Direct tests of General Relativity under screening effect with galaxy-scale strong lensing systems

TL;DR

This study tests general relativity using galaxy-scale strong lensing systems, focusing on screening effects and measuring the Post-Newtonian parameter and screening radius without cosmological assumptions.

Contribution

First simultaneous measurement of the Post-Newtonian parameter and screening radius using strong lensing data, providing a novel test of GR on galactic scales.

Findings

Results are marginally consistent with GR ($b3_{PN}=1$)

Screening radius estimated between 10-300 kpc

Methodology predicts 0.5% accuracy with future LSST data

Abstract

Observations of galaxy-scale strong gravitational lensing (SGL) systems have enabled unique tests of nonlinear departures from general relativity (GR) on the galactic and supergalactic scales. One of the most important cases of such tests is constraints on the gravitational slip between two scalar gravitational potentials. In this paper, we use a newly compiled sample of strong gravitational lenses to test the validity of GR, focusing on the screening effects on the apparent positions of lensed sources relative to the GR predictions. This is the first simultaneous measurement of the Post-Newtonian (PN) parameter ($\gamma_{PN}$) and the screening radius ($\Lambda$) without any assumptions about the contents of the Universe. Our results suggest that the measured PPN is marginally consistent with GR ($\gamma_{PN}=1$) with increasing screening radius ($\Lambda = 10-300 $kpc), although the choice of lens models may have a significant influence on the final measurements. Based on a well-defined sample of 5000 simulated strong lenses from the forthcoming LSST, our methodology will provide a strong extragalactic test of GR with an accuracy of 0.5\%, assessed up to scales of $\Lambda \sim 300$ kpc. For the current and future observations of available SGL systems, there is no noticeable evidence indicating some specific cutoff scales on kpc-Mpc scales, beyond which new gravitational degrees of freedom are expressed.