Multitracing Anisotropic Non-Gaussianity with Galaxy Shapes

TL;DR

This paper proposes a multi-tracer approach using galaxy shape measurements to improve constraints on anisotropic primordial non-Gaussianity, forecasting significant advancements over current methods for future surveys.

Contribution

It introduces a novel multi-tracer technique with different shape estimators to enhance the detection of anisotropic non-Gaussianity in galaxy alignments.

Findings

Multi-tracer method improves constraints on $A_2$ by 40% over single-tracer.

Forecasted uncertainty in $A_2$ is about 50, better than CMB bispectrum constraints.

Method shows potential for future weak lensing surveys to better probe primordial non-Gaussianity.

Abstract

Correlations between intrinsic galaxy shapes on large-scales arise due to the effect of the tidal field of the large-scale structure. Anisotropic primordial non-Gaussianity induces a distinct scale-dependent imprint in these tidal alignments on large scales. Motivated by the observational finding that the alignment strength of luminous red galaxies depends on how galaxy shapes are measured, we study the use of two different shape estimators as a multi-tracer probe of intrinsic alignments. We show, by means of a Fisher analysis, that this technique promises a significant improvement on anisotropic non-Gaussianity constraints over a single-tracer method. For future weak lensing surveys, the uncertainty in the anisotropic non-Gaussianity parameter, $A_2$, is forecast to be $\sigma(A_2)\approx 50$, $\sim 40\%$ smaller than currently available constraints from the bispectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background. This corresponds to an improvement of a factor of $4-5$ over the uncertainty from a single-tracer analysis.