Constraining multiplicative bias in CFHTLenS weak lensing shear data

Abstract

Several recent cosmological analyses have found tension between constraints derived from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) data and those derived from other data sets, such as the Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies. Similarly, a direct cross-correlation of the CFHTLenS data with Planck CMB lensing data yielded an anomalously low amplitude compared to expectations based on Planck or WMAP-derived cosmological parameters Liu and Hill [Phys. Rev. D 92, 063517 (2015)]. One potential explanation for these results is a multiplicative bias afflicting the CFHTLenS galaxy shape measurements, from which shears are inferred. Simulations are used in the CFHTLenS pipeline to calibrate such biases, but no data-driven constraints have been presented to date. In this paper, we cross-correlate CFHTLenS galaxy density maps with CFHTLenS shear maps and Planck CMB lensing maps to calibrate an additional multiplicative shear bias (m ) in CFHTLenS (beyond the multiplicative correction that has already been applied to the CFHTLenS galaxy shears), following methods suggested by Vallinotto [Astrophys. J. 759, 32 (2012)], and Das et al. [arXiv:1311.2338]. We analyze three magnitude-limited galaxy samples, finding 2 - 4 σ evidence for m <1 using the deepest sample (i <24 ), while the others are consistent with m =1 (no bias). This matches the expectation that the shapes of faint galaxies are the most prone to measurement biases. Our results for m are essentially independent of the assumed cosmology, and only weakly sensitive to assumptions about the galaxy bias. We consider three galaxy bias models, finding in all cases that the best-fit multiplicative shear bias is less than unity (neglecting photometric redshift errors and intrinsic alignment contamination). A value of m ≈0.9 would suffice to reconcile the amplitude of density fluctuations inferred from the CFHTLenS shear two-point statistics with that inferred from Planck CMB temperature data. This scenario is consistent with our results.