UCL Discovery

Weak lensing forecasts for dark energy, neutrinos and initial conditions

Debono, I; Rassat, A; Refregier, A; Amara, A; Kitching, TD; (2010) Weak lensing forecasts for dark energy, neutrinos and initial conditions. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , 404 (1) pp. 110-119. 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.16284.x.

Abstract

Weak gravitational lensing provides a sensitive probe of cosmology by measuring the mass distribution and the geometry of the low redshift universe. We show how an all-sky weak lensing tomographic survey can jointly constrain different sets of cosmological parameters describing dark energy, massive neutrinos (hot dark matter), and the primordial power spectrum. In order to put all sectors on an equal footing, we introduce a new parameter $\beta$, the second order running spectral index. Using the Fisher matrix formalism with and without CMB priors, we examine how the constraints vary as the parameter set is enlarged. We find that weak lensing with CMB priors provides robust constraints on dark energy parameters and can simultaneously provide strong constraints on all three sectors. We find that the dark energy sector is largely insensitive to the inclusion of the other cosmological sectors. Implications for the planning of future surveys are discussed.

Type: Article Weak lensing forecasts for dark energy, neutrinos and initial conditions An open access version is available from UCL Discovery 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.16284.x http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.16284.x English © 2010 RAS Definitive versions of articles pre-2013 are available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2966, now published by http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org UCLUCL > Provost and Vice Provost OfficesUCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMSUCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical SciencesUCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1375613