SDSS DR17: The Cosmic Slime Value Added Catalog
Matthew C. Wilde, Oskar Elek, Joseph N. Burchett, Daisuke Nagai, J., Xavier Prochaska, Jessica Werk, Sarah Tuttle, Angus G. Forbes

TL;DR
This paper introduces an improved method based on Physarum-inspired algorithms to map the cosmic web from SDSS data, providing detailed 3D density reconstructions and a new catalog for cosmological research.
Contribution
It enhances the MCPM technique for better density mapping and applies it to larger SDSS volumes, producing publicly available 3D density data and a new cosmic overdensity catalog.
Findings
Improved MCPM calibration for accurate density reconstruction.
Application to SDSS DR17 and eBOSS LRG data volumes.
Public release of the Cosmic Slime Value Added Catalog.
Abstract
The "cosmic web", the filamentary large-scale structure in a cold dark matter Universe, is readily apparent via galaxy tracers in spectroscopic surveys. However, the underlying dark matter structure is as of yet unobservable and mapping the diffuse gas permeating it lies beyond practical observational capabilities. A recently developed technique, inspired by the growth and movement of Physarum polycephalum "slime mold", has been used to map the cosmic web of a low redshift sub-sample of the SDSS spectroscopic galaxy catalog. This model, the Monte Carlo Physarum Machine (MCPM) was shown to promisingly reconstruct the cosmic web. Here, we improve the formalism used in calibrating the MCPM to better recreate the Bolshoi-Planck cosmological simulation's density distributions and apply them to a significantly larger cosmological volume than previous works using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey…
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Taxonomy
TopicsSlime Mold and Myxomycetes Research · Topological and Geometric Data Analysis · Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
