Jeongin Moon, David Valcin and Christoph Saulder tell us about the first cosmologically relevant results from DESI (The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument). Specifically, they are presenting the first detection of the BAO (Baryon Acoustic Oscillations) from DESI.
With a “first detection” one would expect something mediocre, but even this result, using only two months of DESI data, has similar precision to the final BOSS data after years of operation. This is a very exciting time for cosmology as we wait for the full one year DESI results and cosmological constraints.
Jeongin, David and Christoph talk us through the galaxy subsets DESI will use (and which they have used in this analysis) as well as the statistical significance of the BAO detection and modelling required to quantify this.
With this detection they are able to also provide a forecast for the one year and five year results that is actually data driven, based on what they’ve actually seen so far (rather than just optimistic modelling). The forecast for the five year measurement looks exquisite.
Jeongin: https://arxiv.org/search/astro-ph?query=Moon%2C+Jeongin&searchtype=author
David: https://inspirehep.net/authors/1887016
Christoph: https://cosmology.kasi.re.kr/members.php?member=saulder
Cosmology Talks 