Large-Distance Lens Uncertainties and Time-Delay Measurements of $H_0$

Abstract

Given the tension between the values of the Hubble parameter $H_0$ inferred from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and from supernovae, attention is turning to time delays of strongly lensed quasars. Current time-delay measurements indicate a value of $H_0$ closer to that from supernovae, with errors on the order of a few percent, and future measurements aim to bring the errors down to the subpercent level. Here we consider the uncertainties in the mass distribution in the outskirts of the lens. We show that these can lead to errors in the inferred $H_0$ on the order of a percent and, once accounted for, would correct $H_0$ upward (thus increasing slightly the tension with the CMB). Weak gravitational lensing and simulations may help to reduce these uncertainties.

arXiv comment5 pages. Updated to match accepted version

References in corpus (42)

• Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters
• The 6dF Galaxy Survey: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and the Local Hubble Constant
• Weak Gravitational Lensing
• A 2.4% Determination of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant
• The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Data Release 10 and 11 galaxy samples
• The Clustering of the SDSS DR7 Main Galaxy Sample I: A 4 per cent Distance Measure at z=0.15
• Probing Dark Energy with Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations from Future Large Galaxy Redshift Surveys
• Cosmological implications of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements
• The trouble with $H_0$
• H0LiCOW V. New COSMOGRAIL time delays of HE0435-1223: $H_0$ to 3.8% precision from strong lensing in a flat $\Lambda$CDM model
• Cosmological-Parameter Determination with Microwave Background Maps
• Dissecting the Gravitational Lens B1608+656. II. Precision Measurements of the Hubble Constant, Spatial Curvature, and the Dark Energy Equation of State
• MEASURING GALAXY MASSES USING GALAXY-GALAXY GRAVITATIONAL LENSING
• Early dark energy, the Hubble-parameter tension, and the string axiverse
• Two accurate time-delay distances from strong lensing: Implications for cosmology
• H0LiCOW I. $H_0$ Lenses in COSMOGRAIL's Wellspring: Program Overview
• Properties of galaxy dark matter halos from weak lensing
• Ray-tracing through the Millennium Simulation: Born corrections and lens-lens coupling in cosmic shear and galaxy-galaxy lensing
• H0 Revisited
• Mass-sheet degeneracy, power-law models and external convergence: Impact on the determination of the Hubble constant from gravitational lensing
• Time Delay Cosmography
• Cosmology from gravitational lens time delays and Planck data
• Acoustic Signatures in the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Quantifying discordance in the 2015 Planck CMB spectrum
• H0LiCOW IV. Lens mass model of HE 0435-1223 and blind measurement of its time-delay distance for cosmology
• What Do Gravitational Lens Time Delays Measure?
• Analytic models of plausible gravitational lens potentials
• Gravitational Lens Time Delays: A Statistical Assessment of Lens Model Dependences and Implications for the Global Hubble Constant
• Fast calculation of a family of elliptical mass gravitational lens models
• H0LiCOW III. Quantifying the effect of mass along the line of sight to the gravitational lens HE 0435-1223 through weighted galaxy counts
• Quantifying Environmental and Line-of-Sight Effects in Models of Strong Gravitational Lens Systems
• Lens galaxies in the Illustris simulation: power-law models and the bias of the Hubble constant from time-delays
• Dark matter halo properties from galaxy-galaxy lensing
• Cosmography from two-image lens systems: overcoming the lens profile slope degeneracy
• Large Scale Structure Effects on the Gravitational Lens Image Positions and Time Delay
• Observational selection biases in time-delay strong lensing and their impact on cosmography
• Line-of-sight effects in strong lensing: Putting theory into practice
• Cosmology at at Crossroads: Tension with the Hubble Constant
• Time Delay in Swiss Cheese Gravitational Lensing
• 21-cm Lensing and the Cold Spot in the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Accuracy of the thin-lens approximation in strong lensing by smoothly truncated dark matter haloes
• Lensing in the McVittie metric

Cited by in corpus (7)

• New physics in light of the $H_0$ tension: an alternative view
• Strongly lensed repeating Fast Radio Bursts as precision probes of the universe
• A measurement of the Hubble constant from angular diameter distances to two gravitational lenses
• The Price of Shifting the Hubble Constant
• The impact of line-of-sight structures on measuring $H_0$ with strong lensing time-delays
• Cosmic Time Slip: Testing Gravity on Supergalactic Scales with Strong-Lensing Time Delays
• Probing Gravitational Slip with Strongly Lensed Fast Radio Bursts