No Arabic abstract
The latest Planck results reconfirm the existence of a slight but chronic tension between the best-fit Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and low-redshift observables: power seems to be consistently lacking in the late universe across a range of observables (e.g.~weak lensing, cluster counts). We propose a two-parameter model for dark energy where the dark energy is sufficiently like dark matter at large scales to keep the CMB unchanged but where it does not cluster at small scales, preventing concordance collapse and erasing power. We thus exploit the generic scale-dependence of dark energy instead of the more usual time-dependence to address the tension in the data. The combination of CMB, distance and weak lensing data somewhat prefer our model to $Lambda$CDM, at $Deltachi^2=2.4$. Moreover, this improved solution has $sigma_8=0.79 pm 0.02$, consistent with the value implied by cluster counts.
Using the Reduced Relativistic Gas (RRG) model, we analytically determine the matter power spectrum for Warm Dark Matter (WDM) on small scales, $k>1 htext{/Mpc}$. The RRG is a simplified model for the ideal relativistic gas, but very accurate in the cosmological context. In another work, we have shown that, for typical allowed masses for dark matter particles, $m>5 text{keV}$, the higher order multipoles, $ell>2$, in the Einstein-Boltzmann system of equations are negligible on scales $k<10 htext{/Mpc}$. Hence, we can follow the perturbations of WDM using the ideal fluid framework, with equation of state and sound speed of perturbations given by the RRG model. We derive a Meszaros like equation for WDM and solve it analytically in radiation, matter and dark energy dominated eras. Joining these solutions, we get an expression that determines the value of WDM perturbations as a function of redshift and wavenumber. Then we construct the matter power spectrum and transfer function of WDM on small scales and compare it to some results coming from Lyman-$alpha$ forest observations. Besides being a clear and pedagogical analytical development to understand the evolution of WDM perturbations, our power spectrum results are consistent with the observations considered and the other determinations of the degree of warmness of dark matter particles.
In this paper we show how effects from small scales enter the angular-redshift power spectrum $C_ell(z,z)$. In particular, we show that spectroscopic surveys with high redshift resolution are affected by small scales already on large angular scales, i.e. at low multipoles. Therefore, when considering the angular power spectrum with spectroscopic redshift resolution, it is important to account for non-linearities relevant on small scales even at low multipoles. This may also motivate the use of the correlation function instead of the angular power spectrum. These effects, which are very relevant for bin auto-correlations, but not so important for cross-correlations, are quantified in detail.
Cosmic shear is sensitive to fluctuations in the cosmological matter density field, including on small physical scales, where matter clustering is affected by baryonic physics in galaxies and galaxy clusters, such as star formation, supernovae feedback and AGN feedback. While muddying any cosmological information that is contained in small scale cosmic shear measurements, this does mean that cosmic shear has the potential to constrain baryonic physics and galaxy formation. We perform an analysis of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification (SV) cosmic shear measurements, now extended to smaller scales, and using the Mead et al. 2015 halo model to account for baryonic feedback. While the SV data has limited statistical power, we demonstrate using a simulated likelihood analysis that the final DES data will have the statistical power to differentiate among baryonic feedback scenarios. We also explore some of the difficulties in interpreting the small scales in cosmic shear measurements, presenting estimates of the size of several other systematic effects that make inference from small scales difficult, including uncertainty in the modelling of intrinsic alignment on nonlinear scales, `lensing bias, and shape measurement selection effects. For the latter two, we make use of novel image simulations. While future cosmic shear datasets have the statistical power to constrain baryonic feedback scenarios, there are several systematic effects that require improved treatments, in order to make robust conclusions about baryonic feedback.
We compare primordial black hole (PBH) constraints on the power spectrum and mass distributions using the traditional Press Schechter formalism, peaks theory, and a recently developed version of peaks theory relevant to PBHs. We show that, provided the PBH formation criteria and the power spectrum smoothing are treated consistently, the constraints only vary by $sim$10% between methods (a difference that will become increasingly important with better data). Our robust constraints from PBHs take into account the effects of critical collapse, the non-linear relation between $zeta$ and $delta$, and the shift from the PBH mass to the power spectrum peak scale. We show that these constraints are remarkably similar to the pulsar timing array (PTA) constraints impacting the black hole masses detected by the LIGO and Virgo, but that the $mu$-distortion constraints rule out supermassive black hole (SMBH) formation and potentially even the much lighter mass range of $sim$(1-100) $mathrm{M}_odot$ that LIGO/Virgo probes.
Future large-scale structure surveys will measure three-point statistics with high statistical significance. This will offer significant improvements on our understanding of gravity, provided we can model these statistics accurately. We assess the performance of several schemes for theoretical modelling of the matter bispectrum, including halo-model based approaches and fitting formulae. We compare the model predictions against N-body simulations, considering scales up to $k_{rm max} = 4 h/{rm Mpc}$, well into non-linear regime of structure formation. Focusing on the equilateral configuration, we conduct this analysis for three theories of gravity: general relativity, $f(R)$ gravity, and the DGP braneworld model. Additionally, we compute the lensing convergence bispectrum for these models. We find that all current modelling prescriptions in modified gravity, in particular for theories with scale-dependent linear growth, fail to attain the accuracy required by the precision of the Stage IV surveys such as emph{Euclid}. Among these models, we find that a halo-model corrected fitting formula achieves the best overall performance.