlying connectionbetween star formation and the presence of AGNs, but AGNs are oftenhosted by quiescent galaxies.

We derive constraints on cosmological parameters and tests of darkenergy models from the combination of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO)measurements with cosmic microwave background (CMB) data and a recentreanalysis of Type Ia supernova (SN) data. In particular, we takeadvantage of high-precision BAO measurements from galaxy clustering andthe Lyman-α forest (LyaF) in the SDSS-III Baryon OscillationSpectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Treating the BAO scale as an uncalibratedstandard ruler, BAO data alone yield a high confidence detection of darkenergy; in combination with the CMB angular acoustic scale they furtherimply a nearly flat universe. Adding the CMB-calibrated physical scaleof the sound horizon, the combination of BAO and SN data into an"inverse distance ladder" yields a measurement of H₀=67.3

We report a detection of the baryon acousticoscillation (BAO) feature inthe flux-correlation function of the Lyα forest of high-redshiftquasars with a statistical significance of five standard deviations. Thestudy uses 137 562 quasars in the redshift range 2.1 ≤ z ≤ 3.5from the data release 11 (DR11) of the Baryon Oscillation SpectroscopicSurvey (BOSS) of SDSS-III. This sample contains three times the numberof quasars used in previous studies. The measured position of the BAOpeak determines the angular distance, D_A(z = 2.34) andexpansion rate, H(z = 2.34), both on a scale set by the sound horizon atthe drag epoch, r_d. We find D_A/r_d =11.28 ± 0.65(1σ)^+2.8_-1.2 (2σ)and D_H/r_d = 9.18 ± 0.28(1σ) ±0.6(2σ) where D_H = c/H. The optimal combination,~D_H^0.7D_A^0.3/r_d is

This document presents the results from the Distances subgroup of theCosmic Frontier Community Planning Study (Snowmass 2013). We summarizethe current state of the field as well as future prospects andchallenges. In addition to the established probes using Type Iasupernovae and baryon acoustic oscillations, we also considerprospective methods based on clusters, active galactic nuclei,gravitational wave sirens and strong lensing time delays.

We report the discovery of 9088 new spectroscopically confirmed whitedwarfs and subdwarfs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 10. Weobtain T_eff, log g and mass for hydrogen atmosphere whitedwarf stars (DAs) and helium atmosphere white dwarf stars (DBs), andestimate the calcium/helium abundances for the white dwarf stars withmetallic lines (DZs) and carbon/helium for carbon-dominated spectra DQs.We found 1 central star of a planetary nebula, 2 new oxygen spectra onhelium atmosphere white dwarfs, 71 DQs, 42 hot DO/PG1159s, 171 whitedwarf+main-sequence star binaries, 206 magnetic DAHs, 327continuum-dominated DCs, 397 metal-polluted white dwarfs, 450helium-dominated white dwarfs, 647 subdwarfs and 6887 newhydrogen-dominated white dwarf stars.

We develop a configuration-space picture of the relative velocitybetween baryons and dark matter that clearly explains how it can shiftthe baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale in the galaxy-galaxycorrelation function. The shift occurs because the relative velocity isnon-zero only within the sound horizon and thus adds to the correlationfunction asymmetrically about the BAO peak. We further show that inconfiguration space the relative velocity has a localized, distinctivesignature in the three-point galaxy correlation function (3PCF). Inparticular, we find that a multipole decomposition is a favourable wayto isolate the relative velocity in the 3PCF, and that there is a strongsignature in the l = 1 multipole for triangles with two sides around theBAO scale. Finally, we investigate a further compression of the 3PCF toa function of only one triangle side that preserves the localized natureof the relative velocity signature while also nicely separating linearfrom non-linear bias. We expect that this scheme will substantiallylessen the computational burden of finding the relative velocity in the3PCF. The relative velocity's 3PCF signature can be used to correct theshift induced in the galaxy-galaxy correlation function so that nosystematic error due to this effect is introduced into the BAO as usedfor precision cosmology.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping (SDSS-RM) project isa dedicated multi-object RM experiment that has spectroscopicallymonitored a sample of 849 broad-line quasars in a single 7deg² field with the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation SpectroscopicSurvey spectrograph. The RM quasar sample is flux-limited to i_psf = 21.7 mag, and covers a redshift range of 0.1 < z< 4.5 without any other cuts on quasar properties. Opticalspectroscopy was performed during 2014 January-July dark/gray time, withan average cadence of ~4 days, totaling more than 30 epochs. Supportingphotometric monitoring in the g and i bands was conducted at multiplefacilities including the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and theSteward Observatory Bok telescope in 2014, with a cadence of ~2 days andcovering all lunar phases. The RM field (R.A., decl. = 14:14:49.00,+53:05:00.0) lies within the CFHT-LS W3 field, and coincides with thePan-STARRS 1 (PS1) Medium Deep Field MD07, with three prior years ofmulti-band PS1 light curves. The SDSS-RM six month baseline program aimsto detect time lags between the quasar continuum and broad line region(BLR) variability on timescales of up to several months (in the observed

Photometric large scale structure (LSS) surveys probe the largestvolumes in the Universe, but are inevitably limited by systematicuncertainties. Imperfect photometric calibration leads to biases in ourmeasurements of the density fields of LSS tracers such as galaxies andquasars, and as a result in cosmological parameter estimation. Earlierstudies have proposed using cross-correlations between differentredshift slices or cross-correlations between different surveys toreduce the effects of such systematics. In this paper we develop amethod to characterize unknown systematics. We demonstrate that while wedo not have sufficient information to correct for unknown systematics inthe data, we can obtain an estimate of their magnitude. We define aparameter to estimate contamination from unknown systematics usingcross-correlations between different redshift slices and proposediscarding bins in the angular power spectrum that lie outside a certaincontamination tolerance level. We show that this method improvesestimates of the bias using simulated data and further apply it tophotometric luminous red galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey as acase study.

We present improved methodology for including covariance matrices in theerror budget of Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) galaxyclustering measurements, revisiting Data Release 9 (DR9) analyses, anddescribing a method that is used in DR10/11 analyses presented incompanion papers. The precise analysis method adopted is becomingincreasingly important, due to the precision that BOSS can now reach:even using as many as 600 mock catalogues to estimate covariance oftwo-point clustering measurements can still lead to an increase in theerrors of ˜20 per cent, depending on how the cosmologicalparameters of interest are measured. In this paper, we extend previouswork on this contribution to the error budget, deriving formulae forerrors measured by integrating over the likelihood, and to thedistribution of recovered best-fitting parameters fitting thesimulations also used to estimate the covariance matrix. Both aresituations that previous analyses of BOSS have considered. We apply theformulae derived to baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) and redshift-spacedistortion (RSD) measurements from BOSS in our companion papers. Tofurther aid these analyses, we consider the optimum number of bins touse for two-point measurements using the monopole power spectrum orcorrelation function for BAO, and the monopole and quadrupole moments ofthe correlation function for anisotropic-BAO and RSD measurements.

We present measurements of the angular diameter distance to and Hubbleparameter at z = 0.57 from the measurement of the baryon acoustic peakin the correlation of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IIIBaryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. Our analysis is based on asample from Data Release 9 of 264 283 galaxies over 3275 square degreesin the redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.70. We use two differentmethods to provide robust measurement of the acoustic peak positionacross and along the line of sight in order to measure the cosmologicaldistance scale. We find D_A(0.57) = 1408 ± 45 Mpc andH(0.57) = 92.9 ± 7.8 km s^-1 Mpc^-1 for ourfiducial value of the sound horizon. These results from the anisotropicfitting are fully consistent with the analysis of the sphericallyaveraged acoustic peak position presented in Anderson et al. Ourdistance measurements are a close match to the predictions of thestandard cosmological model featuring a cosmological constant and zerospatial curvature.

We use the observed anisotropic clustering of galaxies in the BaryonOscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 11 CMASS sample to measurethe linear growth rate of structure, the Hubble expansion rate and thecomoving distance scale. Our sample covers 8498 deg² andencloses an effective volume of 6 Gpc³ at an effectiveredshift of bar{z} = 0.57. We find fσ₈ = 0.441 ±0.044, H = 93.1 ± 3.0 km s^-1 Mpc^-1 andD_A = 1380 ± 23 Mpc when fitting the growth andexpansion rate simultaneously. When we fix the background expansion tothe one predicted by spatially flat Λ cold dark matter(ΛCDM) model in agreement with recent Planck results, we findfσ₈ = 0.447 ± 0.028 (6 per cent accuracy). Whileour measurements are generally consistent with the predictions ofΛCDM and general relativity, they mildly favour models in whichthe strength of gravitational interactions is weaker than what ispredicted by general relativity. Combining our measurements with recentcosmic microwave background data results in tight constraints on basiccosmological parameters and deviations from the standard cosmologicalmodel. Separately varying these parameters, we find w = -0.983 ±0.075 (8 per cent accuracy) and γ = 0.69 ± 0.11 (16 percent accuracy) for the effective equation of state of dark energy andthe growth rate index, respectively. Both constraints are in goodagreement with the standard model values of w = -1 and γ = 0.554.

We present measurements of the luminosity and color-dependence of galaxyclustering at 0.2 < z < 1.0 in the Prism Multi-object Survey. Wequantify the clustering with the redshift-space and projected two-pointcorrelation functions, ξ(r_p , π) and w_p(r_p ), using volume-limited samples constructed from a parentsample of over ~130, 000 galaxies with robust redshifts in sevenindependent fields covering 9 deg² of sky. We quantify howthe scale-dependent clustering amplitude increases with increasingluminosity and redder color, with relatively small errors over largevolumes. We find that red galaxies have stronger small-scale (0.1 Mpc h^-1 < r_p < 1 Mpc h ^-1)clustering and steeper correlation functions compared to blue galaxies,as well as a strong color dependent clustering within the red sequencealone. We interpret our measured clustering trends in terms of galaxybias and obtain values of b _gal ≈ 0.9-2.5, quantifying howgalaxies are biased tracers of dark matter depending on their luminosityand color. We also interpret the color dependence with mock catalogs,and find that the clustering of blue galaxies is nearly constant withcolor, while redder galaxies have stronger clustering in the one-haloterm due to a higher satellite galaxy fraction. In addition, we measurethe evolution of the clustering strength and bias, and we do not detectstatistically significant departures from passive evolution. We arguethat the luminosity- and color-environment (or halo mass) relations ofgalaxies have not significantly evolved since z ~ 1. Finally, usingjackknife subsampling methods, we find that sampling fluctuations areimportant and that the COSMOS field is generally an outlier, due tohaving more overdense structures than other fields; we find that "cosmicvariance" can be a significant source of uncertainty for high-redshiftclustering measurements.

We measure the large-scale cross-correlation of quasars with theLyα forest absorption, using over 164,000 quasars from DataRelease 11 of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. Weextend the previous study of roughly 60,000 quasars from Data Release 9to larger separations, allowing a measurement of the Baryonic AcousticOscillation (BAO) scale along the line of sight c/(H(z =2.36)r_s) = 9.0±0.3 and across the line of sightD_A(z = 2.36)/r_s = 10.8±0.4, consistent withCMB and other BAO data. Using the best fit value of the sound horizonfrom Planck data (r_s = 147.49 Mpc), we can translate theseresults to a measurement of the Hubble parameter of H(z = 2.36) =226±8 km s^-1 Mpc^-1 and of theangular diameter distance of D_A(z = 2.36) = 1590±60Mpc. The measured cross-correlation function and an update of the codeto fit the BAO scale (baofit) are made publicly available.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has been in operation since 2000April. This paper presents the Tenth Public Data Release (DR10) from itscurrent incarnation, SDSS-III. This data release includes the firstspectroscopic data from the Apache Point Observatory Galaxy EvolutionExperiment (APOGEE), along with spectroscopic data from the BaryonOscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) taken through 2012 July. TheAPOGEE instrument is a near-infrared R ~ 22,500 300 fiber spectrographcovering 1.514-1.696 μm. The APOGEE survey is studying the chemicalabundances and radial velocities of roughly 100,000 red giant starcandidates in the bulge, bar, disk, and halo of the Milky Way. DR10includes 178,397 spectra of 57,454 stars, each typically observed threeor more times, from APOGEE. Derived quantities from these spectra(radial velocities, effective temperatures, surface gravities, andmetallicities) are also included. DR10 also roughly doubles the numberof BOSS spectra over those included in the Ninth Data Release. DR10includes a total of 1,507,954 BOSS spectra comprising 927,844 galaxyspectra, 182,009 quasar spectra, and 159,327 stellar spectra selectedover 6373.2 deg².

We explore the cosmological implications of the angle-averagedcorrelation function, ξ(s), and the clustering wedges,ξ_⊥(s) and ξ_∥(s), of the LOWZ andCMASS galaxy samples from Data Releases 10 and 11 of the Sloan DigitalSky Survey III (SDSS-III) Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. Ourresults show no significant evidence for a deviation from the standardΛ cold dark matter model. The combination of the information fromour clustering measurements with recent data from the cosmic microwavebackground is sufficient to constrain the curvature of the Universe toΩ_k = 0.0010 ± 0.0029, the total neutrino mass to∑m_ν < 0.23 eV (95 per cent confidence level), theeffective number of relativistic species to N_eff = 3.31± 0.27 and the dark energy equation of state to w_DE =-1.051 ± 0.076. These limits are further improved by addinginformation from Type Ia supernovae and baryon acoustic oscillationsfrom other samples. In particular, this data set combination iscompletely consistent with a time-independent dark energy equation ofstate, in which case we find w_DE = -1.024 ± 0.052. Weexplore the constraints on the growth rate of cosmic structures assumingf(z) = Ω_m(z)^γ and obtain γ =0.69 ± 0.15, consistent with the predictions of generalrelativity of γ = 0.55.

We present a one per cent measurement of the cosmic distance scale fromthe detections of the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in theclustering of galaxies from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey,which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III. Our results come fromthe Data Release 11 (DR11) sample, containing nearly one milliongalaxies and covering approximately 8500 square degrees and the redshiftrange 0.2 < z < 0.7. We also compare these results with those fromthe publicly released DR9 and DR10 samples. Assuming a concordanceΛ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model, the DR11sample covers a volume of 13 Gpc³ and is the largest regionof the Universe ever surveyed at this density. We measure thecorrelation function and power spectrum, including density-fieldreconstruction of the BAO feature. The acoustic features are detected ata significance of over 7σ in both the correlation function andpower spectrum. Fitting for the position of the acoustic featuresmeasures the distance relative to the sound horizon at the drag epoch,r_d, which has a value of r_d,fid = 149.28 Mpc inour fiducial cosmology. We find D_V = (1264 ± 25Mpc)(r_d/r_d,fid) at z = 0.32 and D_V =(2056 ± 20 Mpc)(r_d/r_d,fid) at z = 0.57. At1.0 per cent, this latter measure is the most precise distanceconstraint ever obtained from a galaxy survey. Separating the clusteringalong and transverse to the line of sight yields measurements at z =0.57 of D_A = (1421 ± 20Mpc)(r_d/r_d,fid) and H = (96.8 ± 3.4 kms^-1 Mpc^-1)(r_d,fid/r_d). Ourmeasurements of the distance scale are in good agreement with previousBAO measurements and with the predictions from cosmic microwavebackground data for a spatially flat CDM model with a cosmologicalconstant.

We investigate the luminosity and colour dependence of clustering ofCMASS galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III Baryon OscillationSpectroscopic Survey Data Release 10, focusing on projected correlationfunctions of well-defined samples extracted from the full catalogue of˜540 000 galaxies at z ˜ 0.5 covering about 6500deg². The halo occupation distribution framework is adoptedto model the measurements on small and intermediate scales (from 0.02 to60 h^-1 Mpc), infer the connection of galaxies to dark matterhaloes and interpret the observed trends. We find that luminous redgalaxies in CMASS reside in massive haloes of mass M ˜10¹³-10¹⁴ h^-1 M_⊙ andmore luminous galaxies are more clustered and hosted by more massivehaloes. The strong small-scale clustering requires a fraction of thesegalaxies to be satellites in massive haloes, with the fraction at thelevel of 5-8 per cent and decreasing with luminosity. The characteristicmass of a halo hosting on average one satellite galaxy above aluminosity threshold is about a factor of 8.7 larger than that of a halohosting a central galaxy above the same threshold. At a fixedluminosity, progressively redder galaxies are more strongly clustered onsmall scales, which can be explained by having a larger fraction ofthese galaxies in the form of satellites in massive haloes. Ourclustering measurements on scales below 0.4 h^-1 Mpc allow usto study the small-scale spatial distribution of satellites insidehaloes. While the clustering of luminosity-threshold samples can be welldescribed by a Navarro-Frenk-White profile, that of the reddest galaxiesprefers a steeper or more concentrated profile. Finally, we also usegalaxy samples of constant number density at different redshifts tostudy the evolution of luminous red galaxies, and find the clustering tobe consistent with passive evolution in the redshift range of 0.5 ≲z ≲ 0.6.