arXiv subjects

M. Schubnell

Publications and source records attributed to M. Schubnell.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Clustering redshift distribution calibration of weak lensing surveys using the DESI-DR1 spectroscopic dataset

We estimate the source redshift distribution of current weak lensing surveys by applying the clustering-based redshift calibration technique, using the galaxy redshift sample provided by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Data Release 1 (DESI-DR1). We cross-correlate the Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS), Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) and Emission Line Galaxies (ELGs) from DESI, within the redshift range $0.1 < z < 1.6$, with overlapping tomographic source samples from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), and Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) survey. Using realistic mock catalogues, we test the stability of the clustering redshift signal to fitting scale, reference-sample choice, and the evolution of source galaxy bias. We calibrate a source galaxy bias correction from simulations with conservative (factor-of-two inflated) priors to account for modelling uncertainties, and we explicitly model and marginalise over magnification contributions, which become non-negligible at $z \gtrsim 1$ due to the depth of the DESI ELG sample. We then compare the resulting bias-weighted redshift distributions to \rossi{previously calibrated redshift distributions from the literature, based on self-organising map (SOM) techniques}, finding agreement within uncertainties for all surveys and tomographic bins. Our results demonstrate that clustering redshifts enabled by DESI's unprecedented spectroscopic sample provides a robust, complementary, and independent constraint capable of reducing one of the dominant systematic uncertainties in weak lensing cosmology.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Mock catalogues for the DESI DR2 Milky Way mass modeling effort

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey is an ongoing campaign to obtain millions of spectra, including for stars within the Milky Way. One of DESI's Key Projects for its second data release (DR2) is to measure the mass of the Milky Way using a variety of techniques applied to six-dimensional kinematics of distant halo stars. We present mock surveys generated from the Auriga cosmological simulations (AuriDESI) that are used to validate these techniques in several companion studies. The AuriDESI tracer catalogues are tailored to reflect key features of the DR2 Key Project dataset, including the selection of RR Lyrae and blue horizontal branch stars, uncertainties on line-of-sight velocities and proper motions, and variation in observational completeness within the survey footprint. We discuss how well the resulting AuriDESI tracer catalogues compare to their observed DESI counterparts, including suggesting improvements that can be generalized to similar mock survey efforts within the community. The AuriDESI tracer catalogues are publicly available on Zenodo.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

A distribution-function estimate of the Milky Way mass profile from outer halo stars in DESI DR2

We present measurements of the Milky Way mass using blue horizontal-branch (BHB) and RR Lyrae (RRL) stars from the second data release of DESI (DR2), covering its first three years of operations. We employ 279 BHBs and 213 RRLs at $\sim\!50$--$80$\,kpc from the Galactic center, selected from catalogs roughly twice as large as those of DESI DR1, used in our previous mass measurement. We apply the Galactic Mass Estimator (GME), a hierarchical Bayesian framework that assumes power-law forms for the potential and the tracer density, and accounts for distance and velocity uncertainties. Validating the method on 24 AuriDESI mock catalogs (six Auriga halos at four viewing angles), we find that it overestimates the enclosed mass by $\sim\!15\%$ at 80\,kpc, and correct our results accordingly. We obtain $M(<80\,{\rm kpc}) = 0.64^{+0.06}_{-0.06}$ and $0.53^{+0.05}_{-0.05} \times 10^{12}\,M_\odot$ for BHBs and RRLs, respectively, while including Sagittarius stream stars lowers these masses by $\sim\!10$\%. Extrapolating to 100\,kpc, we obtain $M(<100\,{\rm kpc}) = 0.74^{+0.07}_{-0.07}$ and $0.62^{+0.06}_{-0.07} \times 10^{12}\,M_\odot$, and anchoring an NFW halo to our GME constraints at 65\,kpc yields virial masses of $M_{200} = 1.12^{+0.14}_{-0.12}$ and $0.89^{+0.11}_{-0.10} \times 10^{12}\,M_\odot$. BHBs yield systematically higher masses than RRLs across the full radial range, reflecting the impact of tracer choice even within a single method. This work is part of a wider DESI DR2 Key Project effort to measure the Milky Way mass and constrain systematics arising from different samples and methodologies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

The Multiphase Circumgalactic Medium of DESI Emission-Line Galaxies at z~1.5

We study the multiphase circumgalactic medium (CGM) of emission line galaxies (ELGs) at $z\sim1.5$, traced by MgII$\lambda2796$, $\lambda2803$ and CIV$\lambda1548$, $\lambda1550$ absorption lines, using approximately 8,000 ELG-quasar pairs from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. Our results show that both the mean rest equivalent width ($W_{0}$) profiles and covering fractions of MgII and CIV increase with ELG stellar mass at similar impact parameters, but show similar distributions when normalized by the virial radius. Moreover, warm CIV gas has a more extended distribution than cool MgII gas. The dispersion of MgII and CIV gas velocity offsets relative to the galaxy redshifts rises from $\sim100 \, \rm km \, s^{-1}$ within halos to $\sim 200 \, \rm km \, s^{-1}$ beyond. We explore the relationships between MgII and CIV $W_{0}$ and show that the two are not tightly coupled: at a fixed absorption strength of one species, the other varies by several-fold, indicating distinct kinematics between the gas phases traced by each. We measure the line ratios, FeII/MgII and CIV/MgII, of strong MgII absorbers and find that at $<0.2$ virial radius, the FeII/MgII ratio is elevated, while the CIV/MgII ratio is suppressed compared with the measurements on larger scales, both with $\sim4\, σ$ significance. We argue that multiphase gas that is not co-spatial is required to explain the observational results. Finally, by combining with the measurements in the literature, we show the redshift evolution of CGM properties and estimate the neutral hydrogen, metal, and dust masses in the CGM of DESI ELGs --- found to be comparable to those in the ISM.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Measurement of the galaxy-velocity power spectrum of DESI tracers with the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect using DESI DR2 and ACT DR6

Joint analyses of high-resolution CMB temperature maps with galaxy surveys provide a unique way to reconstruct the radial velocity field of the underlying matter distribution via the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (kSZ) effect. Using data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) DR6 and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) DR2, we present radial velocity reconstructions for luminous red galaxies (LRGs), emission-line galaxies (ELGs), and quasars (QSOs). Leveraging the spectroscopic data, we are able to reliably model the foreground contamination and report a negligible impact on our main observables. We detect the velocity-galaxy cross-correlation at $17.0σ$ for LRGs, and for the first time, at $8.3σ$ for ELGs and $6.8σ$ for QSOs. We further report the first detection of the velocity-velocity correlation using LRGs at $3.1σ$, as well as the highest cumulative detection of the kSZ effect to date at $20.8 σ$. Similarly to previous results, we find a lower amplitude of the kSZ signal compared to our fiducial halo model prediction and electron profile assuming a Battaglia profile. Combining these new observables, we obtain constraints on local-type primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG): $f_{\rm NL}^{\rm loc} = 15.9_{-34.4}^{+34.6}$ at 68\% confidence, which represents the tightest constraint to date derived from the velocity field. The measurements presented here already exhibit lower noise on a per-mode basis than the galaxy auto-correlation on the largest scales, $k<0.004~\rm{Mpc^{-1}}$, highlighting the key role these observables will play in the context of future CMB experiments such as the Simons Observatory.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Improved constraints on the Milky Way potential using the M68 stream and DESI spectroscopic data

We present a selection of stars belonging to the stellar stream of the M68 (NGC 4590) globular cluster, also known as Fjörm. This star selection is an improvement on previous ones that used only Gaia data, as it incorporates spectroscopic measurements from the DESI survey and photometric data from the DESI Legacy Surveys. The selection contains 96 stars, each with five phase-space parameters from Gaia-DR3 and radial velocity from DESI, covering the entire observed section of the stream. This constitutes the largest selection of M68 stream stars with measured radial velocities to date. The observed stream is wider than expected from N-body simulations, and the stars farthest from the centre of the stream appear to be correlated in radial velocity space. This suggests that these stars cannot have been stripped from the cluster in a static axisymmetric potential. By modelling a mock sample of stream stars created using an N-body simulation, we found that we could reliably constrain the disc mass $M_{\rm d}$ and the dark matter halo axis ratio $q_{\rm h}$ of the Milky Way. This is because the stream flows close to and almost parallel to the disc. Using the 44 stars that are consistent with having been stripped from the cluster, combined with measurements of the Milky Way's rotation curve, we constrain the Galactic potential, obtaining $M_{\rm d} = 5.34 \pm 0.57 \times 10^{10}$ M$_{\rm sun}$ and an oblate halo of $q_{\rm h} = 0.83^{+0.06}_{-0.05}$. Additionally, by fitting the stream track, we estimate the Heliocentric distance of M68 to be $r=10.55\pm0.09$ kpc.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

The scale of homogeneity in DESI Data Release 1

We present measurements of the scale of cosmic homogeneity using the first data release (DR1) of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), the largest publicly available spectroscopic extragalactic survey to date. Using a counts-in-spheres estimator applied to nearly 5 million galaxies and quasars across six independent redshift bins spanning $0.1 < z < 2.1$, we measure the correlation dimension $D_2(r)$ and define the homogeneity scale $R_H$ as the point at which the galaxy distribution reaches within 1\% of the homogeneous asymptotic value. We find that all tracers clearly transition to homogeneity, with the galaxy homogeneity scale ranging from $93.8^{+0.9}_{-0.7}$ to $142.6^{+1.4}_{-1.4}$ $h^{-1}$Mpc depending on the tracer redshift, galaxy bias, and modelling used to extract the scale. Using a cosmology-dependent model, we reconstruct the underlying matter homogeneity scale, finding it decreases monotonically with redshift in excellent agreement with $Λ$CDM predictions. We identify a systematic offset of up to $\sim 10\%$ between measurements in the North and South Galactic Caps, largely due to fiber assignment effects reproduced in our simulations. Accounting for this, and with a complementary demonstration using toy models that our methodology correctly identifies inhomogeneous universes in all but rather finely-tuned observer configurations, this hence provides strong evidence in favour of the cosmological principle across our full redshift range. Our matter homogeneity scale measurements are consistent with, and substantially more precise than, previous constraints from WiggleZ and SDSS, demonstrating the power of DESI data for precision tests of the cosmological principle.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Unveiling Hidden Lyman Alpha Emitters in the DESI DR1 Data

We present an automatic method based on machine-learning convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture to detect Lyman alpha emitters (LAE) hidden in the Data Release 1 spectroscopic dataset of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). Those LAEs mostly have incorrect redshift estimations because the current DESI pipeline is not designed to detect and measure the redshifts of galaxies at $z>2$. To uncover those sources, we first visually inspect thousands of DESI spectra and construct a sample, consisting of both LAEs and non-LAEs, for training and testing the CNN-based model to (1) detect LAEs in DESI spectra and (2) determine their Ly$α$ redshifts. The final model yields $95.2\%$ purity and $95.9\%$ completeness for detecting LAEs. We apply this model to approximately $2\times10^{6}$ spectra of sources targeted as emission-line galaxies and detect 19,685 LAEs from $z\sim2$ to $3.5$ within 12 minutes with a single GPU, illustrating the high efficiency of this model for identifying LAEs. The detected LAEs are mostly at the bright end of the luminosity function with Ly$α$ luminosity $L_{\rm Lyα} \gtrsim 10^{43}$ erg/s. The high signal-to-noise composite spectrum of the detected LAEs further shows various spectral features, including P-Cygni profiles of metal lines and MgII emission lines, possible indicators of Lyman continuum escape fraction, revealing the rich astrophysical information in this LAE sample. Finally, this sample can be used to train and validate the pipelines for redshift determination of LAEs for the preparation of the DESI-II survey.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Cosmological constraints from the DESI DR1 Bispectrum Full-Shape and DR2 BAO

We present cosmological constraints from DESI DR1 full-shape measurements, including the LRG bispectrum, combined with DESI DR2 BAO data. The analysis accounts for cross-covariance using mocks, while ShapeFit compression mitigates prior volume effects in beyond-$Λ$CDM analyses. In $Λ$CDM, the DESI1.5 (P+B) analysis yields $σ_8=0.868\pm0.026$ and $S_8=0.880\pm0.028$, compared with $σ_8=0.822\pm0.034$ and $S_8=0.827\pm0.036$ in the previous power-spectrum-only analysis. The marginalized uncertainties are reduced by 24% and 22%, respectively. For $w_0w_a$CDM, DESI-only analyses with the bispectrum shift dark energy parameters toward $Λ$CDM, consistent with a cosmological constant within $1σ$ in the $w_0$--$w_a$ plane. Adding CMB creates a preference for evolving dark energy: DESI+CMB (P+B) shows a $2.8σ$ deviation from $Λ$CDM. Including DES-Dovekie supernovae alone reduces this to $1.6σ$, while the full combination gives $3.1σ$. The bispectrum weakens evidence for time-varying dark energy relative to power-spectrum-only analyses. It also enhances sensitivity to massive neutrinos: in DESI-only data, the power-spectrum-only posterior for $\sum m_ν$ is consistent with zero, whereas adding the bispectrum yields $0.26\pm0.18$ eV and a 95% upper limit of $0.59$ eV, shifting the peak into the positive region. For modified gravity, the bispectrum constrains $μ_0 = 0.12\pm0.51$ from DESI-only data, consistent with general relativity.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

A New Record Census of Dwarf AGN and a Bimodal $M_{\rm BH}$-$M_{\star}$ Scaling Relation with DESI DR1

Using the first spectroscopic data release from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI DR1), we conduct the largest systematic search for active galactic nuclei (AGN) signatures in $\approx$1.7 million low-redshift ($0.001 \le z \le 0.45$) line-emitting galaxies. Based on the [NII]/H$α$ versus [OIII]/H$β$ emission-line ratio diagnostic, we identify AGN in 314,245/1,211,573 (25.9%) high-mass ($\log (M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) > 9.5$) and 9648/467,214 (2.1%) dwarf ($\log (M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) \le 9.5$) galaxies. The AGN fraction in line-emitting galaxies increases monotonically with stellar mass, from $\sim$1.4% at the low-mass end to $\sim$93.3% at the high-mass end. Among these AGN, 17,949 exhibit broad H$α$ emission (BL-AGN), which we use to estimate their black hole (BH) masses via single-epoch virial methods. Leveraging this large BL-AGN sample, we extend the $M_{\rm BH} - M_{\star}$ scaling relation down to $\log (M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) \approx 7.8$ and $\log (M_{\rm BH}/M_{\odot}) \approx 4.4$. We find a bimodal distribution of galaxies in this space, characterized by two distinct empirical relations. The relation for galaxies with high stellar and BH masses, extrapolates to overlap with the high-redshift overmassive BH candidates. Our results suggest at least two broad evolutionary pathways for these overmassive BHs and their host galaxies across cosmic time. With this paper, we release the EmFit value-added catalog, containing emission-line flux and width measurements for $\sim$7.4 million galaxies, the largest catalog with emission-line decomposition into narrow, broad, and outflow components to date. This work significantly expands upon the early DESI results and provides a statistical sample for probing the galaxy$-$BH connection in the low-mass galaxy regime.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Probing Baryons with the Kinematic Sunyae Zel'dovich Effect and Machine Learning Derived Peculiar Velocities using DESI DR2 and ACT DR6

We present novel empirical constraints on average optical depths and gas density profiles from combining kinematic Sunyaev Zel'dovich effect (kSZ) measurements and nonlinear peculiar velocities, reconstructed using machine learning, for massive halos traced by DESI DR2 luminous red galaxies (LRG). The pairwise kSZ is measured using two ACT DR6 cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature maps (ILC and 150 GHz maps) for seven luminosity-selected LRG samples. We find consistent results between the two maps and significant detections across the samples. We reconstruct LRG line-of-sight peculiar velocities in two cosmic epochs, centered on $z=$ 0.55 and 0.8, using a simulation-trained Transformer machine learning model to extend beyond the linear approximation. Average optical depths are inferred by comparing the kSZ pairwise correlation to the measured pairwise velocity correlation from the reconstructed velocity field and, separately, from a theoretical prediction using the best fit Planck cosmology, with the highest significance reaching SNR = 14.2 and 15.1 respectively. We also obtain velocity-weighted AP-filtered kSZ-stacked cluster density profiles, which show evidence of extended ionized gas around massive LRG groups and no strong redshift evolution within current measurement uncertainties. These results demonstrate the power of combining spectroscopic galaxy and CMB data, and employing machine learning methods, to probe diffuse baryons and coherent large-scale velocity fields. They open up new avenues to leverage upcoming galaxy survey data from Euclid, Roman and Rubin LSST, in tandem with multi-frequency CMB/sub-mm data from CCAT and Simons Observatory.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

First planetesimals from DESI DR1: 12 highly metal-rich white dwarfs

Metal-enriched white dwarfs provide a unique insight into the composition of exoplanet interiors. These stars accrete the debris of disrupted planetary bodies, and hence, measuring the stellar parameters and photospheric abundances yields the bulk compositions of the parent bodies. At present, over 1750 debris-accreting white dwarfs are known, but just a few dozen are sufficiently enriched to allow a detailed abundance study. Here we report the analysis of 12 highly metal-enriched white dwarfs observed within the Data Release~1 of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). We characterised their stellar parameters and photospheric metal abundances and we identified between three and ten different elements in their optical spectra, including most of the rock-forming species: O, Mg, Si, Ca and Fe. We conclude that the accreted bodies broadly resemble compositions found within the inner Solar System such as primitive meteorites, processed material or planetary cores. Six of the systems allowed a more thorough analysis: four of the parent bodies are composed of dry rock-forming elements; and two of them of something akin to a water-rich planetesimal. Thus, this study establishes DESI as a potent survey for identifying metal-rich targets, yielding reliable compositions of accreted exoplanetary material.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2026

Intrinsic Tidal Shear at the Largest Scales: Galaxy Multiplet Alignment in DESI DR2

We measure the intrinsic alignment (IA) of galaxy multiplets with the large-scale tidal field traced by galaxy positions in DESI Data Release 2. Using the BGS, LRG, and ELG samples spanning $0.01 < z < 1.6$, we optimize the scales which define multiplets in each sample to minimize measurement noise. We measure multiplet tidal alignment $\mathcal{E}_+$ on scales beyond 100 $h^{-1}$Mpc in all samples, and detect alignment over 200 $h^{-1}$Mpc, up to 4.5$σ$ in the highest LRG redshift bin. We additionally present the multiplet shape-shape autocorrelation, $\mathcal{E}_{++}$, which is independent of galaxy bias and provides a consistency check of our NLA (nonlinear alignment) model. We do not detect a baryon acoustic feature in the projected estimator. We also find the alignment strength of multiplets is correlated with redshift and galaxy morphology. Multiplet alignment offers direct access to the tidal shear field in all galaxy samples, even where individual galaxy alignment cannot, and extends IA detection to the largest scales yet probed.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Combined tracer analysis for DESI 2024 BAO

This paper demonstrates how the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Data Release 1 (DR1) and future baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) analyses can optimally combine overlapping tracers (galaxies of distinct types) in the same redshift range. We make a unified catalog of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) and Emission Line Galaxies (ELGs) in the redshift range 0.8 < z < 1.1 and investigate the impact on the BAO constraints. DESI DR1 contains ~30% of the final DESI LRG sample and less than 25% of the final ELG sample, and the combination of LRGs and ELGs increases the number density and reduces the shot noise. We developed a pipeline to merge the overlapping tracers using galaxy bias as an approximately optimal weight and tested the pipeline on a suite of Abacus simulations, calibrated on the final version of the DESI Early Data Release. When applying our pipeline to the DESI DR1 catalog, we find an improvement in the BAO constraints of 11% for $α_\mathrm{iso}$ and ~7.0% for $α_\mathrm{AP}$ consistent with our findings in mock catalogs. Our analysis was integrated into the DESI DR1 BAO analysis to produce the LRG+ELG result in the 0.8 < z < 1.1 redshift bin, which provided the most precise BAO measurement from DESI DR1 with a 0.86% constraint on the BAO distance scale and a $9.1σ$ detection of the isotropic BAO feature.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Tracing the Cosmic Evolution of the Cool Circumgalactic Medium of Luminous Red Galaxies with DESI Year 1 Data

We investigate the properties of the cool circumgalactic medium (CGM) of massive galaxies and their cosmic evolution. By using the year 1 dataset of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) and QSOs from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument survey, we construct a sample of approximately 800,000 galaxy-quasar pairs and measure the radial distribution and kinematics of the cool gas traced by Mg II absorption lines as a function of galaxy properties from redshift 0.4 to redshift 1.2. Our results show that the covering fraction of the cool gas around LRGs increases with redshift, following a trend similar to the global evolution of galaxy star formation rate. At small radii (< 0.3rvir), the covering fraction anti-correlates with stellar mass, suggesting that mass-dependent processes suppress the cool gas content in the inner region. In addition, we measure the gas dispersion by modeling the velocity distribution of absorbers with a narrow and a broad components -- sigma_n ~ 160 and sigma_b ~ 380 km/s -- and quantify their relative contributions. The results show that the broad component becomes more prominent in the outer region, and its relative importance in the central region grows with increasing stellar mass. Finally, we discuss possible origins of the cool gas around massive galaxies, including the contribution of satellite galaxies and the precipitation scenario.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Precision Kinematic Sunyaev--Zel'dovich Measurements Across Halo Mass and Redshift with DESI DR2 and ACT DR6: Part I. Luminous Red Galaxies

We present the most precise measurements of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect around luminous red galaxies to date, detecting the signal at $18σ$ significance in both harmonic and configuration space. Our analysis cross-correlates 2.4 million spectroscopic LRGs from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) DR2 sample with Data Release 6 (DR6) of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). We develop a novel harmonic-space cross-correlation approach using momentum-weighted kSZ templates, yielding nearly uncorrelated bandpowers within a framework consistent with other large-scale structure analyses. By incorporating the LRG halo occupation distribution (HOD) and its uncertainty, we convert measured galaxy gas profiles into halo gas profiles and provide generalized Navarro-Frenk-White (GNFW) fitting profiles, providing empirical targets for tuning feedback efficiency in hydrodynamical simulations and for baryonic modeling in large-scale structure analyses. We find strong evidence that gas profiles do not trace dark matter, providing direct evidence for gas redistribution beyond gravitational collapse. Comparing to hydrodynamical simulations, our measurements favor feedback efficiencies exceeding those in the Battaglia profile, suggesting more efficient gas ejection in group-scale halos than previously predicted. Splitting by redshift, we detect the kSZ signal at SNR $\approx 5$--$10$ in each of four bins and find amplitude evolution consistent with the expected decline in mean halo mass at fixed comoving number density. Splitting by stellar mass, we study the scaling of kSZ amplitude with galaxy properties. Together with BGS and ELG measurements in Paper II, these results span $0.1 \lesssim z \lesssim 1.6$ across three galaxy populations, demonstrating the potential of spectroscopic kSZ to map circumgalactic gas and constrain baryonic feedback.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Sizing the Universe with DESI Galaxy Sizes: Plain Fundamentals of Fundamental-Plane Lensing

Weak gravitational lensing provides a powerful way to map cosmic structure, but most current measurements rely on galaxy shape distortions from deep imaging surveys and are affected by systematics such as intrinsic alignments, photometric-redshift uncertainties and shape-measurement biases. Here we present a spectroscopic galaxy-galaxy lensing magnification measurement using Fundamental-Plane (FP) size residuals, $δ_r\equivΔ\log_{10}R_\mathrm{e}$, from 3.26 million DESI luminous red galaxy (LRG) sources behind DESI Bright Galaxy Survey lenses. The FP-like relation predicts the intrinsic sizes of LRGs from lensing-invariant quantities, including velocity dispersion $σ_0$ and surface brightness $I_\mathrm{e}$, with a scatter of about 0.06-0.07 dex. Lensing magnifies LRG sizes, giving the direct convergence response $δ_r(κ)=κ/\ln 10$, but we show that the full lensing response is modified by magnification bias, because fitting $R_\mathrm{e}$ with $I_\mathrm{e}$ inevitably induces a magnitude dependence in $\barδ_r(m)$. After calibrating this response, we recover surface-density profiles with uncertainties comparable to those from individual Stage-III shear surveys using 5-20 million higher-redshift sources. The corresponding excess surface-density profiles agree with shear-based measurements. We further show that the estimator is robust to size-measurement uncertainties, with a convergence multiplicative bias only $\simeq -0.2$ times the size bias. FP lensing therefore provides a clean, spectroscopic and complementary probe of cosmic structure.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

The DESI Data Release 1 white dwarf catalogue

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument is conducting a redshift survey, mapping the universe in three dimensions to measure the history of cosmic expansion. As well as extragalactic objects, it is targeting millions of Milky Way stars, including white dwarfs. Using Data Release 1 we assemble the largest catalogue of spectroscopically-confirmed white dwarfs to date, whose straightforward selection function enables statistically-robust population studies. We visually inspect and fit models to spectra of 63968 objects, finding 44409 white dwarfs. We present their spectral classifications, atmospheric parameters and radial velocities. We assess survey completeness and uniformity, identify potential spectral contamination caused by flux from nearby sources entering the fibre, and assign confidence scores to our classifications to facilitate selection of statistical and observational samples. We present spectra representing most white dwarf classes, common and exotic. We conclude with recommendations and warnings regarding the use of the catalogue.

astro-ph.SR↗