Cosmological constraints from the convergence 1-point probability distribution

Kenneth Patton, Jonathan Blazek, Klaus Honscheid, Eric Huff, Peter Melchior, Ashley J. Ross, Eric Suchyta

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

We examine the cosmological information available from the 1-point probability density function (PDF) of the weak-lensing convergence field, utilizing fast L-PICOLA simulations and a Fisher analysis. We find competitive constraints in the Ωm8 plane from the convergence PDF with 188 arcmin2 pixels compared to the cosmic shear power spectrum with an equivalent number of modes (ℓ < 886). The convergence PDF also partially breaks the degeneracy cosmic shear exhibits in that parameter space. A joint analysis of the convergence PDF and shear 2-point function also reduces the impact of shape measurement systematics, to which the PDF is less susceptible, and improves the total figure of merit by a factor of 2-3, depending on the level of systematics. Finally, we present a correction factor necessary for calculating the unbiased Fisher information from finite differences using a limited number of cosmological simulations.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)439-446
Number of pages8
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume472
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2017

Funding

The work on this paper was supported by Department of Energy grant DE-SC0011726.

FundersFunder number
U.S. Department of EnergyDE-SC0011726

    Keywords

    • Cosmological parameters
    • Cosmology: observations
    • Gravitational lensing: weak
    • Large-scale structure of Universe

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