KiDS-450 + 2dFLenS: Cosmological parameter constraints from weak gravitational lensing tomography and overlapping redshift-space galaxy clustering

TL;DR

This study combines cosmic shear, galaxy-galaxy lensing, and redshift-space galaxy clustering data from KiDS and spectroscopic surveys to improve cosmological parameter constraints, revealing a persistent tension with Planck data.

Contribution

It presents a comprehensive joint analysis of multiple cosmological probes, demonstrating their combined power and limitations in constraining cosmological models and parameters.

Findings

Combined analysis yields S8 = 0.742 ± 0.035, 20% tighter than KiDS alone.

Galaxy-galaxy lensing improves intrinsic alignment constraints by 30%.

Results show a 2.6σ tension with Planck cosmology.

Abstract

We perform a combined analysis of cosmic shear tomography, galaxy-galaxy lensing tomography, and redshift-space multipole power spectra (monopole and quadrupole) using 450 deg$^2$ of imaging data by the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS) overlapping with two spectroscopic surveys: the 2-degree Field Lensing Survey (2dFLenS) and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). We restrict the galaxy-galaxy lensing and multipole power spectrum measurements to the overlapping regions with KiDS, and self-consistently compute the full covariance between the different observables using a large suite of $N$-body simulations. We methodically analyze different combinations of the observables, finding that galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements are particularly useful in improving the constraint on the intrinsic alignment amplitude (by 30%, positive at $3.5\sigma$ in the fiducial data analysis), while the multipole power spectra are useful in tightening the constraints along the lensing degeneracy direction (e.g. factor of two stronger matter density constraint in the fiducial analysis). The fully combined constraint on $S_8 \equiv \sigma_8 \sqrt{\Omega_{\rm m}/0.3} = 0.742 \pm 0.035$, which is an improvement by 20% compared to KiDS alone, corresponds to a $2.6\sigma$ discordance with Planck, and is not significantly affected by fitting to a more conservative set of scales. Given the tightening of the parameter space, we are unable to resolve the discordance with an extended cosmology that is simultaneously favored in a model selection sense, including the sum of neutrino masses, curvature, evolving dark energy, and modified gravity. The complementarity of our observables allows for constraints on modified gravity degrees of freedom that are not simultaneously bounded with either probe alone, and up to a factor of three improvement in the $S_8$ constraint in the extended cosmology compared to KiDS alone.