Combining weak lensing tomography with halo clustering to probe dark energy

Abstract

Two methods of constraining the properties of dark energy are weak lensing tomography and cluster counting. Uncertainties in mass calibration of clusters can be reduced by using the properties of halo clustering (the clustering of clusters). However, within a single survey, weak lensing and halo clustering probe the same density fluctuations. We explore the question of whether this information can be used twice\char22{}once in weak lensing and then again in halo clustering to calibrate cluster masses\char22{}or whether the combined dark energy constraints are weaker than the sum of the individual constraints. For a survey like the Dark Energy Survey (DES), we find that the cosmic shearing of source galaxies at high redshifts is indeed highly correlated with halo clustering at lower redshifts. Surprisingly, this correlation does not degrade cosmological constraints for a DES-like survey, and in fact, constraints are marginally improved since the correlations themselves act as additional observables. This considerably simplifies the analysis for a DES-like survey: when weak lensing and halo clustering are treated as independent experiments, the combined dark energy constraints (cluster counts included) are accurate if not slightly conservative. Our findings mirror those of Takada and Bridle, who investigated correlations between the cosmic shear and cluster counts.