"Cosmological constraints from the SDSS luminous red galaxies," by Max Tegmark and 66 others, Physical Review D, 74(12): no. 123507, December 2006.

[Authors' affiliations: 36 institutions worldwide]

Abstract: "We measure the large-scale real-space power spectrum P(k) using luminous red galaxies (LRGs) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and use this measurement to sharpen constraints on cosmological parameters from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). We employ a matrix-based power spectrum estimation method using Pseudo-Karhunen-Loeve eigenmodes, producing uncorrelated minimum-variance measurements in 20 k-bands of both the clustering power and its anisotropy due to redshift-space distortions, with narrow and well-behaved window functions in the range 0.01h/Mpc < k < 0.2h/Mpc. Results from the LRG and main galaxy samples are consistent, with the former providing higher signal-to-noise. Our results are robust to omitting angular and radial density fluctuations and are consistent between different parts of the sky. They provide a striking confirmation of the predicted large-scale Lambda CDM power spectrum. Combining only SDSS LRG and WMAP data places robust constraints on many cosmological parameters that complement prior analyses of multiple data sets. The LRGs provide independent cross-checks on Omega(m) and the baryon fraction in good agreement with WMAP. Within the context of flat Lambda CDM models, our LRG measurements complement WMAP by sharpening the constraints on the matter density, the neutrino density and the tensor amplitude by about a factor of 2, giving Omega(m)=0.24 +/- 0.02 (1 sigma), (95%) and r < 0.3 (95%). Baryon oscillations are clearly detected and provide a robust measurement of the comoving distance to the median survey redshift z=0.35 independent of curvature and dark energy properties. Within the Lambda CDM framework, our power spectrum measurement improves the evidence for spatial flatness, sharpening the curvature constraint Omega(tot)=1.05 +/- 0.05
from WMAP alone to Omega(tot)=1.003 +/- 0.010. Assuming Omega(tot)=1, the equation of state parameter is constrained to w=-0.94 +/- 0.09, indicating the potential for more ambitious future LRG measurements to provide precision tests of the nature of dark energy. All these constraints are essentially independent of scales k > 0.1h/Mpc and associated nonlinear complications, yet agree well with more aggressive published analyses where nonlinear modeling is crucial."

This 2006 report from Physical Review D was cited 39 times in current journal articles indexed by Thomson Reuters during July-August 2008. Only two other non-review physics papers published in the last two years (a pair of reports on the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, both recently featured here as "hot") attracted higher numbers of citations during that two-month period. Prior to the most recent bimonthly count, citations to the paper have accrued as follows:

May-June 2008: 20 citations
March-April 2008: 29
January-February 2008: 28
November-December 2007: 25
September-October 2007: 21
July-August 2007: 17
May-June 2007: 7
March-April 2007: 7
January-February 2007: 1

Total citations to date: 194

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