scholarly journals Cosmological consequences of intrinsic alignments supersample covariance

2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (4) ◽  
pp. 6094-6104
Author(s):  
Saeed Ansarifard ◽  
S M S Movahed

ABSTRACT We examine cosmological constraints from high-precision weak-lensing surveys including supersample covariance (SSC) due to the finite survey volume. Specifically, we focus on the contribution of beat coupling in the intrinsic alignments as a part of full cosmic shear signal under flat-sky approximation. The SSC-effect grows by going to lower redshift bin and indicates considerable footprint on the intermediate and high multipoles for cumulative signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The SNR is reduced by $\approx 10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ as a consequence of including the intrinsic alignment SSC, for the full cosmic shear signal, depending on the amplitude of intrinsic alignments, the ellipticity dispersion, and the survey redshift ranges, while the contribution of photometric redshift error can be ignored in the cumulative SNR. Using the Fisher-matrix formalism, we find that the impact of large modes beyond the volume of the surveys on the small modes alters the intrinsic alignments. However, corresponding impact on the cosmological parameters’ estimation is marginal compared to that of for gravitational weak lensing, particularly, when all available redshift bins are considered. Our results also demonstrate that including SSC-effect on the intrinsic alignments in the analytical covariance matrix of full cosmic shear leads to increase marginally the confidence interval for σ8 by $\approx 10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ for a sample with almost high intrinsic alignment amplitude.

2020 ◽  
Vol 643 ◽  
pp. A70 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Tutusaus ◽  
M. Martinelli ◽  
V. F. Cardone ◽  
S. Camera ◽  
S. Yahia-Cherif ◽  
...  

Context. The data from the Euclid mission will enable the measurement of the angular positions and weak lensing shapes of over a billion galaxies, with their photometric redshifts obtained together with ground-based observations. This large dataset, with well-controlled systematic effects, will allow for cosmological analyses using the angular clustering of galaxies (GCph) and cosmic shear (WL). For Euclid, these two cosmological probes will not be independent because they will probe the same volume of the Universe. The cross-correlation (XC) between these probes can tighten constraints and is therefore important to quantify their impact for Euclid. Aims. In this study, we therefore extend the recently published Euclid forecasts by carefully quantifying the impact of XC not only on the final parameter constraints for different cosmological models, but also on the nuisance parameters. In particular, we aim to decipher the amount of additional information that XC can provide for parameters encoding systematic effects, such as galaxy bias, intrinsic alignments (IAs), and knowledge of the redshift distributions. Methods. We follow the Fisher matrix formalism and make use of previously validated codes. We also investigate a different galaxy bias model, which was obtained from the Flagship simulation, and additional photometric-redshift uncertainties; we also elucidate the impact of including the XC terms on constraining these latter. Results. Starting with a baseline model, we show that the XC terms reduce the uncertainties on galaxy bias by ∼17% and the uncertainties on IA by a factor of about four. The XC terms also help in constraining the γ parameter for minimal modified gravity models. Concerning galaxy bias, we observe that the role of the XC terms on the final parameter constraints is qualitatively the same irrespective of the specific galaxy-bias model used. For IA, we show that the XC terms can help in distinguishing between different models, and that if IA terms are neglected then this can lead to significant biases on the cosmological parameters. Finally, we show that the XC terms can lead to a better determination of the mean of the photometric galaxy distributions. Conclusions. We find that the XC between GCph and WL within the Euclid survey is necessary to extract the full information content from the data in future analyses. These terms help in better constraining the cosmological model, and also lead to a better understanding of the systematic effects that contaminate these probes. Furthermore, we find that XC significantly helps in constraining the mean of the photometric-redshift distributions, but, at the same time, it requires more precise knowledge of this mean with respect to single probes in order not to degrade the final “figure of merit”.


2020 ◽  
Vol 636 ◽  
pp. A95 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. Deshpande ◽  
T. D. Kitching ◽  
V. F. Cardone ◽  
P. L. Taylor ◽  
S. Casas ◽  
...  

Context. Stage IV weak lensing experiments will offer more than an order of magnitude leap in precision. We must therefore ensure that our analyses remain accurate in this new era. Accordingly, previously ignored systematic effects must be addressed. Aims. In this work, we evaluate the impact of the reduced shear approximation and magnification bias on information obtained from the angular power spectrum. To first-order, the statistics of reduced shear, a combination of shear and convergence, are taken to be equal to those of shear. However, this approximation can induce a bias in the cosmological parameters that can no longer be neglected. A separate bias arises from the statistics of shear being altered by the preferential selection of galaxies and the dilution of their surface densities in high-magnification regions. Methods. The corrections for these systematic effects take similar forms, allowing them to be treated together. We calculated the impact of neglecting these effects on the cosmological parameters that would be determined from Euclid, using cosmic shear tomography. To do so, we employed the Fisher matrix formalism, and included the impact of the super-sample covariance. We also demonstrate how the reduced shear correction can be calculated using a lognormal field forward modelling approach. Results. These effects cause significant biases in Ωm, σ8, ns, ΩDE, w0, and wa of −0.53σ, 0.43σ, −0.34σ, 1.36σ, −0.68σ, and 1.21σ, respectively. We then show that these lensing biases interact with another systematic effect: the intrinsic alignment of galaxies. Accordingly, we have developed the formalism for an intrinsic alignment-enhanced lensing bias correction. Applying this to Euclid, we find that the additional terms introduced by this correction are sub-dominant.


2020 ◽  
Vol 495 (4) ◽  
pp. 3900-3919 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Yao ◽  
Eske M Pedersen ◽  
Mustapha Ishak ◽  
Pengjie Zhang ◽  
Anish Agashe ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT To reach the full potential for the next generation of weak lensing surveys, it is necessary to mitigate the contamination of intrinsic alignments (IAs) of galaxies in the observed cosmic shear signal. The self-calibration (SC) of IAs provides an independent method to measure the IA signal from the survey data and the photometric redshift information. It operates differently from the marginalization method based on the IA modelling. In this work, we present the first application of SC to the KiDS450 data and the KV450 data, to split directly the intrinsic shape–galaxy density (Ig) correlation signal and the gravitational shear–galaxy density (Gg) correlation signal, using the information from photometric redshift (photo-z). We achieved a clear separation of the two signals and performed several validation tests. Our measured signals are found to be in general agreement with the KiDS450 cosmic shear best-fitting cosmology, for both lensing and IA measurements. For KV450, we use partial (high-z) data, and our lensing measurements are also in good agreement with KV450 cosmic shear best fit, while our IA signal suggests a larger IA amplitude for the high-z sample. We discussed the impact of photo-z quality on IA detection and several other potential systematic biases. Finally, we discuss the potential application of the information extracted for both the lensing signal and the IA signal in future surveys.


2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (2) ◽  
pp. 2606-2626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao-Yi Wu ◽  
David H Weinberg ◽  
Andrés N Salcedo ◽  
Benjamin D Wibking ◽  
Ying Zu

ABSTRACT Next-generation optical imaging surveys will revolutionize the observations of weak gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters and provide stringent constraints on growth of structure and cosmic acceleration. In these experiments, accurate modelling of covariance matrices of cluster weak lensing plays the key role in obtaining robust measurements of the mean mass of clusters and cosmological parameters. We use a combination of analytical calculations and high-resolution N-body simulations to derive accurate covariance matrices that span from the virial regime to linear scales of the cluster-matter cross-correlation. We validate this calculation using a public ray-tracing lensing simulation and provide a software package for calculating covariance matrices for a wide range of cluster and source sample choices. We discuss the relative importance of shape noise and density fluctuations, the impact of radial bin size, and the impact of off-diagonal elements. For a weak lensing source density ns = 10 arcmin−2, shape noise typically dominates the variance on comoving scales $r_{\rm p}\lesssim 5\ h^{-1} \, \rm Mpc$. However, for ns = 60 arcmin−2, potentially achievable with future weak lensing experiments, density fluctuations typically dominate the variance at $r_{\rm p}\gtrsim 1\ h^{-1} \, \rm Mpc$ and remain comparable to shape noise on smaller scales.


2020 ◽  
Vol 635 ◽  
pp. A139 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
P. Paykari ◽  
T. Kitching ◽  
H. Hoekstra ◽  
R. Azzollini ◽  
...  

Aims. Our aim is to quantify the impact of systematic effects on the inference of cosmological parameters from cosmic shear. Methods. We present an “end-to-end” approach that introduces sources of bias in a modelled weak lensing survey on a galaxy-by-galaxy level. We propagated residual biases through a pipeline from galaxy properties at one end to cosmic shear power spectra and cosmological parameter estimates at the other end. We did this to quantify how imperfect knowledge of the pipeline changes the maximum likelihood values of dark energy parameters. Results. We quantify the impact of an imperfect correction for charge transfer inefficiency and modelling uncertainties of the point spread function for Euclid, and find that the biases introduced can be corrected to acceptable levels.


2010 ◽  
Vol 718 (2) ◽  
pp. 1252-1265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsushi J. Nishizawa ◽  
Masahiro Takada ◽  
Takashi Hamana ◽  
Hisanori Furusawa

2019 ◽  
Vol 488 (4) ◽  
pp. 5833-5851 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher T Davies ◽  
Marius Cautun ◽  
Baojiu Li

ABSTRACT We study the statistics of weak lensing convergence peaks, such as their abundance and two-point correlation function (2PCF), for a wide range of cosmological parameters Ωm and σ8 within the standard ΛCDM paradigm, focusing on intermediate-height peaks with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 1.5–3.5. We find that the cosmology dependence of the peak abundance can be described by a one-parameter fitting formula that is accurate to within $\sim 3{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$. The peak 2PCFs are shown to feature a self-similar behaviour: if the peak separation is rescaled by the mean interpeak distance, catalogues with different minimum peak SNR values have identical clustering, which suggests that the peak abundance and clustering are closely interconnected. A simple fitting model for the rescaled 2PCF is given, which together with the peak abundance model above can predict peak 2PCFs with an accuracy better than $\sim 5{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$. The abundance and 2PCFs for intermediate peaks have very different dependencies on Ωm and σ8, implying that their combination can be used to break the degeneracy between these two parameters.


2019 ◽  
Vol 488 (3) ◽  
pp. 3340-3357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Fong ◽  
Miyoung Choi ◽  
Victoria Catlett ◽  
Brandyn Lee ◽  
Austin Peel ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We study the impact of baryonic processes and massive neutrinos on weak lensing peak statistics that can be used to constrain cosmological parameters. We use the BAHAMAS suite of cosmological simulations, which self-consistently include baryonic processes and the effect of massive neutrino free-streaming on the evolution of structure formation. We construct synthetic weak lensing catalogues by ray tracing through light-cones, and use the aperture mass statistic for the analysis. The peaks detected on the maps reflect the cumulative signal from massive bound objects and general large-scale structure. We present the first study of weak lensing peaks in simulations that include both baryonic physics and massive neutrinos (summed neutrino mass Mν = 0.06, 0.12, 0.24, and 0.48 eV assuming normal hierarchy), so that the uncertainty due to physics beyond the gravity of dark matter can be factored into constraints on cosmological models. Assuming a fiducial model of baryonic physics, we also investigate the correlation between peaks and massive haloes, over a range of summed neutrino mass values. As higher neutrino mass tends to suppress the formation of massive structures in the Universe, the halo mass function and lensing peak counts are therefore modified as a function of Mν. Over most of the S/N range, the impact of fiducial baryonic physics is greater (less) than neutrinos for 0.06 and 0.12 (0.24 and 0.48) eV models. Both baryonic physics and massive neutrinos should be accounted for when deriving cosmological parameters from weak lensing observations.


2005 ◽  
Vol 216 ◽  
pp. 140-151
Author(s):  
Henk Hoekstra

Weak gravitational lensing of distant galaxies by foreground structures has proven to be a powerful tool to study the mass distribution in the universe. The advent of panoramic cameras on 4-m class telescopes has led to a first generation of surveys that already compete with large redshift surveys in terms of the accuracy with which cosmological parameters can be determined. The next surveys, which already have started taking data, will provide another major step forward. At the current level, systematics appear under control, and it is expected that weak lensing will develop into a key tool in the era of precision cosmology, provided we improve our knowledge of the non-linear matter power spectrum and the source redshift distribution. In this review we will briefly describe the principles of weak lensing and discuss the results of recent cosmic shear surveys. We show how the combination of weak lensing and cosmic microwave background measurements can provide tight constraints on cosmological parameters. We also demonstrate the usefulness of weak lensing in studies of the relation between the galaxy distribution and the underlying dark matter distribution (“galaxy biasing”), which can provide important constraints on models of galaxy formation. Finally, we discuss new and upcoming large cosmic shear surveys.


2017 ◽  
Vol 599 ◽  
pp. A79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin Peel ◽  
Chieh-An Lin ◽  
François Lanusse ◽  
Adrienne Leonard ◽  
Jean-Luc Starck ◽  
...  

Peak statistics in weak-lensing maps access the non-Gaussian information contained in the large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe. They are therefore a promising complementary probe to two-point and higher-order statistics to constrain our cosmological models. Next-generation galaxy surveys, with their advanced optics and large areas, will measure the cosmic weak-lensing signal with unprecedented precision. To prepare for these anticipated data sets, we assess the constraining power of peak counts in a simulated Euclid-like survey on the cosmological parameters Ωm, σ8, and w0de. In particular, we study how Camelus, a fast stochastic model for predicting peaks, can be applied to such large surveys. The algorithm avoids the need for time-costly N-body simulations, and its stochastic approach provides full PDF information of observables. Considering peaks with a signal-to-noise ratio ≥ 1, we measure the abundance histogram in a mock shear catalogue of approximately 5000 deg2 using a multiscale mass-map filtering technique. We constrain the parameters of the mock survey using Camelus combined with approximate Bayesian computation, a robust likelihood-free inference algorithm. Peak statistics yield a tight but significantly biased constraint in the σ8–Ωm plane, as measured by the width ΔΣ8 of the 1σ contour. We find Σ8 = σ8(Ωm/ 0.27)α = 0.77-0.05+0.06 with α = 0.75 for a flat ΛCDM model. The strong bias indicates the need to better understand and control the model systematics before applying it to a real survey of this size or larger. We perform a calibration of the model and compare results to those from the two-point correlation functions ξ± measured on the same field. We calibrate the ξ± result as well, since its contours are also biased, although not as severely as for peaks. In this case, we find for peaks Σ8 = 0.76-0.03+0.02 with α = 0.65, while for the combined ξ+ and ξ− statistics the values are Σ8 = 0.76-0.01+0.02 and α = 0.70. We conclude that the constraining power can therefore be comparable between the two weak-lensing observables in large-field surveys. Furthermore, the tilt in the σ8–Ωm degeneracy direction for peaks with respect to that of ξ± suggests that a combined analysis would yield tighter constraints than either measure alone. As expected, w0de cannot be well constrained without a tomographic analysis, but its degeneracy directions with the other two varied parameters are still clear for both peaks and ξ±.


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