91̽»¨

Skip to main content
Department Of Physics text logo
  • Research
    • Our research
    • Our research groups
    • Our research in action
    • Research funding 91̽»¨
    • Summer internships for undergraduates
  • Study
    • Undergraduates
    • Postgraduates
  • Engage
    • For alumni
    • For business
    • For schools
    • For the public
  • Support
91̽»¨
Black Hole

Lensing of space time around a black hole. At 91̽»¨ we study black holes observationally and theoretically on all size and time scales - it is some of our core work.

Credit: ALAIN RIAZUELO, IAP/UPMC/CNRS. CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE IMAGES.

Prof. David Alonso

Associate Professor of Cosmology

Sub department

  • Astrophysics

Research groups

  • Beecroft Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
  • Rubin-LSST
David.Alonso@physics.ox.ac.uk
Telephone: 01865 (2)288582
Denys Wilkinson Building, room 532B
  • About
  • Publications

Probing baryonic feedback with fast radio bursts: joint analyses with cosmic shear and galaxy clustering

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 91̽»¨ University Press (OUP) 547:4 (2026) stag557

Authors:

Amy Wayland, David Alonso, Robert Reischke

Abstract:

ABSTRACT Cosmological inference from weak lensing (WL) surveys is increasingly limited by uncertainties in baryonic physics, which suppress the non-linear matter power spectrum on small scales. Multiprobe analyses that incorporate complementary tracers of the gas distribution around haloes offer a pathway to calibrate these effects and recover unbiased cosmological information. In this work, we forecast the constraining power of a joint analysis combining fiducial data from a Stage-IV WL survey with measurements of the dispersion measure from fast radio bursts (FRBs). We evaluate the ability of this approach to simultaneously constrain cosmological parameters and the astrophysical processes governing baryonic feedback, and we quantify the impact of key FRB systematics, including redshift uncertainties and source clustering. We find that, even after accounting for these effects, a 3$\times$2-point analysis of WL and FRBs significantly improves cosmological constraints, reducing the degradation factor on $S_8$ by $\sim 80~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ compared to WL alone. We further show that FRBs alone are sensitive only to a degenerate combination of the key baryonic parameters, $\log _{10} M_{\rm c}$ and $\eta _{\rm b}$, and that the inclusion of WL measurements breaks this degeneracy. Finally, we extend our framework to incorporate galaxy clustering measurements using luminous red galaxy and emission line galaxy samples, performing a unified 6$\times$2-point analysis of WL, dispersion measures of FRBs, and galaxy clustering. While this combined approach tightens constraints on $\Omega _{\rm m}$ and $\log _{10} M_{\rm c}$, it does not lead to a significant improvement in $S_8$ constraints beyond those obtained from WL and FRBs alone.

Reconstructing spatially-varying multiplicative bias for Stage IV weak lensing galaxy surveys with a quadratic estimator

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 91̽»¨ University Press (OUP) (2026) stag537

Authors:

Konstantinos Tanidis, David Alonso, Lance Miller, Joachim Harnois-Déraps

Abstract:

Abstract We present a quadratic estimator that detects and reconstructs spatially-varying multiplicative (m −) bias in weak lensing shear measurements, by exploiting the EB mode coupling that it generates. The method combines E and B modes with inverse-variance weights, to yield an unbiased reconstruction of $m(\boldsymbol{\theta })$ to first order. We study the ability of future Stage IV surveys to obtain an unbiased reconstruction of the m-bias in differing scenarios, considering differing bias morphologies, and characteristic scales, as well as differing metrics to quantify the signal-to-noise ratio of the reconstructed map. We consider an m pattern repeating on ~1○ × 1○ sky patches, as might be the case for an m field caused by focal-plane systematics. With a Euclid-like redshift distribution, we find that ~5 % rms variations in m-bias may be detected at the 20σ level, after stacking between ~400 and ~1000 patches (rising to between ~2800 and ~7600 for 1 % rms variations, data volumes that are becoming available with upcoming surveys), depending on the morphology of the m pattern. We show that these results are robust against the cosmological model assumed in the reconstruction, as well as the presence of intrinsic alignments or baryonic effects, and that the method shows no spurious response to additive (c −) bias. These results demonstrate that percent-level, spatially-varying m −bias can be detected at high significance, enabling diagnosis and mitigation in the Stage IV weak lensing era.

Skew spectra: A generalization to spin s

Physical Review D American Physical Society (APS) 113:6 (2026) 063563

Authors:

Alexander Roskill, Sara Maleubre, David Alonso, Pedro G Ferreira

Abstract:

Skew spectra allow us to extract non-Gaussian information by taking the square of a map and finding the power spectrum of this new map with the original map. This allows us to use much of the infrastructure of power spectra and avoid the intricacies of estimating three point statistics. In this paper we present the first extension of skew spectra to arbitrary spin- s fields, as a means to extract non-Gaussian information efficiently from cosmological datasets like cosmic shear or cosmic microwave background polarization. We apply the formalism to weak lensing in the context of large scale structure, and discuss different ways of combining fields to build skew spectra, all while avoiding the problems associated with mass mapping. We provide plots of these new statistics for Âì cold dark matter and vary cosmological parameters.

MIGHTEE: The dark matter haloes, duty cycle and mechanical feedback from radio-AGN up to z ~ 2.5

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 91̽»¨ University Press (OUP) (2026) stag468

Authors:

Joel Hamlett, Catherine L Hale, Matt J Jarvis, David Alonso, Natalia Stylianou, Imogen H Whittam

Abstract:

Abstract Radio-AGN are observed to be more strongly clustered than non-active galaxies, though it is unclear whether this is simply due to their preference for massive host galaxies, or if they reside in distinct environments beyond this mass dependence. Using data from three fields covered by the MIGHTEE survey, we measure the angular two-point cross-correlation functions with a large, stellar mass-limited population of near-infrared selected galaxies, overcoming limitations of previous single-deep-field studies. By fitting halo occupation distribution models, we infer the galaxy bias parameters, b, for radio-AGN in three redshift ranges with median redshifts of $z_{\rm {med}}=0.76^{+0.17}_{-0.28}$, $1.25^{+0.14}_{-0.17}$ and $1.75^{+0.44}_{-0.18}$, finding $b=1.94^{+0.07}_{-0.07}$, $2.50^{+0.11}_{-0.18}$ and $3.38^{+0.27}_{-0.38}$, respectively. The typical dark matter halo mass decreases with increasing redshift: $\log _{10}(\langle M_{\rm {h}} \rangle /{\rm {M_\odot }})=13.44^{+0.08}_{-0.08}$, $13.17^{+0.07}_{-0.06}$ and $13.03^{+0.09}_{-0.10}$, which we attribute to the increased abundance of cold gas required to fuel AGN activity at earlier times. The AGN duty cycle is determined to be ~5 − 9%, and we estimate that the total energy radiated by radio-jets over 0 < z < 2.5 is ~1053 J per halo, which is sufficient to account for the observed excess heating of gas beyond that of gravitational collapse. Comparing the typical dark matter halo masses to the values obtained for the control sample, we find that the halo masses of radio-AGN are $1.54^{+0.47}_{-0.33}$, $1.11^{+0.25}_{-0.20}$ and $1.82^{+1.04}_{-0.57}$ times greater than those of the stellar mass- and redshift-matched galaxies. This difference could arise because AGN feedback suppresses stellar mass growth while leaving halo mass unchanged, or because radio-AGN preferentially reside in earlier forming haloes which are more strongly clustered.

MIGHTEE: The dark matter haloes, duty cycle and mechanical feedback from radio-AGN up to $z \sim 2.5$

(2026)

Authors:

Joel Hamlett, Catherine L Hale, Matt J Jarvis, David Alonso, Natalia Stylianou, Imogen H Whittam

Pagination

  • Current page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Page 6
  • Page 7
  • Page 8
  • Page 9
  • …
  • Next page Next
  • Last page Last

Footer 91̽»¨

  • Contact us
  • Giving to the Dept of Physics
  • Work with us
  • Media

User account menu

  • Log in

Follow us

FIND US

Clarendon Laboratory,

Parks Road,

91̽»¨,

OX1 3PU

CONTACT US

Tel: +44(0)1865272200

Department Of Physics text logo

© 91̽»¨ - Department of Physics

Cookies | Privacy policy | Accessibility statement

  • Home
  • Research
  • Study
  • Engage
  • Our people
  • News & Comment
  • Events
  • Our facilities & services
  • About us
  • Giving to Physics