It is common practice in cosmology to model large-scale structure observables as lognormal random fields, and this approach has been successfully applied in the past to the matter density and weak lensing convergence fields separately. We argue that this approach has fundamental limitations which prevent its use for jointly modelling these two fields since the lognormal distribution's shape can prevent certain correlations to be attainable. Given the need of ongoing and future large-scale structure surveys for fast joint simulations of clustering and weak lensing, we propose two ways of overcoming these limitations. The first approach slightly distorts the power spectra of the fields using one of two algorithms that minimises either the absolute or the fractional distortions. The second one is by obtaining more accurate convergence marginal distributions, for which we provide a fitting function, by integrating the lognormal density along the line of sight. The latter approach also provides a way to determine directly from theory the skewness of the convergence distribution and, therefore, the parameters for a lognormal fit. We present the public code Full-sky Lognormal Astro-fields Simulation Kit (FLASK) which can make tomographic realisations on the sphere of an arbitrary number of correlated lognormal or Gaussian random fields by applying either of the two proposed solutions, and show that it can create joint simulations of clustering and lensing with sub-per-cent accuracy over relevant angular scales and redshift ranges.

The Javalambre Photometric Local Universe Survey (J-PLUS ) is an ongoing 12-band photometric optical survey, observing thousands of square degrees of the Northern Hemisphere from the dedicated JAST/T80 telescope at the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre (OAJ). The T80Cam is a camera with a field of view of 2 deg 2 mounted on a telescope with a diameter of 83 cm, and is equipped with a unique system of filters spanning the entire optical range (3500-10 000 Å). This filter system is a combination of broad-, medium-, and narrow-band filters, optimally designed to extract the rest-frame spectral features (the 3700-4000 Å Balmer break region, Hδ, Ca H+K, the G band, and the Mg b and Ca triplets) that are key to characterizing stellar types and delivering a low-resolution photospectrum for each pixel of the observed sky. With a typical depth of AB ∼21.25 mag per band, this filter set thus allows for an unbiased and accurate characterization of the stellar population in our Galaxy, it provides an unprecedented 2D photospectral information for all resolved galaxies in the local Universe, as well as accurate photo-z estimates (at the δ z/(1 + z) ∼ 0.005-0.03 precision level) for moderately bright (up to r ∼ 20 mag) extragalactic sources. While some narrow-band filters are designed for the study of particular emission features ([O ii]/λ3727, Hα/λ6563) up to z < 0.017, they also provide well-defined windows for the analysis of other emission lines at higher redshifts. As a result, J-PLUS has the potential to contribute to a wide range of fields in Astrophysics, both in the nearby Universe (Milky Way structure, globular clusters, 2D IFU-like studies, stellar populations of nearby and moderate-redshift galaxies, clusters of galaxies) and at high redshifts (emission-line galaxies at z ≈ 0.77, 2.2, and 4.4, quasi-stellar objects, etc.). With this paper, we release the first ∼1000 deg 2 of J-PLUS data, containing about 4.3 million stars and 3.0 million galaxies at r < 21 mag. With a goal of 8500 deg 2 for the total J-PLUS footprint, these numbers are expected to rise to about 35 million stars and 24 million galaxies by the end of the survey.Article published by EDP Sciences A176, page 1 of 25

We constrain cosmological parameters by analysing the angular power spectra of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey DR12 galaxies, a spectroscopic follow-up of around 1.3 million SDSS galaxies over 9,376 deg 2 with an effective volume of ∼ 6.5 (Gpc h −1 ) 3 in the redshift range 0.15 ≤ z < 0.80. We split this sample into 13 tomographic bins (∆z = 0.05); angular power spectra were calculated using a Pseudo-C estimator, and covariance matrices were estimated using log-normal simulated maps. Cosmological constraints obtained from these data were combined with constraints from Planck CMB experiment as well as the JLA supernovae compilation. Considering a wCDM cosmological model measured on scales up to k max = 0.07h Mpc −1 , we constrain a constant dark energy equation-of-state with a ∼ 4% error at the 1σ level: w 0 = −0.993 +0.046 −0.043 , together with Ω m = 0.330 ± 0.012, Ω b = 0.0505 ± 0.002, S 8 ≡ σ 8 Ω m /0.3 = 0.863 ± 0.016, and h = 0.661 ± 0.012. For the same combination of datasets, but now considering a ΛCDM model with massive neutrinos and the same scale cut, we find: Ω m = 0.328 ± 0.009, Ω b = 0.05017 +0.0009 −0.0008 , S 8 = 0.862 ± 0.017, and h = 0.663 +0.006 −0.007 , and a 95% credible interval (CI) upper limit of m ν < 0.14 eV for a normal hierarchy. These results are competitive if not better than standard analyses with the same dataset, and demonstrate this should be a method of choice for future surveys, opening the door for their full exploitation in cross-correlations probes.

We investigate the impact of prior models on the upper bound of the sum of neutrino masses, mν . Using data from large scale structure of galaxies, cosmic microwave background, type Ia supernovae, and big bang nucleosynthesis, we argue that cosmological neutrino mass and hierarchy determination should be pursued using exact models, since approximations might lead to incorrect and nonphysical bounds. We compare constraints from physically motivated neutrino mass models (i.e., ones respecting oscillation experiments) to those from models using standard cosmological approximations. The former give a consistent upper bound of mν 0.26 eV (95% CI) and yield the first approximation-independent upper bound for the lightest neutrino mass species, m ν 0 < 0.086 eV (95% CI). By contrast, one of the approximations, which is inconsistent with the known lower bounds from oscillation experiments, yields an upper bound of mν 0.15 eV (95% CI); this differs substantially from the physically motivated upper bound.