Localizing Transformations of the Galaxy-Galaxy Lensing Observable.

Modern cosmological analyses of galaxy-galaxy lensing face a theoretical systematic effect arising from the nonlocality of the observed galaxy-galaxy lensing signal. Because the predicted tangential shear signal at a given separation depends on the physical modeling on all scales internal to that separation, systematic uncertainties in the modeling of nonlinear small scales are propagated outward to larger scales. Even in the absence of other limiting factors, this systematic effect alone can necessitate conservative small-scale cuts, resulting in significant losses of information in the tangential shear data vector. We construct a simple linear transformation of the standard galaxy-galaxy observable that removes this nonlocality, which ensures that the cosmological signal contained within the transformed observable is exclusively drawn from well-understood physical scales. This new observable, through its robustness against nonlocality, also enables a significant extension in the range of usable scales in galaxy-galaxy lensing compared to the standard approach in current cosmological analyses.

Evidence of Halo Assembly Bias in Massive Clusters.

We present significant evidence of halo assembly bias for SDSS redMaPPer galaxy clusters in the redshift range [0.1, 0.33]. By dividing the 8,648 clusters into two subsamples based on the average member galaxy separation from the cluster center, we first show that the two subsamples have very similar halo mass of M_{200m}≃1.9×10^{14} h^{-1}M_{⊙} based on the weak lensing signals at small radii R≲10 h^{-1}Mpc. However, their halo bias inferred from both the large-scale weak lensing and the projected autocorrelation functions differs by a factor of ∼1.5, which is a signature of assembly bias. The same bias hypothesis for the two subsamples is excluded at 2.5σ in the weak lensing and 4.4σ in the autocorrelation data, respectively. This result could bring a significant impact on both galaxy evolution and precision cosmology.

Size bias in galaxy surveys.

Only certain galaxies are included in surveys: those bright and large enough to be detectable as extended sources. Because gravitational lensing can make galaxies appear both brighter and larger, the presence of foreground inhomogeneities can scatter galaxies across not only magnitude cuts but also size cuts, changing the statistical properties of the resulting catalog. Here we explore this size bias and how it combines with magnification bias to affect galaxy statistics. We demonstrate that photometric galaxy samples from current and upcoming surveys can be even more affected by size bias than by magnification bias.

Primordial gravity waves and weak lensing.

Inflation produces a primordial spectrum of gravity waves in addition to the density perturbations which seed structure formation. We compute the signature of these gravity waves in the large scale shear field. The shear can be divided into a gradient mode (G or E) and a curl mode (C or B). The latter is produced only by gravity waves, so the observations of a nonzero curl mode could be seen as evidence for inflation. We find that the expected signal from inflation is small, peaking on the largest scales at l(l+1)C(l)/2pi<10(-11) at l=2 and falling rapidly thereafter. Even for an all-sky deep survey, this signal would be below noise at all multipoles.