Search for: All records

ABSTRACT The combination of galaxy–galaxy lensing (GGL) and galaxy clustering is a powerful probe of low-redshift matter clustering, especially if it is extended to the non-linear regime. To this end, we use an N-body and halo occupation distribution (HOD) emulator method to model the redMaGiC sample of colour-selected passive galaxies in the Dark Energy Survey (DES), adding parameters that describe central galaxy incompleteness, galaxy assembly bias, and a scale-independent multiplicative lensing bias Alens. We use this emulator to forecast cosmological constraints attainable from the GGL surface density profile ΔΣ(rp) and the projected galaxy correlation function wp, gg(rp) in the final (Year 6) DES data set over scales $$r_p=0.3\!-\!30.0\, h^{-1} \, \mathrm{Mpc}$$. For a $$3{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$ prior on Alens we forecast precisions of $$1.9{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$, $$2.0{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$, and $$1.9{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$ on Ωm, σ8, and $$S_8 \equiv \sigma _8\Omega _m^{0.5}$$, marginalized over all halo occupation distribution (HOD) parameters as well as Alens. Adding scales $$r_p=0.3\!-\!3.0\, h^{-1} \, \mathrm{Mpc}$$ improves the S8 precision by a factor of ∼1.6 relative to a large scale ($$3.0\!-\!30.0\, h^{-1} \, \mathrm{Mpc}$$) analysis, equivalent to increasing the survey area by a factor of ∼2.6. Sharpening the Alens prior to $$1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$ further improves the S8 precision to $$1.1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$, and it amplifies the gain from including non-linear scales. Our emulator achieves per cent-level accuracy similar to the projected DES statistical uncertainties, demonstrating the feasibility of a fully non-linear analysis. Obtaining precise parameter constraints from multiple galaxy types and from measurements that span linear and non-linear clustering offers many opportunities for internal cross-checks, which can diagnose systematics and demonstrate the robustness of cosmological results. 

ABSTRACT Cosmological constraints from current and upcoming galaxy cluster surveys are limited by the accuracy of cluster mass calibration. In particular, optically identified galaxy clusters are prone to selection effects that can bias the weak lensing mass calibration. We investigate the selection bias of the stacked cluster lensing signal associated with optically selected clusters, using clusters identified by the redMaPPer algorithm in the Buzzard simulations as a case study. We find that at a given cluster halo mass, the residuals of redMaPPer richness and weak lensing signal are positively correlated. As a result, for a given richness selection, the stacked lensing signal is biased high compared with what we would expect from the underlying halo mass probability distribution. The cluster lensing selection bias can thus lead to overestimated mean cluster mass and biased cosmology results. We show that the lensing selection bias exhibits a strong scale dependence and is approximately 20–60 per cent for ΔΣ at large scales. This selection bias largely originates from spurious member galaxies within ±20–60 $$h^{-1}\, \rm Mpc$$ along the line of sight, highlighting the importance of quantifying projection effects associated with the broad redshift distribution of member galaxies in photometric cluster surveys. While our results qualitatively agree with those in the literature, accurate quantitative modelling of the selection bias is needed to achieve the goals of cluster lensing cosmology and will require synthetic catalogues covering a wide range of galaxy–halo connection models.