Transverse Velocities with the Moving Lens Effect

Selim C. Hotinli, Joel Meyers, Neal Dalal, Andrew H. Jaffe, Matthew C. Johnson, James B. Mertens, Moritz Münchmeyer, Kendrick M. Smith, and Alexander van Engelen

Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 061301 – Published 6 August 2019

Abstract

Gravitational potentials that change in time induce fluctuations in the observed cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature. Cosmological structure moving transverse to our line of sight provides a specific example known as the moving lens effect. Here, we explore how the observed CMB temperature fluctuations, combined with the observed matter overdensity, can be used to infer the transverse velocity of cosmological structures on large scales. We show that near-future CMB surveys and galaxy surveys will have the statistical power to make a first detection of the moving lens effect, and we discuss applications for the reconstructed transverse velocity.

Received 8 January 2019
Revised 29 May 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.061301

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Cosmic microwave background Cosmological parameters Dark energy Dark matter Evolution of the Universe Gravitational lenses Large scale structure of the Universe

Galaxies

Astronomical masses & mass distributions Distances, redshifts, & velocities

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Authors & Affiliations

Selim C. Hotinli ¹, Joel Meyers², Neal Dalal³, Andrew H. Jaffe¹, Matthew C. Johnson^4,3, James B. Mertens^4,3, Moritz Münchmeyer³, Kendrick M. Smith³, and Alexander van Engelen⁵

¹Astrophysics Group and Imperial Centre for Inference and Cosmology, Department of Physics, Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
²Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University, 3215 Daniel Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA
³Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada
⁴Department of Physics and Astronomy, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
⁵Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 60 Saint George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H8, Canada