Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. TDCOSMO. IV. Hierarchical time-delay cosmography - joint inference of the Hubble constant and galaxy density profiles
 
research article

TDCOSMO. IV. Hierarchical time-delay cosmography - joint inference of the Hubble constant and galaxy density profiles

Birrer, S.
•
Shajib, A. J.
•
Galan, A.
Show more
November 20, 2020
Astronomy & Astrophysics

The H0LiCOWcollaboration inferred via strong gravitational lensing time delays a Hubble constant value of H0 = 73 :3+1:7 1:8 km s 1 Mpc 1, describing deflector mass density profiles by either a power-law or stars (constant mass-to-light ratio) plus standard dark matter halos. The mass-sheet transform (MST) that leaves the lensing observables unchanged is considered the dominant source of residual uncertainty in H0. We quantify any potential e ffect of the MST with a flexible family of mass models, which directly encodes it, and they are hence maximally degenerate with H0. Our calculation is based on a new hierarchical Bayesian approach in which the MST is only constrained by stellar kinematics. The approach is validated on mock lenses, which are generated from hydrodynamic simulations. We first applied the inference to the TDCOSMO sample of seven lenses, six of which are from H0LiCOW, and measured H0 = 74 :5+5:6 6:1 km s 1 Mpc 1. Secondly, in order to further constrain the deflector mass density profiles, we added imaging and spectroscopy for a set of 33 strong gravitational lenses from the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) sample. For nine of the 33 SLAC lenses, we used resolved kinematics to constrain the stellar anisotropy. From the joint hierarchical analysis of the TDCOSMO +SLACS sample, we measured H0 = 67 :4+4:1 3:2 km s 1 Mpc 1. This measurement assumes that the TDCOSMO and SLACS galaxies are drawn from the same parent population. The blind H0LiCOW, TDCOSMO-only and TDCOSMO +SLACS analyses are in mutual statistical agreement. The TDCOSMO +SLACS analysis prefers marginally shallower mass profiles than H0LiCOW or TDCOSMO-only. Without relying on the form of the mass density profile used by H0LiCOW, we achieve a similar to 5% measurement of H0. While our new hierarchical analysis does not statistically invalidate the mass profile assumptions by H0LiCOW - and thus the H0 measurement relying on them - it demonstrates the importance of understanding the mass density profile of elliptical galaxies. The uncertainties on H0 derived in this paper can be reduced by physical or observational priors on the form of the mass profile, or by additional data.

  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/202038861
Web of Science ID

WOS:000595643200001

Author(s)
Birrer, S.
Shajib, A. J.
Galan, A.
Millon, M.
Treu, T.
Agnello, A.
Auger, M.
Chen, G. C. -F.
Christensen, L.
Collett, T.
Show more
Date Issued

2020-11-20

Publisher

EDP SCIENCES S A

Published in
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Volume

643

Article Number

A165

Subjects

Astronomy & Astrophysics

•

gravitational lensing: strong

•

galaxies: general

•

galaxies: kinematics and dynamics

•

distance scale

•

cosmological parameters

•

cosmology: observations

•

lens acs survey

•

line-of-sight

•

gravitational lens

•

2-dimensional kinematics

•

internal structure

•

slacs lenses

•

velocity dispersions

•

elliptic galaxies

•

dynamical models

•

imaged quasar

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LASTRO  
Available on Infoscience
June 19, 2021
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/179402
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés