Synergy between the gravitational potential decay rate and other structure growth probes in testing gravity
Synergy between the gravitational potential decay rate and other structure growth probes in testing gravity
Shang Li, Pengjie Zhang, Fuyu Dong
AbstractWe test gravity by exploiting the synergy between the gravitational potential decay rate ($\mathit{DR}$) and complementary structure-growth probes: these observables respond to MG parameters with different degeneracy directions, so their combination yields stronger constraints than any single probe. We adopt the tomographic $\mathit{DR}$ measurements reported in \citep{2025ApJ...982...99D} and combine them with CMB-lensing-tomography $Σ_8$ constraints and $fσ_8$ measurements from DESI DR1 full-shape analyses and the DESI peculiar-velocity field. We apply this joint data vector to two representative frameworks: phenomenological parameterizations and the Effective Field Theory (EFT) $α$-basis. For the phenomenological form $P_{\rm MG}(a)=1+P_{{\rm MG},0}\,Ω_{\rm DE}(a)/Ω_{\rm DE}(0)$, where $P_{\rm MG}$ denotes $μ$, $η$, or $Σ$, we obtain $μ_0=0.09\pm0.35$ and $Σ_0=0.01\pm0.06$. Compared to the measurements combination $Σ_8+fσ_8$, including $\mathit{DR}$ tightens the constraint on $Σ_0$ by a factor of $\sim2$. For the $(μ_0,η_0)$ case we find $μ_0=0.06^{+0.17}_{-0.23}$ and $η_0=-0.03^{+0.36}_{-0.46}$; relative to $Σ_8+fσ_8$, adding $\mathit{DR}$ improves the constraints on both parameters by a factor of $\sim1.5$. In the EFT $α$-basis, adopting the parameterization $α_i(a)=c_i\,Ω_{\rm DE}(a)$ with $i\in\{{\rm M,B}\}$, we find $c_{\rm M}=0.64^{+0.32}_{-0.72}$ and $c{\rm B}=0.31^{+0.19}_{-0.29}$. The corresponding EFT uncertainties are about a factor of $\sim2$ smaller than those reported in \citep{2025JCAP...09..053I}, which combined DESI full-shape and BAO measurements with DES-SN5YR and CMB data. These results demonstrate the capability of $\mathit{DR}$ and the necessity of including the $\mathit{DR}$ measurements in testing gravity.