Journal
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Volume 113, Issue 22, Pages -Publisher
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.221301
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Funding
- Perren Fund
- IMPACT Fund
- UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- European Research Council under the European Community [306478]
- NASA Office of Space Science
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Japanese Monbukagakusho
- Max Planck Society
- Higher Education Funding Council for England
- STFC [ST/I000879/1, ST/J001511/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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We derive robust constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) using the clustering of 800 000 photometric quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in the redshift range 0.5 < z < 3.5. These measurements rely on the novel technique of extended mode projection to control the impact of spatially varying systematics in a robust fashion, making use of blind analysis techniques. This allows the accurate measurement of quasar halo bias at the largest scales, while discarding as little as possible of the data. The standard local-type PNG parameters f(NL) and g(NL) both imprint a k(-2) scale-dependent effect in the bias. Constraining these individually, we obtain -49 < f(NL) < 31 and -2.7 x 10(5) < g(NL) < 1.9 x 10(5), while their joint constraints lead to -105 < f(NL) < 72 and -4.0 x 10(5) < g(NL) < 4.9 x 10(5) (all at 95% C.L.). Introducing a running parameter n(fNL) to constrain b(k) proportional to k(fNL)(-2+n) and a generalized PNG amplitude f(NL), we obtain -45.5 exp(3.7n(fNL)) < f(NL) < 34.4 exp(3.3n(fNL)) at 95% C.L. These results incorporate uncertainties in the cosmological parameters, redshift distributions, shot noise, and the bias prescription used to relate the quasar clustering to the underlying dark matter. These are the strongest constraints obtained to date on PNG using a single population of large-scale structure tracers, and are already at the level of pre-Planck constraints from the cosmic microwave background. A conservative forecast for a Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)-like survey incorporating mode projection yields sigma(f(NL)) similar to 5-competitive with the Planck result-highlighting the power of upcoming large scale structure surveys to probe the initial conditions of the Universe.
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