$4\times3$ Point Correlation Functions in Galaxy Surveys: Impact of Baryonic Feedback

TL;DR

This study examines how baryonic feedback influences various galaxy and lensing correlation functions, revealing significant effects at small scales and potential for improved cosmological constraints.

Contribution

First comprehensive analysis of baryonic feedback impact on 4×3-point correlation functions in galaxy surveys using simulated data.

Findings

Baryonic effects can alter small-scale correlations by up to 90%.

Different 3PCFs are affected at varying angular scales, from arcminutes to degrees.

Large-scale 4×3PCFs can constrain cosmology, while small-scale effects inform baryonic models.

Abstract

We investigate the impact of baryonic feedback on two-point and three-point correlation functions (2PCFs and 3PCFs hereafter, respectively) involving galaxy density fields (g) and weak lensing shear fields (G), from simulated photometric catalogs of galaxies. Specifically, we baryonify high-resolution simulation using a baryonic correction model (BCM) and explore the consequences down to sub-arcminute (arcmin) scales, varying two model parameters with the largest impact on our probes: $M_{\rm c}$, which governs the amount of gas expelled beyond the halo boundary, and $\theta_{\rm ej}$, which encodes the maximal ejection radius relative to halo boundary. We create lensing maps and galaxy catalogs assuming survey properties of the upcoming Year-10 data for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and investigate the impact of baryonic feedback on the observed correlations, including the galaxy--galaxy--shear (ggG) and the galaxy--shear--shear (gGG) 3PCFs, which are measured, for the first time from simulations, with \textsc{TreeCorr}. Focusing on equilateral 3PCFs, we find that small scales are more heavily affected by baryonic effects than the corresponding 2PCFs, by up to 90 percent depending on the probe, redshift and BCM model. The galaxy--galaxy--galaxy (ggg) 3PCF is significantly affected at scales smaller than about 4 arcmin; a similar effect occurs at 10 arcmin for the ggG 3PCF, at 40 arcmin for the gGG 3PCF, and at about a degree for the shear--shear--shear (GGG) 3PCF. These four three-point statistics, which are collectively referred to as the $4\times3$PCFs, can be used at large scales to robustly constrain cosmological parameters. At smaller scales, their enhanced sensitivity to baryonic effects provides valuable leverage for constraining the BCM parameters and supplying informative priors. [Abridged]