Jun 8 – 12, 2026
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
America/Toronto timezone

Sensitivity Analysis of the SimBIG-II Forward Model

Jun 8, 2026, 11:40 AM
20m
PI/4-405 - Bob Room (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics)

PI/4-405 - Bob Room

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

60
Contributed Talk

Speaker

Madeline Casas (The University of Texas at Austin)

Description

Simulation-based inference (SBI) has recently emerged as a promising avenue for inferring cosmological parameters from the 3D distribution of galaxies from large spectroscopic surveys (DESI, PFS, DESI-II). The first iteration of the SimBIG project demonstrated a proof-of-concept for this approach, using a forward-modeling pipeline built from high-fidelity QUIJOTE N-body simulations applied to a subset of the BOSS survey. The initial SimBIG results were promising, producing $H_0$ and $S_8$ constraints up to 1.5 and 1.9x tighter than traditional power spectra analyses. However, scaling this approach to larger survey volumes presents a major challenge, as the computational costs of high-resolution N-body simulations quickly becomes prohibitive. In this work, we present a scalable SimBIG-II approach. We leverage relatively inexpensive simulations from augmented Lagrangian perturbation theory (ALPT) with a highly flexible local and non-local bias prescription. We combine these simulations with a probabilistic emulator so that they retain the predictive power of N-body + HOD simulations. I will present the preliminary results of our sensitivity analysis of the SimBIG-II pipeline. Then, I will discuss the implications for our initial application to the full BOSS survey volume, as well as the subsequent SimBIG-II analyses of DESI galaxy samples.

Author

Madeline Casas (The University of Texas at Austin)

Co-author

Changhoon Hahn (The University of Texas at Austin)

Presentation materials

External references