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The effects of galaxy formation on the matter power spectrum: A challenge for precision cosmology

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 Added by Marcel van Daalen
 Publication date 2011
  fields Physics
and research's language is English




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Upcoming weak lensing surveys, such as LSST, EUCLID, and WFIRST, aim to measure the matter power spectrum with unprecedented accuracy. In order to fully exploit these observations, models are needed that, given a set of cosmological parameters, can predict the non-linear matter power spectrum at the level of 1% or better for scales corresponding to comoving wave numbers 0.1<k<10 h/Mpc. We have employed the large suite of simulations from the OWLS project to investigate the effects of various baryonic processes on the matter power spectrum. In addition, we have examined the distribution of power over different mass components, the back-reaction of the baryons on the CDM, and the evolution of the dominant effects on the matter power spectrum. We find that single baryonic processes are capable of changing the power spectrum by up to several tens of per cent. Our simulation that includes AGN feedback, which we consider to be our most realistic simulation as, unlike those used in previous studies, it has been shown to solve the overcooling problem and to reproduce optical and X-ray observations of groups of galaxies, predicts a decrease in power relative to a dark matter only simulation ranging, at z=0, from 1% at k~0.3 h/Mpc to 10% at k~1 h/Mpc and to 30% at k~10 h/Mpc. This contradicts the naive view that baryons raise the power through cooling, which is the dominant effect only for k>70 h/Mpc. Therefore, baryons, and particularly AGN feedback, cannot be ignored in theoretical power spectra for k>0.3 h/Mpc. It will thus be necessary to improve our understanding of feedback processes in galaxy formation, or at least to constrain them through auxiliary observations, before we can fulfil the goals of upcoming weak lensing surveys.



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An accurate theoretical template for the galaxy power spectrum is a key for the success of ongoing and future spectroscopic surveys. We examine to what extent the Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structure is able to provide such a template and correctly estimate cosmological parameters. To that end, we initiate a blinded challenge to infer cosmological parameters from the redshift-space power spectrum of high-resolution mock catalogs mimicking the BOSS galaxy sample but covering a hundred times larger cumulative volume. This gigantic simulation volume allows us to separate systematic bias due to theoretical modeling from the statistical error due to sample variance. The challenge task was to measure three unknown input parameters used in the simulation: the Hubble constant, the matter density fraction, and the clustering amplitude. We present analyses done by two independent teams, who have fitted the mock simulation data generated by yet another independent group. This allows us to avoid any confirmation bias by analyzers and pin down possible tuning of the specific EFT implementations. Both independent teams have recovered the true values of the input parameters within sub-percent statistical errors corresponding to the total simulation volume.
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