A general framework for unbiased tests of gravity using galaxy clusters

Abstract

We present a Markov chain Monte Carlo pipeline which can be used for unbiased large-scale tests of gravity using galaxy cluster observations. The pipeline, which currently uses cluster number counts to constrain the present-day background scalar field $f_{R0}$ of Hu-Sawicki $f(R)$ gravity, fully accounts for the effects of the fifth force on cluster properties including the dynamical mass, the halo concentration and the observable-mass scaling relations. This is achieved using general models which have been calibrated over a wide and continuous mass range ($10^{11}{M}_{\odot }\lesssim M\lesssim 10^{15}{M}_{\odot }$) using a large suite of cosmological simulations, including the first to simultaneously incorporate both screened modified gravity and full baryonic physics. We show, using mock cluster catalogues, that an incomplete treatment of the observable-mass scaling relations in $f(R)$ gravity, which do not necessarily follow the usual power-law behaviour, can lead to unbiased and imprecise constraints. It is therefore essential to fully account for these effects in future cosmological tests of gravity that will make use of vast cluster catalogues from ongoing and upcoming galaxy surveys. Our constraint framework can be easily extended to other gravity models; to demonstrate this, we have carried out a similar modelling of cluster properties in the normal-branch Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati model (nDGP), which features a very different screening mechanism. Using our full-physics simulations, we also study the angular power spectra of the thermal and kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects in $f(R)$ gravity and nDGP, and demonstrate the potential for precise constraints of gravity using data from upcoming CMB experiments. Finally, we present a retuned baryonic physics model, based on the IllustrisTNG model, which can be used for full-physics simulations within large cosmological volumes.

arXiv commentPhD thesis, 289 pages, 69 figures, 7 tables

References in corpus (55)

• First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters
• Simulating the joint evolution of quasars, galaxies and their large-scale distribution
• Large scale bias and the peak background split
• E pur si muove: Galiliean-invariant cosmological hydrodynamical simulations on a moving mesh
• Profiles of dark haloes: evolution, scatter, and environment
• Cosmological SPH simulations: A hybrid multi-phase model for star formation
• The Aquarius Project: the subhalos of galactic halos
• First results from the IllustrisTNG simulations: matter and galaxy clustering
• Ellipsoidal collapse and an improved model for the number and spatial distribution of dark matter haloes
• Models of f(R) Cosmic Acceleration that Evade Solar-System Tests
• First results from the IllustrisTNG simulations: the galaxy color bimodality
• The Simons Observatory: Science goals and forecasts
• The Dark Energy Survey: more than dark energy - an overview
• An excursion set model of hierarchical clustering: Ellipsoidal collapse and the moving barrier
• Cold dark matter haloes in the Planck era: evolution of structural parameters for Einasto and NFW profiles
• Euclid Definition Study Report
• The statistics of LCDM Halo Concentrations
• Cosmological Tests of Modified Gravity
• Towards a realistic population of simulated galaxy groups and clusters
• The DESI Experiment, a whitepaper for Snowmass 2013
• The Observed Growth of Massive Galaxy Clusters I: Statistical Methods and Cosmological Constraints
• CMB-S4 Science Book, First Edition
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Cosmological parameters from three seasons of data
• The Mass-Concentration-Redshift Relation of Cold Dark Matter Halos
• The universality of the virial halo mass function and models for non-universality of other halo definitions
• Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clusters in the 2500 square-degree SPT-SZ Survey
• Scaling Properties of a Complete X-ray Selected Galaxy Group Sample
• The Three Hundred project: a large catalogue of theoretically modelled galaxy clusters for cosmological and astrophysical applications
• The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Measuring D_A and H at z=0.57 from the Baryon Acoustic Peak in the Data Release 9 Spectroscopic Galaxy Sample
• A Unified Description of Screened Modified Gravity
• Modified Gravity N-body Code Comparison Project
• Self-Consistent Cosmological Simulations of DGP Braneworld Gravity
• New constraints on $f(R)$ gravity from clusters of galaxies
• Dynamical Masses in Modified Gravity
• Cosmological Simulations of Normal-Branch Braneworld Gravity
• The Santiago-Harvard-Edinburgh-Durham void comparison I: SHEDding light on chameleon gravity tests
• On the road to percent accuracy: nonlinear reaction of the matter power spectrum to dark energy and modified gravity
• Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy clusters: X-ray scaling relations and their evolution
• Deconstructing the kinetic SZ Power Spectrum
• The XMM Cluster Survey: Testing chameleon gravity using the profiles of clusters
• Modified Gravity Tomography
• The Massive End of the Stellar Mass Function
• Impact on the power spectrum of Screening in Modified Gravity Scenarios
• Exploring the liminality: properties of haloes and subhaloes in borderline $f(R)$ gravity
• The Imprint of f(R) Gravity on Non-Linear Structure Formation
• A $f(R)$-gravity model of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich profile of the Coma cluster compatible with {\it Planck} data
• Kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect in modified gravity
• Cluster gas fraction as a test of gravity
• Testing Gravity Theories Using Stars
• Euclid preparation III. Galaxy cluster detection in the wide photometric survey, performance and algorithm selection
• Mass-Temperature relation in $\Lambda$CDM and modified gravity
• Constraints on Modified Gravity from Sunyaev-Zeldovich Cluster Surveys
• An accurate method of modeling cluster scaling relations in modified gravity
• Probing Theories of Gravity with Phase Space-Inferred Potentials of Galaxy Clusters
• Environmental screening of dark matter haloes in $f(R)$ gravity