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We measured the cross-correlation between galaxy weak lensing data from the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS-1000, DR4) and cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT, DR4) and the Planck Legacy survey. We used two samples of source galaxies, selected with photometric redshifts, (0.1 < zB < 1.2) and (1.2 < zB < 2), which produce a combined detection significance of the CMB lensing and weak galaxy lensing cross-spectrum of 7.7σ. With the lower redshift galaxy sample, for which the cross-correlation was detected at a significance of 5.3σ, we present joint cosmological constraints on the matter density parameter, ωm, and the matter fluctuation amplitude parameter, σ8, marginalising over three nuisance parameters that model our uncertainty in the redshift and shear calibration as well as the intrinsic alignment of galaxies. We find our measurement to be consistent with the best-fitting flat ΛCDM cosmological models from both Planck and KiDS-1000. We demonstrate the capacity of CMB weak lensing cross-correlations to set constraints on either the redshift or shear calibration by analysing a previously unused high-redshift KiDS galaxy sample (1.2 < zB < 2), with the cross-correlation detected at a significance of 7σ. This analysis provides an independent assessment for the accuracy of redshift measurements in a regime that is challenging to calibrate directly owing to known incompleteness in spectroscopic surveys.

We present high signal-to-noise galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey constant mass (CMASS) sample using 250 deg2 of weak-lensing data from Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Stripe 82 Survey. We compare this signal with predictions from mock catalogues trained to match observables including the stellar mass function and the projected and twodimensional clustering of CMASS. We show that the clustering of CMASS, together with standard models of the galaxy-halo connection, robustly predicts a lensing signal that is 20-40 per cent larger than observed. Detailed tests show that our results are robust to a variety of systematic effects. Lowering the value of S8 = σ8 √ Ωm/0.3 compared to Planck Collaboration XIII reconciles the lensing with clustering. However, given the scale of our measurement (r < 10 h-1 Mpc), other effects may also be at play and need to be taken into consideration. We explore the impact of baryon physics, assembly bias, massive neutrinos and modifications to general relativity on ΔΣ and show that several of these effects may be non-negligible given the precision of our measurement. Disentangling cosmological effects from the details of the galaxy-halo connection, the effect of baryons, and massive neutrinos, is the next challenge facing joint lensing and clustering analyses. This is especially true in the context of large galaxy samples from Baryon Acoustic Oscillation surveys with precise measurements but complex selection functions.

We present an analytical description of the probability distribution function (PDF) of the smoothed 3D matter density field for modified gravity and dark energy. Our approach, based on the principles of Large Deviations Theory, is applicable to general extensions of the standard Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmology. We show that late-time changes to the law of gravity and background expansion can be included through Einstein-de Sitter spherical collapse dynamics combined with linear theory calculations and a calibration measurement of the non-linear variance of the smoothed density field from a simple numerical simulation. In a comparison to N -body simulations for f (R), DGP, and evolving dark energy theories, we find per cent level accuracy around the peak of the distribution for predictions in the mildly non-linear regime. A Fisher forecast of an idealized experiment with a Euclid -like survey volume demonstrates the power of combining measurements of the 3D matter PDF with the 3D matter power spectrum. This combination is shown to halve the uncertainty on parameters for an evolving dark energy model, relative to a power spectrum analysis on its own. The PDF is also found to substantially increase the detection significance for small departures from General Relativity, with improvements of up to six times compared to the power spectrum alone. This analysis is therefore very promising for future studies including non-Gaussian statistics, as it has the potential to alleviate the reliance of these analyses on expensive high-resolution simulations and emulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a mitigation strategy to reduce the impact of non-linear galaxy bias on the joint '3 × 2pt' cosmological analysis of weak lensing and galaxy surveys. The Ψ-statistics that we adopt are based on Complete Orthogonal Sets of E/B Integrals. As such they are designed to minimize the contributions to the observable from the smallest physical scales where models are highly uncertain. We demonstrate that Ψ-statistics carry the same constraining power as the standard two-point galaxy clustering and galaxy–galaxy lensing statistics, but are significantly less sensitive to scale-dependent galaxy bias. Using two galaxy bias models, motivated by halo model fits to data and simulations, we quantify the error in a standard 3 × 2pt analysis where constant galaxy bias is assumed. Even when adopting conservative angular scale cuts, that degrade the overall cosmological parameter constraints, we find of order 1σ biases for Stage III surveys on the cosmological parameter S 8 = σ8(Ωm/0.3)α. This arises from a leakage of the smallest physical scales to all angular scales in the standard two-point correlation functions. In contrast, when analysing Ψ-statistics under the same approximation of constant galaxy bias, we show that the bias on the recovered value for S 8 can be decreased by a factor of ∼2, with less conservative scale cuts. Given the challenges in determining accurate galaxy bias models in the highly non-linear regime, we argue that 3 × 2pt analyses should move towards new statistics that are less sensitive to the smallest physical scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We simultaneously present constraints on the stellar-to-halo mass relation for central and satellite galaxies through a weak lensing analysis of spectroscopically classified galaxies. Using overlapping data from the fourth data release of the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), and the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey (GAMA), we find that satellite galaxies are hosted by halo masses that are 0.53 ± 0.39 dex (68% confidence, 3σ detection) smaller than those of central galaxies of the same stellar mass (for a stellar mass of log(M⋆/M⊙) = 10.6). This is consistent with galaxy formation models, whereby infalling satellite galaxies are preferentially stripped of their dark matter. We find consistent results with similar uncertainties when comparing constraints from a standard azimuthally averaged galaxy-galaxy lensing analysis and a two-dimensional likelihood analysis of the full shear field. As the latter approach is somewhat biased due to the lens incompleteness and as it does not provide any improvement to the precision when applied to actual data, we conclude that stacked tangential shear measurements are best-suited for studies of the galaxy-halo connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. The density split statistics in weak gravitational lensing analyses probes the correlation between regions of different (foreground) galaxy number densities and their weak lensing signal, which is measured by the shape distortion of background galaxies. Aims. In this paper, we reconsider density split statistics, by constructing a new angular filter function that is adapted to the expected relation between the galaxy number density and shear pattern, in a way that the filter weighting the galaxy number density is matched to the filter that is used to quantify the shear signal. Methods. We used the results of numerical ray-tracing simulations, specifically through the Millennium Simulation supplemented by a galaxy distribution based on a semi-analytic model, to construct a matched pair of adapted filter functions for the galaxy density and the tangential shear signal. We compared the performance of our new filter to the previously used top-hat filter, applying both to a different and independent set of numerical simulations (SLICS, cosmo-SLICS). Results. We show that the adapted filter yields a better correlation between the total matter and the galaxy distribution. Furthermore, the adapted filter provides a larger signal-to-noise ratio to constrain the bias between the total matter and the galaxy distribution, and we show that it is, in general, a more sensitive discriminator between different cosmologies, with the exception of cosmologies with very large σ8 values. All analyses lead to the conclusion that our adapted filter should be favoured in future density split statistic works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The physics of gravity on cosmological scales affects both the rate of assembly of large-scale structure and the gravitational lensing of background light through this cosmic web. By comparing the amplitude of these different observational signatures, we can construct tests that can distinguish general relativity from its potential modifications. We used the latest weak gravitational lensing dataset from the Kilo-Degree Survey, KiDS-1000, in conjunction with overlapping galaxy spectroscopic redshift surveys, BOSS and 2dFLenS, to perform the most precise existing amplitude-ratio test. We measured the associated EG statistic with 15 − 20% errors in five Δz = 0.1 tomographic redshift bins in the range 0.2 <  z <  0.7 on projected scales up to 100 h−1 Mpc. The scale-independence and redshift-dependence of these measurements are consistent with the theoretical expectation of general relativity in a Universe with matter density Ωm = 0.27 ± 0.04. We demonstrate that our results are robust against different analysis choices, including schemes for correcting the effects of source photometric redshift errors, and we compare the performance of angular and projected galaxy-galaxy lensing statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observations of galaxies and galaxy clusters in the local universe can account for only ∼10% of the total baryon content. Cosmological simulations predict that the "missing baryons" are spread throughout filamentary structures in the cosmic web, forming a low-density gas with temperatures of 105−107 K. We search for this warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) by stacking the Planck Compton y-parameter map of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect for 1 002 334 pairs of CMASS galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We model the contribution from the galaxy halo pairs assuming spherical symmetry, finding a residual tSZ signal at the 2.9σ level from a stacked filament of length 10.5 h−1 Mpc with a Compton parameter magnitude y = (0.6 ± 0.2)×10−8. We consider possible sources of contamination and conclude that bound gas in haloes may contribute only up to 20% of the measured filamentary signal. To estimate the filament gas properties we measure the gravitational lensing signal for the same sample of galaxy pairs; in combination with the tSZ signal, this yields an inferred gas density of ρb = (5.5 ± 2.9) × ρ̄b ρ b = (5.5 ± 2.9) × ρ b ¯ $ \rho_{\mathrm{b}}=(5.5\pm 2.9)\times\bar{\rho_{\mathrm{b}}} $ with a temperature T = (2.7 ± 1.7) × 106 K. This result is consistent with the predicted WHIM properties, and overall the filamentary gas can account for 11 ± 7% of the total baryon content of the Universe. We also see evidence that the gas filament extends beyond the galaxy pair. Averaging over this longer baseline boosts the significance of the tSZ signal and increases the associated baryon content to 28 ± 12% of the global value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploiting the full statistical power of future cosmic shear surveys will necessitate improvements to the accuracy with which the gravitational lensing signal is measured. We present a framework for calibrating shear with image simulations that demonstrates the importance of including realistic correlations between galaxy morphology, size, and more importantly, photometric redshifts. This realism is essential to ensure that selection and shape measurement biases can be calibrated accurately for a tomographic cosmic shear analysis. We emulate Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) observations of the COSMOS field using morphological information from Hubble Space Telescope imaging, faithfully reproducing the measured galaxy properties from KiDS observations of the same field. We calibrate our shear measurements from lensfit, and find through a range of sensitivity tests that lensfit is robust and unbiased within the allowed two per cent tolerance of our study. Our results show that the calibration has to be performed by selecting the tomographic samples in the simulations, consistent with the actual cosmic shear analysis, because the joint distributions of galaxy properties are found to vary with redshift. Ignoring this redshift variation could result in misestimating the shear bias by an amount that exceeds the allowed tolerance. To improve the calibration for future cosmic shear analyses, it will also be essential to correctly account for the measurement of photometric redshifts, which requires simulating multi-band observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present cosmological parameter constraints from a joint analysis of three cosmological probes: the tomographic cosmic shear signal in ~450 deg² of data from the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS), the galaxy-matter cross-correlation signal of galaxies from the Galaxies And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey determined with KiDS weak lensing, and the angular correlation function of the same GAMA galaxies. We use fast power spectrum estimators that are based on simple integrals over the real-space correlation functions, and show that they are practically unbiased over relevant angular frequency ranges. We test our full pipeline on numerical simulations that are tailored to KiDS and retrieve the input cosmology. By fitting different combinations of power spectra, we demonstrate that the three probes are internally consistent. For all probes combined, we obtain S8 ≡ σ8√Ωm/0.3 = 0.800+0.029 -0.027, consistent with Planck and the fiducial KiDS-450 cosmic shear correlation function results. Marginalizing over wide priors on the mean of the tomographic redshift distributions yields consistent results for S8 with an increase of 28 per cent in the error. The combination of probes results in a 26 per cent reduction in uncertainties of S8 over using the cosmic shear power spectra alone. The main gain from these additional probes comes through their constraining power on nuisance parameters, such as the galaxy intrinsic alignment amplitude or potential shifts in the redshift distributions, which are up to a factor of 2 better constrained compared to using cosmic shear alone, demonstrating the value of large-scale structure probe combination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We perform a combined analysis of cosmic shear tomography, galaxy–galaxy lensing tomography, and redshift-space multipole power spectra (monopole and quadrupole) using 450 deg2 of imaging data by the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS-450) overlapping with two spectroscopic surveys: the 2-degree Field Lensing Survey (2dFLenS) and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). We restrict the galaxy–galaxy lensing and multipole power spectrum measurements to the overlapping regions with KiDS, and self-consistently compute the full covariance between the different observables using a large suite of N-body simulations. We methodically analyse different combinations of the observables, finding that the galaxy–galaxy lensing measurements are particularly useful in improving the constraint on the intrinsic alignment amplitude, while the multipole power spectra are useful in tightening the constraints along the lensing degeneracy direction. The fully combined constraint on S8≡σ8√Ωm/0.3=0.742±0.035 , which is an improvement by 20 per cent compared to KiDS alone, corresponds to a 2.6σ discordance with Planck, and is not significantly affected by fitting to a more conservative set of scales. Given the tightening of the parameter space, we are unable to resolve the discordance with an extended cosmology that is simultaneously favoured in a model selection sense, including the sum of neutrino masses, curvature, evolving dark energy and modified gravity. The complementarity of our observables allows for constraints on modified gravity degrees of freedom that are not simultaneously bounded with either probe alone, and up to a factor of three improvement in the S8 constraint in the extended cosmology compared to KiDS alone. [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 present predictions for the galaxy–galaxy lensing (GGL) profile from the EAGLE hydrodynamical cosmological simulation at redshift z = 0.18, in the spatial range 0.02 < R/(h-1 Mpc) < 2, and for five logarithmically equispaced stellar mass bins in the range 10.3 < log10(Mstar/M⊚) < 11.8. We compare these excess surface density profiles to the observed signal from background galaxies imaged by the Kilo Degree Survey around spectroscopically confirmed foreground galaxies from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. Exploiting the GAMA galaxy group catalogue, the profiles of central and satellite galaxies are computed separately for groups with at least five members to minimize contamination. EAGLE predictions are in broad agreement with the observed profiles for both central and satellite galaxies, although the signal is underestimated at R ≈ 0.5–2 h-1 Mpc for the highest stellar mass bins. When central and satellite galaxies are considered simultaneously, agreement is found only when the selection function of lens galaxies is taken into account in detail. Specifically, in the case of GAMA galaxies, it is crucial to account for the variation of the fraction of satellite galaxies in bins of stellar mass induced by the flux-limited nature of the survey. We report the inferred stellar-to-halo mass relation and we find good agreement with recent published results. We note how the precision of the GGL profiles in the simulation holds the potential to constrain fine-grained aspects of the galaxy-dark matter connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the tomographic cross-correlation between galaxy lensing measured in the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS-450) with overlapping lensing measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), as detected by Planck 2015.We compare our joint probe measurement to the theoretical expectation for a flat Λ cold dark matter cosmology, assuming the best-fitting cosmological parameters from the KiDS-450 cosmic shear and Planck CMB analyses. We find that our results are consistent within 1σ with the KiDS-450 cosmology, with an amplitude re-scaling parameter AKiDS = 0.86 ± 0.19. Adopting a Planck cosmology, we find our results are consistent within 2σ, with APlanck = 0.68±0.15.We show that the agreement is improved in both cases when the contamination to the signal by intrinsic galaxy alignments is accounted for, increasing A by ~0.1. This is the first tomographic analysis of the galaxy lensing – CMB lensing cross-correlation signal, and is based on five photometric redshift bins. We use this measurement as an independent validation of the multiplicative shear calibration and of the calibrated source redshift distribution at high redshifts. We find that constraints on these two quantities are strongly correlated when obtained from this technique, which should therefore not be considered as a stand-alone competitive calibration tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present measurements of the spatial mapping between (hot) baryons and the total matter in the Universe, via the cross-correlation between the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) map from Planck and the weak gravitational lensing maps from the Red Cluster Sequence Lensing Survey (RCSLenS). The cross-correlations are performed on the map level where all the sources (including diffuse intergalactic gas) contribute to the signal. We consider two configuration-space correlation function estimators, ξy-κ and ξy-γt, and a Fourier-space estimator, Cy-κζ, in our analysis. We detect a significant correlation out to 3° of angular separation on the sky. Based on statistical noise only, we can report 13σ and 17σ detections of the cross-correlation using the configuration-space y-κ and y-γt estimators, respectively. Including a heuristic estimate of the sampling variance yields a detection significance of 7σ and 8σ, respectively. A similar level of detection is obtained from the Fourier-space estimator, Cy-κζ. As each estimator probes different dynamical ranges, their combination improves the significance of the detection. We compare our measurements with predictions from the cosmo-OverWhelmingly Large Simulations suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, where different galactic feedback models are implemented. We find that a model with considerable active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback that removes large quantities of hot gas from galaxy groups and Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7-yr best-fitting cosmological parameters provides the best match to the measurements. All baryonic models in the context of a Planck cosmology overpredict the observed signal. Similar cosmological conclusions are drawn when we employ a halo model with the observed 'universal' pressure profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate possible signatures of halo assembly bias for spectroscopically selected galaxy groups from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey using weak lensing measurements from the spatially overlapping regions of the deeper, high-imaging-quality photometric Kilo-Degree Survey. We use GAMA groups with an apparent richness larger than 4 to identify samples with comparable mean host halo masses but with a different radial distribution of satellite galaxies, which is a proxy for the formation time of the haloes. We measure the weak lensing signal for groups with a steeper than average and with a shallower than average satellite distribution and find no sign of halo assembly bias, with the bias ratio of 0.85+0.37-0.25, which is consistent with the Λ cold dark matter prediction. Our galaxy groups have typical masses of 1013 M⊙ h-1, naturally complementing previous studies of halo assembly bias on galaxy cluster scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a re-analysis of the CFHTLenS weak gravitational lensing survey using Complete Orthogonal Sets of E/B-mode Integrals, known as COSEBIs. COSEBIs provide a complete set of functions to efficiently separate E-modes from B-modes and hence allow for robust and stringent tests for systematic errors in the data. This analysis reveals significant B-modes on large angular scales that were not previously seen using the standard E/B decomposition analyses. We find that the significance of the B-modes is enhanced when the data are split by galaxy type and analysed in tomographic redshift bins. Adding tomographic bins to the analysis increases the number of COSEBIs modes, which results in a less-accurate estimation of the covariance matrix from a set of simulations. We therefore also present the first compressed COSEBIs analysis of survey data, where the COSEBIs modes are optimally combined based on their sensitivity to cosmological parameters. In this tomographic CCOSEBIs analysis, we find the B-modes to be consistent with zero when the full range of angular scales are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the spherical evolution model for voids in ΛCDM, where the evolution of voids is governed by dark energy at an earlier time than that for the whole universe or in overdensities. We show that the presence of dark energy suppresses the growth of peculiar velocities, causing void shell-crossing to occur at progressively later epochs as ΩΛ increases. We apply the spherical model to evolve the initial conditions of N-body simulated voids and compare the resulting final void profiles. We find that the model is successful in tracking the evolution of voids with radii greater than 30 h−1 Mpc, implying that void profiles could be used to constrain dark energy. We find that the initial peculiar velocities of voids play a significant role in shaping their evolution. Excluding the peculiar velocity in the evolution model delays the time of shell crossing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the 2-degree Field Lensing Survey (2dFLenS), a new galaxy redshift survey performed at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. 2dFLenS is the first wide-area spectroscopic survey specifically targeting the area mapped by deep-imaging gravitational lensing fields, in this case the Kilo-Degree Survey. 2dFLenS obtained 70 079 redshifts in the range z < 0.9 over an area of 731 deg2, and is designed to extend the data sets available for testing gravitational physics and promote the development of relevant algorithms for joint imaging and spectroscopic analysis. The redshift sample consists first of 40 531 Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs), which enable analyses of galaxy–galaxy lensing, redshift-space distortion, and the overlapping source redshift distribution by cross-correlation. An additional 28 269 redshifts form amagnitude-limited (r<19.5) nearly complete subsample, allowing direct source classification and photometric-redshift calibration. In this paper, we describe the motivation, target selection, spectroscopic observations, and clustering analysis of 2dFLenS. We use power spectrum multipole measurements to fit the redshift-space distortion parameter of the LRG sample in two redshift ranges 0.15 < z < 0.43 and 0.43 < z < 0.7 as β = 0.49 ± 0.15 and β = 0.26 ± 0.09, respectively. These values are consistent with those obtained from LRGs in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. 2dFLenS data products will be released via our website http://2dflens.swin.edu.au. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Galaxies and their dark matter haloes are part of a complex network of mass structures, collectively called the cosmic web. Using the tidal tensor prescription these structures can be classified into four cosmic environments: voids, sheets, filaments and knots. As the cosmicweb may influence the formation and evolution of dark matter haloes and the galaxies they host, we aim to study the effect of these cosmic environments on the average mass of galactic haloes. To this end we measure the galaxy–galaxy lensing profile of 91 195 galaxies, within 0.039 < z < 0.263, from the spectroscopic Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey, using ∼100 deg2 of overlapping data from the Kilo-Degree Survey. In each of the four cosmic environments we model the contributions from group centrals, satellites and neighbouring groups to the stacked galaxy–galaxy lensing profiles. After correcting the lens samples for differences in the stellar mass distribution, we find no dependence of the average halo mass of central galaxies on their cosmic environment. We do find a significant increase in the average contribution of neighbouring groups to the lensing profile in increasingly dense cosmic environments. We show, however, that the observed effect can be entirely attributed to the galaxy density at much smaller scales (within 4 h−1 Mpc), which is correlated with the density of the cosmic environments. Within our current uncertainties we find no direct dependence of galaxy halo mass on their cosmic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We measure the cross-correlation signature between the Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing map and the weak lensing observations from both the Red-sequence Cluster Lensing Survey and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey. In addition to a Fourier analysis, we include the first configuration-space detection, based on the estimators ‹κCMBκgal› and ‹κCMBγt›. Combining 747.2 deg2 from both surveys, we find a detection significance that exceeds 4.2σ in both Fourier- and configuration-space analyses. Scaling the predictions by a free parameter A, we obtain APlanckCFHT = 0.68 ± 0.31 and APlanckRCS = 1.31 ± 0.33. In preparation for the next generation of measurements similar to these, we quantify the impact of different analysis choices on these results. First, since none of these estimators probes the exact same dynamical range, we improve our detection by combining them. Secondly, we carry out a detailed investigation on the effect of apodization, zero-padding and mask multiplication, validated on a suite of high-resolution simulations, and find that the latter produces the largest systematic bias in the cosmological interpretation. Finally, we show that residual contamination from intrinsic alignment and the effect of photometric redshift error are both largely degenerate with the characteristic signal from massive neutrinos, however the signature of baryon feedback might be easier to distinguish. The three lensing data sets are publicly available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying a transformation to a non-Gaussian field can enhance the information content of the resulting power spectrum, by reducing the correlations between Fourier modes. In the context of weak gravitational lensing, it has been shown that this gain in information content is significantly compromised by the presence of shape noise. We apply clipping to mock convergence fields, a technique which is known to be robust in the presence of noise and has been successfully applied to galaxy number density fields. When analysed in isolation the resulting convergence power spectrum returns degraded constraints on cosmological parameters. However, substantial gains can be achieved by performing a combined analysis of the power spectra derived from both the original and transformed fields. Even in the presence of realistic levels of shape noise, we demonstrate that this approach is capable of reducing the area of likelihood contours within the Ωm - σ8 plane by more than a factor of 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) comprises deep multicolour (u*g′r′i′z′) photometry spanning 154 deg2, with accurate photometric redshifts and shape measurements. We demonstrate that the redshift probability distribution function summed over galaxies provides an accurate representation of the galaxy redshift distribution accounting for random and catastrophic errors for galaxies with best-fitting photometric redshifts zp < 1.3.We present cosmological constraints using tomographic weak gravitational lensing by large-scale structure. We use two broad redshift bins 0.5 < zp ≤ 0.85 and 0.85 < zp ≤ 1.3 free of intrinsic alignment contamination, and measure the shear correlation function on angular scales in the range ∼1–40 arcmin. We show that the problematic redshift scaling of the shear signal, found in previous Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey data analyses, does not affect the CFHTLenS data. For a flat Λ cold dark matter model and a fixed matter density Ωm = 0.27, we find the normalization of the matter power spectrum σ8 = 0.771 ± 0.041. When combined with cosmic microwave background data (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7-year results), baryon acoustic oscillation data (BOSS) and a prior on the Hubble constant from the Hubble Space Telescope distance ladder, we find that CFHTLenS improves the precision of the fully marginalized parameter estimates by an average factor of 1.5-2. Combining our results with the above cosmological probes, we find Ωm = 0.2762 ± 0.0074 and σ8 = 0.802 ± 0.013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of the Gravitational LEnsing Accuracy Testing 2008 (GREAT08) Challenge, a blind analysis challenge to infer weak gravitational lensing shear distortions from images. The primary goal was to stimulate new ideas by presenting the problem to researchers outside the shear measurement community. Six GREAT08 Team methods were presented at the launch of the Challenge and five additional groups submitted results during the 6-month competition. Participants analyzed 30 million simulated galaxies with a range in signal-to-noise ratio, point spread function ellipticity, galaxy size and galaxy type. The large quantity of simulations allowed shear measurement methods to be assessed at a level of accuracy suitable for currently planned future cosmic shear observations for the first time. Different methods perform well in different parts of simulation parameter space and come close to the target level of accuracy in several of these. A number of fresh ideas have emerged as a result of the Challenge including a re-examination of the process of combining information from different galaxies, which reduces the dependence on realistic galaxy modelling. The image simulations will become increasingly sophisticated in future GREAT Challenges, meanwhile the GREAT08 simulations remain as a benchmark for additional developments in shear measurement algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the impact of the observed correlation between a galaxy's shape and its surrounding density field on the measurement of third-order weak lensing shear statistics. Using numerical simulations, we estimate the systematic error contribution to a measurement of the third-order moment of the aperture mass statistic (GGG) from three-point intrinsic ellipticity correlations (III), and the three-point coupling between the weak lensing shear experienced by distant galaxies and the shape of foreground galaxies (GGI and GII). We find that third-order weak lensing statistics are typically more strongly contaminated by these physical systematics compared to second-order shear measurements, contaminating the measured three-point signal for moderately deep surveys with a median redshift by ∼15 per cent. It has been shown that accurate photometric redshifts will be crucial to correct for this effect, once a model and the redshift dependence of the effect can be accurately constrained. To this end we provide redshift-dependent fitting functions to our results and propose a new tool for the observational study of intrinsic galaxy alignments. For a shallow survey with we find III to be an order of magnitude larger than the expected cosmological GGG shear signal. Compared to the two-point intrinsic ellipticity correlation which is similar in amplitude to the two-point shear signal at these survey depths, third-order statistics therefore offer a promising new way to constrain models of intrinsic galaxy alignments. Early shallow data from the next generation of very wide weak lensing surveys will be optimal for this type of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a high-resolution dark matter reconstruction of the Abell 901/902 supercluster from a weak lensing analysis of the Hubble Space Telescope STAGES survey. We detect the four main structures of the supercluster at high significance, resolving substructure within and between the clusters. We find that the distribution of dark matter is well traced by the cluster galaxies, with the brightest cluster galaxies marking out the strongest peaks in the dark matter distribution. We also find a significant extension of the dark matter distribution of Abell 901a in the direction of an infalling X-ray group Abell 901α. We present mass, mass-to-light and mass-to-stellar mass ratio measurements of the structures and substructures that we detect. We find no evidence for variation of the mass-to-light and mass-to-stellar mass ratio between the different clusters. We compare our space-based lensing analysis with an earlier ground-based lensing analysis of the supercluster to demonstrate the importance of space-based imaging for future weak lensing dark matter ‘observations’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a cosmic shear analysis of the 100-deg2 weak-lensing survey, combining data from the CFHTLS-Wide, RCS, VIRMOS-DESCART and GaBoDS surveys. Spanning ∼100 deg2, with a median source redshift , this combined survey allows us to place tight joint constraints on the matter density parameter Ωm, and the amplitude of the matter power spectrum σ8, finding . Tables of the measured shear correlation function and the calculated covariance matrix for each survey are included as supplementary material to the online version of this article. The accuracy of our results is a marked improvement on previous work owing to three important differences in our analysis; we correctly account for sample variance errors by including a non-Gaussian contribution estimated from numerical simulations; we correct the measured shear for a calibration bias as estimated from simulated data; we model the redshift distribution, , of each survey from the largest deep photometric redshift catalogue currently available from the CFHTLS-Deep. This catalogue is randomly sampled to reproduce the magnitude distribution of each survey with the resulting survey-dependent parametrized using two different models. While our results are consistent for the models tested, we find that our cosmological parameter constraints depend weakly (at the 5 per cent level) on the inclusion or exclusion of galaxies with low-confidence photometric redshift estimates . These high-redshift galaxies are relatively few in number but contribute a significant weak-lensing signal. It will therefore be important for future weak-lensing surveys to obtain near-infrared data to reliably determine the number of high-redshift galaxies in cosmic shear analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results from weak gravitational lensing analyses are subject to a cosmic variance error term that has previously been estimated assuming Gaussian statistics. In this Letter we address the issue of estimating cosmic variance errors for weak lensing surveys in the non-Gaussian regime. Using standard cold dark matter model ray-tracing simulations characterized by and for different survey redshifts , we determine the variance of the two-point shear correlation function measured across 64 independent lines of sight. We compare the measured variance to the variance expected from a random Gaussian field and derive a redshift-dependent non-Gaussian calibration relation. We find that the ratio between the non-Gaussian and Gaussian variance at 1 arcmin can be as high as ∼30 for a survey with source redshift and ∼10 for . The transition scale above which the ratio is consistent with unity is found to be arcmin for and arcmin for . We provide fitting formulae to our results permitting the estimation of non-Gaussian cosmic variance errors, and discuss the impact on current and future surveys. A more extensive set of simulations will, however, be required to investigate the dependence of our results on cosmology, specifically on the amplitude of clustering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the expected correlation between the weak gravitational shear of distant galaxies and the orientation of foreground galaxies, through the use of numerical simulations. This shear–ellipticity correlation can mimic a cosmological weak lensing signal, and is potentially the limiting physical systematic effect for cosmology with future high-precision weak lensing surveys. We find that, if uncorrected, the shear–ellipticity correlation could contribute up to 10 per cent of the weak lensing signal on scales up to 20 arcmin, for lensing surveys with a median depth . The most massive foreground galaxies are expected to cause the largest correlations, a result also seen in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find that the redshift dependence of the effect is proportional to the lensing efficiency of the foreground, and this offers prospects for removal to high precision, although with some model dependence. The contamination is characterized by a weakly negative B mode, which can be used as a diagnostic of systematic errors. We also provide more accurate predictions for a second potential source of error, the intrinsic alignment of nearby galaxies. This source of contamination is less important, however, as it can be easily removed with distance information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Shear Testing Programme (STEP) is a collaborative project to improve the accuracy and reliability of all weak lensing measurements in preparation for the next generation of wide-field surveys. In this first STEP paper, we present the results of a blind analysis of simulated ground-based observations of relatively simple galaxy morphologies. The most successful methods are shown to achieve percent level accuracy. From the cosmic shear pipelines that have been used to constrain cosmology, we find weak lensing shear measured to an accuracy that is within the statistical errors of current weak lensing analyses, with shear measurements accurate to better than 7 per cent. The dominant source of measurement error is shown to arise from calibration uncertainties where the measured shear is over or underestimated by a constant multiplicative factor. This is of concern as calibration errors cannot be detected through standard diagnostic tests. The measured calibration errors appear to result from stellar contamination, false object detection, the shear measurement method itself, selection bias and/or the use of biased weights. Additive systematics (false detections of shear) resulting from residual point-spread function anisotropy are, in most cases, reduced to below an equivalent shear of 0.001, an order of magnitude below cosmic shear distortions on the scales probed by current surveys. Our results provide a snapshot view of the accuracy of current ground-based weak lensing methods and a benchmark upon which we can improve. To this end we provide descriptions of each method tested and include details of the eight different implementations of the commonly used Kaiser, Squires & Broadhurst method (KSB+) to aid the improvement of future KSB+ analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present our cosmic shear analysis of GEMS, one of the largest wide-field surveys ever undertaken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Imaged with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), GEMS spans 795 arcmin2 in the Chandra Deep Field South. We detect weak lensing by large-scale structure in high-resolution F606W GEMS data from ∼60 resolved galaxies per square arcminute. We measure the two-point shear correlation function, the top-hat shear variance and the shear power spectrum, performing an E/B mode decomposition for each statistic. We show that we are not limited by systematic errors and use our results to place joint constraints on the matter density parameter Ωm and the amplitude of the matter power spectrum σ8. We find where the 1σ error includes both our uncertainty on the median redshift of the survey and sampling variance. Removing image and point spread function (PSF) distortions are crucial to all weak lensing analyses. We therefore include a thorough discussion on the degree of ACS PSF distortion and anisotropy which we characterize directly from GEMS data. Consecutively imaged over 20 d, GEMS data also allow us to investigate PSF instability over time. We find that, even in the relatively short GEMS observing period, the ACS PSF ellipticity varies at the level of a few per cent which we account for with a semi-time-dependent PSF model. Our correction for the temporal and spatial variability of the PSF is shown to be successful through a series of diagnostic tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Oxford­Dartmouth Thirty Degree Survey (ODTS) is a deep, wide, multiband imaging survey designed to cover a total of 30 deg² in BVRi′Z, with a subset of U- and K-band data, in four separate fields of 5–10 deg² centred at 00:18:24 +34:52, 09:09:45 +40:50, 13:40:00 +02:30 and 16:39:30 +45:24. Observations have been made using the Wide Field Camera on the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) in La Palma to average limiting depths (5σ Vega, aperture magnitudes) of U = 24.8, B = 25.6, V = 25.0, R = 24.6 and i′ = 23.5, with observations taken in ideal conditions reaching the target depths of U = 25.3, B = 26.2, V = 25.7, R = 25.4 and i′ = 24.6. The INT Z-band data were found to be severely effected by fringing and, consequently, are now being obtained at the MDM observatory in Arizona. A complementary K-band survey has also been carried out at MDM, reaching an average depth of K5σ &assymp;18.5. At present, approximately 23 deg² of the ODTS have been observed, with 3.5 deg² of the K-band survey completed. This paper details the survey goals, field selection, observation strategy and data reduction procedure, focusing on the photometric calibration and catalogue construction. Preliminary photometric redshifts have been obtained for a subsample of the objects with R &les; 23. These results are presented alongside a brief description of the photometric redshift determination technique used. The median redshift of the survey is estimated to be z &assymp; 0.7 from a combination of the ODTS photometric redshifts and comparison with the redshift distributions of other surveys. Finally, galaxy number counts for the ODTS are presented which are found to be in excellent agreement with previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate and remove the contamination of weak gravitational lensing measurements by the intrinsic alignment of close pairs of galaxies. We do this by investigating both the aperture mass B mode statistic, and the shear correlations of close and distant pairs of galaxies. These can be used to quantify non-lensing effects in weak lensing surveys. We reanalyse the COMBO-17 survey, and study published results from the Red-sequence Cluster Survey and the VIRMOS–DESCART survey, concluding that the intrinsic alignment effect is at the lower end of the range of theoretical predictions. We also revisit this theoretical issue, and show that misalignment of baryon and halo angular momenta may be an important effect which can reduce the intrinsic ellipticity correlations estimated from numerical simulations to the level that we and the SuperCOSMOS survey observe. We re-examine the cosmological parameter estimation from the COMBO-17 survey, using the shear correlation function, and now marginalizing over the Hubble constant. Assuming no evolution in galaxy clustering, and marginalizing over the intrinsic alignment signal, we find the mass clustering amplitude is reduced by 0.03 to , where is the matter density parameter. We consider the forthcoming SuperNova/ Acceleration Probe ( SNAP) wide weak lensing survey, and the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy wide synoptic survey; we expect them to be contaminated on scales >1 arcmin by intrinsic alignments at the level of ∼1 and ∼2 per cent, respectively. Division of the SNAP survey for lensing tomography significantly increases the contamination in the lowest redshift bin to ∼7 per cent and possibly higher. Removal of the intrinsic alignment effect by the downweighting of nearby galaxy pairs will therefore be vital for SNAP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Intrinsic alignments of galaxies can mimic to an extent the effects of shear caused by weak gravitational lensing. Previous studies have shown that for shallow surveys with median redshifts z[sub m]∼ 0.1 , the intrinsic alignment dominates the lensing signal. For deep surveys with z[sub m]∼ 1 , intrinsic alignments are believed to be a significant contaminant of the lensing signal, preventing high-precision measurements of the matter power spectrum. In this paper we show how distance information, either spectroscopic or photometric redshifts, can be used to downweight nearby pairs in an optimized way, to reduce the errors in the shear signal arising from intrinsic alignments. Provided a conservatively large intrinsic alignment is assumed, the optimized weights will essentially remove all traces of contamination. For the Sloan spectroscopic galaxy sample, residual shot noise continues to render it unsuitable for weak lensing studies. However, a dramatic improvement for the slightly deeper Sloan photometric survey is found, whereby the intrinsic contribution, at angular scales greater than 1 arcmin, is reduced from about 80 times the lensing signal to a 10 per cent effect. For deeper surveys such as the COMBO-17 survey with z[sub m]∼ 0.6 , the optimization reduces the error from a largely systematic ∼220 per cent error at small angular scales to a much smaller and largely statistical error of only 17 per cent of the expected lensing signal. We therefore propose that future weak lensing surveys be accompanied by the acquisition of photometric redshifts, in order to remove fully the unknown intrinsic alignment errors from weak lensing detections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]