Joint Model-independent Constraints on the Post-Newtonian Parameter and Cosmic Curvature from Galaxy-scale Strong Lensing, SNe Ia, BAO, and Cosmic Chronometers
Fu-you Zheng, Xiao-jun Gao, Hou-bing Tang, Wei Xiang
arxiv.org/abs/2609.29377 [ππ-ππ πππππ-ππ.π²πΎ]
ALT This investigation aims to test the validity of general relativity (GR) on kiloparsec scales via galaxy-scale strong gravitational lensing (SGL) combined with multiple cosmological probes. To circumvent the circularity problem induced by the presumption of a cosmological model based on GR, we apply the distance sum rule in the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metric to constrain the post-Newtonian parameter gamma PPN and spatial curvature Omega k independently of any cosmological model. The study introduces two methodological improvements: (i) parameterizing the dark-energy evolution factor with second-order Chebyshev orthogonal polynomials, which ensures uniformly high convergence across the full redshift baseline while retaining Omega k as an explicit free parameter; (ii) extending the original two-probe configuration (SGL + Type Ia supernovae) to a four-probe joint analysis that includes baryon acoustic oscillations and cosmic chronometers. Our results show that gamma PPN