Bayesian analysis of the dynamic cosmic web in the SDSS galaxy survey

TL;DR

This paper employs Bayesian inference and non-linear gravitational modeling to classify and analyze the cosmic web's structure and evolution in the SDSS galaxy survey, integrating observational uncertainties and providing a detailed cosmographic map.

Contribution

It introduces a probabilistic framework that combines Bayesian analysis with non-linear models for detailed, uncertainty-aware classification of cosmic web components from observational data.

Findings

First connection between theory and observations at non-linear scales.

Quantitative analysis of the origin and growth of cosmic web structures.

Accurate, uncertainty-propagated classification of large-scale structures.

Abstract

Recent application of the Bayesian algorithm BORG to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) main sample galaxies resulted in the physical inference of the formation history of the observed large-scale structure from its origin to the present epoch. In this work, we use these inferences as inputs for a detailed probabilistic cosmic web-type analysis. To do so, we generate a large set of data-constrained realizations of the large-scale structure using a fast, fully non-linear gravitational model. We then perform a dynamic classification of the cosmic web into four distinct components (voids, sheets, filaments, and clusters) on the basis of the tidal field. Our inference framework automatically and self-consistently propagates typical observational uncertainties to web-type classification. As a result, this study produces accurate cosmographic classification of large-scale structure elements in the SDSS volume. By also providing the history of these structure maps, the approach allows an analysis of the origin and growth of the early traces of the cosmic web present in the initial density field and of the evolution of global quantities such as the volume and mass filling fractions of different structures. For the problem of web-type classification, the results described in this work constitute the first connection between theory and observations at non-linear scales including a physical model of structure formation and the demonstrated capability of uncertainty quantification. A connection between cosmology and information theory using real data also naturally emerges from our probabilistic approach. Our results constitute quantitative chrono-cosmography of the complex web-like patterns underlying the observed galaxy distribution.