English

Going beyond $S_8$: fast inference of the matter power spectrum from weak-lensing surveys

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2026-01-08 v3

Abstract

Weak lensing surveys are often summarized by constraints on the derived parameter S8σ8Ωm/0.3{S_8\equiv\sigma_8\sqrt{\Omega_{\rm m}/0.3}}, obscuring the rich scale and redshift information encoded in the data, and limiting our ability to identify the origin of any tensions with Λ\LambdaCDM predictions from the cosmic microwave background. In this work, we introduce a fast and flexible framework to extract the scale-dependent matter power spectrum P(k,z)P(k, z) from cosmic shear and CMB lensing measurements, parameterizing deviations from the Planck Λ\LambdaCDM prediction as a free function α(k)\alpha(k). Using public data from DES Y3, KiDS-1000, HSC Y3, and ACT DR6, we constrain α(k)\alpha(k) with fast Hamiltonian Monte Carlo inference, employing multipoles up to max2000\ell_{\rm max}\sim2000 for the galaxy lensing surveys. Our results show a consistent 15-30% suppression in the matter power spectrum at intermediate scales (k0.11Mpc1k \sim 0.1-1{\rm Mpc}^{-1}) in galaxy-lensing data relative to a Planck Λ\LambdaCDM prediction with a CDM-only (no baryonic feedback) power spectrum, with combined tensions reaching up to 4σ4\sigma. This is under a fixed cosmology and with analytic marginalization over shear and redshift calibration uncertainties. In contrast, ACT CMB lensing is consistent with Λ\LambdaCDM at k0.1Mpc1{k\lesssim 0.1 {\rm Mpc}^{-1}}. We validate our method using mock data, quantify consistency between datasets, and demonstrate how the resulting α(k)\alpha(k) likelihoods can be used to test specific models for the power spectrum. All code, data products, and derived likelihoods are publicly released. Our results highlight the importance of reporting lensing constraints on P(k,z)P(k, z) and pave the way for model-agnostic test of growth of structure with upcoming surveys such as LSST, Euclid, and Roman.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2506.16434,
  title  = {Going beyond $S_8$: fast inference of the matter power spectrum from weak-lensing surveys},
  author = {Cyrille Doux and Tanvi Karwal},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.16434},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

The code, data, intermediate and final results, as well as a reproducible notebook for further model testing, are available in the GitHub repository at https://github.com/xuod/cls2pk . Published in the Open Journal of Astrophysics