Joint Measurement of Lensing-Galaxy Correlations Using SPT and DES SV Data

TL;DR

This paper combines galaxy and CMB lensing data from DES and SPT to measure correlations, providing constraints on cosmology, galaxy redshift distribution, and shear calibration, confirming consistency with the ΛCDM model.

Contribution

It introduces a joint analysis of galaxy and CMB lensing correlations using DES and SPT data, demonstrating insensitivity to galaxy bias and extracting valuable cosmological information.

Findings

Results are consistent with ΛCDM cosmology.

Joint measurements constrain galaxy redshift distribution.

Analysis is robust against galaxy clustering bias.

Abstract

We measure the correlation of galaxy lensing and cosmic microwave background lensing with a set of galaxies expected to trace the matter density field. The measurements are performed using pre-survey Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification optical imaging data and millimeter-wave data from the 2500 square degree South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. The two lensing-galaxy correlations are jointly fit to extract constraints on cosmological parameters, constraints on the redshift distribution of the lens galaxies, and constraints on the absolute shear calibration of DES galaxy lensing measurements. We show that an attractive feature of these fits is that they are fairly insensitive to the clustering bias of the galaxies used as matter tracers. The measurement presented in this work confirms that DES and SPT data are consistent with each other and with the currently favored $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model. It also demonstrates that joint lensing-galaxy correlation measurement considered here contains a wealth of information that can be extracted using current and future surveys.