Open AccessCosmological model differentiation through weak gravitational lensing
Author(s) -
Guimarães Antonio C. C.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05939.x
Subject(s) - physics , weak gravitational lensing , gravitational lensing formalism , strong gravitational lensing , gravitational lens , cosmic variance , measure (data warehouse) , cosmology , statistical physics , cosmic cancer database , noise (video) , minkowski space , astrophysics , redshift , galaxy , mathematical physics , artificial intelligence , database , computer science , image (mathematics)
ABSTRACT We investigate the potential of weak gravitational lensing maps to differentiate between distinct cosmological models, considering cosmic variance owing to a limited map extension and the presence of noise. We introduce a measure of the differentiation between two models under a chosen lensing statistics. That enables one to determine in which circumstances (map size and noise level), and for which lensing measures two models can be differentiated at a desired confidence level. As an application, we simulate convergence maps for three cosmological models (SCDM, OCDM, and ΛCDM), calculate several lensing analyses for them, and compute the differentiation between the models under these analyses. We use first, second, and higher order statistics, including Minkowski functionals, which provide a complete morphological characterization of the lensing maps. We examine for each lensing measure used how noise affects its description of the convergence, and how this affects its ability to differentiate between cosmological models. Our results confirm the use of weak gravitational lensing as a valuable cosmological tool.