arXiv subjects

Chris Clarkson

Publications and source records attributed to Chris Clarkson.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Roulettes: A weak lensing formalism for strong lensing - I. Overview

We present a new perspective on gravitational lensing. We describe a new extension of the weak lensing formalism capable of describing strongly lensed images. By integrating the non-linear geodesic deviation equation, the amplification matrix of weak lensing is generalised to a sum over independent amplification tensors of increasing rank. We show how an image distorted by a generic lens may be constructed as a sum over `roulettes', which are the natural curves associated with the independent spin modes of the amplification tensors. Highly distorted images can be constructed even for large sources observed near or within the Einstein radius of a lens where the shear and convergence are large. The amplitude of each roulette is formed from a sum over appropriate derivatives of the lensing potential. Consequently, measuring these individual roulettes for images around a lens gives a new way to reconstruct a strong lens mass distribution without requiring a lens model. This formalism generalises the convergence, shear and flexion of weak lensing to arbitrary order, and provides a unified bridge between the strong and weak lensing regimes. This overview paper is accompanied by a much more detailed Paper II, arXiv:1603.04652

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arXiv2016

Observed galaxy number counts on the lightcone up to second order: I. Main result

We present the galaxy number overdensity up to second order in redshift space on cosmological scales for a concordance model. The result contains all general relativistic effects up to second order that arise from observing on the past light cone, including all redshift effects, lensing distortions from convergence and shear, and contributions from velocities, Sachs-Wolfe, integrated SW and time-delay terms. This result will be important for accurate calculation of the bias on estimates of non-Gaussianity and on precision parameter estimates, introduced by nonlinear projection effects.

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arXiv2016

Observed galaxy number counts on the lightcone up to second order: II. Derivation

We present a detailed derivation of the observed galaxy number over-density on cosmological scales up to second order in perturbation theory. We include all relativistic effects that arise from observing on the past lightcone. The derivation is in a general gauge, and applies to all dark energy models (including interacting dark energy) and many modified gravity models. The result will be important for accurate cosmological parameter estimation, including non-Gaussianity, since all projection effects need to be taken into account. It also offers the potential for new probes of General Relativity, dark energy and modified gravity. This paper accompanies Paper I which presents the key results for the concordance model in Poisson gauge.

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arXiv2016

Lensing and time-delay contributions to galaxy correlations

Galaxy clustering on very large scales can be probed via the 2-point correlation function in the general case of wide and deep separations, including all the lightcone and relativistic effects. Using our recently developed formalism, we analyze the behavior of the local and integrated contributions and how these depend on redshift range, linear and angular separations and luminosity function. Relativistic corrections to the local part of the correlation can be non-negligible but they remain generally sub-dominant. On the other hand, the additional correlations arising from lensing convergence and time-delay effects can become very important and even dominate the observed total correlation function. We investigate different configurations formed by the observer and the pair of galaxies, and we find that the case of near-radial large-scale separations is where these effects will be the most important.

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arXiv2016

Dodging the dark matter degeneracy while determining the dynamics of dark energy

One of the key issues in cosmology is to establish the nature of dark energy, and to determine whether the equation of state evolves with time. When estimating this from distance measurements there is a degeneracy with the matter density. We show that there exists a simple function of the dark energy equation of state and its first derivative which is independent of this degeneracy at all redshifts, and so is a much more robust determinant of the evolution of dark energy than just its derivative. We show that this function can be well determined at low redshift from supernovae using Gaussian Processes, and that this method is far superior to a variety of parameterisations which are also subject to priors on the matter density. This shows that parametrised models give very biased constraints on the evolution of dark energy.

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arXiv2015

Beyond the plane-parallel and Newtonian approach: Wide-angle redshift distortions and convergence in general relativity

We extend previous analyses of wide-angle correlations in the galaxy power spectrum in redshift space to include all general relativistic effects. These general relativistic corrections to the standard approach become important on large scales and at high redshifts, and they lead to new terms in the wide-angle correlations. We show that in principle the new terms can produce corrections of nearly 10 % on Gpc scales over the usual Newtonian approximation. General relativistic corrections will be important for future large-volume surveys such as SKA and Euclid, although the problem of cosmic variance will present a challenge in observing this.

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arXiv2015

Cosmological evolution of the gravitational entropy of the large-scale structure

We consider the entropy associated with the large-scale structure of the Universe in the linear regime, where the Universe can be described by a perturbed Friedmann-Lemaître spacetime. In particular, we compare two different definitions proposed in the literature for the entropy using a spatial averaging prescription. For one definition, the entropy of the large-scale structure for a given comoving volume always grows with time, both for a CDM and a $Λ$CDM model. In particular, while it diverges for a CDM model, it saturates to a constant value in the presence of a cosmological constant. The use of a light-cone averaging prescription in the context of the evaluation of the entropy is also discussed.

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arXiv2015

Do we care about the distance to the CMB? Clarifying the impact of second-order lensing

It has recently been shown that second-order corrections to the background distance-redshift relation can build up significantly at large redshifts, due to an aggregation of gravitational lensing events. This shifts the expectation value of the distance to the CMB by 1%. In this paper we show that this shift is already properly accounted for in standard CMB analyses. We clarify the role that the area distance to the CMB plays in the presence of second-order lensing corrections.

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arXiv2015

Cosmological ensemble and directional averages of observables

We show that at second order, ensemble averages of observables and directional averages do not commute due to gravitational lensing -- observing the same thing in many directions over the sky is not the same as taking an ensemble average. In principle this non-commutativity is significant for a variety of quantities that we often use as observables and can lead to a bias in parameter estimation. We derive the relation between the ensemble average and the directional average of an observable, at second order in perturbation theory. We discuss the relevance of these two types of averages for making predictions of cosmological observables, focusing on observables related to distances and magnitudes. In particular, we show that the ensemble average of the distance in a given observed direction is increased by gravitational lensing, whereas the directional average of the distance is decreased. For a generic observable, there exists a particular function of the observable that is not affected by second-order lensing perturbations. We also show that standard areas have an advantage over standard rulers, and we discuss the subtleties involved in averaging in the case of supernova observations.

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arXiv2015

The general theory of secondary weak gravitational lensing

Weak gravitational lensing is normally assumed to have only two principle effects: a magnification of a source and a distortion of the sources shape in the form of a shear. However, further distortions are actually present owing to changes in the gravitational field across the scale of the ray bundle of light propagating to us, resulting in the familiar arcs in lensed images. This is normally called the flexion, and is approximated by Taylor expanding the shear and magnification across the image plane. However, the physical origin of this effect arises from higher-order corrections in the geodesic deviation equation governing the gravitational force between neighbouring geodesics - so involves derivatives of the Riemann tensor. We show that integrating the second-order geodesic deviation equation results in a 'Hessian map' for gravitational lensing, which is a higher-order addition to the Jacobi map. We derive the general form of the Hessian map in an arbitrary spacetime paying particular attention to the separate effects of local Ricci versus non-local Weyl curvature. We then specialise to the case of a perturbed FLRW model, and give the general form of the Hessian for the first time. This has a host of new contributions which could in principle be used as tests for modified gravity.

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arXiv2015

Does small scale structure significantly affect cosmological dynamics?

The large-scale homogeneity and isotropy of the universe is generally thought to imply a well defined background cosmological model. It may not. Smoothing over structure adds in an extra contribution, transferring power from small scales up to large. Second-order perturbation theory implies that the effect is small, but suggests that formally the perturbation series may not converge. The amplitude of the effect is actually determined by the ratio of the Hubble scales at matter-radiation equality and today - which are entirely unrelated. This implies that a universe with significantly lower temperature today could have significant backreaction from more power on small scales, and so provides the ideal testing ground for understanding backreaction. We investigate this using two different N-body numerical simulations - a 3D Newtonian and a 1D simulation which includes all relevant relativistic effects. We show that while perturbation theory predicts an increasing backreaction as more initial small-scale power is added, in fact the virialisation of structure saturates the backreaction effect at the same level independently of the equality scale. This implies that backreaction is a small effect independently of initial conditions. Nevertheless, it may still contribute at the percent level to certain cosmological observables and therefore it cannot be neglected in precision cosmology.

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arXiv2015

Testing foundations of modern cosmology with SKA all-sky surveys

Continuum and HI surveys with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will allow us to probe some of the most fundamental assumptions of modern cosmology, including the Cosmological Principle. SKA all-sky surveys will map an enormous slice of space-time and reveal cosmology at superhorizon scales and redshifts of order unity. We illustrate the potential of these surveys and discuss the prospects to measure the cosmic radio dipole at high fidelity. We outline several potentially transformational tests of cosmology to be carried out by means of SKA all-sky surveys.

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arXiv2014

What is the distance to the CMB?

The success of precision cosmology depends not only on accurate observations, but also on the theoretical model - which must be understood to at least the same level of precision. Subtle relativistic effects can lead to biased measurements if they are neglected. One such effect gives a systematic shift in the distance-redshift relation away from its background value, due to the non- linear relativistic conservation of total photon flux. We also show directly how this shift follows from a fully relativistic analysis of the geodesic deviation equation. We derive the expectation value of the shift using second-order perturbations about a concordance background, and show that the distance to last scattering is increased by 1%. We argue that neglecting this shift could lead to a significant bias in the background cosmological parameters, because it alters the meaning of the background model. A naive adjustment of CMB parameter estimation if this shift is really a correction to the background would raise the H0 value inferred from the CMB by 5%, potentially removing the tension with local measurements of H0. Other CMB parameters which depend on the distance would also be shifted by ~1sigma when combined with local H0 data. While our estimations rely on a simplistic analysis, they nevertheless illustrate that accurately defining the background model in terms of the expectation values of observables is critical when we aim to determine the model parameters at the sub-percent level.

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arXiv2014

Nonlinear relativistic corrections to cosmological distances, redshift and gravitational lensing magnification. I - Key results

The next generation of telescopes will usher in an era of precision cosmology, capable of determining the cosmological model to beyond the percent level. For this to be effective, the theoretical model must be understood to at least the same level of precision. A range of subtle relativistic effects remain to be explored theoretically, and offer the potential for probing general relativity in this new regime. We present the distance-redshift relation to second order in cosmological perturbation theory for a general dark energy model. This relation determines the magnification of sources at high precision, as well as redshift space distortions in the mildly non-linear regime. We identify a range of new lensing effects, including: double-integrated and nonlinear integrated Sach-Wolfe contributions, transverse Doppler effects, lensing from the induced vector mode and gravitational wave backgrounds, in addition to lensing from the second-order potential. Modifications to Doppler lensing from redshift-space distortions are identified. Finally, we find a new double-coupling between the density fluctuations integrated along the line of sight, and gradients in the density fluctuations coupled to transverse velocities along the line of sight. These can be large and thus offer important new probes of gravitational lensing and general relativity. This paper accompanies arXiv:1402.1933, where a comprehensive derivation is given.

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arXiv2014

Nonlinear relativistic corrections to cosmological distances, redshift and gravitational lensing magnification. II - Derivation

We present a derivation of the cosmological distance-redshift relation up to second order in perturbation theory. In addition, we find the observed redshift and the lensing magnification to second order. We do not require that the density contrast is small, we only that the metric potentials and peculiar velocities are small. Thus our results apply into the nonlinear regime, and can be used for most dark energy models. We present the results in a form which can be readily computed in an N-body simulation. This paper accompanies arXiv:1207.2109, where the key results are summarised in a physically transparent form and applications are discussed.

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arXiv2014

Evolution of linear perturbations in spherically symmetric dust spacetimes

We present results from a numerical code implementing a new method to solve the master equations describing the evolution of linear perturbations in a spherically symmetric but inhomogeneous background. This method can be used to simulate several configurations of physical interest, such as relativistic corrections to structure formation, the lensing of gravitational waves and the evolution of perturbations in a cosmological void model. This paper focuses on the latter problem, i.e. structure formation in a Hubble scale void in the linear regime. This is considerably more complicated than linear perturbations of a homogeneous and isotropic background because the inhomogeneous background leads to coupling between density perturbations and rotational modes of the spacetime geometry, as well as gravitational waves. Previous analyses of this problem ignored this coupling in the hope that the approximation does not affect the overall dynamics of structure formation in such models. We show that for a giga-parsec void, the evolution of the density contrast is well approximated by the previously studied decoupled evolution only for very large-scale modes. However, the evolution of the gravitational potentials within the void is inaccurate at more than the $10\%$ level, and is even worse on small scales.

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arXiv2014

Observational Constraints on the Averaged Universe

Averaging in general relativity is a complicated operation, due to the general covariance of the theory and the non-linearity of Einstein's equations. The latter of these ensures that smoothing spacetime over cosmological scales does not yield the same result as solving Einstein's equations with a smooth matter distribution, and that the smooth models we fit to observations need not be simply related to the actual geometry of spacetime. One specific consequence of this is a decoupling of the geometrical spatial curvature term in the metric from the dynamical spatial curvature in the Friedmann equation. Here we investigate the consequences of this decoupling by fitting to a combination of HST, CMB, SNIa and BAO data sets. We find that only the geometrical spatial curvature is tightly constrained, and that our ability to constrain dark energy dynamics will be severely impaired until we gain a thorough understanding of the averaging problem in cosmology.

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arXiv2014

The Value of $H_0$ from Gaussian Processes

A new non-parametric method based on Gaussian Processes was proposed recently to measure the Hubble constant $H_0$. The freedom in this approach comes in the chosen covariance function, which determines how smooth the process is and how nearby points are correlated. We perform coverage tests with a thousand mock samples within the LCDM model in order to determine what covariance function provides the least biased results. The function Matern(5/2) is the best with sligthly higher errors than other covariance functions, although much more stable when compared to standard parametric analyses.

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