Related papers: Limitations of model fitting methods for lensing s…
As the volume and quality of modern galaxy surveys increase, so does the difficulty of measuring the cosmological signal imprinted in galaxy shapes. Weak gravitational lensing sourced by the most massive structures in the Universe generates…
Precision weak gravitational lensing experiments require measurements of galaxy shapes accurate to <1 part in 1000. We investigate measurement biases, noted by Voigt and Bridle (2009) and Melchior et al. (2009), that are common to shape…
We seek to understand the impact on shape estimators obtained from circular and elliptical shapelet models under two realistic conditions: (a) only a limited number of shapelet modes is available for the model, and (b) the intrinsic…
The principles of measuring the shapes of galaxies by a model-fitting approach are discussed in the context of shape-measurement for surveys of weak gravitational lensing. It is argued that such an approach should be optimal, allowing…
Weak gravitational lensing has the potential to constrain cosmological parameters to high precision. However, as shown by the Shear TEsting Programmes (STEP) and GRavitational lEnsing Accuracy Testing (GREAT) Challenges, measuring galaxy…
Cosmic shear is a powerful probe of cosmological parameters, but its potential can be fully utilised only if galaxy shapes are measured with great accuracy. Two major effects have been identified which are likely to account for most of the…
We extend the Bayesian model fitting shape measurement method presented in Miller et al. (2007) and use the method to estimate the shear from the Shear TEsting Programme simulations (STEP). The method uses a fast model fitting algorithm…
Only galaxies bright enough and large enough to be unambiguously identified and measured are included in galaxy surveys used to estimate cosmic shear. We demonstrate that because gravitational lensing can scatter galaxies across the…
Studies of strong gravitational lensing in current and upcoming wide and deep photometric surveys, and of stellar kinematics from (integral-field) spectroscopy at increasing redshifts, promise to provide valuable constraints on galaxy…
Weak lensing surveys exploit measurements of galaxy ellipticities. These measurements are subject to errors which degrade the cosmological information that can be extracted from the surveys. Here we propose a way of using the galaxy data…
One of the primary limiting sources of systematic uncertainty in forthcoming weak lensing measurements is systematic uncertainty in the quantitative relationship between the distortions due to gravitational lensing and the measurable…
Model fitting is frequently used to determine the shape of galaxies and the point spread function, for examples, in weak lensing analyses or morphology studies aiming at probing the evolution of galaxies. However, the number of parameters…
It is anticipated that the large sky areas covered by planned wide-field weak lensing surveys will reduce statistical errors to such an extent that systematic errors will instead become the dominant source of uncertainty. It is therefore…
Statistics of the weak lensing of galaxies can be used to constrain cosmology if the galaxy shear can be estimated accurately. In general this requires accurate modelling of unlensed galaxy shapes and the point spread function (PSF). I…
Since cosmic shear was first observed in 2000, it has become a key cosmological probe and promises to deliver exquisite dark energy constraints. However, shear is inferred from coherent distortions of galaxy shapes, and the relation between…
We present the theoretical and analytical bases of optimal techniques to measure weak gravitational shear from images of galaxies. We first characterize the geometric space of shears and ellipticity, then use this geometric interpretation…
Cosmic shear has been identified as the method with the most potential to constrain dark energy. To capitalise on this potential it is necessary to measure galaxy shapes with great accuracy, which in turn requires a detailed model for the…
Massive elliptical galaxies can display structures that deviate from a pure elliptical shape, such as a twist of the principal axis or variations in the axis ratio with galactocentric distance. Although satisfactory lens modeling is…
The weak gravitational lensing of distant galaxies by large-scale structure is expected to become a powerful probe of dark energy. By measuring the ellipticities of large numbers of background galaxies, the subtle gravitational distortion…
The intrinsic scatter in the ellipticities of galaxies about the mean shape, known as "shape noise," is the most important source of noise in weak lensing shear measurements. Several approaches to reducing shape noise have recently been put…