Void Lensing as a Test of Gravity

TL;DR

This paper explores how weak lensing by cosmic voids can serve as a test for deviations from General Relativity, especially in models involving scalar fields with derivative couplings, offering a new way to probe gravity theories.

Contribution

It introduces a methodology to use void lensing signals to test for modifications to gravity, demonstrating how the central density parameter can indicate deviations from GR in galileon models.

Findings

Void lensing signals can indicate up to 20% shift in density parameters in galileon models.

The method allows for consistency checks of gravity theories using independent galaxy tracer profiles.

Upcoming data can extend this approach to test more general fifth force effects.

Abstract

We investigate the potential of weak lensing by voids to test for deviations from General Relativity. We calculate the expected lensing signal of a scalar field with derivative couplings, finding that it has the potential to boost the tangential shear both within and outside the void radius. We use voids traced by Luminous Red Galaxies in SDSS to demonstrate the methodology of testing these predictions. We find that the void central density parameter, as inferred from the lensing signal, can shift from its GR value by up to 20% in some galileon gravity models. Since this parameter can be estimated independently using the galaxy tracer profiles of voids, our method provides a consistency check of the gravity theory. Although galileon gravity is now disfavoured as a source of cosmic acceleration by other datasets, the methods we demonstrate here can be used to test for more general fifth force effects with upcoming void lensing data.