How does the cosmic large-scale structure bias the Hubble diagram?
- Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7701 (South Africa)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7535 (South Africa)
The Hubble diagram is one of the cornerstones of observational cosmology. It is usually analysed assuming that, on average, the underlying relation between magnitude and redshift matches the prediction of a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker model. However, the inhomogeneity of the Universe generically biases these observables, mainly due to peculiar velocities and gravitational lensing, in a way that depends on the notion of average used in theoretical calculations. In this article, we carefully derive the notion of average which corresponds to the observation of the Hubble diagram. We then calculate its bias at second-order in cosmological perturbations, and estimate the consequences on the inference of cosmological parameters, for various current and future surveys. We find that this bias deeply affects direct estimations of the evolution of the dark-energy equation of state. However, errors in the standard inference of cosmological parameters remain smaller than observational uncertainties, even though they reach percent level on some parameters; they reduce to sub-percent level if an optimal distance indicator is used.
- OSTI ID:
- 22679942
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2017, Issue 03; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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