Mapping Dark Matter in Merging Clusters with Weak Lensing for CSST: Morphology and Filament Recovery

Abstract Weak gravitational lensing offers a direct probe of the projected dark matter distribution in cluster-scale structures and the surrounding cosmic web. We investigate the capability of the China Space Station Telescope (CSST) to recover nonspherical dark matter morphologies using mock reduced-shear maps generated from cosmological N-body simulations. We apply the deep-learning-based MIU 2 Net mass-reconstruction framework to CSST-like wide- and deep-field source densities, focusing on two representative systems: filament-connected halo pairs and elongated halos. MIU 2 Net accurately recovers halo centers, elongated mass distributions, and the filamentary structures connecting halo pairs in both survey configurations. Halo centers are localized within about 0.1 h −1 Mpc, and elongated-halo shapes and orientations are reliably recovered. Filament paths are stable against shape noise, with mean normalized instability parameters I F , defined as the mean deviation from the true filament locus in units of R 200 , decreasing from 0.041–0.037 in the low-redshift bin and from 0.051–0.045 in the high-redshift bin from the wide to deep field. The recovered filament shapes remain consistent with the true maps at the percent level. Compared with conventional Kaiser–Squires reconstruction, MIU 2 Net better preserves low-contrast anisotropic structures while suppressing small-scale noise. These results demonstrate that CSST weak-lensing data, combined with machine-learning-based mass reconstruction, will enable statistical studies of cluster assembly, anisotropic matter accretion, and the connection between massive halos and the filamentary cosmic web.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Published
2026-11-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aeb2fd
Primary Topic
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
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article
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article

Mapping Dark Matter in Merging Clusters with Weak Lensing for CSST: Morphology and Filament Recovery

Huanyuan Shan, Hengjie Lin, Qiao Wang, Xiangkun Liu et al.
1 links
The Astrophysical Journal
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
article

Mapping Dark Matter in Merging Clusters with Weak Lensing for CSST: Morphology and Filament Recovery

Huanyuan Shan, Hengjie Lin, Qiao Wang, Xiangkun Liu, Xinyue Chen, Ran Li, Ming Li, Liang Gao, Ji Yao
article en

Abstract

Abstract Weak gravitational lensing offers a direct probe of the projected dark matter distribution in cluster-scale structures and the surrounding cosmic web. We investigate the capability of the China Space Station Telescope (CSST) to recover nonspherical dark matter morphologies using mock reduced-shear maps generated from cosmological N-body simulations. We apply the deep-learning-based MIU 2 Net mass-reconstruction framework to CSST-like wide- and deep-field source densities, focusing on two representative systems: filament-connected halo pairs and elongated halos. MIU 2 Net accurately recovers halo centers, elongated mass distributions, and the filamentary structures connecting halo pairs in both survey configurations. Halo centers are localized within about 0.1 h −1 Mpc, and elongated-halo shapes and orientations are reliably recovered. Filament paths are stable against shape noise, with mean normalized instability parameters I F , defined as the mean deviation from the true filament locus in units of R 200 , decreasing from 0.041–0.037 in the low-redshift bin and from 0.051–0.045 in the high-redshift bin from the wide to deep field. The recovered filament shapes remain consistent with the true maps at the percent level. Compared with conventional Kaiser–Squires reconstruction, MIU 2 Net better preserves low-contrast anisotropic structures while suppressing small-scale noise. These results demonstrate that CSST weak-lensing data, combined with machine-learning-based mass reconstruction, will enable statistical studies of cluster assembly, anisotropic matter accretion, and the connection between massive halos and the filamentary cosmic web.

The Astrophysical JournalVol. 1011(2)
Yunnan University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Beijing Normal University (CN), Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (CN), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 22%
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
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