Cosmology with the line-of-sight shear of strong gravitational lenses

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Fleury, Pierre, Johnson, Daniel, Duboscq, Théo, Hogg, Natalie B., Larena, Julien
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Fleury, Pierre
Johnson, Daniel
Duboscq, Théo
Hogg, Natalie B.
Larena, Julien
author_facet Fleury, Pierre
Johnson, Daniel
Duboscq, Théo
Hogg, Natalie B.
Larena, Julien
contents Stage-IV photometric galaxy surveys are designed to measure the position and shapes of billions of galaxies. Their aim is to characterise the large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe using galaxy clustering and weak gravitational lensing. As a byproduct, stage-IV surveys are expected to detect more than a hundred thousand strong gravitational lenses. In this article, we propose the use of weak-lensing perturbations to strong lenses, specifically their line-of-sight (LOS) shear, as a cosmological probe. This new observable allows us to define three new correlation functions: the LOS shear with itself, with galaxy positions, and with galaxy shapes, thereby promoting the standard $3\times 2$pt correlation method to a $6\times 2$pt scheme. We design estimators for these new correlation functions and determine their expectation values as a function of the matter power spectrum. We then derive the analytical expression for the full covariance matrix of the $6\times 2$pt correlation scheme. Considering various scenarios for the stage-IV strong-lensing samples, we demonstrate that the cosmological information carried by the LOS shear of strong lenses will be detectable with a very high signal-to-noise ratio, even in the most pessimistic of cases. Strong lenses are thus extremely promising cosmological probes, whose synergy with galaxy positions and shapes should also contribute to mitigating systematics in stage-IV surveys.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_03441
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Cosmology with the line-of-sight shear of strong gravitational lenses
Fleury, Pierre
Johnson, Daniel
Duboscq, Théo
Hogg, Natalie B.
Larena, Julien
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Stage-IV photometric galaxy surveys are designed to measure the position and shapes of billions of galaxies. Their aim is to characterise the large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe using galaxy clustering and weak gravitational lensing. As a byproduct, stage-IV surveys are expected to detect more than a hundred thousand strong gravitational lenses. In this article, we propose the use of weak-lensing perturbations to strong lenses, specifically their line-of-sight (LOS) shear, as a cosmological probe. This new observable allows us to define three new correlation functions: the LOS shear with itself, with galaxy positions, and with galaxy shapes, thereby promoting the standard $3\times 2$pt correlation method to a $6\times 2$pt scheme. We design estimators for these new correlation functions and determine their expectation values as a function of the matter power spectrum. We then derive the analytical expression for the full covariance matrix of the $6\times 2$pt correlation scheme. Considering various scenarios for the stage-IV strong-lensing samples, we demonstrate that the cosmological information carried by the LOS shear of strong lenses will be detectable with a very high signal-to-noise ratio, even in the most pessimistic of cases. Strong lenses are thus extremely promising cosmological probes, whose synergy with galaxy positions and shapes should also contribute to mitigating systematics in stage-IV surveys.
title Cosmology with the line-of-sight shear of strong gravitational lenses
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.03441