Weak gravitational lensing (WL) is one of the core probes to study multiple high-profile NASA science goals, in particular the origin and composition of the universe and the processes of structure…

This federal contract award is to the University of Arizona, doing business as the Arizona Board of Regents, for a research grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The $293,688.10 grant will fund research into a new weak gravitational lensing technique called kinematic lensing, which aims to enhance the precision of measurements used to study the origin, composition, and structure formation of the universe. This novel approach combines spectroscopic information with traditional wide-field imaging to reduce the impact of shape noise, a key source of uncertainty in traditional weak lensing measurements. The research could improve the sensitivity of future NASA missions and surveys, leading to advancements in the understanding of dark matter, dark energy, and other fundamental physics questions. No set-aside designation was specified for this grant.

Weak gravitational lensing (WL) is one of the core probes to study multiple high-profile NASA science goals, in particular the origin and composition of the universe and the processes of structure formation and galaxy evolution (2010 decadal survey, 2014 NASA science plan). The main noise contribution in weak lensing measurements originates from the large dispersion of the intrinsic ellipticity distribution of galaxies (~0.26). This so-called shape noise dilutes the desired measurement of the shear effect, which is of order 10E-3. We propose to investigate a new weak lensing method, so-called kinematic lensing (KL), that combines spectroscopic information with traditional wide-field imaging. The theoretical foundation of this technique is outlined in huff, krause, eifler ET AL 2013; IT employs minimally resolved disk galaxy kinematics and the tully-fisher relation (TFR) to estimate both components of the shear. KL greatly enhances the constraining power on cosmological models; the shape noise of disk galaxies is reduced by more than an order of magnitude and ceases to be an important source of uncertainty. Furthermore, this new method avoids the most important sources of theoretical and observational systematic errors that affect traditional weak lensing measurements: 1) the spectroscopic information removes photo-Z errors, 2) the lowered requirements on the number density of galaxies allows for selecting high S/N candidates for which reliable shapes can be measured, 3) contamination of the shear signal from intrinsic alignment (IA) of source galaxies is strongly mitigated by the spectroscopic information and the fact that we select for galaxies that are known to have little to no IA. Beyond cosmology, KL unlocks a new level of precision in astrophysics; IT enables high-resolution mass maps for galaxies and clusters to 1) map the transition regime between strong and weak lensing, 2) study the connection of galaxies, intergalactic gas, and their dark matter environment, 3) determine the exact mass and mass-profile of the most massive, high-redshift clusters. Kinematic lensing is a novel idea that has the potential to fundamentally transform our understanding of the universe. If successful IT can greatly enhance the sensitivity of large future missions/surveys and thereby open a new window to our understanding of dark matter, dark energy, and other fundamental physics questions.