Search for: All records

Abstract Recent works have discovered a relatively tight correlation between Ω_mand the properties of individual simulated galaxies. Because of this, it has been shown that constraints on Ω_mcan be placed using the properties of individual galaxies while accounting for uncertainties in astrophysical processes such as feedback from supernovae and active galactic nuclei. In this work, we quantify whether using the properties of multiple galaxies simultaneously can tighten those constraints. For this, we train neural networks to perform likelihood-free inference on the value of two cosmological parameters (Ω_mandσ₈) and four astrophysical parameters using the properties of several galaxies from thousands of hydrodynamic simulations of the CAMELS project. We find that using properties of more than one galaxy increases the precision of the Ω_minference. Furthermore, using multiple galaxies enables the inference of other parameters that were poorly constrained with one single galaxy. We show that the same subset of galaxy properties are responsible for the constraints on Ω_mfrom one and multiple galaxies. Finally, we quantify the robustness of the model and find that without identifying the model range of validity, the model does not perform well when tested on galaxies from other galaxy formation models. 

Abstract Recent work has pointed out the potential existence of a tight relation between the cosmological parameter Ω m , at fixed Ω b , and the properties of individual galaxies in state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. In this paper, we investigate whether such a relation also holds for galaxies from simulations run with a different code that makes use of a distinct subgrid physics: Astrid. We also find that in this case, neural networks are able to infer the value of Ω m with a ∼10% precision from the properties of individual galaxies, while accounting for astrophysics uncertainties, as modeled in Cosmology and Astrophysics with MachinE Learning (CAMELS). This tight relationship is present at all considered redshifts, z ≤ 3, and the stellar mass, the stellar metallicity, and the maximum circular velocity are among the most important galaxy properties behind the relation. In order to use this method with real galaxies, one needs to quantify its robustness: the accuracy of the model when tested on galaxies generated by codes different from the one used for training. We quantify the robustness of the models by testing them on galaxies from four different codes: IllustrisTNG, SIMBA, Astrid, and Magneticum. We show that the models perform well on a large fraction of the galaxies, but fail dramatically on a small fraction of them. Removing these outliers significantly improves the accuracy of the models across simulation codes.