Weak-lensing $B$-modes as a probe of the isotropy of the universe

Abstract

We compute the angular power spectrum of the $B$-modes of the weak-lensing shear in a spatially anisotropic spacetime. We find that there must also exist off-diagonal correlations between the $E$-modes, $B$-modes, and convergence that allow one to reconstruct the eigendirections of expansion. Focusing on future surveys such as Euclid and SKA, we show that observations can constrain the geometrical shear in units of the Hubble rate at the percent level, or even better, offering a new and powerful method to probe our cosmological model.