Modeling galaxies in redshift space at the field level

Abstract

We develop an analytical forward model based on perturbation theory to predict the redshift-space galaxy overdensity at the field level given a realization of the initial conditions. We find that the residual noise between the model and simulated galaxy density has a power spectrum that is white on large scales, with size comparable to the shot noise. In the mildly nonlinear regime, we see a k2μ2 correction to the noise power spectrum, corresponding to larger noise along the line of sight and on smaller scales. The parametric form of this correction has been predicted on theoretical grounds before, and our simulations provide important confirmation of its presence. We have also modeled the galaxy velocity at the field-level and compared it against simulated galaxy velocities, finding that about 10% of the galaxies are responsible for half of the rms velocity residual for our simulated galaxy sample.