Coupled cosmologies can predict values for the cosmological parameters at low redshifts which may differ substantially from the parameters values within non-interacting cosmologies. Therefore, low redshift probes, as the growth of structure and the dark matter distribution via galaxy and weak lensing surveys constitute a unique tool to constrain interacting dark sector models. We focus here on weak lensing forecasts from future Euclid and LSST-like surveys combined with the ongoing Planck cosmic microwave background experiment. We find that these future data could constrain the dimensionless coupling to be smaller than a few $\times 10^{-2}$. The coupling parameter $ξ$ is strongly degenerate with the cold dark matter energy density $Ω_{c}h^2$ and the Hubble constant $H_0$.These degeneracies may cause important biases in the cosmological parameter values if in the universe there exists an interaction among the dark matter and dark energy sectors.
The nature of the dark matter remains a mystery. The possibility of an unstable dark matter particle decaying to invisible daughter particles has been explored many times in the past few decades. Meanwhile, weak gravitational lensing shear has gained a lot of attention as a probe of dark energy. Weak lensing is a useful tool for constraining the stability of the dark matter. In the coming decade a number of large, galaxy imaging surveys will be undertaken and will measure the statistics of cosmological weak lensing with unprecedented precision. Weak lensing statistics are sensitive to unstable…
We investigate early dark energy models in the context of the lensing anomaly by considering two different Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) datasets: a complete Planck, and a second one primarily based on SPTPol and Planck temperature ($l<1000$). We contrast the effects of allowing the phenomenological lensing amplitude ($\Al$) to be different from unity. We find that the fraction of early dark energy, while not immediately affected by the lensing anomaly, can induce mild deviations, through correlations with the parameters $H_0$ and $S_8$. {We extend the analysis also by marginalizing the Ne…
We review progress in understanding dark matter by astrophysics, and particularly via the effect of gravitational lensing. Evidence from many different directions now all imply that five sixths of the material content of the universe is in this mysterious form, separate from and beyond the ordinary "baryonic" particles in the standard model of particle physics. Dark matter appears not to interact via the electromagnetic force, and therefore neither emits nor reflects light. However, it definitely does interact via gravity, and has played the most important role in shaping the Universe on large…
The Bipolar Spherical Harmonics (BipoSH) form a natural basis to study the CMB two point correlation function in a non-statistically isotropic (non-SI) universe. The coefficients of expansion in this basis are a generalisation of the well known CMB angular power spectrum and contain complete information of the statistical properties of a non-SI but Gaussian random CMB sky. We use these coefficients to describe the weak lensing of CMB photons in a non-SI universe. Finally we show that the results reduce to the standard weak lensing results in the isotropic limit.
It has been recently suggested~\cite{Berezhiani:2015yta} that emerging tension between cosmological parameter values derived in high-redshift (CMB anisotropy) and low-redshift (cluster counts, Hubble constant) measurements can be reconciled in a model which contains subdominant fraction of dark matter decaying after recombination. We check the model against the CMB Planck data. We find that lensing of the CMB anisotropies by the large-scale structure gives strong extra constraints on this model, limiting the fraction as $F<8\%$ at 2\,$σ$ confidence level. However, investigating the combined da…
We measure the cross-correlation between Fermi-LAT gamma-ray photons and over 1000 deg$^2$ of weak lensing data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS), the Red Cluster Sequence Lensing Survey (RCSLenS), and the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS). We present the first measurement of tomographic weak lensing cross-correlations and the first application of spectral binning to cross-correlations between gamma rays and weak lensing. The measurements are performed using an angular power spectrum estimator while the covariance is estimated using an analytical prescription. We verify…
Weak gravitational lensing is rapidly becoming one of the principal probes of dark matter and dark energy in the universe. In this brief review we outline how weak lensing helps determine the structure of dark matter halos, measure the expansion rate of the universe, and distinguish between modified gravity and dark energy explanations for the acceleration of the universe. We also discuss requirements on the control of systematic errors so that the systematics do not appreciably degrade the power of weak lensing as a cosmological probe.
We introduce the Generalised Lensing and Shear Spectra GLaSS code which is available for download from https://github.com/astro-informatics/GLaSS It is a fast and flexible public code, written in Python, that computes generalized spherical cosmic shear spectra. The commonly used tomographic and spherical Bessel lensing spectra come as built-in run-mode options. GLaSS is integrated into the Cosmosis modular cosmological pipeline package. We outline several computational choices that accelerate the computation of cosmic shear power spectra. Using GLaSS, we test whether the assumption that using …
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation lensing is a promising tool to study the physics of early universe. In this work we probe the imprints of deviations from isotropy and scale invariance of primordial curvature perturbation power spectrum on CMB lensing potential and convergence. Specifically, we consider a scale-dependent hemispherical asymmetry in primordial power spectrum. We show that the CMB lensing potential and convergence and also the cross-correlation of the CMB lensing and late time galaxy convergence can probe the amplitude and the scale dependence of the dipole modulat…
We examine the influence of percent-level dark energy corrections to the nonlinear matter power spectrum on constraints of the dark energy equation of state from future weak lensing probes. We explicitly show that a poor approximation (off by > 10%) to the nonlinear corrections causes a > 1 sigma bias on the determination of the dark energy equation of state. Future weak lensing surveys must therefore incorporate dark energy modifications to the nonlinear matter power spectrum accurate to the percent-level, to avoid introducing significant bias in their measurements. For the WMAP5 cosmology, t…
Massive neutrinos and interacting dark matter look alike through the lens of lensing
Lehman College, City University of New York（纽约市立大学莱曼学院）；Graduate Center, City University of New York（纽约市立大学研究生院）；American Museum of Natural History（美国自然历史博物馆）；University of Hawaii at Manoa（夏威夷大学马诺阿分校）
The primordial black hole (PBH) comprising full dark matter (DM) abundance is currently allowed if its mass lies between $10^{-16}M_{\odot} \lesssim M \lesssim 10^{-11} M_{\odot}$. This lightest mass range is hard to be probed by ongoing gravitational lensing observations. In this paper, we advocate that an old idea of the lensing parallax of Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), observed simultaneously by spatially separated detectors, can probe the unconstrained mass range; and that of nearby stars can probe a heavier mass range. In addition to various good properties of GRBs, astrophysical separations a…
Dark energy can be studied by its influence on the expansion of the Universe as well as on the growth history of the large-scale structure. In this paper, we follow the growth of the cosmic density field in early dark energy cosmologies by combining observations of the primary CMB temperature and polarisation power spectra at high redshift, of the CMB lensing deflection field at intermediate redshift and of weak cosmic shear at low redshifts for constraining the allowed amount of early dark energy. We present these forecasts using the Fisher-matrix formalism and consider the combination of Pla…
We estimate uncertainties of cosmological parameters for phenomenological interacting dark energy models using weak lensing convergence power spectrum and bispectrum. We focus on the bispectrum tomography and examine how well the weak lensing bispectrum with tomography can constrain the interactions between dark sectors, as well as other cosmological parameters. Employing the Fisher matrix analysis, we forecast parameter uncertainties derived from weak lensing bispectra with a two-bin tomography and place upper bounds on strength of the interactions between the dark sectors. The cosmic shear w…
Dark matter is an important ingredient of galaxies, as was recognised early on by Ken Freeman himself! Evidence for dark matter halos is still indirect, based on analysing motions of tracers such as gas and stars. In a sense the visible galaxy is the mask through which we can study the dark matter. Light rays are also sensitive to gravitational fields, and dark haloes cause observable gravitational lensing effects. There are three regimes: microlensing (which probes the clumpiness of dark matter haloes), strong lensing (sensitive to the inner mass distribution) and weak lensing (which can prob…
We study the time variation of the apparent flux of cosmological point sources due to the transient weak lensing by dark matter microhaloes. Assuming a transverse motion of microhaloes with respect to our line of sight, we derive the correspondence between the temporal power spectrum of the weak lensing magnification, and the spatial power spectrum of density on small scales. Considering different approximations for the small scale structure of dark matter, we predict the apparent magnitude of cosmological point sources to vary by as much as $10^{-4}-10^{-3}$, due to this effect, within a peri…
The next generation of weak lensing probes can place strong constraints on cosmological parameters by measuring the mass distribution and geometry of the low redshift universe. We show that a future all-sky tomographic cosmic shear survey with design properties similar to Euclid can provide the statistical accuracy required to distinguish between different dark energy models. Using a fiducial cosmological model which includes cold dark matter, baryons, massive neutrinos (hot dark matter), a running primordial spectral index and possible spatial curvature as well as dark energy perturbations, w…
In this non-specialist review I look at how weak lensing can provide information on the dark sector of the Universe. The review concentrates on what can be learned about Dark Matter, Dark Energy and Dark Gravity, and why. On Dark Matter, results on the confrontation of theoretical profiles with observation are reviewed, and measurements of neutrino masses discussed. On Dark Energy, the interest is whether this could be Einstein's cosmological constant, and prospects for high-precision studies of the equation of state are considered. On Dark Gravity, we consider the exciting prospects for futur…
We introduce here a cross-correlation term between CMB lensing and galaxy intrinsic alignment, noted hereby as $ϕI$. This effect acts as a contaminant to the cross-correlation between CMB lensing and galaxy lensing. The latter cross-correlation has recently been detected for the first time, and measurements will greatly improve as the area of overlap between galaxy and CMB surveys increases and measurements of the CMB polarization become more significant. This will constitute a powerful probe for studying the structure and evolution of the universe. The magnitude of the $ϕI$ term is found to b…
Intermediate redshifts between galaxy surveys and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) remain unexplored territory. Line intensity mapping (LIM) offers a way to probe the $z\gtrsim 1$ Universe, including the epoch of reionization and the dark ages. Via exact nulling of the lensing kernel, we show that LIM lensing, in combination with galaxy (resp., CMB) lensing, can uniquely probe the $z\gtrsim 1$ (resp., pre-reionization) Universe. However, LIM foregrounds are a key hurdle to this futuristic technique. While continuum foregrounds can be controlled by discarding modes perpendicular to the lin…
We show that gravitational lensing can provide a direct method to probe the nature of dark energy at astrophysical scales. For lensing system as an isolated astrophysical object, we derive the dark energy contribution to gravitational potential as a repulsive power-law term, containing a generic equation of state parameter $w$. We find that it generates $w$-dependent and position-dependent modification to the conventional light orbital equation of $w=-1$. With post-Newtonian approximation, we compute its direct effect for an isolated lensing system at astrophysical scales and find that the dar…
We employ the Planck 2013 CMB temperature anisotropy and lensing data, and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data to constrain a phenomenological $w$CDM model, where dark matter and dark energy interact. We assume time-dependent equation of state parameter for dark energy, and treat dark matter and dark energy as fluids whose energy-exchange rate is proportional to the dark-matter density. The CMB data alone leave a strong degeneracy between the interaction rate and the physical CDM density parameter today, $ω_c$, allowing a large interaction rate $|Γ| \sim H_0$. However, as has been known for…
I present an estimator for the angular cross-correlation of two tracers of the cosmological large-scale structure that utilizes redshift information to isolate separate physical contributions. The estimator is derived by solving the Limber equation for a re-weighting of the foreground tracer that nulls either clustering or lensing contributions to the cross-correlation function. Applied to future photometric surveys, the estimator can enhance the measurement of gravitational lensing magnification effects to provide a competitive independent constraint on the dark energy equation of state.
Utilizing gravitational-wave (GW) lensing opens a new way to understand the small-scale structure of the universe. We show that, in spite of its coarse angular resolution and short duration of observation, LIGO can detect the GW lensing induced by compact structures, in particular by compact dark matter (DM) or primordial black holes of $10 - 10^5 \, M_\odot$, which remain interesting DM candidates. The lensing is detected through GW frequency chirping, creating the natural and rapid change of lensing patterns: \emph{frequency-dependent amplification and modulation} of GW waveforms. As a highe…
Ordinary baryonic particles (such as protons and neutrons) account for only one-sixth of the total matter in the Universe. The remainder is a mysterious "dark matter" component, which does not interact via the electromagnetic force and thus neither emits nor reflects light. However, evidence is mounting for its gravitational influence. The past few years have seen particular progress in observations of weak gravitational lensing, the slight deflection of light from distant galaxies due to the curvature of space around foreground mass. Recent surveys from the Hubble Space Telescope have provide…
Signatures of lensing of the cosmic microwave background radiation by gravitational potentials along the line of sight carry with them information on the matter distribution, neutrino masses, and dark energy properties. We examine the constraints that Planck, PolarBear, and CMBpol future data, including from the B-mode polarization or the lensing potential, will be able to place on these quantities. We simultaneously fit for neutrino mass and dark energy equation of state including time variation and early dark energy density, and compare the use of polarization power spectra with an optimal q…
Wide area Large-Scale Structure (LSS) surveys are planning to map a substantial fraction of the visible universe to quantify dark energy through Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO). At increasing redshift, for example that probed by proposed 21-cm intensity mapping surveys, gravitational lensing potentially limits the fidelity (Hui et al., 2007) because it distorts the apparent matter distribution. In this paper we show that these distortions can be reconstructed, and actually used to map the distribution of intervening dark matter. The lensing information for sources at z=1-3 allows accurate r…
In the cold dark matter scenario, dark matter halos are assembled hierarchically from smaller subunits. Some of these subunits are disrupted during the merging process, whereas others survive temporarily in the form of subhalos. A long-standing problem with this picture is that the number of subhalos predicted by simulations exceeds the number of luminous dwarf galaxies seen in the the vicinity of large galaxies like the Milky Way. Many of the subhalos must therefore have remained dark or very faint. If cold dark matter subhalos are as common as predicted, gravitational lensing may in principl…
The possibility that part of the dark matter is made of massive compact halo objects (MACHOs) remains poorly constrained over a wide range of masses, and especially in the $20-100\, M_\odot$ window. We show that strong gravitational lensing of extragalactic fast radio bursts (FRBs) by MACHOs of masses larger than $\sim20\,M_\odot$ would result in repeated FRBs with an observable time delay. Strong lensing of an FRB by a lens of mass $M_L$ induces two images, separated by a typical time delay $\sim$ few $\times(M_L/30\, M_\odot)$ milliseconds. Considering the expected FRB detection rate by upco…
This paper reviews statistical methods recently developed to reconstruct and analyze dark matter mass maps from weak lensing observations. The field of weak lensing is motivated by the observations made in the last decades showing that the visible matter represents only about 4-5% of the Universe, the rest being dark. The Universe is now thought to be mostly composed by an invisible, pressureless matter -potentially relic from higher energy theories- called "dark matter" (20-21%) and by an even more mysterious term, described in Einstein equations as a vacuum energy density, called "dark energ…
We reexamine interactions between the dark sectors of cosmology, with a focus on robust constraints that can be obtained using only mildly nonlinear scales. While it is well known that couplings between dark matter and dark energy can be constrained to the percent level when including the full range of scales probed by future optical surveys, calibrating matter power spectrum emulators to all possible choices of potentials and couplings requires many computationally expensive n-body simulations. Here we show that lensing and clustering of galaxies in combination with the Cosmic Microwave Backg…
Weak gravitational lensing leaves a characteristic imprint on the cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization angular power spectra. Here we investigate the possible constraints on the integrated lensing potential from future CMB angular spectra measurements expected from Planck and EPIC. We find that Planck and EPIC will constrain the amplitude of the integrated projected potential responsible for lensing at 6% and 1% level, respectively with very little sensitivity to the shape of the lensing potential. We discuss the implications of such a measurement in constraining dark energ…
We investigate whether the shapes of galaxy clusters inferred from weak gravitational lensing can be used as a test of the nature of dark matter. We analyse mock weak lensing data, with gravitational lenses extracted from cosmological simulations run with two different dark matter models (CDM and SIDM). We fit elliptical NFW profiles to the shear fields of the simulated clusters. Despite large differences in the distribution of 3D shapes between CDM and SIDM, we find that the distributions of weak-lensing-inferred cluster shapes are almost indistinguishable. We trace this information loss to t…
The strong lensing events that are observed in compact clusters of galaxies can, both statistically and individually, return important clues about the structural properties of the most massive structures in the Universe. Substantial work is ongoing in order to understand the degree of similarity between the lensing cluster population and the population of clusters as a whole, with members of the former being likely more massive, compact, and substructured than members of the latter. In this work we exploit synthetic clusters extracted from the {\sc MareNostrum Universe} cosmological simulation…
We perform multi-plane ray-tracing using the GLAMER gravitational lensing code within high-resolution light-cones extracted from the CoDECS simulations: a suite of cosmological runs featuring a coupling between Dark Energy and Cold Dark Matter. We show that the presence of the coupling is evident not only in the redshift evolution of the normalisation of the convergence power spectrum, but also in differences in non-linear structure formation with respect to ΛCDM. Using a tomographic approach under the assumption of a ΛCDM cosmology, we demonstrate that weak lensing measurements would result i…
We present non-linear weak lensing predictions for coupled dark energy models using the CoDECS simulations. We calculate the shear correlation function and error covariance expected for these models, for forthcoming ground-based (such as DES) and space-based (Euclid) weak lensing surveys. We obtain predictions for the discriminatory power of a ground-based survey similar to DES and a space-based survey such as Euclid in distinguishing between $Λ$CDM and coupled dark energy models; we show that using the non-linear lensing signal we could discriminate between $Λ$CDM and exponential constant cou…
We present evidence of the gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background by $10^{13}$ solar mass dark matter halos. Lensing convergence maps from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter (ACTPol) are stacked at the positions of around 12,000 optically-selected CMASS galaxies from the SDSS-III/BOSS survey. The mean lensing signal is consistent with simulated dark matter halo profiles, and is favored over a null signal at 3.2 sigma significance. This result demonstrates the potential of microwave background lensing to probe the dark matter distribution in galaxy group and galaxy cl…
We show that simple models of scalar-field dark energy leave a generic enhancement in the weak-lensing power spectrum when compared to the LCDM prediction. In particular, we calculate the linear-scale enhancement in the convergence (or cosmic-shear) power spectrum for two best-fit models of scalar-field dark energy, namely, the Ratra-Peebles and SUGRA-type quintessence. Our calculations are based on linear perturbation theory, using gauge-invariant variables with carefully defined adiabatic initial conditions. We find that geometric effects enhance the lensing power spectrum on a broad range o…
Clues to the identity of dark matter have remained surprisingly elusive, given the scope of experimental programs aimed at its identification. While terrestrial experiments may be able to nail down a model, an alternative, and equally promising, method is to identify dark matter based on astrophysical or cosmological signatures. A particularly sensitive approach is based on the unique signature of dark matter substructure on galaxy-galaxy strong lensing images. Machine learning applications have been explored in detail for extracting just this signal. With limited availability of high quality …
An essential aspect of cosmic voids is that these underdense regions provide complementary information about the properties of our Universe. Unlike dense regions, voids are avoided by matter and are less contaminated by baryonic processes. The first step to understanding the properties of cosmic voids is to correctly infer their mass profiles. In the literature, various techniques have been implemented. In this paper, we review them and implement a new technique that is based on Doppler lensing. We use a relativistic $N$-body code, \textsc{Gevolution}, to generate cosmological mass perturbatio…
Strong gravitational lensing (SGL) has provided an important tool for probing galaxies and cosmology. In this paper, we use the SGL data to constrain the holographic dark energy model, as well as models that have the same parameter number, such as the $w$CDM and Ricci dark energy models. We find that only using SGL is difficult to effectively constrain the model parameters. However, when the SGL data are combined with CBS (CMB+BAO+SN) data, the reasonable estimations can be given and the constraint precision is improved to a certain extent, relative to the case of CBS only. Therefore, SGL is a…
We study the constraints which the next generation of radio telescopes could place on the mass and number of neutrino species by studying the gravitational lensing of high redshift 21 cm emission in combination with wide-angle surveys of galaxy lensing. We use simple characterizations of reionization history and of proposed telescope designs to forecast the constraints and detectability threshold for neutrinos. It is found that the degeneracy between neutrino parameters and dark energy parameters is significantly reduced by incorporating 21 cm lensing. The combination of galaxy and 21 cm lensi…
Current theories of structure formation predict specific density profiles of galaxy dark matter haloes, and with weak gravitational lensing we can probe these profiles on several scales. On small scales, higher-order shape distortions known as flexion add significant detail to the weak lensing measurements. We present here the first detection of a galaxy-galaxy flexion signal in space-based data, obtained using a new Shapelets pipeline introduced here. We combine this higher-order lensing signal with shear to constrain the average density profile of the galaxy lenses in the Hubble Space Telesc…
We explore the possibility of obtaining better constraints from future astronomical data by means of the Fisher information matrix formalism. In particular, we consider how cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing information can improve our parameter error estimation. We consider a massive neutrino scenario and a time-evolving dark energy equation of state in the $Λ$CDM framework. We use Planck satellite experimental specifications together with the future galaxy survey Euclid in our forecast. We found improvements in almost all studied parameters considering Planck alone when CMB lensing in…
We compile a sample of 38 galaxy clusters which have both X-ray and strong lensing observations, and study for each cluster the projected offset between the dominant component of baryonic matter center (measured by X-rays) and the gravitational center (measured by strong lensing). Among the total sample, 45% clusters have offsets >10". The >10" separations are significant, considering the arcsecond precision in the measurement of the lensing/X-ray centers. This suggests that it might be a common phenomenon in unrelaxed galaxy clusters that gravitational field is separated spatially from the do…
We compute the angular power spectrum of the $B$-modes of the weak-lensing shear in a spatially anisotropic spacetime. We find that there must also exist off-diagonal correlations between the $E$-modes, $B$-modes, and convergence that allow one to reconstruct the eigendirections of expansion. Focusing on future surveys such as Euclid and SKA, we show that observations can constrain the geometrical shear in units of the Hubble rate at the percent level, or even better, offering a new and powerful method to probe our cosmological model.
Constraints on Dark Matter Self-Interactions from weak lensing of galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey around clusters from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Survey
We propose a new approach for measuring the mass profile and shape of groups and clusters of galaxies, which uses lensing magnification of distant background galaxies. The main advantage of lensing magnification is that, unlike lensing shear, it relies on accurate photometric redshifts only and not galaxy shapes, thus enabling the study of the dark matter distribution with unresolved source galaxies. We present a feasibility study, using a real population of z > 2.5 Lyman Break Galaxies as source galaxies, and where, similar to galaxy-galaxy lensing, foreground lenses are stacked in order to i…
We constrain interacting dark matter and dark energy (IDMDE) models using a 450-degree-square cosmic shear data from the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS) and the angular power spectra from Planck's latest cosmic microwave background measurements. We revisit the discordance problem in the standard Lambda cold dark matter ($Λ$CDM) model between weak lensing and Planck datasets and extend the discussion by introducing interacting dark sectors. The IDMDE models are found to be able to alleviate the discordance between KiDS and Planck as previously inferred from the $Λ$CDM model, and moderately favored by…
We combine constraints from linear and nonlinear scales, for the first time, to study the interaction between dark matter and dark energy. We devise a novel N-body simulation pipeline for cosmological models beyond $Λ$CDM. This pipeline is fully self-consistent and opens a new window to study the nonlinear structure formation in general phenomenological interacting dark energy models. By comparing our simulation results with the SDSS galaxy-galaxy weak lensing measurements, we are able to constrain the strength of interaction between dark energy and dark matter. Compared with the previous stud…
