Cross-correlating Carbon Monoxide Line-intensity Maps with Spectroscopic and Photometric Galaxy Surveys

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 872; no. 2; pp. 186 - 212
• Main Authors: Chung, Dongwoo T., Viero, Marco P., Church, Sarah E., Wechsler, Risa H., Alvarez, Marcelo A., Bond, J. Richard, Breysse, Patrick C., Cleary, Kieran A., Eriksen, Hans K., Foss, Marie K., Gundersen, Joshua O., Harper, Stuart E., T. Ihle, Håvard, Keating, Laura C., Murray, Norman, Padmanabhan, Hamsa, Stein, George F., Wehus, Ingunn K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 20-02-2019; IOP Publishing; University of Chicago Press; Institute of Physics (IOP)
• Subjects: ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astrophysics; Carbon monoxide; cosmology: theory; Emitters; Galaxies; galaxies: high-redshift; galaxies: statistics; Large scale structure of the universe; Mapping; Photometry; Polls & surveys; radio lines: galaxies; Red shift; Spectroscopy; Stars & galaxies; Tracers
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab0027

Line-intensity mapping is an emerging field of observational work, with strong potential to fit into a larger effort to probe large-scale structure and small-scale astrophysical phenomena using multiple complementary tracers. Taking full advantage of such complementarity means, in part, undertaking line-intensity surveys with galaxy surveys in mind. We consider the potential for detection of a cross-correlation signal between COMAP and blind surveys based on photometric redshifts (as in COSMOS) or based on spectroscopic data (as with the HETDEX survey of Ly emitters). We find that obtaining accuracy in redshifts and 10−4 sources per Mpc3 with spectroscopic redshift determination should enable a CO-galaxy cross spectrum detection significance at least twice that of the CO auto spectrum. Either a future targeted spectroscopic survey or a blind survey like HETDEX may be able to meet both of these requirements.