Galaxy sizes as complementary (zero-)bias tracers of local primordial non-Gaussianity

TL;DR

Galaxy sizes can serve as complementary and robust tracers of local primordial non-Gaussianity, enhancing detection significance and aiding systematics control in large-scale structure surveys.

Contribution

This work demonstrates that galaxy sizes violate the universality relation, providing a new, effective probe of local PNG that complements traditional galaxy number density measurements.

Findings

Size fluctuations evade the universality relation, enabling larger PNG responses.

Combining galaxy sizes with number counts improves PNG detection by a factor of 3.6.

Number-size cross spectrum offers a systematic check in PNG measurements.

Abstract

The scale-dependent bias in halo and galaxy power spectra is a key signature of local primordial non-Gaussianity (local PNG), with PNG sensitivity scaling as $b_\phi/b_1$ -- the ratio of their responses to long-wavelength primordial potential $b_\phi$ and late-time density fluctuations $b_1$. For number density fluctuations, these responses are closely tied by the universality relation, limiting the achievable ratio. We show that size density fluctuations strongly violate this relation, thus evading the limit. For galaxy-mass halos, sizes have a vanishingly small density response but a sizable, negative local PNG response, implying an effective $b_\phi/b_1$ that is large in magnitude and opposite in sign to that of number counts. This makes galaxy sizes complementary probes of local PNG from the same galaxy sample, without any sample split. For a DESI-like survey, a multi-tracer analysis combining galaxy numbers and sizes improves the local-PNG detection significance by a factor of $\sim\!3.6$. Due to the sign flip, the number-size cross power spectrum further provides a handle on systematics in the event of a detection.