Exploiting Non-linear Scales in Galaxy-Galaxy Lensing and Galaxy Clustering: A Forecast for the Dark Energy Survey

TL;DR

This paper forecasts how combining galaxy-galaxy lensing and galaxy clustering in the Dark Energy Survey can improve cosmological parameter constraints by modeling non-linear scales with an advanced emulator, achieving percent-level accuracy.

Contribution

It extends an emulator method to include non-linear scales and additional parameters, enabling precise cosmological forecasts from DES data.

Findings

Forecasted 1.9-2.0% precision on key cosmological parameters

Including non-linear scales improves S8 constraints by 1.6 times

Achieved percent-level accuracy comparable to DES statistical uncertainties

Abstract

The combination of galaxy-galaxy lensing (GGL) and galaxy clustering is a powerful probe of low redshift matter clustering, especially if it is extended to the non-linear regime. To this end, we extend the N-body and halo occupation distribution (HOD) emulator method of arxiv:1907.06293 to model the redMaGiC sample of colour-selected passive galaxies in the Dark Energy Survey (DES), adding parameters that describe central galaxy incompleteness, galaxy assembly bias, and a scale-independent multiplicative lensing bias $A_{lens}$. We use this emulator to forecast cosmological constraints attainable from the GGL surface density profile $\Delta\Sigma(r_p)$ and the projected galaxy correlation function $w_{p,gg}(r_p)$ in the final (Year 6) DES data set over scales $r_p=0.3-30h^{-1}$ Mpc. For a $3\%$ prior on $A_{lens}$ we forecast precisions of $1.9\%$, $2.0\%$, and $1.9\%$ on $\Omega_m$, $\sigma_8$, and $S_8 \equiv \sigma_8\Omega_m^{0.5}$, marginalized over all halo occupation distribution (HOD) parameters as well as $A_{lens}$ and a point-mass contribution to $\Delta\Sigma$. Adding scales $r_p=0.3-3h^{-1}$ Mpc improves the $S_8$ precision by a factor of $\sim1.6$ relative to a large scale ($3.0-30.0h^{-1}$ Mpc) analysis, equivalent to increasing the survey area by a factor of ${\sim}2.6$. Sharpening the $A_{lens}$ prior to $1\%$ further improves the $S_8$ precision by a factor of $1.7$ (to $1.1\%$), and it amplifies the gain from including non-linear scales. Our emulator achieves percent-level accuracy similar to the projected DES statistical uncertainties, demonstrating the feasibility of a fully non-linear analysis. Obtaining precise parameter constraints from multiple galaxy types and from measurements that span linear and non-linear clustering offers many opportunities for internal cross-checks, which can diagnose systematics and demonstrate the robustness of cosmological results.