Cosmological Model-independent Constraints on Spatial Curvature from Strong Gravitational Lensing and SN Ia Observations

Abstract

Abstract Applying the distance sum rule in strong gravitational lensing (SGL) and SN Ia observations, one can provide an interesting cosmological model-independent method to determine the cosmic curvature parameter Ω k . In this paper, with the newly compiled data sets including 161 galactic-scale SGL systems and 1048 SN Ia data, we place constraints on Ω k within the framework of three types of lens models extensively used in SGL studies. Moreover, to investigate the effect of different mass lens samples on the results, we divide the SGL sample into three subsamples based on the center velocity dispersion of intervening galaxies. In the singular isothermal sphere (SIS) and extended power-law lens models, a flat universe is supported with an uncertainty of about 0.2, while a closed universe is preferred in the power-law lens model. We find that the choice of lens models and the classification of SGL data actually can influence the constraints on Ω k significantly.