Constraints on Cosmological Parameters from the 500 deg² SPTPOL Lensing Power Spectrum

Abstract

We present cosmological constraints based on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing potential power spectrum measurement from the recent 500 deg 2 SPTpol survey, the most precise CMB lensing measurement from the ground to date. We fit a flat ΛCDM model to the reconstructed lensing power spectrum alone and in addition with other data sets: baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) as well as primary CMB spectra from Planck and SPTpol. The cosmological constraints based on SPTpol and Planck lensing band powers are in good agreement when analysed alone and in combination with Planck full-sky primary CMB data. Within the ΛCDM model, CMB lensing data are primarily sensitive to the amount of large-scale structure as parametrized by σ 8 Ω 0.25 m . With weak priors on the baryon density and other parameters, the SPTpol CMB lensing data alone provide a 4% constraint on σ 8 Ω 0.25 m = 0.593 ± 0.025. Jointly fitting with BAO data, we find σ 8 = 0.779 ± 0.023, Ω m = 0.368 +0.032 −0.037 , and H 0 = 72.0 +2.1 −2.5 km s −1 Mpc −1 , up to 2 σ away from the central values preferred by Planck lensing + BAO. However, we recover good agreement between SPTpol and Planck when restricting the analysis to similar scales. We also consider single-parameter extensions to the flat ΛCDM model. In combination with Planck primary CMB measurements and BAO, the SPTpol lensing spectrum constrains the spatial curvature to be Ω K = −0.0007 ± 0.0025 and the sum of the neutrino masses to be m ν < 0.23 eV at 95% C.L., both in good agreement with the full-sky Planck lensing results. With the differences in the S/N of the lensing modes and the angular scales covered in the lensing spectra, this analysis represents an important independent check on the full-sky Planck lensing measurement.

DES Y1 results: Splitting growth and geometry to test ΛCDM

“…[18][19][20][21]. Independent CMB measurements from ACT and WMAP give σ 8 constraints consistent with those from Planck [22], while constraints based solely on reconstructed Planck CMB lensing maps are consistent with σ 8 constraints from both DES and measurements of CMB temperature and polarization [23,24].…”

“…(25)], quantifying the effective number of parameters constrained; S dat is the Bayesian suspiciousness, assessing agreement between pairs of datasets [Eq. (24)]; and S mod is the modelcomparison Bayesian suspiciousness [Eq. (30)], quantifying tension or agreement with Θ grow ¼ Θ geo .…”

Quantum cosmology with dynamical vacuum in a minimal-length scenario

“…We choose a flat universe because it is in agreement with current cosmological observations[76,77] 12. In the same way as in[63] we hope that the cosmological constant arises from the degrees of freedom of the vacuum and not being postulated from the start as a geometric term.…”

Cosmology from weak lensing alone and implications for the Hubble tension

“…To aid this investigation we will also consider information from CMB lensing. CMB lensing constraints currently have tighter error bars than cosmic shear on most combinations of ΛCDM parameters (Planck Collaboration et al 2020b;Wu et al 2019;Bianchini et al 2020;Darwish et al 2021), and although the redshifts of the relevant gravitational potentials are quite different there are useful analogies to be drawn between the two probes when it comes to studying the origin of parameter information. This paper is organised as follows.…”