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The correlation between the broad line region radius and continuum luminosity (R-L relation) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is critical for single-epoch mass estimates of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). At z ∼ 1-2, where AGN activity peaks, the R-L relation is constrained by the reverberation mapping (RM) lags of the Mg II line. We present 25 Mg II lags from the Australian Dark Energy Survey RM project based on 6 yr of monitoring. We define quantitative criteria to select good lag measurements and verify their reliability with simulations based on both the damped random walk stochastic model and the rescaled, resampled versions of the observed light curves of local, well-measured AGN. Our sample significantly increases the number of Mg II lags and extends the R-L relation to higher redshifts and luminosities. The relative iron line strength RFe has little impact on the R-L relation. The best-fitting Mg II R-L relation has a slope α = 0.39 ± 0.08 with an intrinsic scatter σrl = 0.15+−000203. The slope is consistent with previous measurements and shallower than the H β R-L relation. The intrinsic scatter of the new R-L relation is substantially smaller than previous studies and comparable to the intrinsic scatter of the H β R-L relation. Our new R-L relation will enable more precise single-epoch mass estimates and SMBH demographic studies at cosmic noon.

Recent cosmological analyses with large-scale structure and weak lensing measurements, usually referred to as 3 × 2pt, had to discard a lot of signal to noise from small scales due to our inability to accurately model non-linearities and baryonic effects. Galaxy–galaxy lensing, or the position–shear correlation between lens and source galaxies, is one of the three two-point correlation functions that are included in such analyses, usually estimated with the mean tangential shear. However, tangential shear measurements at a given angular scale θ or physical scale R carry information from all scales below that, forcing the scale cuts applied in real data to be significantly larger than the scale at which theoretical uncertainties become problematic. Recently, there have been a few independent efforts that aim to mitigate the non-locality of the galaxy–galaxy lensing signal. Here, we perform a comparison of the different methods, including the Y-transformation, the point-mass marginalization methodology, and the annular differential surface density statistic. We do the comparison at the cosmological constraints level in a combined galaxy clustering and galaxy–galaxy lensing analysis. We find that all the estimators yield equivalent cosmological results assuming a simulated Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Year 1 like set-up and also when applied to DES Y3 data. With the LSST Y1 set-up, we find that the mitigation schemes yield ∼1.3 times more constraining S8 results than applying larger scale cuts without using any mitigation scheme.

We characterize the properties and evolution of bright central galaxies (BCGs) and the surrounding intracluster light (ICL) in galaxy clusters identified in the Dark Energy Survey and Atacama Cosmology Telescope Survey (DES-ACT) overlapping regions, covering the redshift range 0.20 < z < 0.80. Over this redshift range, we measure no change in the ICL’s stellar content (between 50 and 300 kpc) in clusters with log10(M200m,SZ/M☉) >14.4. We also measure the stellar mass–halo mass (SMHM) relation for the BCG+ICL system and find that the slope, β, which characterizes the dependence of M200m,SZ on the BCG+ICL stellar mass, increases with radius. The outskirts are more strongly correlated with the halo than the core, which supports that the BCG+ICL system follows a two-phase growth, where recent growth (z < 2) occurs beyond the BCG’s core. Additionally, we compare our observed SMHM relation results to the IllustrisTNG300-1 cosmological hydrodynamic simulations and find moderate qualitative agreement in the amount of diffuse light. However, the SMHM relation’s slope is steeper in TNG300-1 and the intrinsic scatter is lower, likely from the absence of projection effects in TNG300-1. Additionally, we find that the ICL exhibits a colour gradient such that the outskirts are bluer than the core. Moreover, for the lower halo mass clusters (log10(M200m,SZ/M☉) < 14.59), we detect a modest change in the colour gradient’s slope with lookback time, which combined with the absence of stellar mass growth may suggest that lower mass clusters have been involved in growth via tidal stripping more recently than their higher mass counterparts.

Recent cosmological analyses rely on the ability to accurately sample from high-dimensional posterior distributions. A variety of algorithms have been applied in the field, but justification of the particular sampler choice and settings is often lacking. Here, we investigate three such samplers to motivate and validate the algorithm and settings used for the Dark Energy Survey (DES) analyses of the first 3 yr (Y3) of data from combined measurements of weak lensing and galaxy clustering. We employ the full DES Year 1 likelihood alongside a much faster approximate likelihood, which enables us to assess the outcomes from each sampler choice and demonstrate the robustness of our full results. We find that the ellipsoidal nested sampling algorithm MULTINEST reports inconsistent estimates of the Bayesian evidence and somewhat narrower parameter credible intervals than the sliced nested sampling implemented in POLYCHORD. We compare the findings from MULTINEST and POLYCHORD with parameter inference from the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm, finding good agreement. We determine that POLYCHORD provides a good balance of speed and robustness for posterior and evidence estimation, and recommend different settings for testing purposes and final chains for analyses with DES Y3 data. Our methodology can readily be reproduced to obtain suitable sampler settings for future surveys.

ABSTRACT: Recent analyses have found intriguing correlations between the colour (c) of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and the size of their ‘mass-step’, the relationship between SN Ia host galaxy stellar mass (Mstellar) and SN Ia Hubble residual, and suggest that the cause of this relationship is dust. Using 675 photometrically classified SNe Ia from the Dark Energy Survey 5-yr sample, we study the differences in Hubble residual for a variety of global host galaxy and local environmental properties for SN Ia subsamples split by their colour. We find a 3σ difference in the mass-step when comparing blue (c < 0) and red (c > 0) SNe. We observe the lowest r.m.s. scatter (∼0.14 mag) in the Hubble residual for blue SNe in low mass/blue environments, suggesting that this is the most homogeneous sample for cosmological analyses. By fitting for c-dependent relationships between Hubble residuals and Mstellar, approximating existing dust models, we remove the mass-step from the data and find tentative ∼2σ residual steps in rest-frame galaxy U − R colour. This indicates that dust modelling based on Mstellar may not fully explain the remaining dispersion in SN Ia luminosity. Instead, accounting for a c-dependent relationship between Hubble residuals and global U − R, results in ≤1σ residual steps in Mstellar and local U − R, suggesting that U − R provides different information about the environment of SNe Ia compared to Mstellar, and motivating the inclusion of galaxy U − R colour in SN Ia distance bias correction.

We compare the two largest galaxy morphology catalogues, which separate early- and late-type galaxies at intermediate redshift. The two catalogues were built by applying supervised deep learning (convolutional neural networks, CNNs) to the Dark Energy Survey data down to a magnitude limit of ∼21 mag. The methodologies used for the construction of the catalogues include differences such as the cutout sizes, the labels used for training, and the input to the CNN - monochromatic images versus gri-band normalized images. In addition, one catalogue is trained using bright galaxies observed with DES (i < 18), while the other is trained with bright galaxies (r < 17.5) and 'emulated' galaxies up to r-band magnitude 22.5. Despite the different approaches, the agreement between the two catalogues is excellent up to i < 19, demonstrating that CNN predictions are reliable for samples at least one magnitude fainter than the training sample limit. It also shows that morphological classifications based on monochromatic images are comparable to those based on gri-band images, at least in the bright regime. At fainter magnitudes, i > 19, the overall agreement is good (∼95 per cent), but is mostly driven by the large spiral fraction in the two catalogues. In contrast, the agreement within the elliptical population is not as good, especially at faint magnitudes. By studying the mismatched cases, we are able to identify lenticular galaxies (at least up to i < 19), which are difficult to distinguish using standard classification approaches. The synergy of both catalogues provides an unique opportunity to select a population of unusual galaxies.

Cosmological analyses with type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) often assume a single empirical relation between colour and luminosity (β) and do not account for varying host-galaxy dust properties. However, from studies of dust in large samples of galaxies, it is known that dust attenuation can vary significantly. Here, we take advantage of state-of-the-art modelling of galaxy properties to characterize dust parameters (dust attenuation AV, and a parameter describing the dust law slope RV) for 1100 Dark Energy Survey (DES) SN host galaxies. Utilizing optical and infrared data of the hosts alone, we find three key aspects of host dust that impact SN cosmology: (1) there exists a large range (∼1-6) of host RV; (2) high-stellar mass hosts have RV on average ∼0.7 lower than that of low-mass hosts; (3) for a subsample of 81 spectroscopically classified SNe there is a significant (>3σ) correlation between the Hubble diagram residuals of red SNe Ia and the host RV that when corrected for reduces scatter by ∼ 13 per cent and the significance of the 'mass step' to ∼1σ. These represent independent confirmations of recent predictions based on dust that attempted to explain the puzzling 'mass step' and intrinsic scatter (σint) in SN Ia analyses.

We evaluate the consistency between lensing and clustering based on measurements from Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey combined with galaxy-galaxy lensing from Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 3, Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC) Year 1, and Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS)-1000. We find good agreement between these lensing data sets. We model the observations using the Dark Emulator and fit the data at two fixed cosmologies: Planck (S8 = 0.83), and a Lensing cosmology (S8 = 0.76). For a joint analysis limited to large scales, we find that both cosmologies provide an acceptable fit to the data. Full utilization of the higher signal-to-noise small-scale measurements is hindered by uncertainty in the impact of baryon feedback and assembly bias, which we account for with a reasoned theoretical error budget. We incorporate a systematic inconsistency parameter for each redshift bin, A, that decouples the lensing and clustering. With a wide range of scales, we find different results for the consistency between the two cosmologies. Limiting the analysis to the bins for which the impact of the lens sample selection is expected to be minimal, for the Lensing cosmology, the measurements are consistent with A = 1; A = 0.91 ± 0.04 (A = 0.97 ± 0.06) using DES+KiDS (HSC). For the Planck case, we find a discrepancy: A = 0.79 ± 0.03 (A = 0.84 ± 0.05) using DES+KiDS (HSC). We demonstrate that a kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich-based estimate for baryonic effects alleviates some of the discrepancy in the Planck cosmology. This analysis demonstrates the statistical power of small-scale measurements; however, caution is still warranted given modelling uncertainties and foreground sample selection effects.

We present cosmological constraints from the analysis of angular power spectra of cosmic shear maps based on data from the first three years of observations by the Dark Energy Survey (DES Y3). Our measurements are based on the pseudo-Cℓ method and complement the analysis of the two-point correlation functions in real space, as the two estimators are known to compress and select Gaussian information in different ways, due to scale cuts. They may also be differently affected by systematic effects and theoretical uncertainties, making this analysis an important cross-check. Using the same fiducial Lambda cold dark matter model as in the DES Y3 real-space analysis, we find S8 ≡σ8 √Ωm/0.3 = 0.793-0.025+0.038 , which further improves to S8 = 0.784±0.026 when including shear ratios. This result is within expected statistical fluctuations from the real-space constraint, and in agreement with DES Y3 analyses of non-Gaussian statistics, but favours a slightly higher value of S8 , which reduces the tension with the Planck 2018 constraints from 2.3σ in the real space analysis to 1.5σ here. We explore less conservative intrinsic alignments models than the one adopted in our fiducial analysis, finding no clear preference for a more complex model. We also include small scales, using an increased Fourier mode cut-off up to kmax = 5 h Mpc-1 , which allows to constrain baryonic feedback while leaving cosmological constraints essentially unchanged. Finally, we present an approximate reconstruction of the linear matter power spectrum at present time, found to be about 20 per cent lower than predicted by Planck 2018, as reflected by the lo wer S8 value.

The cosmic web contains filamentary structure on a wide range of scales. On the largest scales, superclustering aligns multiple galaxy clusters along intercluster bridges, visible through their thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich signal in the cosmic microwave background. We demonstrate a new, flexible method to analyze the hot gas signal from multiscale extended structures. We use a Compton y-map from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) stacked on redMaPPer cluster positions from the optical Dark Energy Survey (DES). Cutout images from the y-map are oriented with large-scale structure information from DES galaxy data such that the superclustering signal is aligned before being overlaid. We find evidence of an extended quadrupole moment of the stacked y signal at the 3.5σ level, demonstrating that the large-scale thermal energy surrounding galaxy clusters is anisotropically distributed. We compare our ACT × DES results with the Buzzard simulations, finding broad agreement. Using simulations, we highlight the promise of this novel technique for constraining the evolution of anisotropic, non-Gaussian structure using future combinations of microwave and optical surveys.

We present clustering redshift measurements for Dark Energy Survey (DES) lens sample galaxies used in weak gravitational lensing and galaxy clustering studies. To perform these measurements, we cross-correlate with spectroscopic galaxies from the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Survey (BOSS) and its extension, eBOSS. We validate our methodology in simulations, including a new technique to calibrate systematic errors that result from the galaxy clustering bias, and we find that our method is generally unbiased in calibrating the mean redshift. We apply our method to the data, and estimate the redshift distribution for 11 different photometrically selected bins. We find general agreement between clustering redshift and photometric redshift estimates, with differences on the inferred mean redshift found to be below |Δz| = 0.01 in most of the bins. We also test a method to calibrate a width parameter for redshift distributions, which we found necessary to use for some of our samples. Our typical uncertainties on the mean redshift ranged from 0.003 to 0.008, while our uncertainties on the width ranged from 4 to 9 per cent. We discuss how these results calibrate the photometric redshift distributions used in companion papers for DES Year 3 results.

Large-scale astronomical surveys have the potential to capture data on large numbers of strongly gravitationally lensed supernovae (LSNe). To facilitate timely analysis and spectroscopic follow-up before the supernova fades, an LSN needs to be identified soon after it begins. To quickly identify LSNe in optical survey data sets, we designed ZipperNet, a multibranch deep neural network that combines convolutional layers (traditionally used for images) with long short-term memory layers (traditionally used for time series). We tested ZipperNet on the task of classifying objects from four categories - no lens, galaxy-galaxy lens, lensed Type-Ia supernova, lensed core-collapse supernova - within high-fidelity simulations of three cosmic survey data sets: the Dark Energy Survey, Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and a Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) imaging survey. Among our results, we find that for the LSST-like data set, ZipperNet classifies LSNe with a receiver operating characteristic area under the curve of 0.97, predicts the spectroscopic type of the lensed supernovae with 79% accuracy, and demonstrates similarly high performance for LSNe 1-2 epochs after first detection. We anticipate that a model like ZipperNet, which simultaneously incorporates spatial and temporal information, can play a significant role in the rapid identification of lensed transient systems in cosmic survey experiments.

We quantify evolution in the cluster-scale stellar mass-halo mass (SMHM) relation's parameters using 2323 clusters and brightest central galaxies (BCGs) over the redshift range 0.03 ≤ z ≤ 0.60. The precision on the inferred SMHM parameters is improved by including the magnitude gap (m gap) between the BCG and fourth-brightest cluster member (M14) as a third parameter in the SMHM relation. At fixed halo mass, accounting for m gap, through a stretch parameter, reduces the SMHM relation's intrinsic scatter. To explore this redshift range, we use clusters, BCGs, and cluster members identified using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey C4 and redMaPPer cluster catalogs and the Dark Energy Survey redMaPPer catalog. Through this joint analysis, we detect no systematic differences in BCG stellar mass, m gap, and cluster mass (inferred from richness) between the data sets. We utilize the Pareto function to quantify each parameter's evolution. We confirm prior findings of negative evolution in the SMHM relation's slope (3.5σ), and detect negative evolution in the stretch parameter (4.0σ) and positive evolution in the offset parameter (5.8σ). This observed evolution, combined with the absence of BCG growth, when stellar mass is measured within 50 kpc, suggests that this evolution results from changes in the cluster's m gap. For this to occur, late-term growth must be in the intracluster light surrounding the BCG. We also compare the observed results to IllustrisTNG 300-1 cosmological hydrodynamic simulations and find modest qualitative agreement. However, the simulations lack the evolutionary features detected in the real data.

In this work, we present the galaxy clustering measurements of the two DES lens galaxy samples: a magnitude-limited sample optimized for the measurement of cosmological parameters, maglim, and a sample of luminous red galaxies selected with the redmagic algorithm. maglim/redmagic sample contains over 10 million/2.5 million galaxies and is divided into six/five photometric redshift bins spanning the range z [0.20, 1.05]/z [0.15, 0.90]. Both samples cover 4143 °2 over which we perform our analysis blind, measuring the angular correlation function with an S/N ∼63 for both samples. In a companion paper, these measurements of galaxy clustering are combined with the correlation functions of cosmic shear and galaxy-galaxy lensing of each sample to place cosmological constraints with a 3 × 2pt analysis. We conduct a thorough study of the mitigation of systematic effects caused by the spatially varying survey properties and we correct the measurements to remove artificial clustering signals. We employ several decontamination methods with different configurations to ensure the robustness of our corrections and to determine the systematic uncertainty that needs to be considered for the final cosmology analyses. We validate our fiducial methodology using lognormal mocks, showing that our decontamination procedure induces biases no greater than 0.5σ in the (ωm, b) plane, where b is the galaxy bias.

Lensing without borders is a cross-survey collaboration created to assess the consistency of galaxy-galaxy lensing signals (Δς) across different data sets and to carry out end-to-end tests of systematic errors. We perform a blind comparison of the amplitude of Δς using lens samples from BOSS and six independent lensing surveys. We find good agreement between empirically estimated and reported systematic errors which agree to better than 2.3σ in four lens bins and three radial ranges. For lenses with zL > 0.43 and considering statistical errors, we detect a 3-4σ correlation between lensing amplitude and survey depth. This correlation could arise from the increasing impact at higher redshift of unrecognized galaxy blends on shear calibration and imperfections in photometric redshift calibration. At zL > 0.54, amplitudes may additionally correlate with foreground stellar density. The amplitude of these trends is within survey-defined systematic error budgets that are designed to include known shear and redshift calibration uncertainty. Using a fully empirical and conservative method, we do not find evidence for large unknown systematics. Systematic errors greater than 15 per cent (25 per cent) ruled out in three lens bins at 68 per cent (95 per cent) confidence at z < 0.54. Differences with respect to predictions based on clustering are observed to be at the 20-30 per cent level. Our results therefore suggest that lensing systematics alone are unlikely to fully explain the 'lensing is low' effect at z < 0.54. This analysis demonstrates the power of cross-survey comparisons and provides a promising path for identifying and reducing systematics in future lensing analyses.

We measure the projected number density profiles of galaxies and the splashback feature in clusters selected by the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect from the Advanced Atacama Cosmology Telescope (AdvACT) survey using galaxies observed by the Dark Energy Survey (DES). The splashback radius is consistent with CDM-only simulations and is located at 2.4-0.4+0.3 Mpc h-1. We split the galaxies on color and find significant differences in their profile shapes. Red and green-valley galaxies show a splashback-like minimum in their slope profile consistent with theory, while the bluest galaxies show a weak feature at a smaller radius. We develop a mapping of galaxies to subhalos in simulations and assign colors based on infall time onto their hosts. We find that the shift in location of the steepest slope and different profile shapes can be mapped to the average time of infall of galaxies of different colors. The steepest slope traces a discontinuity in the phase space of dark matter halos. By relating spatial profiles to infall time, we can use splashback as a clock to understand galaxy quenching. We find that red galaxies have on average been in clusters over 3.2 Gyr, green galaxies about 2.2 Gyr, while blue galaxies have been accreted most recently and have not reached apocenter. Using the full radial profiles, we fit a simple quenching model and find that the onset of galaxy quenching occurs after a delay of about a gigayear and that galaxies quench rapidly thereafter with an exponential timescale of 0.6 Gyr.

We present the statistical methods that have been developed to analyse the OzDES reverberation mapping sample. To perform this statistical analysis we have created a suite of customizable simulations that mimic the characteristics of each source in the OzDES sample. These characteristics include: the variability in the photometric and spectroscopic light curves, the measurement uncertainties, and the observational cadence. By simulating the sources in the OzDES sample that contain the C iv emission line, we developed a set of criteria that rank the reliability of a recovered time-lag depending on the agreement between different recovery methods, the magnitude of the uncertainties, and the rate at which false positives were found in the simulations. These criteria were applied to simulated light curves and these results used to estimate the quality of the resulting Radius-Luminosity relation. We grade the results using three quality levels (gold, silver, and bronze). The input slope of the R-L relation was recovered within 1σ for each of the three quality samples, with the gold standard having the lowest dispersion with a recovered a R-L relation slope of 0.454 ± 0.016 with an input slope of 0.47. Future work will apply these methods to the entire OzDES sample of 771 AGN.

Galaxy-galaxy lensing is a powerful probe of the connection between galaxies and their host dark matter haloes, which is important both for galaxy evolution and cosmology. We extend the measurement and modelling of the galaxy-galaxy lensing signal in the recent Dark Energy Survey Year 3 cosmology analysis to the highly non-linear scales (100 kpc). This extension enables us to study the galaxy-halo connection via a Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) framework for the two lens samples used in the cosmology analysis: a luminous red galaxy sample (redmagic) and a magnitude-limited galaxy sample (maglim). We find that redmagic (maglim) galaxies typically live in dark matter haloes of mass log10(Mh/M) ≈ 13.7 which is roughly constant over redshift (13.3-13.5 depending on redshift). We constrain these masses to 15 per cent, approximately 1.5 times improvement over the previous work. We also constrain the linear galaxy bias more than five times better than what is inferred by the cosmological scales only. We find the satellite fraction for redmagic (maglim) to be 0.1-0.2 (0.1-0.3) with no clear trend in redshift. Our constraints on these halo properties are broadly consistent with other available estimates from previous work, large-scale constraints, and simulations. The framework built in this paper will be used for future HOD studies with other galaxy samples and extensions for cosmological analyses.

In this paper, we present and validate the galaxy sample used for the analysis of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) signal in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Y3 data. The definition is based on a colour and redshift-dependent magnitude cut optimized to select galaxies at redshifts higher than 0.5, while ensuring a high-quality determination. The sample covers ~4100 deg2 to a depth of i = 22.3 (AB) at 10s. It contains 7031 993 galaxies in the redshift range from z = 0.6 to 1.1, with a mean effective redshift of 0.835. Redshifts are estimated with the machine learning algorithm DNF, and are validated using the VIPERS PDR2 sample. We find a mean redshift bias of zbias~0.01 and a mean uncertainty, in units of 1 + z, of σ68~0.03. We evaluate the galaxy population of the sample, showing it is mostly built upon Elliptical to Sbc types. Furthermore, we find a low level of stellar contamination of ≤ 4 per cent. We present the method used to mitigate the effect of spurious clustering coming from observing conditions and other large-scale systematics.We apply it to the BAO sample and calculate weights that are used to get a robust estimate of the galaxy clustering signal. This paper is one of a series dedicated to the analysis of the BAO signal in DES Y3. In the companion papers, we present the galaxy mock catalogues used to calibrate the analysis and the angular diameter distance constraints obtained through the fitting to the BAO scale.

We present measurements of the radial profiles of the mass and galaxy number density around Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ)-selected clusters using both weak lensing and galaxy counts. The clusters are selected from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Data Release 5 and the galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 data set. With signal-to-noise ratio of 62 (45) for galaxy (weak lensing) profiles over scales of about 0.2–20 h-1 Mpc, these are the highest precision measurements for SZ-selected clusters to date. Because SZ selection closely approximates mass selection, these measurements enable several tests of theoretical models of the mass and light distribution around clusters. Our main findings are: (1) The splashback feature is detected at a consistent location in both the mass and galaxy profiles and its location is consistent with predictions of cold dark matter N-body simulations. (2) The full mass profile is also consistent with the simulations. (3) The shapes of the galaxy and lensing profiles are remarkably similar for our sample over the entire range of scales, from well inside the cluster halo to the quasilinear regime. We measure the dependence of the profile shapes on the galaxy sample, redshift, and cluster mass. We extend the Diemer & Kravtsov model for the cluster profiles to the linear regime using perturbation theory and show that it provides a good match to the measured profiles. We also compare the measured profiles to predictions of the standard halo model and simulations that include hydrodynamics. Applications of these results to cluster mass estimation, cosmology, and astrophysics are discussed.

We present the first Hubble diagram of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) out to a redshift of two, together with constraints on the matter density, ωM, and the dark energy equation-of-state parameter, w(p/ρ). We build a sample of 20 cosmologically useful SLSNe I based on light curve and spectroscopy quality cuts. We confirm the robustness of the peak-decline SLSN I standardization relation with a larger data set and improved fitting techniques than previous works. We then solve the SLSN model based on the above standardization via minimization of the χ2 computed from a covariance matrix that includes statistical and systematic uncertainties. For a spatially flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model, we find $\Omega{\rm M}=0.38^{+0.24}_{-0.19}$, with an rms of 0.27 mag for the residuals of the distance moduli. For a w0waCDM cosmological model, the addition of SLSNe I to a 'baseline' measurement consisting of Planck temperature together with Type Ia supernovae, results in a small improvement in the constraints of w0 and wa of 4 per cent. We present simulations of future surveys with 868 and 492 SLSNe I (depending on the configuration used) and show that such a sample can deliver cosmological constraints in a flat ΛCDM model with the same precision (considering only statistical uncertainties) as current surveys that use Type Ia supernovae, while providing a factor of 2-3 improvement in the precision of the constraints on the time variation of dark energy, w0 and wa. This paper represents the proof of concept for superluminous supernova cosmology, and demonstrates they can provide an independent test of cosmology in the high-redshift (z > 1) universe.

We present a catalog of 4195 optically confirmed Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) selected galaxy clusters detected with signal-to-noise ratio >4 in 13,211 deg2 of sky surveyed by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). Cluster candidates were selected by applying a multifrequency matched filter to 98 and 150 GHz maps constructed from ACT observations obtained from 2008 to 2018 and confirmed using deep, wide-area optical surveys. The clusters span the redshift range 0.04 < z < 1.91 (median z = 0.52). The catalog contains 222 z > 1 clusters, and a total of 868 systems are new discoveries. Assuming an SZ signal versus mass-scaling relation calibrated from X-ray observations, the sample has a 90% completeness mass limit of M500c > 3.8 × 1014 Me, evaluated at z = 0.5, for clusters detected at signal-to-noise ratio >5 in maps filtered at an angular scale of 2 4. The survey has a large overlap with deep optical weak-lensing surveys that are being used to calibrate the SZ signal mass-scaling relation, such as the Dark Energy Survey (4566 deg2), the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (469 deg2), and the Kilo Degree Survey (825 deg2). We highlight some noteworthy objects in the sample, including potentially projected systems, clusters with strong lensing features, clusters with active central galaxies or star formation, and systems of multiple clusters that may be physically associated. The cluster catalog will be a useful resource for future cosmological analyses and studying the evolution of the intracluster medium and galaxies in massive clusters over the past 10 Gyr.

We present details on the observing strategy, data-processing techniques, and spectroscopic targeting algorithms for the first three years of operation for the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program (DES-SN). This five-year program using the Dark Energy Camera mounted on the 4 m Blanco telescope in Chile was designed to discover and follow supernovae (SNe) Ia over a wide redshift range (0.05 < z < 1.2) to measure the equation-of-state parameter of dark energy. We describe the SN program in full: Strategy, observations, data reduction, spectroscopic follow-up observations, and classification. From three seasons of data, we have discovered 12,015 likely SNe, 308 of which have been spectroscopically confirmed, including 251 SNe Ia over a redshift range of 0.017 < z < 0.85. We determine the effective spectroscopic selection function for our sample and use it to investigate the redshiftdependent bias on the distance moduli of SNe Ia we have classified. The data presented here are used for the first cosmology analysis by DES-SN ("DES-SN3YR"), the results of which are given in Dark Energy Survey Collaboration et al. The 489 spectra that are used to define the DES-SN3YR sample are publicly available at https://des.ncsa.illinois.edu/releases/sn.

We present an analysis of DES17X1boj and DES16E2bjy, two peculiar transients discovered by the Dark Energy Survey (DES). They exhibit nearly identical double-peaked light curves that reach very different maximum luminosities (Mr = -15.4 and -17.9, respectively). The light-curve evolution of these events is highly atypical and has not been reported before. The transients are found in different host environments: DES17X1boj was found near the nucleus of a spiral galaxy, while DES16E2bjy is located in the outskirts of a passive red galaxy. Early photometric data are well fitted with a blackbody and the resulting moderate photospheric expansion velocities (1800 km s-1 for DES17X1boj and 4800 km s-1 for DES16E2bjy) suggest an explosive or eruptive origin. Additionally, a feature identified as high-velocity Ca ii absorption (v ≈ 9400 km s-1) in the near-peak spectrum of DES17X1boj may imply that it is a supernova. While similar light-curve evolution suggests a similar physical origin for these two transients, we are not able to identify or characterize the progenitors.

We report the results of the STRong lensing Insights into the Dark Energy Survey (STRIDES) follow-up campaign of the late 2017/early 2018 season. We obtained spectra of 65 lensed quasar candidates with ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera 2 on the NTT and Echellette Spectrograph and Imager onKeck, confirming 10 newlensed quasars and 10 quasar pairs. Eight lensed quasars are doubly imaged with source redshifts between 0.99 and 2.90, one is triply imaged (DESJ0345.2545, z = 1.68), and one is quadruply imaged (quad: DESJ0053.2012, z = 3.8). Singular isothermal ellipsoid models for the doubles, based on high-resolution imaging from SAMI on Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope or Near InfraRed Camera 2 on Keck, give total magnifications between 3.2 and 5.6, and Einstein radii between 0.49 and 1.97 arcsec. After spectroscopic follow-up, we extract multi-epoch grizY photometry of confirmed lensed quasars and contaminant quasar+star pairs from DES data using parametric multiband modelling, and compare variability in each system's components. By measuring the reduced χ2 associated with fitting all epochs to the samemagnitude, we find a simple cut on the less variable component that retains all confirmed lensed quasars, while removing 94 per cent of contaminant systems. Based on our spectroscopic follow-up, this variability information improves selection of lensed quasars and quasar pairs from 34-45 per cent to 51-70 per cent, with most remaining contaminants being star-forming galaxies. Using mock lensed quasar light curves we demonstrate that selection based only on variability will over-represent the quad fraction by 10 per cent over a complete DES magnitude-limited sample, explained by the magnification bias and hence lower luminosity/more variable sources in quads.

We describe the observations and resultant galaxy cluster catalog from the 2770 deg2 SPTpol Extended Cluster Survey (SPT-ECS). Clusters are identified via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect and confirmed with a combination of archival and targeted follow-up data, making particular use of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). With incomplete follow-up we have confirmed as clusters 244 of 266 candidates at a detection significance ξ ≥ 5 and an additional 204 systems at 4 < ξ < 5. The confirmed sample has a median mass of M500c ~ 4.4 ´ 1014 M☉ h70 -1 and a median redshift of z = 0.49, and we have identified 44 strong gravitational lenses in the sample thus far. Radio data are used to characterize contamination to the SZ signal; the median contamination for confirmed clusters is predicted to be ∼1% of the SZ signal at the ξ > 4 threshold, and 10% of their measured SZ flux. We associate SZ-selected clusters, from both SPT-ECS and the SPT-SZ survey, with clusters from the DES redMaPPer sample, and we find an offset distribution between the SZ center and central galaxy in general agreement with previous work, though with a larger fraction of clusters with significant offsets. Adopting a fixed Planck-like cosmology, we measure the optical richness-SZ mass (l - M) relation and find it to be 28% shallower than that from a weak-lensing analysis of the DES data-a difference significant at the 4σ level-with the relations intersecting at λ = 60. The SPT-ECS cluster sample will be particularly useful for studying the evolution of massive clusters and, in combination with DES lensing observations and the SPT-SZ cluster sample, will be an important component of future cosmological analyses.

Measurements of the physical properties of accretion disks in active galactic nuclei are important for better understanding the growth and evolution of supermassive black holes. We present the accretion disk sizes of 22 quasars from continuum reverberation mapping with data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) standard-star fields and the supernova C fields. We construct continuum light curves with the griz photometry that span five seasons of DES observations. These data sample the time variability of the quasars with a cadence as short as 1 day, which corresponds to a rest-frame cadence that is a factor of a few higher than most previous work. We derive time lags between bands with both JAVELIN and the interpolated cross-correlation function method and fit for accretion disk sizes using the JAVELIN thin-disk model. These new measurements include disks around black holes with masses as small as ∼107 M o˙, which have equivalent sizes at 2500 Å as small as ∼0.1 lt-day in the rest frame. We find that most objects have accretion disk sizes consistent with the prediction of the standard thin-disk model when we take disk variability into account. We have also simulated the expected yield of accretion disk measurements under various observational scenarios for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Deep Drilling Fields. We find that the number of disk measurements would increase significantly if the default cadence is changed from 3 days to 2 days or 1 day.

Galaxies and galaxy groups located along the line of sight towards gravitationally lensed quasars produce high-order perturbations of the gravitational potential at the lens position. When these perturbation are too large, they can induce a systematic error on H0 of a few per cent if the lens system is used for cosmological inference and the perturbers are not explicitly accounted for in the lens model. In this work, we present a detailed characterization of the environment of the lens system WFI 2033−4723 (zsrc = 1.662, zlens = 0.6575), one of the core targets of the H0LiCOW project for which we present cosmological inferences in a companion paper. We use the Gemini and ESO-Very Large telescopes to measure the spectroscopic redshifts of the brightest galaxies towards the lens, and use the ESO-MUSE integral field spectrograph to measure the velocity-dispersion of the lens (σlos = 250+−1521 km s−1) and of several nearby galaxies. In addition, we measure photometric redshifts and stellar masses of all galaxies down to i < 23 mag, mainly based on Dark Energy Survey imaging (DR1). Our new catalogue, complemented with literature data, more than doubles the number of known galaxy spectroscopic redshifts in the direct vicinity of the lens, expanding to 116 (64) the number of spectroscopic redshifts for galaxies separated by less than 3 arcmin (2 arcmin) from the lens. Using the flexion-shift as a measure of the amplitude of the gravitational perturbation, we identify two galaxy groups and three galaxies that require specific attention in the lens models. The ESO MUSE data enable us to measure the velocity-dispersions of three of these galaxies. These results are essential for the cosmological inference analysis presented in Rusu et al.

Correlations between tracers of the matter density field and gravitational lensing are sensitive to the evolution of the matter power spectrum and the expansion rate across cosmic time. Appropriately defined ratios of such correlation functions, on the other hand, depend only on the angular diameter distances to the tracer objects and to the gravitational lensing source planes. Because of their simple cosmological dependence, such ratios can exploit available signal-to-noise ratio down to small angular scales, even where directly modelling the correlation functions is difficult. We present a measurement of lensing ratios using galaxy position and lensing data from the Dark Energy Survey, and CMB lensing data from the South Pole Telescope and Planck, obtaining the highest precision lensing ratio measurements to date. Relative to the concordance CDM model, we find a best-fitting lensing ratio amplitude of A = 1.1 ± 0.1. We use the ratio measurements to generate cosmological constraints, focusing on the curvature parameter. We demonstrate that photometrically selected galaxies can be used to measure lensing ratios, and argue that future lensing ratio measurements with data from a combination of LSST and Stage-4 CMB experiments can be used to place interesting cosmological constraints, even after considering the systematic uncertainties associated with photometric redshift and galaxy shear estimation.

We present an improved measurement of the Hubble constant (H0) using the 'inverse distance ladder' method, which adds the information from 207 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) at redshift 0.018

Calibration uncertainties have been the leading systematic uncertainty in recent analyses using Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) to measure cosmological parameters. To improve the calibration, we present the application of spectral energy distribution-dependent 'chromatic corrections' to the SN light-curve photometry from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). These corrections depend on the combined atmospheric and instrumental transmission function for each exposure, and they affect photometry at the 0.01 mag (1 per cent) level, comparable to systematic uncertainties in calibration and photometry. Fitting our combined DES and low-z SN Ia sample with baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) and cosmic microwave background (CMB) priors for the cosmological parameters m (the fraction of the critical density of the universe comprised of matter) and w (the dark energy equation of state parameter), we compare those parameters before and after applying the corrections. We find the change in w and m due to not including chromatic corrections is −0.002 and 0.000, respectively, for the DES-SN3YR sample with BAO and CMB priors, consistent with a larger DES-SN3YR-like simulation, which has a w-change of 0.0005 with an uncertainty of 0.008 and an m change of 0.000 with an uncertainty of 0.002. However, when considering samples on individual CCDs we find large redshift-dependent biases (∼0.02 in distance modulus) for SN distances.

We present a new Bayesian hierarchical model (BHM) named Steve for performing Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) cosmology fits. This advances previous works by including an improved treatment of Malmquist bias, accounting for additional sources of systematic uncertainty, and increasing numerical efficiency. Given light-curve fit parameters, redshifts, and host-galaxy masses, we fit Steve simultaneously for parameters describing cosmology, SN Ia populations, and systematic uncertainties. Selection effects are characterized using Monte Carlo simulations. We demonstrate its implementation by fitting realizations of SN Ia data sets where the SN Ia model closely follows that used in Steve. Next, we validate on more realistic SNANA simulations of SN Ia samples from the Dark Energy Survey and low-redshift surveys (DES Collaboration et al. 2018). These simulated data sets contain more than 60,000 SNe Ia, which we use to evaluate biases in the recovery of cosmological parameters, specifically the equation of state of dark energy, w. This is the most rigorous test of a BHM method applied to SN Ia cosmology fitting and reveals small w biases that depend on the simulated SN Ia properties, in particular the intrinsic SN Ia scatter model. This w bias is less than 0.03 on average, less than half the statistical uncertainty on w. These simulation test results are a concern for BHM cosmology fitting applications on large upcoming surveys; therefore, future development will focus on minimizing the sensitivity of Steve to the SN Ia intrinsic scatter model.

We present a multi-messenger measurement of the Hubble constant H 0 using the binary-black-hole merger GW170814 as a standard siren, combined with a photometric redshift catalog from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). The luminosity distance is obtained from the gravitational wave signal detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)/Virgo Collaboration (LVC) on 2017 August 14, and the redshift information is provided by the DES Year 3 data. Black hole mergers such as GW170814 are expected to lack bright electromagnetic emission to uniquely identify their host galaxies and build an object-by-object Hubble diagram. However, they are suitable for a statistical measurement, provided that a galaxy catalog of adequate depth and redshift completion is available. Here we present the first Hubble parameter measurement using a black hole merger. Our analysis results in , which is consistent with both SN Ia and cosmic microwave background measurements of the Hubble constant. The quoted 68% credible region comprises 60% of the uniform prior range [20, 140] km s-1 Mpc-1, and it depends on the assumed prior range. If we take a broader prior of [10, 220] km s-1 Mpc-1, we find (57% of the prior range). Although a weak constraint on the Hubble constant from a single event is expected using the dark siren method, a multifold increase in the LVC event rate is anticipated in the coming years and combinations of many sirens will lead to improved constraints on H 0.

We describe catalogue-level simulations of Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) light curves in the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program (DES-SN) and in low-redshift samples from the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and the Carnegie Supernova Project (CSP). These simulations are used to model biases from selection effects and light-curve analysis and to determine bias corrections for SN Ia distance moduli that are used to measure cosmological parameters. To generate realistic light curves, the simulation uses a detailed SN Ia model, incorporates information from observations (point spread function, sky noise, zero-point), and uses summary information (e.g. detection efficiency versus signal-to-noise ratio) based on 10 000 fake SN light curves whose fluxes were overlaid on images and processed with our analysis pipelines. The quality of the simulation is illustrated by predicting distributions observed in the data. Averaging within redshift bins, we find distance modulus biases up to 0.05 mag over the redshift ranges of the low-z and DES-SN samples. For individual events, particularly those with extreme red or blue colour, distance biases can reach 0.4 mag. Therefore, accurately determining bias corrections is critical for precision measurements of cosmological parameters. Files used to make these corrections are available at https://des.ncsa.illinois.edu/releases/sn.

The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys (http://legacysurvey.org/) are a combination of three public projects (the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey, the Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey, and the Mayall z-band Legacy Survey) that will jointly image ≈14,000 deg2 of the extragalactic sky visible from the northern hemisphere in three optical bands (g, r, and z) using telescopes at the Kitt Peak National Observatory and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The combined survey footprint is split into two contiguous areas by the Galactic plane. The optical imaging is conducted using a unique strategy of dynamically adjusting the exposure times and pointing selection during observing that results in a survey of nearly uniform depth. In addition to calibrated images, the project is delivering a catalog, constructed by using a probabilistic inference-based approach to estimate source shapes and brightnesses. The catalog includes photometry from the grz optical bands and from four mid-infrared bands (at 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22 μm) observed by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite during its full operational lifetime. The project plans two public data releases each year. All the software used to generate the catalogs is also released with the data. This paper provides an overview of the Legacy Surveys project.

We search Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 3 imaging data for galaxy-galaxy strong gravitational lenses using convolutional neural networks. We generate 250 000 simulated lenses at redshifts > 0.8 from which we create a data set for training the neural networks with realistic seeing, sky and shot noise. Using the simulations as a guide, we build a catalogue of 1.1 million DES sources with 1.8 < g − i < 5, 0.6 < g − r < 3, r mag > 19, g mag > 20, and i mag > 18.2. We train two ensembles of neural networks on training sets consisting of simulated lenses, simulated non-lenses, and real sources. We use the neural networks to score images of each of the sources in our catalogue with a value from 0 to 1, and select those with scores greater than a chosen threshold for visual inspection, resulting in a candidate set of 7301 galaxies. During visual inspection, we rate 84 as 'probably' or 'definitely' lenses. Four of these are previously known lenses or lens candidates. We inspect a further 9428 candidates with a different score threshold, and identify four new candidates. We present 84 new strong lens candidates, selected after a few hours of visual inspection by astronomers. This catalogue contains a comparable number of high-redshift lenses to that predicted by simulations. Based on simulations, we estimate our sample to contain most discoverable lenses in this imaging and at this redshift range.

We present the analysis underpinning the measurement of cosmological parameters from 207 spectroscopically classified SNe Ia from the first 3 years of the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program (DES-SN), spanning a redshift range of 0.017 < z < 0.849. We combine the DES-SN sample with an external sample of 122 low-redshift (z < 0.1) SNe Ia, resulting in a "DES-SN3YR" sample of 329 SNe Ia. Our cosmological analyses are blinded: after combining our DES-SN3YR distances with constraints from the Cosmic Microwave Background, our uncertainties in the measurement of the dark energy equation-of-state parameter, w, are 0.042 (stat) and 0.059 (stat+syst) at 68% confidence. We provide a detailed systematic uncertainty budget, which has nearly equal contributions from photometric calibration, astrophysical bias corrections, and instrumental bias corrections. We also include several new sources of systematic uncertainty. While our sample is less than one-third the size of the Pantheon sample, our constraints on w are only larger by 1.4×, showing the impact of the DES-SN Ia light-curve quality. We find that the traditional stretch and color standardization parameters of the DES-SNe Ia are in agreement with earlier SN Ia samples such as Pan-STARRS1 and the Supernova Legacy Survey. However, we find smaller intrinsic scatter about the Hubble diagram (0.077 mag). Interestingly, we find no evidence for a Hubble residual step (0.007 ± 0.018 mag) as a function of host-galaxy mass for the DES subset, in 2.4σ tension with previous measurements. We also present novel validation methods of our sample using simulated SNe Ia inserted in DECam images and using large catalog-level simulations to test for biases in our analysis pipelines.

We present griz light curves of 251 SNe Ia from the first 3 years of the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program's (DES-SN) spectroscopically classified sample. The photometric pipeline described in this paper produces the calibrated fluxes and associated uncertainties used in the cosmological parameter analysis by employing a scene modeling approach that simultaneously models a variable transient flux and temporally constant host galaxy. We inject artificial point sources onto DECam images to test the accuracy of our photometric method. Upon comparison of input and measured artificial supernova fluxes, we find that flux biases peak at 3 mmag. We require corrections to our photometric uncertainties as a function of host galaxy surface brightness at the transient location, similar to that seen by the DES Difference Imaging Pipeline used to discover transients. The public release of the light curves can be found at https://des.ncsa.illinois.edu/releases/sn.

We use cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature maps from the 500 deg 2 SPTpol survey to measure the stacked lensing convergence of galaxy clusters from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year-3 redMaPPer (RM) cluster catalog. The lensing signal is extracted through a modified quadratic estimator designed to be unbiased by the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect. The modified estimator uses a tSZ-free map, constructed from the SPTpol 95 and 150 GHz data sets, to estimate the background CMB gradient. For lensing reconstruction, we employ two versions of the RM catalog: a flux-limited sample containing 4003 clusters and a volume-limited sample with 1741 clusters. We detect lensing at a significance of 8.7σ(6.7σ) with the flux (volume)-limited sample. By modeling the reconstructed convergence using the Navarro-Frenk-White profile, we find the average lensing masses to be M 200m = (1.62 -0.25+0.32 [stat] ± 0.04 [sys.]) and (1.28 -0.18+0.14 [stat] ± 0.03[sys.])× 10 14 M ⊙ for the volume- and flux-limited samples, respectively. The systematic error budget is much smaller than the statistical uncertainty and is dominated by the uncertainties in the RM cluster centroids. We use the volume-limited sample to calibrate the normalization of the mass-richness scaling relation, and find a result consistent with the galaxy weak-lensing measurements from DES.

We describe the first public data release of the Dark Energy Survey, DES DR1, consisting of reduced single-epoch images, co-added images, co-added source catalogs, and associated products and services assembled over the first 3 yr of DES science operations. DES DR1 is based on optical/near-infrared imaging from 345 distinct nights (2013 August to 2016 February) by the Dark Energy Camera mounted on the 4 m Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. We release data from the DES wide-area survey covering ∼5000 deg2 of the southern Galactic cap in five broad photometric bands, grizY. DES DR1 has a median delivered point-spread function of g = 1.12, r = 0.96, i = 0.88, z = 0.84, and Y = 0.″90 FWHM, a photometric precision of

We present two galaxy shape catalogues from the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 data set, covering 1500 deg2 with a median redshift of 0.59. The catalogues cover two main fields: Stripe 82, and an area overlapping the South Pole Telescope survey region. We describe our data analysis process and in particular our shape measurement using two independent shear measurement pipelines, METACALIBRATION and IM3SHAPE. The METACALIBRATION catalogue uses a Gaussian model with an innovative internal calibration scheme, and was applied to riz bands, yielding 34.8M objects. The IM3SHAPE catalogue uses amaximum-likelihood bulge/disc model calibrated using simulations, and was applied to r-band data, yielding 21.9M objects. Both catalogues pass a suite of null tests that demonstrate their fitness for use in weak lensing science. We estimate the 1σ uncertainties in multiplicative shear calibration to be 0.013 and 0.025 for the METACALIBRATION and IM3SHAPE catalogues, respectively.

The primary goals of the STRong lensing Insights into the Dark Energy Survey (STRIDES) collaboration are to measure the dark energy equation of state parameter and the free streaming length of dark matter. To this aim, STRIDES is discovering strongly lensed quasars in the imaging data of the Dark Energy Survey and following them up to measure time delays, high resolution imaging, and spectroscopy sufficient to construct accurate lens models. In this paper, we first present forecasts for STRIDES. Then, we describe the STRIDES classification scheme, and give an overview of the Fall 2016 follow-up campaign. We continue by detailing the results of two selection methods, the outlier selection technique and a morphological algorithm, and presenting lens models of a system that could possibly be a lensed quasar in an unusual configuration. We conclude with the summary statistics of the Fall 2016 campaign. Including searches presented in companion papers (Anguita et al.; Ostrovski et al.), STRIDES followed up 117 targets identifying 7 new strongly lensed systems, and 7 nearly identical quasars, which could be confirmed as lenses by the detection of the lens galaxy. 76 candidates were rejected and 27 remain otherwise inconclusive, for a success rate in the range of 6-35 per cent. This rate is comparable to that of previous searches like SDSS Quasar Lens Search even though the parent data set of STRIDES is purely photometric and our selection of candidates cannot rely on spectroscopic information.

We combine Dark Energy Survey Year 1 clustering and weak lensing data with baryon acoustic oscillations and Big Bang nucleosynthesis experiments to constrain the Hubble constant. Assuming a flat ΛCDM model with minimal neutrino mass (Σmυ = 0.06 eV), we find H0 = 67.4 -1.2+1.1 km s-1 Mpc-1 (68 per cent CL). This result is completely independent of Hubble constant measurements based on the distance ladder, cosmic microwave background anisotropies (both temperature and polarization), and strong lensing constraints. There are now five data sets that: (a) have no shared observational systematics; and (b) each constrains the Hubble constant with fractional uncertainty at the few-per cent level. We compare these five independent estimates, and find that, as a set, the differences between them are significant at the 2.5σ level (χ2/dof = 24/11, probability to exceed = 1.1 per cent). Having set the threshold for consistency at 3σ, we combine all five data sets to arrive at H0 = 69.3-0.6+0.4 km s-1 Mpc-1.

We present two galaxy shape catalogues from the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 data set, covering 1500 deg2 with a median redshift of 0.59. The catalogues cover two main fields: Stripe 82, and an area overlapping the South Pole Telescope survey region. We describe our data analysis process and in particular our shape measurement using two independent shear measurement pipelines, METACALIBRATION and IM3SHAPE. The METACALIBRATION catalogue uses a Gaussian model with an innovative internal calibration scheme, and was applied to riz bands, yielding 34.8M objects. The IM3SHAPE catalogue uses amaximum-likelihood bulge/disc model calibrated using simulations, and was applied to r-band data, yielding 21.9M objects. Both catalogues pass a suite of null tests that demonstrate their fitness for use in weak lensing science. We estimate the 1σ uncertainties in multiplicative shear calibration to be 0.013 and 0.025 for the METACALIBRATION and IM3SHAPE catalogues, respectively.

Splashback refers to the process of matter that is accreting onto a dark matter halo reaching its first orbital apocenter and turning around in its orbit. The clustercentric radius at which this process occurs, r sp, defines a halo boundary that is connected to the dynamics of the cluster. A rapid decline in the halo profile is expected near r sp. We measure the galaxy number density and weak lensing mass profiles around redMaPPer galaxy clusters in the first-year Dark Energy Survey (DES) data. For a cluster sample with mean M 200m mass ≈2.5 × 1014 M o, we find strong evidence of a splashback-like steepening of the galaxy density profile and measure r sp = 1.13 ± 0.07 h -1 Mpc, consistent with the earlier Sloan Digital Sky Survey measurements of More et al. and Baxter et al. Moreover, our weak lensing measurement demonstrates for the first time the existence of a splashback-like steepening of the matter profile of galaxy clusters. We measure r sp = 1.34 ± 0.21 h -1 Mpc from the weak lensing data, in good agreement with our galaxy density measurements. For different cluster and galaxy samples, we find that, consistent with ΛCDM simulations, r sp scales with R 200m and does not evolve with redshift over the redshift range of 0.3-0.6. We also find that potential systematic effects associated with the redMaPPer algorithm may impact the location of r sp. We discuss the progress needed to understand the systematic uncertainties and fully exploit forthcoming data from DES and future surveys, emphasizing the importance of more realistic mock catalogs and independent cluster samples.

We describe the derivation and validation of redshift distribution estimates and their uncertainties for the populations of galaxies used as weak-lensing sources in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 1 cosmological analyses. The Bayesian Photometric Redshift (BPZ) code is used to assign galaxies to four redshift bins between z ≈ 0.2 and ≈1.3, and to produce initial estimates of the lensing-weighted redshift distributions nPZi(z) ∝ dni/dz for members of bin i. Accurate determination of cosmological parameters depends critically on knowledge of ni, but is insensitive to bin assignments or redshift errors for individual galaxies. The cosmological analyses allow for shifts ni (z) = nPZi(z - Δzi) to correct themean redshift of ni(z) for biases in nPZi. The Δzi are constrained by comparison of independently estimated 30-band photometric redshifts of galaxies in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field to BPZ estimates made from the DES griz fluxes, for a sample matched in fluxes, pre-seeing size, and lensing weight to the DES weak-lensing sources. In companion papers, the Δzi of the three lowest redshift bins are further constrained by the angular clustering of the source galaxies around red galaxies with secure photometric redshifts at 0.15 < z < 0.9. This paper details the BPZ and COSMOS procedures, and demonstrates that the cosmological inference is insensitive to details of the ni(z) beyond the choice of Δzi. The clustering and COSMOS validation methods produce consistent estimates of Δzi in the bins where both can be applied, with combined uncertainties of σΔzi = 0.015, 0.013, 0.011, and 0.022 in the four bins. Repeating the photo-z procedure instead using the Directional Neighbourhood Fitting algorithm, or using the ni(z) estimated from the matched sample in COSMOS, yields no discernible difference in cosmological inferences.

We use numerical simulations to characterize the performance of a clustering-based method to calibrate photometric redshift biases. In particular, we cross-correlate the weak lensing source galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 sample with redMaGiC galaxies (luminous red galaxies with secure photometric redshifts) to estimate the redshift distribution of the former sample. The recovered redshift distributions are used to calibrate the photometric redshift bias of standard photo-z methods applied to the same source galaxy sample.We apply the method to two photo-z codes run in our simulated data: Bayesian Photometric Redshift and Directional Neighbourhood Fitting. We characterize the systematic uncertainties of our calibration procedure, and find that these systematic uncertainties dominate our error budget. The dominant systematics are due to our assumption of unevolving bias and clustering across each redshift bin, and to differences between the shapes of the redshift distributions derived by clustering versus photo-zs. The systematic uncertainty in the mean redshift bias of the source galaxy sample is Δz ≲ 0.02, though the precise value depends on the redshift bin under consideration. We discuss possible ways to mitigate the impact of our dominant systematics in future analyses.

Clusters of galaxies gravitationally lens the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, resulting in a distinct imprint in the CMB on arcminute scales. Measurement of this effect offers a promising way to constrain the masses of galaxy clusters, particularly those at high redshift. We use CMB maps from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) survey to measure the CMB lensing signal around galaxy clusters identified in optical imaging from first year observations of the Dark Energy Survey. The cluster catalogue used in this analysis contains 3697 members with mean redshift of z = 0.45. We detect lensing of the CMB by the galaxy clusters at 8.1s significance. Using the measured lensing signal, we constrain the amplitude of the relation between cluster mass and optical richness to roughly 17 per cent precision, finding good agreement with recent constraints obtained with galaxy lensing. The error budget is dominated by statistical noise but includes significant contributions from systematic biases due to the thermal SZ effect and cluster miscentring.

We present observations of DES16C2nm, the first spectroscopically confirmed hydrogen-free superluminous supernova (SLSN-I) at redshift z ≊ 2. DES16C2nm was discovered by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Supernova Program, with follow-up photometric data from the Hubble Space Telescope, Gemini, and the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope supplementing the DES data. Spectroscopic observations confirm DES16C2nm to be at z = 1.998, and spectroscopically similar to Gaia16apd (a SLSN-I at z = 0.102), with a peak absolute magnitude of U = -22.26 ± 0.06. The high redshift of DES16C2nm provides a unique opportunity to study the ultraviolet (UV) properties of SLSNe-I. Combining DES16C2nm with 10 similar events from the literature, we show that there exists a homogeneous class of SLSNe-I in the UV (λrest ≊ 2500 Å), with peak luminosities in the (rest-frame) U band, and increasing absorption to shorter wavelengths. There is no evidence that the mean photometric and spectroscopic properties of SLSNe-I differ between low (z < 1) and high redshift (z > 1), but there is clear evidence of diversity in the spectrum at λrest < 2000 Å, possibly caused by the variations in temperature between events. No significant correlations are observed between spectral line velocities and photometric luminosity. Using these data, we estimate that SLSNe-I can be discovered to z = 3.8 by DES. While SLSNe-I are typically identified from their blue observed colors at low redshift (z < 1), we highlight that at z > 2 these events appear optically red, peaking in the observer-frame z-band. Such characteristics are critical to identify these objects with future facilities such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, Euclid, and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Telescope, which should detect such SLSNe-I to z = 3.5, 3.7, and 6.6, respectively.

The discovery of a kilonova (KN) associated with the Advanced LIGO (aLIGO)/Virgo event GW170817 opens up new avenues of multi-messenger astrophysics. Here, using realistic simulations, we provide estimates of the number of KNe that could be found in data from past, present, and future surveys without a gravitational-wave trigger. For the simulation, we construct a spectral time-series model based on the DES-GW multi-band light curve from the single known KN event, and we use an average of BNS rates from past studies of 103Gpc-3 yr-1, consistent with the one event found so far. Examining past and current data sets from transient surveys, the number of KNe we expect to find for ASAS-SN, SDSS, PS1, SNLS, DES, and SMT is between 0 and 0.3. We predict the number of detections per future survey to be 8.3 from ATLAS, 10.6 from ZTF, 5.5/69 from LSST (the Deep Drilling/Wide Fast Deep), and 16.0 from WFIRST. The maximum redshift of KNe discovered for each survey is z=0.8 for WFIRST, z=0.8 for LSST, and z=0.8 for ZTF and ATLAS. This maximum redshift for WFIRST is well beyond the sensitivity of aLIGO and some future GW missions. For the LSST survey, we also provide contamination estimates from Type Ia and core-collapse supernovae: after light curve and template-matching requirements, we estimate a background of just two events. More broadly, we stress that future transient surveys should consider how to optimize their search strategies to improve their detection efficiency and to consider similar analyses for GW follow-up programs.