Outer regions of galaxy clusters as a new probe to test modifications to gravity

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Main Authors: Butt, Minahil Adil, Haridasu, Sandeep, Diaferio, Antonaldo, Benetti, Francesco, Boumechta, Yacer, Baccigalupi, Carlo, Lapi, Andrea
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Butt, Minahil Adil
Haridasu, Sandeep
Diaferio, Antonaldo
Benetti, Francesco
Boumechta, Yacer
Baccigalupi, Carlo
Lapi, Andrea
author_facet Butt, Minahil Adil
Haridasu, Sandeep
Diaferio, Antonaldo
Benetti, Francesco
Boumechta, Yacer
Baccigalupi, Carlo
Lapi, Andrea
contents We apply the caustic technique to samples of galaxy clusters stacked in redshift space to estimate the gravitational potential in the cluster's outer region and test modifications to the standard theory of gravity. We separate 122 galaxy clusters from the HeCS-SZ, HeCS-redMapper, and HeCS samples into four samples with increasing mass; we estimate four robust, highly constraining caustic profiles for these samples. The caustic masses of the four stacked clusters agree within $ 10\%$ with the corresponding median values of each cluster sample. By adopting the NFW density profile to model the gravitational potential, we recover the caustic profile $\mathcal{A}(r)$ up to radius $r_{\rm p} \sim 4.0\, {\rm Mpc}$. This comparison is a first-order validation of the mass-concentration relation for galaxy clusters expected in the $Λ$CDM model. We thus impose this correlation as a prior in our analysis. Based on our stacked clusters, we estimate the value of the filling factor, which enters the caustic technique, $\mathcal{F}_β = 0.59\pm 0.05$; we derive this value using real data alone and find it consistent with the value usually adopted in the literature. We then use the caustic profiles $\mathcal{A}(r)$ of the stacked clusters to constrain the chameleon gravity model. We find that the caustic profiles provide a stringent upper limit of $|f_{\rm R0}| \lesssim 4 \times 10^{-6}$ at $95\%$ C.L. limits in the $f(\mathcal{R})$ scenario. The formalism developed here shall be further refined to test modifications to gravity in the extended outer weak gravitational regions of galaxy clusters.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_16685
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Outer regions of galaxy clusters as a new probe to test modifications to gravity
Butt, Minahil Adil
Haridasu, Sandeep
Diaferio, Antonaldo
Benetti, Francesco
Boumechta, Yacer
Baccigalupi, Carlo
Lapi, Andrea
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
We apply the caustic technique to samples of galaxy clusters stacked in redshift space to estimate the gravitational potential in the cluster's outer region and test modifications to the standard theory of gravity. We separate 122 galaxy clusters from the HeCS-SZ, HeCS-redMapper, and HeCS samples into four samples with increasing mass; we estimate four robust, highly constraining caustic profiles for these samples. The caustic masses of the four stacked clusters agree within $ 10\%$ with the corresponding median values of each cluster sample. By adopting the NFW density profile to model the gravitational potential, we recover the caustic profile $\mathcal{A}(r)$ up to radius $r_{\rm p} \sim 4.0\, {\rm Mpc}$. This comparison is a first-order validation of the mass-concentration relation for galaxy clusters expected in the $Λ$CDM model. We thus impose this correlation as a prior in our analysis. Based on our stacked clusters, we estimate the value of the filling factor, which enters the caustic technique, $\mathcal{F}_β = 0.59\pm 0.05$; we derive this value using real data alone and find it consistent with the value usually adopted in the literature. We then use the caustic profiles $\mathcal{A}(r)$ of the stacked clusters to constrain the chameleon gravity model. We find that the caustic profiles provide a stringent upper limit of $|f_{\rm R0}| \lesssim 4 \times 10^{-6}$ at $95\%$ C.L. limits in the $f(\mathcal{R})$ scenario. The formalism developed here shall be further refined to test modifications to gravity in the extended outer weak gravitational regions of galaxy clusters.
title Outer regions of galaxy clusters as a new probe to test modifications to gravity
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.16685