Cosmic Growth Signatures of Modified Gravitational Strength

Cosmic growth of large scale structure probes the entire history of cosmic expansion and gravitational coupling. To get a clear picture of the effects of modification of gravity we consider a deviation in the coupling strength (effective Newton's constant) at different redshifts, with different durations and amplitudes. We derive, analytically and numerically, the impact on the growth rate and growth amplitude. Galaxy redshift surveys can measure a product of these through redshift space distortions and we connect the modified gravity to the observable in a way that may provide a useful parametrization of the ability of future surveys to test gravity. In particular, modifications during the matter dominated era can be treated by a single parameter, the "area" of the modification, to an accuracy of $\sim0.3\%$ in the observables. We project constraints on both early and late time gravity for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and discuss what is needed for tightening tests of gravity to better than 5% uncertainty.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figure

Studying large-scale structure probes of modified gravity with COLA

We study the effect of two Modified Gravity (MG) theories, $f(R)$ and nDGP, on three probes of large-scale structure, the real space power spectrum estimator $Q_0$, bispectrum and voids, and validate fast approximate COLA simulations against full $N$-body simulations for the prediction of these probes. We find that using the first three even multipoles of the redshift space power spectrum to estimate $Q_0$ is enough to reproduce the MG boost factors of the real space power spectrum for both halo and galaxy catalogues. By analysing the bispectrum and reduced bispectrum of Dark Matter (DM), we show that the strong MG signal present in the DM bispectrum is mainly due to the enhanced power spectrum. We warn about adopting screening approximations in simulations as this neglects non-linear contributions that can source a significant component of the MG bispectrum signal at the DM level, but we argue that this is not a problem for the bispectrum of galaxies in redshift space where the signal is dominated by the non-linear galaxy bias. Finally, we perform void-finding on our galaxy mock catalogues by the ZOBOV watershed algorithm. To apply a linear model for Redshift-Space Distortion (RSD) in the void-galaxy cross-correlation function, we first examine the effects of MG on the void profiles entering into the RSD model. We find relevant MG signals in the integrated-density, velocity dispersion and radial velocity profiles in the nDGP theory. Fitting the RSD model for the linear growth rate, we recover the linear theory prediction in an nDGP model, which is larger than the $\Lambda$CDM prediction at the $3 \sigma$ level. In $f(R)$ theory we cannot naively compare the results of the fit with the linear theory prediction as this is scale-dependent, but we obtain results that are consistent with the $\Lambda$CDM prediction.Comment: 26+6 pages, 19 figures, 3 tables - Accepted for publication in JCA

Constraining Modified Gravity and Growth with Weak Lensing

The idea that we live in a Universe undergoing a period of acceleration is a strongly held notion in cosmology. As this can, potentially, be explained with a modification to General Relativity we look at current cosmological data with the purpose of testing aspects of gravity. Firstly we constrain a phenomenological model (mDGP) motivated by a possible extra dimension. This is characterised by $\alpha$ which interpolates between (LCDM) and (the Dvali Gabadadze Porrati (DGP) model). In addition, we analyse general signatures of modified gravity given by the growth parameter $\gamma$ and power spectrum parameter $\Sigma$. We utilise Weak Lensing data (CFHTLS-wide) in combination with Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) and Supernovae data. We show that current weak lensing data is not yet capable of constraining either model in isolation. However we demonstrate that this probe is highly beneficial, for in combination with BAOs and Supernovae we obtain $\alpha < 0.58$ and $\alpha < 0.91$ at $1\sigma$ and $2\sigma$, respectively. Without the lensing data no constraint is possible. Both analyses disfavour the flat DGP braneworld model ($\alpha = 1$) at over $2\sigma$. We highlight these are insensitive to potential systematics in the lensing data. For the growth signature $\gamma$ we show that, in combination, these probes do not yet have sufficient constraining power. Finally, we look beyond these present capabilities and demonstrate that Euclid, a future weak lensing survey, will deeply probe the nature of gravity. A $1\sigma$ error of 0.104 is found for $\alpha$ ($l_{max} = 500$) whereas for the general modified signatures we forecast $1\sigma$ errors of 0.045 for $\gamma$ and 0.25 for $\Sigma_{0}$ ($l_{max} = 500$), which is further tightened to 0.038 for $\gamma$ and 0.069 for $\Sigma_{0}$ ($l_{max} = 10000$).Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Weak lensing, dark matter and dark energy

Weak gravitational lensing is rapidly becoming one of the principal probes of dark matter and dark energy in the universe. In this brief review we outline how weak lensing helps determine the structure of dark matter halos, measure the expansion rate of the universe, and distinguish between modified gravity and dark energy explanations for the acceleration of the universe. We also discuss requirements on the control of systematic errors so that the systematics do not appreciably degrade the power of weak lensing as a cosmological probe.Comment: Invited review article for the GRG special issue on gravitational lensing (P. Jetzer, Y. Mellier and V. Perlick Eds.). V3: subsection on three-point function and some references added. Matches the published versio

Projected Constraints on Modified Gravity Cosmologies from 21 cm Intensity Mapping

We present projected constraints on modified gravity models from the observational technique known as 21 cm intensity mapping, where cosmic structure is detected without resolving individual galaxies. The resulting map is sensitive to both BAO and weak lensing, two of the most powerful cosmological probes. It is found that a 200 m x 200 m cylindrical telescope, sensitive out to z=2.5, would be able to distinguish DGP from most dark energy models, and constrain the Hu & Sawicki f(R) model to |f_{R0}| < 9*10^(-6) at 95% confidence. The latter constraint makes extensive use of the lensing spectrum in the nonlinear regime. These results show that 21 cm intensity mapping is not only sensitive to modifications of the standard model's expansion history, but also to structure growth. This makes intensity mapping a powerful and economical technique, achievable on much shorter time scales than optical experiments that would probe the same era.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Added references and expanded discussion. As resubmitted to Phys. Rev. D, in response to reviewer comment