Intrinsic Alignment Signal Research Articles

On the origin of intrinsic alignment in cosmic shear measurements: an analytic argument

Galaxy intrinsic alignment can be a severe source of error in weak-lensing studies. The problem has been widely studied by numerical simulations and with heuristic models, but without a clear theoretical justification of its origin and amplitude. In particular, it is still unclear whether intrinsic alignment of galaxies is dominated by formation and accretion processes or by the effects of the instantaneous tidal field acting upon them. We investigate this question by developing a simple model of intrinsic alignment for elliptical galaxies, based on the instantaneous tidal field. Making use of the galaxy stellar distribution function, we estimate the intrinsic alignment signal and find that although it has the expected dependence on the tidal field, it is too weak to account for the observed signal. This is an indirect validation of the standard view that intrinsic alignment is caused by formation and/or accretion processes.

Constraints on the alignment of galaxies in galaxy clusters from ~14 000 spectroscopic members

Torques acting on galaxies lead to physical alignments, but the resulting ellipticity correlations are difficult to predict. As they constitute a major contaminant for cosmic shear studies, it is important to constrain the intrinsic alignment signal observationally. We measured the alignments of satellite galaxies within 90 massive galaxy clusters in the redshift range 0.05<z<0.55 and quantified their impact on the cosmic shear signal. We combined a sample of 38,104 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts with high-quality data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. We used phase-space information to select 14,576 cluster members, 14,250 of which have shape measurements and measured three different types of alignment: the radial alignment of satellite galaxies toward the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), the common orientations of satellite galaxies and BCGs, and the radial alignments of satellites with each other. Residual systematic effects are much smaller than the statistical uncertainties. We detect no galaxy alignment of any kind out to at least 3 r200. The signal is consistent with zero for both blue and red galaxies, bright and faint ones, and also for subsamples of clusters based on redshift, dynamical mass, and dynamical state. These conclusions are unchanged if we expand the sample with bright cluster members from the red sequence. We augment our constraints with those from the literature to estimate the importance of the intrinsic alignments of satellites compared to those of central galaxies, for which the alignments are described by the linear alignment model. Comparison of the alignment signals to the expected uncertainties of current surveys such as the Kilo-Degree Survey suggests that the linear alignment model is an adequate treatment of intrinsic alignments, but it is not clear whether this will be the case for larger surveys.

Intrinsic alignments of group and cluster galaxies in photometric surveys

Intrinsic alignments of galaxies have been shown to contaminate weak gravitational lensing observables on linear scales, r > 10 h−1 Mpc, but studies of alignments in the non-linear regime have thus far been inconclusive. We present an estimator for extracting the intrinsic alignment signal of galaxies around stacked clusters of galaxies from multiband imaging data. Our estimator removes the contamination caused by galaxies that are gravitationally lensed by the clusters and scattered in redshift space due to photometric redshift uncertainties. It uses posterior probability distributions for the redshifts of the galaxies in the sample and it is easily extended to obtain the weak gravitational lensing signal while removing the intrinsic alignment contamination. We apply this algorithm to groups and clusters of galaxies identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey ‘Stripe 82’ co-added imaging data over ∼150 deg2. We find that the intrinsic alignment signal around stacked clusters in the redshift range 0.1 < z < 0.4 is consistent with zero. In terms of the tidal alignment model of Catelan et al., we set joint constraints on the strength of the alignment and the bias of the lensing groups and clusters on scales between 0.1 and 10 h−1 Mpc, |$b_{\rm L}C_1\rho _{\rm crit} = -2_{-14}^{+14} \times 10^{-4}$|⁠. This constrains the contamination fraction of alignment to lensing signal to the range between [ − 18, 23] per cent below scales of 1 h−1 Mpc at 95 per cent confidence level, and this result depends on our photometric redshift quality and selection criteria used to identify background galaxies. Our results are robust to the choice of photometric band in which the shapes are measured (i and r) and to centring on the Brightest Cluster Galaxy or on the geometrical centre of the clusters.

Cosmological information in the intrinsic alignments of luminous red galaxies

The intrinsic alignments of galaxies are usually regarded as a contaminant to weak gravitational lensing observables. The alignment of Luminous Red Galaxies, detected unambiguously in observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, can be reproduced by the linear tidal alignment model of Catelan, Kamionkowski & Blandford (2001) on large scales. In this work, we explore the cosmological information encoded in the intrinsic alignments of red galaxies. We make forecasts for the ability of current and future spectroscopic surveys to constrain local primordial non-Gaussianity and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) in the cross-correlation function of intrinsic alignments and the galaxy density field. For the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, we find that the BAO signal in the intrinsic alignments is marginally significant with a signal-to-noise ratio of 1.8 and 2.2 with the current LOWZ and CMASS samples of galaxies, respectively, and increasing to 2.3 and 2.7 once the survey is completed. For the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and for a spectroscopic survey following the EUCLID redshift selection function, we find signal-to-noise ratios of 12 and 15, respectively. Local type primordial non-Gaussianity, parametrized by fNL = 10, is only marginally significant in the intrinsic alignments signal with signal-to-noise ratios < 2 for the three surveys considered.

Intrinsic alignments and 3d weak gravitational lensing

In this paper we show how intrinsic alignments can be incorporated consistently in the formalism of 3d weak lensing. We use two different descriptions of the intrinsic galaxy ellipticities, the so-called linear and quadratic model, respectively. For both models we derive the covariance matrix of the intrinsic alignment signal (II-alignments) and GI-alignments (the cross correlation of intrinsic and lensing induced ellipticities). Evaluating the covariance matrices for the linear model numerically and comparing the results to the cosmic shear signal we find that for a low redshift survey the total covariance matrix is dominated by the contributions of the II-alignments. For a Euclid-like survey II-alignments still dominate over GI-alignments but they are more than one order of magnitude smaller than the lensing signal. The shape of the ellipticity covariance matrices is quite different in the k-k'-plane for cosmic shear on the one hand and intrinsic alignments on the other hand. In comparison to lensing both alignment types tend to be rather elongated along the diagonal k=k'. Moreover, for high multipoles (l ~ 100) intrinsic alignments are strongly concentrated along that diagonal.

CFHTLenS tomographic weak lensing cosmological parameter constraints: Mitigating the impact of intrinsic galaxy alignments

We present a finely binned tomographic weak lensing analysis of the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) mitigating contamination to the signal from the presence of intrinsic galaxy alignments via the simultaneous fit of a cosmological model and an intrinsic alignment model. CFHTLenS spans 154 square degrees in five optical bands, with accurate shear and photometric redshifts for a galaxy sample with a median redshift of zm = 0.70. We estimate the 21 sets of cosmic shear correlation functions associated with six redshift bins, each spanning the angular range of 1.5 < θ < 35 arcmin. We combine this CFHTLenS data with auxiliary cosmological probes: the cosmic microwave background with data from WMAP7, baryon acoustic oscillations with data from Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and a prior on the Hubble constant from the Hubble Space Telescope distance ladder. This leads to constraints on the normalization of the matter power spectrum σ8 = 0.799 ± 0.015 and the matter density parameter Ωm = 0.271 ± 0.010 for a flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmology. For a flat wCDM cosmology, we constrain the dark energy equation-of-state parameter w = −1.02 ± 0.09. We also provide constraints for curved ΛCDM and wCDM cosmologies. We find the intrinsic alignment contamination to be galaxy-type dependent with a significant intrinsic alignment signal found for early-type galaxies, in contrast to the late-type galaxy sample for which the intrinsic alignment signal is found to be consistent with zero.

Self-calibration for three-point intrinsic alignment autocorrelations in weak lensing surveys

The weak lensing signal (cosmic shear) has been shown to be strongly contaminated by the various types of galaxy intrinsic alignment (IA) correlations, which poses a barrier to precision weak lensing measurements. The redshift dependence of the IA signal has been used at the 2-point level to reduce this contamination by only measuring cross-correlations between large redshift bins, which significantly reduces the galaxy intrinsic ellipticity - intrinsic ellipticity (II) correlation. A self-calibration technique based on the redshift dependences of the IA correlations has also been proposed as a means to remove the 2-point IA contamination from the lensing signal. We explore here the redshift dependences of the IA and lensing bispectra in order to propose a self-calibration of the IA auto-correlations at the 3-point level (i.e. GGI, GII, and III), which can be well understood without the assumption of any particular IA model. We find that future weak lensing surveys will be able to measure the distinctive IA redshift dependence over ranges of $|\Delta z^P|\le 0.2$. Using conservative estimates of photo-z accuracy, we describe the 3-point self-calibration technique for the total IA signal, which can be accomplished through lensing tomography of photo-z bin size $\sim 0.01$. We find that the 3-point self-calibration can function at the accuracy of the 2-point technique with modest constraints in redshift separation. This allows the 3-point IA auto-correlation self-calibration technique proposed here to significantly reduce the contamination of the IA contamination to the weak lensing bispectrum.

Separating intrinsic alignment and galaxy-galaxy lensing

The coherent physical alignment of galaxies is an important systematic for gravitational lensing studies as well as a probe of the physical mechanisms involved in galaxy formation and evolution. We develop a formalism for treating this intrinsic alignment (IA) in the context of galaxy-galaxy lensing and present an improved method for measuring IA contamination, which can arise when sources physically associated with the lens are placed behind the lens due to photometric redshift scatter. We apply the technique to recent Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) measurements of Luminous Red Galaxy lenses and typical ( ∼ L*) source galaxies with photometric redshifts selected from the SDSS imaging data. Compared to previous measurements, this method has the advantage of being fully self-consistent in its treatment of the IA and lensing signals, solving for the two simultaneously. We find an IA signal consistent with zero, placing tight constraints on both the magnitude of the IA effect and its potential contamination to the lensing signal. While these constraints depend on source selection and redshift quality, the method can be applied to any measurement that uses photometric redshifts. We obtain a model-independent upper-limit of roughly 10% IA contamination for projected separations of rp ≈ 0.1–10 h−1Mpc. With more stringent photo-z cuts and reasonable assumptions about the physics of intrinsic alignments, this upper limit is reduced to 1–2%. These limits are well below the statistical error of the current lensing measurements. Our results suggest that IA will not present intractable challenges to the next generation of galaxy-galaxy lensing experiments, and the methods presented here should continue to aid in our understanding of alignment processes and in the removal of IA from the lensing signal.

Intrinsic alignment boosting

Intrinsic alignments constitute the major astrophysical systematic for cosmological weak lensing surveys. We present a purely geometrical method with which one can study gravitational shear-intrinsic ellipticity correlations directly in weak lensing data. Linear combinations of second-order cosmic shear measures are constructed such that the intrinsic alignment signal is boosted while suppressing the contribution by gravitational lensing. We then assess the performance of a specific parametrisation of the weights entering these linear combinations for three representative survey models. Moreover a relation between this boosting technique and the intrinsic alignment removal via nulling is derived. For future all-sky weak lensing surveys with photometric redshift information the boosting technique yields statistical errors on model parameters of intrinsic alignments whose order of magnitude is compatible with current constraints determined from indirect measurements. Parameter biases due to a residual cosmic shear signal are negligible in case of quasi-spectroscopic redshifts and remain sub-dominant for typical values of the photometric redshift scatter. We find good agreement between the performance of the intrinsic alignment removal based on the boosting technique and standard nulling methods, possibly indicating a fundamental limit in the separation of lensing and intrinsic alignment signals.

A halo model for intrinsic alignments of galaxy ellipticities

Correlations between intrinsic ellipticities of galaxies are a potentially important systematic error when constraining dark energy properties from weak gravitational lensing (cosmic shear) surveys. In the absence of perfectly known galaxy redshifts some modeling of the galaxy intrinsic alignments is likely to be required to extract the lensing signal to sufficient accuracy. We present a new model based on the placement of galaxies into dark matter halos. The central galaxy ellipticity follows the large scale potential and, in the simplest case, the satellite galaxies point at the halo center. The two-halo term is then dominated by the linear alignment model and the one-halo term provides a motivated extension of intrinsic alignment models to small scales. We provide fitting formulae for the spatial projected source power spectra for both intrinsic-intrinsic (II) and shear-intrinsic (GI) correlations. We illustrate the potential impact of ignoring intrinsic alignments on cosmological parameter constraints from non-tomographic surveys, finding that sigma_8 could be underestimated by up to the size of the current 1-sigma error bar from cosmic shear if very small scales are included in the analysis. Finally, we highlight areas of interest for numerical simulations of dark matter clustering and galaxy formation that can further constrain the intrinsic alignment signal.

Weak lensing with COMBO-17: estimation and removal of intrinsic alignments

We estimate and remove the contamination of weak gravitational lensing measurements by the intrinsic alignment of close pairs of galaxies. We do this by investigating both the aperture mass B mode statistic, and the shear correlations of close and distant pairs of galaxies. These can be used to quantify non-lensing effects in weak lensing surveys. We reanalyse the {COMBO-17} survey, and study published results from the Red-sequence Cluster Survey and the {VIRMOS-DESCART} survey, concluding that the intrinsic alignment effect is at the lower end of the range of theoretical predictions. We also revisit this theoretical issue, and show that misalignment of baryon and halo angular momenta may be an important effect which can reduce the intrinsic ellipticity correlations estimated from numerical simulations to the level that we and the {SuperCOSMOS} survey observe. We re-examine the cosmological parameter estimation from the {COMBO-17} survey, using the shear correlation function, and now marginalizing over the Hubble constant. Assuming no evolution in galaxy clustering, and marginalizing over the intrinsic alignment signal, we find the mass clustering amplitude is reduced by 0.03 to ??8(??m/0.27)0.6= 0.71 +/- 0.11, where ??m is the matter density parameter. We consider the forthcoming {SuperNova/Acceleration} Probe {(SNAP)} wide weak lensing survey, and the {Canada-France-Hawaii} Telescope Legacy wide synoptic survey; we expect them to be contaminated on scales {\textgreater}1 arcmin by intrinsic alignments at the level of {\textasciitilde}1 and {\textasciitilde}2 per cent, respectively. Division of the {SNAP} survey for lensing tomography significantly increases the contamination in the lowest redshift bin to {\textasciitilde}7 per cent and possibly higher. Removal of the intrinsic alignment effect by the downweighting of nearby galaxy pairs will therefore be vital for {SNAP.}

Separating cosmic shear from intrinsic galaxy alignments: Correlation function tomography

During the past few years, secure detections of cosmic shear have been obtained, manifest in the correlation of the observed ellipticities of galaxies. Constraints have already been placed on cosmological parameters, such as the normalisation of the matter power spectrum σ8. One possible systematic contaminant of the lensing correlation signal arises from intrinsic galaxy alignment, which is still poorly constrained. Unlike lensing, intrinsic correlations only pertain to galaxies with small physical separations, the correlation length being a few Mpc. We present a new method that harnesses this property, and isolates the lensing and intrinsic components of the galaxy ellipticitycorrelation function using measurements between different redshift slices. The observed signal is approximated by a set of template functions, making no strong assumptions about the amplitude or correlation length of any intrinsic alignment. We also show that the near-degeneracy between the matter density parameter Ωm and σ8 can be lifted using correlation function tomography, even in the presence of an intrinsic alignment signal.

Suppressing the contribution of intrinsic galaxy alignments to the shear two-point correlation function

Cosmological weak lensing gives rise to correlations in the ellipticities of faint galaxies. This cosmic shear signal depends upon the matter power spectrum, thus providing a means to constrain cosmological parameters. It has recently been proposed that intrinsic alignments arising at the epoch of galaxy formation can also contribute significantly to the observed correlations, the amplitude increasing with decreasing survey depth. Here we consider the two-point shear correlation function, and demonstrate that photometric redshift information can be used to suppress the intrinsic signal; at the same time Poisson noise is increased, due to a decrease in the effective number of galaxy pairs. The choice to apply such a redshift-depending weighting will depend on the characteristics of the survey in question. In surveys with a mean z of about 1, although the lensing signal dominates, the measurement error bars may soon become smaller than the intrinsic alignment signal; hence, in order not to be dominated by systematics, redshift information in cosmic shear statistics will become a necessity. We discuss various aspects of this.