Weak lensing higher-order statistics to disentangle modified gravity and massive neutrinos

TL;DR

This study explores whether higher-order weak lensing statistics can distinguish between General Relativity and modified gravity models, even when massive neutrinos are present, using simulated convergence maps.

Contribution

It demonstrates that higher-order weak lensing statistics can effectively differentiate between GR and MG models despite the complicating effects of massive neutrinos.

Findings

HOS can disentangle MG from GR with neutrinos present

Different metrics show varying discriminatory power

Higher-order statistics improve model differentiation

Abstract

Going beyond second order in weak lensing (WL) statistics is known to break degeneracies among cosmological parameters. We take a step further here, investigating whether higher-order statistics (HOS) in weak lensing can disentangle among General Relativity (GR) and modified gravity (MG), also taking into account the presence of massive neutrinos. To this end, we rely on mock convergence maps obtained from GR and $f(R)$ gravity N - body simulations, and we look for MG signatures in a wide set of higher-order WL probes. We rely on different metrics to quantify the discriminatory power of each probe, also varying the measurement setup. We find out that WL HOS can indeed disentangle MG and GR also in the presence of massive neutrinos.