Beyond ΛCDM with H i intensity mapping: robustness of cosmological constraints in the presence of astrophysics

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mapping the unresolved intensity of the 21-cm emission of neutral hydrogen (H i) is now regarded as one the most promising tools for cosmological investigation in the coming decades. Here, we investigate, for the first time, extensions of the standard cosmological model, such as modified gravity and primordial non-Gaussianity, taking self-consistently into account. The present constraints on the astrophysics of H i clustering in the treatment of the brightness temperature fluctuations. To understand the boundaries within which results thus obtained can be considered reliable, we examine the robustness of cosmological parameter estimation performed via studies of 21-cm intensity mapping, against our knowledge of the astrophysical processes leading to H i clustering. Modelling of astrophysical effects affects cosmological observables through the relation linking the overall H i mass in a bound object, to the mass of the underlying dark matter halo that hosts it. We quantify the biases in estimates of standard cosmological parameters and those describing modified gravity and primordial non-Gaussianity that are obtained if one misconceives the slope of the relation between H i mass and halo mass, or the lower virial velocity cut-off for a dark matter halo to be able to host H i. Remarkably, we find that astrophysical uncertainties will not affect searches for primordial non-Gaussianity – one of the strongest science cases for H i intensity mapping – despite the signal being deeply linked to the H i bias.