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We present an analysis of galaxy-galaxy weak gravitational lensing (GGL) in chameleon $f(R)$ gravity - a leading candidate of non-standard gravity models. For the analysis we have created mock galaxy catalogues based on dark matter haloes from two sets of numerical simulations, using a halo occupation distribution (HOD) prescription which allows a redshift dependence of galaxy number density. To make a fairer comparison between the $f(R)$ and $Lambda$CDM models, their HOD parameters are tuned so that the galaxy two-point correlation functions in real space (and therefore the projected two-point correlation functions) match. While the $f(R)$ model predicts an enhancement of the convergence power spectrum by up to $sim30%$ compared to the standard $Lambda$CDM model with the same parameters, the maximum enhancement of GGL is only half as large and less than 5% on separations above $sim1$-$2h^{-1}$Mpc, because the latter is a cross correlation of shear (or matter, which is more strongly affected by modified gravity) and galaxy (which is weakly affected given the good match between galaxy auto correlations in the two models) fields. We also study the possibility of reconstructing the matter power spectrum by combination of GGL and galaxy clustering in $f(R)$ gravity. We find that the galaxy-matter cross correlation coefficient remains at unity down to $sim2$-$3h^{-1}$Mpc at relevant redshifts even in $f(R)$ gravity, indicating joint analysis of GGL and galaxy clustering can be a powerful probe of matter density fluctuations in chameleon gravity. The scale dependence of the model differences in their predictions of GGL can potentially allow to break the degeneracy between $f(R)$ gravity and other cosmological parameters such as $Omega_m$ and $sigma_8$.
Modifications of the equations of general relativity at large distances offer one possibility to explain the observed properties of our Universe without invoking a cosmological constant. Numerous proposals for such modified gravity cosmologies exist, but often their consequences for structure formation in the non-linear sector are not yet accurately known. In this work, we employ high-resolution numerical simulations of f(R)-gravity models coupled with a semi-analytic model (SAM) for galaxy formation to obtain detailed predictions for the evolution of galaxy properties. The f(R)-gravity models imply the existence of a `fifth-force, which is however locally suppressed, preserving the successes of general relativity on solar system scales. We show that dark matter haloes in f(R)-gravity models are characterized by a modified virial scaling with respect to the LCDM scenario, reflecting a higher dark matter velocity dispersion at a given mass. This effect is taken into account in the SAM by an appropriate modification of the mass--temperature relation. We find that the statistical properties predicted for galaxies (such as the stellar mass function and the cosmic star formation rate) in f(R)-gravity show generally only very small differences relative to LCDM, smaller than the dispersion between the results of different SAM models, which can be viewed as a measure of their systematic uncertainty. We also demonstrate that galaxy bias is not able to disentangle between f(R)-gravity and the standard cosmological scenario. However, f(R)-gravity imprints modifications in the linear growth rate of cosmic structures at large scale, which can be recovered from the statistical properties of large galaxy samples.
Weak gravitational lensing of background galaxies provides a direct probe of the projected matter distribution in and around galaxy clusters. Here we present a self-contained pedagogical review of cluster--galaxy weak lensing, covering a range of topics relevant to its cosmological and astrophysical applications. We begin by reviewing the theoretical foundations of gravitational lensing from first principles, with special attention to the basics and advanced techniques of weak gravitational lensing. We summarize and discuss key findings from recent cluster--galaxy weak-lensing studies on both observational and theoretical grounds, with a focus on cluster mass profiles, the concentration--mass relation, the splashback radius, and implications from extensive mass calibration efforts for cluster cosmology.
We explore the Minkowski functionals of weak lensing convergence map to distinguish between $f(R)$ gravity and the general relativity (GR). The mock weak lensing convergence maps are constructed with a set of high-resolution simulations assuming different gravity models. It is shown that the lensing MFs of $f(R)$ gravity can be considerably different from that of GR because of the environmentally dependent enhancement of structure formation. We also investigate the effect of lensing noise on our results, and find that it is likely to distinguish F5, F6 and GR gravity models with a galaxy survey of $sim3000$ degree$^2$ and with a background source number density of $n_g=30~{rm arcmin}^{-2}$, comparable to an upcoming survey dark energy survey (DES). We also find that the $f(R)$ signal can be partially degenerate with the effect of changing cosmology, but combined use of other observations, such as the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data, can help break this degeneracy.
In this review, I discuss the use of galaxy-galaxy weak lensing measurements to study the masses of dark matter halos in which galaxies reside. After summarizing how weak gravitational lensing measurements can be interpreted in terms of halo mass, I review measurements that were used to derive the relationship between optical galaxy mass tracers, such as stellar mass or luminosity, and dark matter halo mass. Measurements of galaxy-galaxy lensing from the past decade have led to increasingly tight constraints on the connection between dark matter halo mass and optical mass tracers, including both the mean relationships between these quantities and the intrinsic scatter between them. I also review some of the factors that can complicate analysis, such as the choice of modeling procedure, and choices made when dividing up samples of lens galaxies.
In this Letter, we report the observational constraints on the Hu-Sawicki $f(R)$ theory derived from weak lensing peak abundances, which are closely related to the mass function of massive halos. In comparison with studies using optical or x-ray clusters of galaxies, weak lensing peak analyses have the advantages of not relying on mass-baryonic observable calibrations. With observations from the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope Lensing Survey, our peak analyses give rise to a tight constraint on the model parameter $|f_{R0}|$ for $n=1$. The $95%$ CL limit is $log_{10}|f_{R0}| < -4.82$ given WMAP9 priors on $(Omega_{rm m}, A_{rm s})$. With Planck15 priors, the corresponding result is $log_{10}|f_{R0}| < -5.16$.