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The number of gravitational arcs systems detected is increasing quickly and should even increase at a faster rate in the near future. This wealth of new gravitational arcs requires the development of a purely automated method to reconstruct the lens and source. A general reconstruction method based on the singular perturbative approach is proposed in this paper. This method generates a lens and source reconstruction directly from the gravitational arc image. The method is fully automated and works in two steps. The first step is to generate a guess solution based on the circular solution in the singular perturbative approach. The second step is to break the sign degeneracy and to refine the solution by using a general source model. The refinement of the solution is conducted step-by-step to avoid the source-lens degeneracy issue. One important asset of this automated method is that the lens solution is written in universal terms which allows the computation of statistics. Considering the large number of lenses which should be available in the near future this ability to compute unbiased statistics is an important asset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Merian survey is mapping ∼ 850 deg2 of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Strategic Survey Program (HSC-SSP) wide layer with two medium-band filters on the 4-m Victor M. Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, with the goal of carrying the first high signal-to-noise (S/N) measurements of weak gravitational lensing around dwarf galaxies. This paper presents the design of the Merian filter set: N708 (λ c  = 7080 Å, Δλ = 275 Å) and N540 (λ c  = 5400 Å, Δλ = 210 Å). The central wavelengths and filter widths of N708 and N540 were designed to detect the |$\rm H\alpha$| and |$\rm [OIII]$| emission lines of galaxies in the mass range |$8\lt \rm \log M_*/M_\odot \lt 9$| by comparing Merian fluxes with HSC broad-band fluxes. Our filter design takes into account the weak lensing S/N and photometric redshift performance. Our simulations predict that Merian will yield a sample of ∼ 85 000 star-forming dwarf galaxies with a photometric redshift accuracy of σΔ z /(1 + z) ∼ 0.01 and an outlier fraction of |$\eta =2.8~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| over the redshift range 0.058 < z < 0.10. With 60 full nights on the Blanco/Dark Energy Camera (DECam), the Merian survey is predicted to measure the average weak lensing profile around dwarf galaxies with lensing S/N ∼32 within r < 0.5 Mpc and lensing S/N ∼90 within r < 1.0 Mpc. This unprecedented sample of star-forming dwarf galaxies will allow for studies of the interplay between dark matter and stellar feedback and their roles in the evolution of dwarf galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the direct detection of the dark-matter particle remains very challenging, the nature of dark matter could be possibly constrained by comparing the observed abundance and properties of small-scale sub-galactic mass structures with predictions from the phenomenological dark-matter models, such as cold, warm, or hot dark matter. Galaxy-galaxy strong gravitational lensing provides a unique opportunity to search for tiny surface-brightness anomalies in the extended lensed images (i.e. Einstein rings or gravitational arcs), induced by possible small-scale mass structures in the foreground lens galaxy. In this paper, the first in a series, we introduce and test a methodology to measure the power spectrum of such surface-brightness anomalies from high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging. In particular, we focus on the observational aspects of this statistical approach, such as the most suitable observational strategy and sample selection, the choice of modelling techniques, and the noise correction. We test the feasibility of the power-spectrum measurement by applying it to a sample of galaxy-galaxy strong gravitational lens systems from the Sloan Lens ACS Survey, with the most extended, bright, high-signal-to-noise-ratio lensed images, observed in the rest-frame ultraviolet. In the companion paper, we present the methodology to relate the measured power spectrum to the statistical properties of the underlying small-scale mass structures in the lens galaxy and infer the first observational constraints on the sub-galactic matter power spectrum in a massive elliptical (lens) galaxy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong gravitational lensing can be used to find otherwise invisible dark matter subhaloes. In such an analysis, the lens galaxy mass model is a significant source of systematic uncertainty. In this paper, we analyse the effect of angular complexity in the lens model. We use multipole perturbations that introduce low-order deviations from pure ellipticity in the isodensity contours, keeping the radial density profile fixed. We find that, in Hubble Space Telescope -like data, multipole perturbations consistent with those seen in galaxy isophotes are very effective at causing false positive substructure detections. We show that the effectiveness of this degeneracy depends on the deviation from a pure ellipse and the lensing configuration. We find that, when multipoles of 1 per cent are allowed in the lens model, the area in the observation where a subhalo could be detected drops by a factor of 3. Sensitivity away from the lensed images is mostly lost. However, the mass limit of detectable objects on or close to the lensed images does not change. We do not expect the addition of multipole perturbations to lens models to have a significant effect on the ability of strong lensing to constrain the underlying dark matter model. However, given the high rate of false positive detections, angular complexity beyond the elliptical power law should be included for such studies to be reliable. We discuss implications for previous detections and future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The masses of galaxy clusters can be measured using data obtained exclusively from wide photometric surveys in one of two ways: directly from the amplitude of the weak lensing signal or, indirectly, through the use of scaling relations calibrated using binned lensing measurements. In this paper, we build on a recently proposed idea and implement an alternative method based on the radial profile of the satellite distribution. This technique relies on splashback, a feature associated with the apocentre of recently accreted galaxies that offers a clear window into the phase-space structure of clusters without the use of velocity information. We carry out this dynamical measurement using the stacked satellite distribution around a sample of luminous red galaxies in the fourth data release of the Kilo-Degree Survey and validate our results using abundance-matching and lensing masses. To illustrate the power of this measurement, we combine dynamical and lensing mass estimates to robustly constrain scalar–tensor theories of gravity at cluster scales. Our results exclude departures from General Relativity of the order of unity. We conclude the paper by discussing the implications for future data sets. Because splashback mass measurements scale only with the survey volume, stage-IV photometric surveys are well-positioned to use splashback to provide high-redshift cluster masses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have received a new physical characteristics fitting based on actual observational data from the Swift mission's long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs). We considered such characteristics as the Amati parameters for linear correlation (E iso– E p, i ) and the k -correction for gravitational lensing and Malmquist bias (GLMB) effect. We used the Pantheon SN Ia catalogue and the standard Lambda cold dark matter model with a fixed Hubble constant of H 0 = 70 km s−1 Mpc−1 as the baseline for the Hubble function μ(z). In our paper, we formulated the inverse cosmological calibration problem (ICCP) in the non-parametric statistics framework. The ICCP involves fitting non-observable physical characteristics while assuming a fixed cosmological model. To solve this problem, we developed a new method that is resistant to non-Gaussian processes. This method is based on error propagation through the Monte Carlo method and the Theil–Sen method for linear regression estimate. We have demonstrated the stability and robustness of this assessment method. The parameter estimates are as follows: |$a=0.92^{+0.12}_{-0.12}$|⁠ , |$b=50.32^{+0.33}_{-0.32}$| without considering the GLMB effect, and |$a=0.63^{+0.13}_{-0.14}$|⁠ , |$b=50.12^{+0.33}_{-0.31}$|⁠ , and |$k=1.98^{+0.25}_{-0.24}$| with the effect included. The proposed method can be applied to any other calibration sample of known standard candles, a calibrated sample of LGRBs, and the Hubble function μ(z). In the future, the ICCP idea can be used as an alternative cosmological test for estimating cosmological parameters, including the GLMB effect, or even for the selection of models, providing new information about the Universe. This can be done by analysing the residual values of observational data within the Bayesian statistics paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Galaxy-scale strongly lensed systems have been shown to provide a unique technique for exploring the underlying physics of dark matter at sub-galactic scales. In the past, much attention was given to detecting and studying individual haloes in a strong lens system. In addition to the subhaloes, line-of-sight haloes contribute significantly to the small perturbations in lensed images. In prior work, we demonstrated that these line-of-sight haloes imprint a distinctive anisotropic signature and hence give rise to a detectable non-zero parity-even quadrupole moment in the effective convergence field's two-point correlation function. In this study, we show that these line-of-sight haloes also produce a non-zero curl component of the effective deflection field with a parity-odd quadrupole moment of the two-point function. These multipole moments have the ability to statistically separate line-of-sight haloes from dark matter substructure. In this paper, we examine how these multipole moments evolve in the presence of warm dark matter and self-interacting dark matter in terms of central density evolution and dark matter halo abundance. Importantly, we show that these different multipole moments display exquisite sensitivity to both the amplitude and the velocity dependence of the dark matter self-interaction cross-section. Our approach opens the door for strong lensing observations to probe dark matter self-interaction over a broad range of relative velocities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the first detection of gravitational waves in 2015, gravitational-wave astronomy has emerged as a rapidly advancing field that holds great potential for studying the cosmos, from probing the properties of black holes to testing the limits of our current understanding of gravity. One important aspect of gravitational-wave astronomy is the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, where massive intervening objects can bend and magnify gravitational waves, providing a unique way to probe the distribution of matter in the Universe, as well as finding applications to fundamental physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. However, current models for gravitational-wave millilensing—a specific form of lensing where small-scale astrophysical objects can split a gravitational wave signal into multiple copies—are often limited to simple isolated lenses, which is not realistic for complex lensing scenarios. In this paper, we present a novel phenomenological approach to incorporate millilensing in data analysis in a model-independent fashion. Our approach enables the recovery of arbitrary lens configurations without the need for extensive computational lens modelling, making it a more accurate and computationally efficient tool for studying the distribution of matter in the Universe using gravitational-wave signals. When gravitational-wave lensing observations become possible, our method could provide a powerful tool for studying complex lens configurations in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "Correction to: Redshift drift and strong gravitational lensing" acknowledges a mistake made in a recent paper by the author. The mistake relates to the measurement of the Hubble constant using the difference in redshift between images of a gravitational-lens system. The author clarifies that the redshift difference can still be used to measure other cosmological parameters without knowledge of the Hubble constant. The rest of the paper remains unaffected, discussing various aspects of standard cosmology and gravitational lensing. No new data is associated with the article. [Extracted from the article]

The vast amount of astronomical information that has become available over this decade has far exceeded that of the last century. The heterogeneity of the data and its overwhelming magnitude have made it impossible to perform manual analysis. As a consequence, new techniques have been developed and different strategies have been amalgamated, such as data science and data mining, in order to carry out more in-depth and exhaustive analyses in search of the extraction of the knowledge contained in data. This paper introduces a data science methodology that consists of successive stages, with the core of this proposal being the step of data preprocessing, with the aim of reducing the complexity of the analysis and enabling hidden knowledge in the data to be uncovered. The proposed methodology was tested on a set of data consisting of artificial light curves that try to mimic the behaviour of the strong gravitational lens phenomenon, as supplied by the Time Delay Challenge 1 (TDC1). Under the data science methodology, diverse statistical methods were implemented for data analysis, and cross-correlation and dispersion methods were applied for the time-delay estimation of strong lensing systems. With this methodology, we obtained time-delay estimations from the TDC1 data set and compared them with earlier results reported by the COSmological MOnitoring of GRAvItational Lenses project (COSMOGRAIL). The empirical evidence leads us to conclude that, with the proposed methodology, we achieve a greater accuracy in estimating time delays compared with estimations made with raw data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the properties of minimal solutions for the reconstruction of the lens potential in the singular perturbative approach. These minimal solutions corresponds to an expansion with a minimal degree in Fourier expansion of the perturbative fields. Using these minimal solutions prevent spurious physically meaningless terms in the reconstruction of the fields. In effect, a perturbative analysis indicates that a small change in the source model will corresponds to the higher order terms in the expansion of the fields. The results of the perturbative analysis are valid not only for slightly non-circular sources but also for more distorted sources to order two. It is, thus, of crucial importance to minimize the number of terms used in the modelling of the lens. Another important asset of the minimal solutions is that they offer a de-coupling between the source and lens model, and thus help to break the source lens degeneracy issue. The possible drawback of minimal solutions is to underestimate the higher order terms in the solution. However, this bias has its merit since the detection of higher order terms using this method will ensure that these terms are real. This type of analysis using minimal solutions will be of particular interest when considering the statistical analysis of a large number of lenses, especially in light of the incoming satellite surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sample of time-delay gravitational lenses appropriate for studying the geometry of the Universe continues to grow as dedicated campaigns, such as the Dark Energy Survey, the (Very Large Telescope) VLT Survey Telescope (VST) ATLAS survey, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, complete their census of high-redshift sources. This catalogue now includes hundreds of strong lensing systems, at least 31 of which have reasonably accurate time-delay measurements. In this paper, we use them to compare the predictions of two competing Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker models: flat Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM), characterized by two adjustable parameters (H 0 and Ωm), and the R h = ct universe (with H 0 as the single free variable). Over the past decade, the latter has accounted for the data better than the standard model, most recently the emergence of well-formed galaxies discovered by JWST at cosmic dawn. Here, we show that the current sample of time-delay lenses favours R h = ct with a likelihood of ∼ |$84{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| versus ∼ |$16{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| for the standard model. This level of accuracy will greatly improve as the ongoing surveys uncover many thousands of additional lens systems over the next several years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strongly lensed systems are powerful probes of the distribution of dark matter on small scales. In this paper, we show that line-of-sight haloes between the source and the observers give rise to a distinct anisotropic signature in the two-point function of the effective lensing deflection field. We show in particular that the non-linear coupling between line-of-sight haloes and the main lens plane imprints a characteristic quadrupole moment on this two-point function whose amplitude reflects the abundance of such haloes within the strongly lensed field. We discuss how, by taking ratios of different multipole moments, such observables could be made robust under the mass-sheet transform. We also demonstrate that future extremely large telescopes have the ability to detect the quadrupole moment due to this unique anisotropic signature under ideal conditions. Our approach opens the door to statistically distinguish the effect of line-of-sight haloes from that of the main-lens substructure on lensed images, hence allowing one to probe dark matter physics in a new way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the first gravitational wave (GW) event from binary black hole (BBH) was detected by LIGO-Virgo, GWs have become a useful probe on astrophysics and cosmology. If compact dark matter (DM) objects e.g. primordial black holes, contribute a significant fraction of DM at wide mass range, they will cause microlensing in the GW signals with long wavelengths that are distinct from the lensing effects of electromagnetic signals from astrophysical objects. In this paper, we apply the lensing effect of GW from BBH to derive constraints on the abundance of compact DM for the Cosmic Explorer, a third-generation ground-based GW detector. We first consider two channels of formation of BBH that contribute to low- and high-redshift GW sources, including the astrophysical origin BBH scenario, and the primordial origin BBH scenario. Secondly, comparing with the method of optical depth, we use the Bayesian analysis to derive constraints on the abundance of compact DM with different mass function of lens taken into consideration. For a null search with 1000 detected GW events of BBH, we find that the abundance of compact DM could be constrained to |$\lesssim 0.1\,\mathrm{ per}\,\mathrm{ cent}$| in the mass range |$\ge 500\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$| at 68 per cent confidence level. In addition, if a GW event lensed by a compact DM object with |$M_{\rm l}\in [100\, {\rm M}_{\odot },300\, {\rm M}_{\odot }]$| is detected in 100 detected GW events of BBH, we can derive that the estimation of the abundance of compact DM is from |$2.3$| to |$25.2$| per cent in this mass range with the Bayesian analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As established in previous papers of this series, observables in highly distorted and magnified multiple images caused by the strong gravitational lensing effect can be used to constrain the distorting properties of the gravitational lens at the image positions. If the background source is extended and contains substructure, like star forming regions, which is resolved in multiple images, all substructure that can be matched across a minimum of three multiple images can be used to infer the local distorting properties of the lens. In this work, we replace the manual feature selection by an automated feature extraction based on SExtractor for Python and show its superior performance. Despite its aimed development to improve our lens reconstruction, it can be employed in any other approach, as well. Valuable insights on the definition of an 'image position' in the presence of noise are gained from our calibration tests. Applying it to observations of a five-image configuration in galaxy cluster CL0024 and the triple-image configuration containing Hamilton's object, we determine local lens properties for multiple wavebands separately. Within current confidence bounds, all of them are consistent with each other, corroborating the wavelength-independence of strong lensing and offering a tool to detect deviations caused by micro-lensing and dust in further examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnifications of compact-source lenses are extremely sensitive to the presence of low-mass dark matter haloes along the entire sightline from the source to the observer. Traditionally, the study of dark matter structure in compact-source strong gravitational lenses has been limited to radio-loud systems, as the radio emission is extended and thus unaffected by microlensing which can mimic the signal of dark matter structure. An alternate approach is to measure quasar nuclear-narrow-line emission, which is free from microlensing and present in virtually all quasar lenses. In this paper, we double the number of systems which can be used for gravitational lensing analyses by presenting measurements of narrow-line emission from a sample of eight quadruply imaged quasar lens systems, WGD J0405−3308, HS 0810+2554, RX J0911+0551, SDSS J1330+1810, PS J1606−2333, WFI 2026−4536, WFI 2033−4723, and WGD J2038−4008. We describe our updated grism spectral modelling pipeline, which we use to measure narrow-line fluxes with uncertainties of 2–10 per cent, presented here. We fit the lensed image positions with smooth mass models and demonstrate that these models fail to produce the observed distribution of image fluxes over the entire sample of lenses. Furthermore, typical deviations are larger than those expected from macromodel uncertainties. This discrepancy indicates the presence of perturbations caused by small-scale dark matter structure. The interpretation of this result in terms of dark matter models is presented in a companion paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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, Gevolution , to generate cosmological mass perturbations and implement a three-dimensional (3D) ray-tracing technique that follows the evolution of ray-bundles. We focus on the various properties of cosmic voids (e.g. void size function, 2-point correlation function, and the density profile of voids), and compare the results with their universal trends. We show that when weak lensing is combined with the Doppler lensing we obtain even tighter constraints than weak lensing alone. We also obtain better agreement between density profiles within central parts of voids inferred from lensing and density profiles inferred from halo tracers. The implication of the result relevant to the ongoing and prospective low-redshift spectroscopic surveys is briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dark matter haloes that reach the H  i -cooling mass without prior star formation or external metal pollution represent potential sites for the formation of small – extremely faint – Population III galaxies at high redshifts. Gravitational lensing may in rare cases boost their fluxes to detectable levels, but to find even a small number of such objects in randomly selected regions of the sky requires very large areas to be surveyed. Because of this, a small, wide-field telescope can in principle offer better detection prospects than a large telescope with a smaller field of view. Here, we derive the minimum comoving number density required to allow gravitational lensing to lift such objects at redshift z = 5−16 above the detection thresholds of blind surveys carried out with the James Webb space telescope (JWST), the Roman space telescope (RST) and Euclid. We find that the prospects for photometric detections of Pop III galaxies are promising, and that they are better for RST than for JWST and Euclid. However, the Pop III galaxies favoured by current simulations have number densities too low to allow spectroscopic detections based on the strength of the He  ii 1640 emission line in any of the considered surveys unless very high star formation efficiencies (ϵ ≳ 0.1) are evoked. We argue that targeting individual cluster lenses instead of the wide-field surveys considered in this paper results in better spectroscopic detection prospects, while for photometric detection, the wide-field surveys perform considerably better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong-lensing images provide a wealth of information both about the magnified source and about the dark matter distribution in the lens. Precision analyses of these images can be used to constrain the nature of dark matter. However, this requires high-fidelity image reconstructions and careful treatment of the uncertainties of both lens mass distribution and source light, which are typically difficult to quantify. In anticipation of future high-resolution data sets, in this work we leverage a range of recent developments in machine learning to develop a new Bayesian strong-lensing image analysis pipeline. Its highlights are (a) a fast, GPU-enabled, end-to-end differentiable strong-lensing image simulator; (b) a new, statistically principled source model based on a computationally highly efficient approximation to Gaussian processes that also takes into account pixellation; and (c) a scalable variational inference framework that enables simultaneously deriving posteriors for tens of thousands of lens and source parameters and optimizing hyperparameters via stochastic gradient descent. Besides efficient and accurate parameter estimation and lens model uncertainty quantification, the main aim of the pipeline is the generation of training data for targeted simulation-based inference of dark matter substructure, which we will exploit in a companion paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary goals of the STRong lensing Insights into the Dark Energy Survey (STRIDES) collaboration are to measure the dark energy equation of state parameter and the free streaming length of dark matter. To this aim, STRIDES is discovering strongly lensed quasars in the imaging data of the Dark Energy Survey and following them up to measure time delays, high resolution imaging, and spectroscopy sufficient to construct accurate lens models. In this paper, we first present forecasts for STRIDES. Then, we describe the STRIDES classification scheme, and give an overview of the Fall 2016 follow-up campaign. We continue by detailing the results of two selection methods, the outlier selection technique and a morphological algorithm, and presenting lens models of a system that could possibly be a lensed quasar in an unusual configuration. We conclude with the summary statistics of the Fall 2016 campaign. Including searches presented in companion papers (Anguita et al.; Ostrovski et al.), STRIDES followed up 117 targets identifying 7 new strongly lensed systems, and 7 nearly identical quasars, which could be confirmed as lenses by the detection of the lens galaxy. 76 candidates were rejected and 27 remain otherwise inconclusive, for a success rate in the range of 6–35 per cent. This rate is comparable to that of previous searches like SDSS Quasar Lens Search even though the parent data set of STRIDES is purely photometric and our selection of candidates cannot rely on spectroscopic information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to quantify how the lowest halo mass that can be detected with galaxy-galaxy strong gravitational lensing depends on the quality of the observations and the characteristics of the observed lens systems. Using simulated data, we measure the lowest detectable NFW mass at each location of the lens plane, in the form of detailed sensitivity maps. In summary, we find that: (i) the lowest detectable mass M low decreases linearly as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) increases and the sensitive area is larger when we decrease the noise; (ii) a moderate increase in angular resolution (0.07″ versus 0.09″) and pixel scale (0.01″ versus 0.04″) improves the sensitivity by on average 0.25 dex in halo mass, with more significant improvement around the most sensitive regions; (iii) the sensitivity to low-mass objects is largest for bright and complex lensed galaxies located inside the caustic curves and lensed into larger Einstein rings (i.e rE ≥ 1.0″). We find that for the sensitive mock images considered in this work, the minimum mass that we can detect at the redshift of the lens lies between 1.5 × 108 and |$3\times 10^{9}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$|⁠. We derive analytic relations between M low, the SNR and resolution and discuss the impact of the lensing configuration and source structure. Our results start to fill the gap between approximate predictions and real data and demonstrate the challenging nature of calculating precise forecasts for gravitational imaging. In light of our findings, we discuss possible strategies for designing strong lensing surveys and the prospects for HST , Keck, ALMA, Euclid and other future observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extension of the singular perturbative approach to the second order is presented in this paper. The general expansion to the second order is derived. The second-order expansion is considered as a small correction to the first-order expansion. Using this approach, it is demonstrated that in practice the second-order expansion is reducible to a first order expansion via a re-definition of the first-order pertubative fields. Even if in usual applications the secondorder correction is small the reducibility of the second-order expansion to the first-order expansion indicates a potential degeneracy issue. In general, this degeneracy is hard to break. Auseful and simple second-order approximation is the thin source approximation, which offers a direct estimation of the correction. The practical application of the corrections derived in this paper is illustrated by using an elliptical NFW lens model. The second-order pertubative expansion provides a noticeable improvement, even for the simplest case of thin source approximation. To conclude, it is clear that for accurate modelization of gravitational lenses using the perturbative method the second-order perturbative expansion should be considered. In particular, an evaluation of the degeneracy due to the second-order term should be performed, for which the thin source approximation is particularly useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the first of a series of papers constraining cosmological parameters with weak lensing peak statistics using ∼ 450 deg2 of imaging data from the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS-450). We measure high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR: ν) weak lensing convergence peaks in the range of 3 < ν < 5, and employ theoretical models to derive expected values. These models are validated using a suite of simulations. We take into account two major systematic effects, the boost factor and the effect of baryons on the mass-concentration relation of dark matter haloes. In addition, we investigate the impacts of other potential astrophysical systematics including the projection effects of large-scale structures, intrinsic galaxy alignments, as well as residual measurement uncertainties in the shear and redshift calibration. Assuming a flat Λ cold dark matter model, we find constraints for S8=σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.5=0.746+0.046-0.107 S8=σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.5=0.746-0.107+0.046 according to the degeneracy direction of the cosmic shear analysis and Σ8=σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.38=0.696+0.048-0.050 Σ8=σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.38=0.696-0.050+0.048 based on the derived degeneracy direction of our high-SNR peak statistics. The difference between the power index of S8 and in Σ8 indicates that combining cosmic shear with peak statistics has the potential to break the degeneracy in σ8 and Ωm. Our results are consistent with the cosmic shear tomographic correlation analysis of the same data set and ∼2σ lower than the Planck 2016 results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce the Uchuu suite of large high-resolution cosmological N -body simulations. The largest simulation, named Uchuu, consists of 2.1 trillion (12 8003) dark matter particles in a box of side-length 2.0 |$\, h^{-1} \, \rm Gpc$|⁠ , with particle mass of 3.27 × 108 |$\, h^{-1}\, \rm M_{\odot }$|⁠. The highest resolution simulation, Shin-Uchuu, consists of 262 billion (64003) particles in a box of side-length 140 |$\, h^{-1} \, \rm Mpc$|⁠ , with particle mass of 8.97 × 105 |$\, h^{-1}\, \rm M_{\odot }$|⁠. Combining these simulations, we can follow the evolution of dark matter haloes and subhaloes spanning those hosting dwarf galaxies to massive galaxy clusters across an unprecedented volume. In this first paper, we present basic statistics, dark matter power spectra, and the halo and subhalo mass functions, which demonstrate the wide dynamic range and superb statistics of the Uchuu suite. From an analysis of the evolution of the power spectra, we conclude that our simulations remain accurate from the baryon acoustic oscillation scale down to the very small. We also provide parameters of a mass–concentration model, which describes the evolution of halo concentration and reproduces our simulation data to within 5 per cent for haloes with masses spanning nearly eight orders of magnitude at redshift 0 ≤ z ≤ 14. There is an upturn in the mass–concentration relation for the population of all haloes and of relaxed haloes at z ≳ 0.5, whereas no upturn is detected at z < 0.5. We make publicly available various N -body products as part of Uchuu Data Release 1 on the Skies & Universes site. 1 Future releases will include gravitational lensing maps and mock galaxy, X-ray cluster, and active galactic nucleus catalogues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a large data base of weak lensing light cones constructed using different snapshots from the Big MultiDark simulation (BigMDPL). The ray-tracing through different multiple plane has been performed with the GLAMER code accounting both for single source redshifts and for sources distributed along the cosmic time. This first paper presents weak lensing forecasts and results according to the geometry of the VIPERS-W1 and VIPERS-W4 field of view. Additional fields will be available on our data base and new ones can be run upon request. Our data base also contains some tools for lensing analysis. In this paper we present results for convergence power spectra, one point and high order weak lensing statistics useful for forecasts and for cosmological studies. Covariance matrices have also been computed for the different realizations of the W1 and W4 fields. In addition we compute also galaxy-shear and projected density contrasts for different halo masses at two lens redshift according to the CFHTLS source redshift distribution both using stacking and cross-correlation techniques, finding very good agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Einasto profile has been successful in describing the density profiles of dark matter haloes in ΛCDM N -body simulations. It has also been able to describe multiple components in the surface brightness profiles of galaxies. However, analytically projecting it to calculate quantities under projection is challenging. In this paper, we will see the development of a highly accurate analytical approximation for the mass (or counts) enclosed in an infinitely long cylindrical column for Einasto profiles–also known as the projected mass (or counts)–using a novel methodology. We will then develop a self-consistent high-accuracy model for the surface density from the expression for the projected mass. Both models are quite accurate for a broad family of functions, with a shape parameter α varying by a factor of 100 in the range 0.05 ≲ α ≲ 5.0, with fractional errors ∼10−6 for α ≲ 0.4. Profiles with α ≲ 0.4 have been shown to fit the density profiles of dark matter haloes in N -body simulations as well as the luminosity profiles of the outer-components of massive galaxies. Since the projected mass and the surface density are used in gravitational lensing, I will illustrate how these models facilitate (for the first time) analytical computation of several quantities of interest in lensing due to Einasto profiles. The models, however, are not limited to lensing and apply to similar quantities under projection, such as the projected luminosity, the projected (columnar) number counts, and the projected density or the surface brightness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the Hubble constant H 0 and spatial curvature Ω K have been measured with very high precision, they still suffer from some tensions. In this paper, we propose an improved method to combine the observations of ultracompact structure in radio quasars and strong gravitational lensing with quasars acting as background sources to determine H 0 and Ω K simultaneously. By applying the distance sum rule to the time-delay measurements of seven strong lensing systems and 120 intermediate-luminosity quasars calibrated as standard rulers, we obtain stringent constraints on the Hubble constant (H 0 = 78.3 ± 2.9 km s−1 Mpc−1) and the cosmic curvature (Ω K = 0.49 ± 0.24). On the one hand, in the framework of a flat universe, the measured Hubble constant (⁠|$H_0=73.6^{+1.8}_{-1.6} \mathrm{\,km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}}$|⁠) is strongly consistent with that derived from the local distance ladder, with a precision of 2 per cent. On the other hand, if we use the local H 0 measurement as a prior, our results are marginally compatible with zero spatial curvature (⁠|$\Omega _K=0.23^{+0.15}_{-0.17}$|⁠) and there is no significant deviation from a flat universe. Finally, we also evaluate whether strongly lensed quasars would produce robust constraints on H 0 and Ω K in the non-flat and flat Λ cold dark matter model, if the compact radio structure measurements are available from very long baseline interferometry observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurements of the Hubble constant, H 0, from the cosmic distance ladder are currently in tension with the value inferred from Planck observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and other high-redshift data sets if a flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model is assumed. One of the few promising theoretical resolutions of this tension is to invoke new physics that changes the sound horizon scale in the early Universe; this can bring CMB and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) constraints on H 0 into better agreement with local measurements. In this paper, we discuss how a measurement of the Hubble constant can be made from the CMB without using information from the sound horizon scale, r s. In particular, we show how measurements of the CMB lensing power spectrum can place interesting constraints on H 0 when combined with measurements of either supernovae or galaxy weak lensing, which constrain the matter density parameter. The constraints arise from the sensitivity of the CMB lensing power spectrum to the horizon scale at matter–radiation equality (in projection); this scale could have a different dependence on new physics than the sound horizon. From an analysis of current CMB lensing data from Planck and Pantheon supernovae with conservative external priors, we derive an r s-independent constraint of |$H_0 = 73.5\pm 5.3\, {\rm km}\,{\rm s}^{-1}\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$|⁠. Forecasts for future CMB surveys indicate that improving constraints beyond an error of |$\sigma (H_0) = 3\, {\rm km}\,{\rm s}^{-1}\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$| will be difficult with CMB lensing, although applying similar methods to the galaxy power spectrum may allow for further improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this paper is optimization of weak lensing tomography: we carry out numerical minimization of a measure of total statistical error as a function of the redshifts of the tomographic bin edges by means of a Nelder–Mead algorithm in order to optimize the sensitivity of weak lensing with respect to different optimization targets. Working under the assumption of a Gaussian likelihood for the parameters of a w 0 wa CDM (cold dark matter) model and using euclid 's conservative survey specifications, we compare an equipopulated, equidistant, and optimized bin setting and find that in general the equipopulated setting is very close to the optimal one, while an equidistant setting is far from optimal and also suffers from the ad hoc choice of a maximum redshift. More importantly, we find that nearly saturated information content can be gained using already few tomographic bins. This is crucial for photometric redshift surveys with large redshift errors. We consider a large range of targets for the optimization process that can be computed from the parameter covariance (or equivalently, from the Fisher matrix), extend these studies to information entropy measures such as the Kullback–Leibler divergence and conclude that in many cases equipopulated binning yields results close to the optimum, which we support by analytical arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The splashback radius (R sp) of dark matter haloes has recently been detected using weak gravitational lensing and cross-correlations with galaxies. However, different methods have been used to measure R sp and to assess the significance of its detection. In this paper, we use simulations to study the precision and accuracy to which we can detect the splashback radius with 3D density, 3D subhalo, and weak lensing profiles. We study how well various methods and tracers recover R sp by comparing it with the value measured directly from particle dynamics. We show that estimates of R sp from density and subhalo profiles correspond to different percentiles of the underlying R sp distribution of particle orbits. At low accretion rates, a second caustic appears and can bias results. Finally, we show that upcoming lensing surveys may be able to constrain the R sp–Γdyn relation directly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate whether galaxy assembly bias can reconcile the 20–40 |${{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| disagreement between the observed galaxy projected clustering signal and the galaxy–galaxy lensing signal in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey CMASS galaxy sample. We use the suite of abacuscosmos lambda cold dark matter simulations at Planck best-fitting cosmology and two flexible implementations of extended halo occupation distribution (HOD) models that incorporate galaxy assembly bias to build forward models and produce joint fits of the observed galaxy clustering signal and the galaxy–galaxy lensing signal. We find that our models using the standard HODs without any assembly bias generalizations continue to show a 20–40 |${{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| overprediction of the observed galaxy–galaxy lensing signal. We find that our implementations of galaxy assembly bias do not reconcile the two measurements at Planck best-fitting cosmology. In fact, despite incorporating galaxy assembly bias, the satellite distribution parameter, and the satellite velocity bias parameter into our extended HOD model, our fits still strongly suggest a |$\sim \! 34{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| discrepancy between the observed projected clustering and galaxy–galaxy lensing measurements. It remains to be seen whether a combination of other galaxy assembly bias models, alternative cosmological parameters, or baryonic effects can explain the amplitude difference between the two signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Galaxy intrinsic alignments (IAs) have long been recognized as a significant contaminant to weak lensing-based cosmological inference. In this paper we seek to quantify the impact of a common modelling assumption in analytic descriptions of IAs: that of spherically symmetric dark matter haloes. Understanding such effects is important as the current generation of IA models are known to be limited, particularly on small scales, and building an accurate theoretical description will be essential for fully exploiting the information in future lensing data. Our analysis is based on a catalogue of 113 560 galaxies between z  = 0.06 and 1.00 from massiveblack-ii , a hydrodynamical simulation of box length |$100 \, h^{-1}$|  Mpc. We find satellite anisotropy contributes at the level of |$\ge 30\!-\!40{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| to the small-scale alignment correlation functions. At separations larger than |$1 \, h^{-1}$|  Mpc the impact is roughly scale independent, inducing a shift in the amplitude of the IA power spectra of |$\sim 20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$|⁠. These conclusions are consistent across the redshift range and between the massiveblack-ii  and the illustris simulations. The cosmological implications of these results are tested using a simulated likelihood analysis. Synthetic cosmic shear data are constructed with the expected characteristics (depth, area, and number density) of a future LSST-like survey. Our results suggest that modelling alignments using a halo model based upon spherical symmetry could potentially induce cosmological parameter biases at the ∼1.5σ level for S 8 and w. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the measurement of the Hubble constant, H 0, with three strong gravitational lens systems. We describe a blind analysis of both PG 1115+080 and HE 0435−1223 as well as an extension of our previous analysis of RXJ 1131−1231. For each lens, we combine new adaptive optics (AO) imaging from the Keck Telescope, obtained as part of the SHARP (Strong-lensing High Angular Resolution Programme) AO effort, with Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging, velocity dispersion measurements, and a description of the line-of-sight mass distribution to build an accurate and precise lens mass model. This mass model is then combined with the COSMOGRAIL-measured time delays in these systems to determine H 0. We do both an AO-only and an AO + HST analysis of the systems and find that AO and HST results are consistent. After unblinding, the AO-only analysis gives |$H_{0}=82.8^{+9.4}_{-8.3}~\rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$| for PG 1115+080, |$H_{0}=70.1^{+5.3}_{-4.5}~\rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$| for HE 0435−1223, and |$H_{0}=77.0^{+4.0}_{-4.6}~\rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$| for RXJ 1131−1231. The joint AO-only result for the three lenses is |$H_{0}=75.6^{+3.2}_{-3.3}~\rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$|⁠. The joint result of the AO + HST analysis for the three lenses is |$H_{0}=76.8^{+2.6}_{-2.6}~\rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$|⁠. All of these results assume a flat Λ cold dark matter cosmology with a uniform prior on Ωm in [0.05, 0.5] and H 0 in [0, 150] |$\rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$|⁠. This work is a collaboration of the SHARP and H0LiCOW teams, and shows that AO data can be used as the high-resolution imaging component in lens-based measurements of H 0. The full time-delay cosmography results from a total of six strongly lensed systems are presented in a companion paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We perform a joint analysis of intrinsic alignments and cosmology using tomographic weak lensing, galaxy clustering, and galaxy–galaxy lensing measurements from Year 1 (Y1) of the Dark Energy Survey. We define early- and late-type subsamples, which are found to pass a series of systematics tests, including for spurious photometric redshift error and point spread function correlations. We analyse these split data alongside the fiducial mixed Y1 sample using a range of intrinsic alignment models. In a fiducial non-linear alignment model analysis, assuming a flat Λ cold dark matter cosmology, we find a significant difference in intrinsic alignment amplitude, with early-type galaxies favouring |$A_\mathrm{IA} = 2.38^{+0.32}_{-0.31}$| and late-type galaxies consistent with no intrinsic alignments at |$0.05^{+0.10}_{-0.09}$|⁠. The analysis is repeated using a number of extended model spaces, including a physically motivated model that includes both tidal torquing and tidal alignment mechanisms. In multiprobe likelihood chains in which cosmology, intrinsic alignments in both galaxy samples and all other relevant systematics are varied simultaneously, we find the tidal alignment and tidal torquing parts of the intrinsic alignment signal have amplitudes |$A_1 = 2.66 ^{+0.67}_{-0.66}$|⁠ , |$A_2=-2.94^{+1.94}_{-1.83}$|⁠ , respectively, for early-type galaxies and |$A_1 = 0.62 ^{+0.41}_{-0.41}$|⁠ , |$A_2 = -2.26^{+1.30}_{-1.16}$| for late-type galaxies. In the full (mixed) Y1 sample the best constraints are |$A_1 = 0.70 ^{+0.41}_{-0.38}$|⁠ , |$A_2 = -1.36 ^{+1.08}_{-1.41}$|⁠. For all galaxy splits and IA models considered, we report cosmological parameter constraints consistent with the results of the main DES Y1 cosmic shear and multiprobe cosmology papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the cold dark matter (CDM) picture of structure formation, galaxy mass distributions are predicted to have a considerable amount of structure on small scales. Strong gravitational lensing has proven to be a useful tool for studying this small-scale structure. Much of the attention has been given to detecting individual dark matter subhaloes through lens modelling, but recent work has suggested that the full population of subhaloes could be probed using a power spectrum analysis. In this paper, we quantify the power spectrum of small-scale structure in simulated galaxies, with the goal of understanding theoretical predictions and setting the stage for using measurements of the power spectrum to test dark matter models. We use a sample of simulated galaxies generated from the galacticus semi-analytic model to determine the power spectrum distribution first in the CDM paradigm and then in a warm dark matter scenario. We find that a measurement of the slope and amplitude of the power spectrum on galaxy strong lensing scales (k ∼ 1 kpc−1) could be used to distinguish between CDM and alternate dark matter models, especially if the most massive subhaloes can be directly detected via gravitational imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Verlinde proposed an elastic response force caused by the entropy displacement of dark energy, and considered it as an alternative to dark matter. In this paper, we test Verlinde's theory using gravitational lensing in a sample by clusters observed by the CLASH survey. We reconstruct the mass profile with the X-ray data and then fit the theoretical convergence map derived from Verlinde's emergent gravity (VEG) with the observed data from gravitational lensing events. For comparison with dark matter, we also consider the Navarro, Frenk, White (NFW) profile. The results indicate that the NFW model can account for the sample well, but only a few clusters can be well reproduced by VEG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A520 is a hot and luminous galaxy cluster, where gravitational lensing and X-ray measures reveal a different spatial distribution of baryonic and dark matter. This cluster hosts a radio halo, whose map shows a separation between the north-east and the south-west part of the cluster, similarly to what is observed in gravitational lensing maps. In this paper we study the possibility that the diffuse radio emission in this cluster is produced by dark matter annihilation. We find that in the whole cluster the radio emission should be dominated by baryonic phenomena; if a contribution from dark matter is present, it should be searched in a region in the NE part of the cluster, where a peak of the radio emission is located close to a dark matter subhalo, in a region where the X-ray emission is not very strong. By estimating the radio spectrum integrated in this region using data from publicly available surveys, we find that this spectrum can be reproduced by a dark matter model for a neutralino with mass 43 GeV and annihilation final state |$b \bar{b}$| for a magnetic field of 5 |$\mu$| G. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong lensing of active galactic nuclei in the radio can result in razor-thin arcs, with a thickness of less than a milliarcsecond, if observed at the resolution achievable with very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). Such razor-thin arcs provide a unique window on the coarseness of the matter distribution between source and observer. In this paper, we investigate to what extent such razor-thin arcs can constrain the number density and mass function of 'free-floating' black holes, defined as black holes that do not, or no longer, reside at the centre of a galaxy. These can be either primordial in origin or arise as by-products of the evolution of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei. When sufficiently close to the line of sight, free-floating black holes cause kink-like distortions in the arcs, which are detectable by eye in the VLBI images as long as the black hole mass exceeds ∼1000 Solar masses. Using a crude estimate for the detectability of such distortions, we analytically compute constraints on the matter density of free-floating black holes resulting from null-detections of distortions along a realistic, fiducial arc, and find them to be comparable to those from quasar milli-lensing. We also use predictions from a large hydrodynamical simulation for the demographics of free-floating black holes that are not primordial in origin and show that their predicted mass density is roughly four orders of magnitude below the constraints achievable with a single razor-thin arc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cosmological hydra-dynamic Evolution and Assembly of Galaxies and their Environment simulation introduces a density distribution of haloes with mass range from dwarf galaxies to galaxy clusters. It can match the observations of rotation curves, e.g. Spitzer Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves, but fails to satisfy the current strong gravitational lensing statistics. In this paper, we investigate a more general density profile in order to reduce the tension between the two kinds of probes. Specifically, we employ a double power-law profile with the parameters of (α, β, γ). We found its best-fitting parameters (3.04, 1.39, 1.88), based on strong lensing statistics, e.g. Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. Our profile can better match the data at large separation angle than NFW profile. On the other hand, the rotation curves predicted by the best-fitting parameter are much lower than the simulations. For only γ ≤ 1.5, can there exist reasonable parameters values to describe the rotation curve observations. Considering the sensitivity of inner slope γ for strong lensing observations, γ = 1.88 is the lower limit if the galaxy can be lensed. It is still difficult to reconcile the contradictions between the observations for rotation curves and strong gravitational lensing, even with a much more general form of density profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a public suite of weak-lensing mock data, extending the Scinet Light Cone Simulations (SLICS) to simulate cross-correlation analyses with different cosmological probes. These mocks include Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS)-450- and LSST-like lensing data, cosmic microwave background lensing maps and simulated spectroscopic surveys that emulate the Galaxy And Mass Assembly, BOSS, and 2-degree Field Lensing galaxy surveys. With 844 independent realizations, our mocks are optimized for combined-probe covariance estimation, which we illustrate for the case of a joint measurement involving cosmic shear, galaxy–galaxy lensing, and galaxy clustering from KiDS-450 and BOSS data. With their high spatial resolution, the SLICS are also optimal for predicting the signal for novel lensing estimators, for the validation of analysis pipelines, and for testing a range of systematic effects such as the impact of neighbour-exclusion bias on the measured tomographic cosmic shear signal. For surveys like KiDS and Dark Energy Survey, where the rejection of neighbouring galaxies occurs within ∼2 arcsec, we show that the measured cosmic shear signal will be biased low, but by less than a per cent on the angular scales that are typically used in cosmic shear analyses. The amplitude of the neighbour-exclusion bias doubles in deeper, LSST-like data. The simulation products described in this paper are made available at http://slics.roe.ac.uk/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The convergence peaks, constructed from galaxy shape measurement in weak lensing, are a powerful probe of cosmology as the peaks can be connected with the underlined dark matter haloes. However, the capability of convergence peak statistic is affected by the noise in galaxy shape measurement, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), as well as the contribution from the projected mass distribution from the large-scale structures along the line of sight (LOS). In this paper, we use the ray-tracing simulation on a curved sky to investigate the correspondence between the convergence peak and the dark matter haloes at the LOS. We find that, in case of no noise and for source galaxies at z s= 1, more than 65 per cent peaks with SNR ≥ 3 (SNR) are related to more than one massive haloes with mass larger than 1013 M⊙. Those massive haloes contribute 87.2 per cent to high peaks (SNR ≥ 5) and the remaining contributions are from the large-scale structures. On the other hand, the peak distribution is skewed by the noise in galaxy shape measurement, especially for lower SNR peaks. In the noisy field where the shape noise is modelled as a Gaussian distribution, about 60 per cent high peaks (SNR ≥ 5) are true peaks and the fraction decreases to 20 per cent for lower peaks (3 ≤ SNR < 5). Furthermore, we find that high peaks (SNR ≥ 5) are dominated by very massive haloes larger than 1014 M⊙. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial distribution of satellite galaxies encodes rich information of the structure and assembly history of galaxy clusters. In this paper, we select a red-sequence Matched-filter Probabilistic Percolation cluster sample in SDSS Stripe 82 region with 0.1 ≤ z ≤ 0.33, 20 < λ < 100, and Pcen > 0.7. Using the high-quality weak lensing data from CS82 Survey, we constrain the mass profile of this sample. Then we compare directly themass density profile with the satellite number density profile.We find that the total mass and number density profiles have the same shape, both well fitted by an NFW profile. The scale radii agree with each other within a 1σ error (rs,gal = 0.34+0.04 -0.03 Mpc versus rs = 0.37+0.15 -0.10 Mpc). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately predicting the demographics of dark matter (DM) substructure is of paramount importance for many fields of astrophysics, including gravitational lensing, galaxy evolution, halo occupation modelling, and constraining the nature of DM. Because of its strongly nonlinear nature, DM substructure is typically modelled using N-body simulations, which reveal that large fractions of DM subhaloes undergo complete disruption. In this paper, we use both analytical estimates and idealized numerical simulations to investigate whether this disruption is mainly physical, due to tidal heating and stripping, or numerical (i.e. artificial). We show that, contrary to naive expectation, subhaloes that experience a tidal shock ΔE that exceeds the subhalo's binding energy,ǀEbǀ, do not undergo disruption, even when ΔE/ǀEbǀ is as large as 100. Along the same line, and contrary to existing claims in the literature, instantaneously stripping matter from the outskirts of a DM subhalo also does not result in its complete disruption, even when the instantaneous remnant has positive binding energy. In addition, we show that tidal heating due to high-speed (impulsive) encounters with other subhaloes ('harassment') is negligible compared to the tidal effects due to the host halo. Hence, we conclude that, in the absence of baryonic processes, the complete physical disruption of CDM substructure is extremely rare and that most disruption in numerical simulations therefore must be artificial. We discuss various processes that have been associated with numerical overmerging and conclude that inadequate force softening is the most likely culprit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strongly gravitational lensed quasars can be used to measure the so-called time-delay distance DΔt, and thus the Hubble constant H0 and other cosmological parameters. Stellar kinematics of the deflector galaxy play an essential role in this measurement by: (i) helping break the masssheet degeneracy; (ii) determining in principle the angular diameter distance Dd to the deflector and thus further improving the cosmological constraints. In this paper we simulate observations of lensed quasars with integral field spectrographs and show that spatially resolved kinematics of the deflector enables further progress by helping break the mass-anisotropy degeneracy. Furthermore, we use our simulations to obtain realistic error estimates with current/upcoming instruments like OSIRIS on Keck and NIRSPEC on the James Webb Space Telescope for both distances (typically ~6 per cent on DΔt and ~10 per cent on Dd). We use the error estimates to compute cosmological forecasts for the sample of nine lenses that currently have wellmeasured time delays and deep Hubble Space Telescope images and for a sample of 40 lenses that is projected to be available in a few years through follow-up of candidates found in ongoing wide field surveys. We find that H0 can be measured with 2 per cent (1 per cent) precision from nine (40) lenses in a flat Λcold dark matter cosmology. We study several other cosmological models beyond the flat Λcold dark matter model and find that time-delay lenses with spatially resolved kinematics can greatly improve the precision of the cosmological parameters measured by cosmic microwave background data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gravitational lensing by clusters of galaxies offers a powerful probe of their structure and mass distribution. Several research groups have developed techniques independently to achieve this goal. While these methods have all provided remarkably high-precision mass maps, particularly with exquisite imaging data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the reconstructions themselves have never been directly compared. In this paper, we present for the first time a detailed comparison of methodologies for fidelity, accuracy and precision. For this collaborative exercise, the lens modelling community was provided simulated cluster images that mimic the depth and resolution of the ongoing HST Frontier Fields. The results of the submitted reconstructions with the un-blinded true mass profile of these two clusters are presented here. Parametric, free-form and hybrid techniques have been deployed by the participating groups and we detail the strengths and trade-offs in accuracy and systematics that arise for each methodology. We note in conclusion that several properties of the lensing clusters are recovered equally well by most of the lensing techniques compared in this study. For example, the reconstruction of azimuthally averaged density and mass profiles by both parametric and freeform methods matches the input models at the level of ~10 per cent. Parametric techniques are generally better at recovering the 2D maps of the convergence and of the magnification. For the best-performing algorithms, the accuracy in the magnification estimate is ~10 per cent at μtrue = 3 and it degrades to ~30 per cent at μtrue ~ 10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intrinsic alignments of galaxies are a significant astrophysical systematic affecting cosmological constraints from weak gravitational lensing. Obtaining numerical predictions from hydrodynamical simulations of expected survey volumes is expensive, and a cheaper alternative relies on populating large darkmatter-only simulations with accuratemodels of alignments calibrated on smaller hydrodynamical runs. This requires connecting the shapes and orientations of galaxies to those of dark matter haloes and to the large-scale structure. In this paper, we characterize galaxy-halo alignments in the Horizon-AGN cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. We compare the shapes and orientations of galaxies in the redshift range of 0 < z < 3 to those of their embedding dark matter haloes, and to the matching haloes of a twin dark-matter only run with identical initial conditions. We find that galaxy ellipticities, in general, cannot be predicted directly from halo ellipticities. The mean misalignment angle between the minor axis of a galaxy and its embedding halo is a function of halo mass, with residuals arising from the dependence of alignment on galaxy type, but not on environment. Haloes are much more strongly aligned among themselves than galaxies, and they decrease their alignment towards low redshift. Galaxy alignments compete with this effect, as galaxies tend to increase their alignment with haloes towards low redshift. We discuss the implications of these results for current halo models of intrinsic alignments and suggest several avenues for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Full ray-tracing maps of gravitational lensing, constructed from N-body simulations, represent a fundamental tool to interpret present and future weak-lensing data. However, the limitation of computational resources and storage capabilities severely restricts the number of realizations that can be performed in order to accurately sample both the cosmic shear models and covariance matrices. In this paper, we present a halo model formalism for weak gravitational lensing that alleviates these issues by producing weak-lensing mocks at a reduced computational cost. Our model takes as input the halo population within a desired light cone and the linear power spectrum of the underlined cosmological model. We examine the contribution given by the presence of substructures within haloes to the cosmic shear power spectrum and quantify it to the percent level. Our method allows us to reconstruct high-resolution convergence maps, for any desired source redshifts, of light cones that realistically trace the matter density distribution in the universe, account for masked area and sample selections.We compare our analysis on the same large-scale structures constructed using ray-tracing techniques and find very good agreements in both the linear and non-linear regimes up to fewpercent levels. The accuracy and speed of our method demonstrate the potential of our halo model for weak-lensing statistics and the possibility to generate a large sample of convergence maps for different cosmological models as needed for the analysis of large galaxy redshift surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To test the theory of gravity one needs to test, on one hand, how space and time are distorted by matter, and on the other hand, how matter moves in a distorted space–time. Current observations provide tight constraints on the motion of matter, through the so-called redshift-space distortions, but they only provide a measurement of the sum of the spatial and temporal distortions, via gravitational lensing. In this letter, we develop a method to measure the time distortion on its own. We show that the coming generation of galaxy surveys, like the Square Kilometre Array, will allow us to measure the distortion of time with an accuracy of 10–30 per cent. Such a measurement will be essential to test deviations from the ΛCDM model in a fully model-independent way. In particular, it can be used to compare the spatial and temporal distortions of space–time and to unambiguously distinguish between modifications of gravity and dark fifth forces acting on dark matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvements in the accuracy of shape measurements are essential to exploit the statistical power of planned imaging surveys that aim to constrain cosmological parameters using weak lensing by large-scale structure. Although a range of tests can be performed using the measurements, the performance of the algorithm can only be quantified using simulated images. This yields, however, only meaningful results if the simulated images resemble the real observations sufficiently well. In this paper, we explore the sensitivity of the multiplicative bias to the input parameters of Euclid-like image simulations. We find that algorithms will need to account for the local density of sources. In particular, the impact of galaxies below the detection limit warrants further study because magnification changes their number density, resulting in correlations between the lensing signal and multiplicative bias. Although achieving sub-per cent accuracy will require further study, we estimate that sufficient archival Hubble Space Telescope data are available to create realistic populations of galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the standard model of non-linear structure formation, a cosmic web of dark-matter-dominated filaments connects dark matter haloes. In this paper, we stack the weak lensing signal of an ensemble of filaments between groups and clusters of galaxies. Specifically, we detect the weak lensing signal, using CFHTLenS galaxy ellipticities, from stacked filaments between Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-III/Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey luminous red galaxies (LRGs). As a control, we compare the physical LRG pairs with projected LRG pairs that are more widely separated in redshift space. We detect the excess filament mass density in the projected pairs at the 5σ level, finding a mass of (1.6 ± 0.3) × 1013 M⊙ for a stacked filament region 7.1 h-1 Mpc long and 2.5 h-1 Mpc wide. This filament signal is compared with a model based on the three-point galaxy-galaxy-convergence correlation function, as developed in Clampitt et al., yielding reasonable agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]