The spherical Fourier-Bessel (SFB) basis, in separating the angular and radial modes of the power spectrum, permits a targeted identification and mitigation of systematics in clustering surveys while retaining more cosmological signal than traditional bases. We demonstrate this principle on the eBOSS DR16 luminous red galaxy (LRG) and quasistellar object (QSO) samples, identifying modes which may be contaminated by systematics. Our initial inference on the LRG sample yields an $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ value consistent with zero, while the QSO value is in slight tension with zero. Using the SFB basis, we vary the selection of angular and radial modes to search for inconsistencies in the inferred value of $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$, an indicator of underlying systematics. In the QSO sample, we find evidence ($p\lesssim 0.002$ compared to the same cuts on EZMocks) of a systematic afflicting large physical scales, which is consistent with residual stellar contamination; we also find evidence for an unknown systematic in the QSO sample ($p=0.01$), with consistent but less significant evidence in the LRGs ($p\approx 0.06$), at the approximate angular plate and imaging scale of eBOSS.

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• Cosmological parameters
• Cosmology
• Large scale structure of the Universe