Euclid preparation: Determining the weak lensing mass accuracy and precision for galaxy clusters

TL;DR

This study assesses the accuracy and precision of galaxy cluster weak-lensing mass measurements with \\Euclid data, considering various systematic uncertainties and modeling choices to inform future cosmological analyses.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive evaluation of weak-lensing mass measurement biases and uncertainties using simulations, including the effects of systematics and different modeling approaches.

Findings

Maximum likelihood estimator biases low by ~14.6%.

Informative priors reduce scatter and improve precision.

Systematic uncertainties, especially source selection, significantly impact mass estimates.

Abstract

We investigate the level of accuracy and precision of cluster weak-lensing (WL) masses measured with the \Euclid data processing pipeline. We use the DEMNUni-Cov $N$-body simulations to assess how well the WL mass probes the true halo mass, and, then, how well WL masses can be recovered in the presence of measurement uncertainties. We consider different halo mass density models, priors, and mass point estimates. WL mass differs from true mass due to, e.g., the intrinsic ellipticity of sources, correlated or uncorrelated matter and large-scale structure, halo triaxiality and orientation, and merging or irregular morphology. In an ideal scenario without observational or measurement errors, the maximum likelihood estimator is the most accurate, with WL masses biased low by $\langle b_M \rangle = -14.6 \pm 1.7 \, \%$ on average over the full range $M_\text{200c} > 5 \times 10^{13} \, M_\odot$ and $z < 1$. Due to the stabilising effect of the prior, the biweight, mean, and median estimates are more precise. The scatter decreases with increasing mass and informative priors significantly reduce the scatter. Halo mass density profiles with a truncation provide better fits to the lensing signal, while the accuracy and precision are not significantly affected. We further investigate the impact of additional sources of systematic uncertainty on the WL mass, namely the impact of photometric redshift uncertainties and source selection, the expected performance of \Euclid cluster detection algorithms, and the presence of masks. Taken in isolation, we find that the largest effect is induced by non-conservative source selection. This effect can be mostly removed with a robust selection. As a final \Euclid-like test, we combine systematic effects in a realistic observational setting and find results similar to the ideal case, $\langle b_M \rangle = - 15.5 \pm 2.4 \, \%$, under a robust selection.