Growth Of Large-scale Structure Research Articles

Spatial dependence of the growth factor in scalar-tensor cosmology

Scalar-tensor theories have taken on a key role in attempts to confront the growing open questions in standard cosmology. It is important to understand entirely their dynamics at perturbative level including any possible spatial dependence in their growth of large scale structures. In this work, we investigate the spatial dependence of the growth rate of scalar-tensor theories through the Mészáros equation. We confirm that at subhorizon level this dependence does not play a major role for viable models. However, we establish conditions on which this criterion is met which may be important for developing new models. In our work, we consider three specific models that exhibit spatial dependence of the growth rate at subhorizon modes, which may also be important for early Universe models.

Cosmological constraints from the EFT power spectrum and tree-level bispectrum of 21 cm intensity maps

We explore the information content of 21 cm intensity maps in redshift space using the 1-loop Effective Field Theory power spectrum model and the bispectrum at tree level. The 21 cm signal contains signatures of dark matter, dark energy and the growth of large-scale structure in the Universe. These signatures are typically analysed via the 2-point correlation function or power spectrum. However, adding the information from the 3-point correlation function or bispectrum will be crucial to exploiting next-generation intensity mapping experiments. The bispectrum could offer a unique opportunity to break key parameter degeneracies that hinder the measurement of cosmological parameters and improve on the precision. We use a Fisher forecast analysis to estimate the constraining power of the HIRAX survey on cosmological parameters, dark energy and modified gravity.

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the DR6 CMB Lensing Power Spectrum and Its Implications for Structure Growth

We present new measurements of cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing over 9400 deg2 of the sky. These lensing measurements are derived from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) Data Release 6 (DR6) CMB data set, which consists of five seasons of ACT CMB temperature and polarization observations. We determine the amplitude of the CMB lensing power spectrum at 2.3% precision (43σ significance) using a novel pipeline that minimizes sensitivity to foregrounds and to noise properties. To ensure that our results are robust, we analyze an extensive set of null tests, consistency tests, and systematic error estimates and employ a blinded analysis framework. Our CMB lensing power spectrum measurement provides constraints on the amplitude of cosmic structure that do not depend on Planck or galaxy survey data, thus giving independent information about large-scale structure growth and potential tensions in structure measurements. The baseline spectrum is well fit by a lensing amplitude of A lens = 1.013 ± 0.023 relative to the Planck 2018 CMB power spectra best-fit ΛCDM model and A lens = 1.005 ± 0.023 relative to the ACT DR4 + WMAP best-fit model. From our lensing power spectrum measurement, we derive constraints on the parameter combination S8CMBL≡σ8Ωm/0.30.25 of S8CMBL=0.818±0.022 from ACT DR6 CMB lensing alone and S8CMBL=0.813±0.018 when combining ACT DR6 and Planck NPIPE CMB lensing power spectra. These results are in excellent agreement with ΛCDM model constraints from Planck or ACT DR4 + WMAP CMB power spectrum measurements. Our lensing measurements from redshifts z ∼ 0.5–5 are thus fully consistent with ΛCDM structure growth predictions based on CMB anisotropies probing primarily z ∼ 1100. We find no evidence for a suppression of the amplitude of cosmic structure at low redshifts.

Characterization of a structural trap associated with an intrusive complex: the El Trapial oilfield, Neuquén Basin, Argentina

Abstract Volcanic plumbing systems emplaced in sedimentary basins may exert significant mechanical and thermal effects on petroleum systems. The last decade of research has evidenced that igneous intrusions may enhance thermal maturation of organic matter in source rocks and lead to both small- and large-scale structures that can deeply impact fluid migration or trapping. This contribution describes how the emplacement of a whole intrusive complex generated a dome structure of the overburden, which is the main trapping structure of a large producing oilfield. Our case study is the lower Miocene Cerro Bayo de la Sierra Negra (CBSN) intrusive complex, Neuquén Basin, Argentina, associated with the El Trapial oilfield where the main trapping structure is a large domal antiform centred on the CBSN complex. This study integrates the large subsurface dataset produced during the development of the El Trapial oilfield. More than 1200 vertical wells (producers and injectors) have been drilled in the flanks of CBSN complex. In addition, five 3D seismic cubes have been acquired over the years that have been merged and reprocessed into a single volume. Such a dataset allows a detailed characterization of both the structure affecting the Mesozoic strata and the geometry of the intrusive complex. Igneous rocks have been recognized along the entire stratigraphic section. Sill intrusions appear to concentrate in the shale units and the stacking of them has a direct impact on the doming structure generation. Our study allowed us to establish a direct correlation between the distribution of the intrusions and the extent, amplitude and style of doming, showing that the dome structure results from the emplacement of the intrusive complex. We also show that part of the doming is related to intrusions emplaced in the Mesozoic formations of the Neuquén Basin, whereas the other part of the doming is related to deeper structures not imaged on the geophysical data. We estimate that the amplitude of the doming reaches up to c. 500 m. The voluminous subsurface data, combined with exposed outcrops, makes the CBSN complex a world-class case study for showing how the shallow plumbing system of a volcanic complex may control the growth of large-scale trapping structures for various fluids, such as drinkable water, geothermal fluids and hydrocarbons.

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SUSTAINABLE FIBER-REINFORCED LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATE CONCRET

With the rapid growth of high-rise buildings and large-scale structures, there is a need to preserve natural resources and reduce loads on buildings by using lightweight concrete to achieve better performance for structures. In the study, four groups were prepared; the first group included one mix containing natural aggregate, and the second mix replaced all the natural aggregates with lightweight pumice aggregates. These mixes are reinforced with carbon fiber with a 0.5% volume fraction. In the second group, a variable volume fraction of carbon fiber of (0.0 and 1%) of mixes. In the third group, the mixes have different lengths of carbon fiber (20mm, 30mm) and a volume fraction of carbon fibers 0.5%. Finally, the fourth group partially replaces sand as a variable with a percentage of lightweight fine aggregates (10% and 30%) reinforced with fibers. Adding carbon fibers to the concrete specimens by 0.5% and 1% improved splitting tensile strength and flexural strength compared to the specimens containing carbon fibers with a length of 5mm. Also, enhanced samples containing fibers by 0.5% and lengths of 20 mm or 30 mm, compared to the sample containing carbon fibers with a length of 5 mm. Also, the specimens containing lightweight fine aggregates as a replacement with a percentage of sand have a lower splitting tensile strength and flexural strength than the reference mix.

Target selection for the DESI Peculiar Velocity Survey

ABSTRACT We describe the target selection and characteristics of the DESI Peculiar Velocity Survey, the largest survey of peculiar velocities (PVs) using both the fundamental plane (FP) and the Tully–Fisher (TF) relationship planned to date. We detail how we identify suitable early-type galaxies (ETGs) for the FP and suitable late-type galaxies (LTGs) for the TF relation using the photometric data provided by the DESI Legacy Imaging Survey DR9. Subsequently, we provide targets for 373 533 ETGs and 118 637 LTGs within the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) 5-yr footprint. We validate these photometric selections using existing morphological classifications. Furthermore, we demonstrate using survey validation data that DESI is able to measure the spectroscopic properties to sufficient precision to obtain PVs for our targets. Based on realistic DESI fibre assignment simulations and spectroscopic success rates, we predict the final DESI PV Survey will obtain ∼133 000 FP-based and ∼53 000 TF-based PV measurements over an area of 14 000 deg2. We forecast the ability of using these data to measure the clustering of galaxy positions and PVs from the combined DESI PV and Bright Galaxy Surveys (BGS), which allows for cancellation of cosmic variance at low redshifts. With these forecasts, we anticipate a 4 per cent statistical measurement on the growth rate of structure at z < 0.15. This is over two times better than achievable with redshifts from the BGS alone. The combined DESI PV and BGS will enable the most precise tests to date of the time and scale dependence of large-scale structure growth at z < 0.15.

A comparison of template vs. direct model fitting for redshift-space distortions in BOSS

The growth of large-scale structure, as revealed in the anisotropic of clustering of galaxies in the low redshift Universe at z < 2, provides a stringent test of our cosmological model. The strongest current constraints come from the BOSS and eBOSS surveys, with uncertainties on σ 8, the amplitude of clustering on an 8 h -1Mpc scale, of less than 10 per cent. A number of different approaches have been taken to fitting this signal, leading to discrepancies of up to 1σ in the measurements of the amplitude of fluctuations at late times. We compare in some detail two of the leading approaches, one based on fitting a template cosmology whose amplitude and length scales are allowed to float with one based on varying the underlying parameters of a cosmological model directly, when fitting to the BOSS DR12 data. Holding the input data, scale cuts, window functions and modeling framework fixed we are able to isolate the cause of the differences and discuss the implications for future surveys.

Model-independent Constraints on Clustering and Growth of Cosmic Structures from BOSS DR12 Galaxies in Harmonic Space

We present a new, model-independent measurement of the clustering amplitude of galaxies and the growth of cosmic large-scale structures from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) 12th data release. This is achieved by generalizing harmonic-space power spectra for galaxy clustering to measure separately the magnitudes of the density and the redshift-space distortion terms, respectively related to the clustering amplitude of structures, b σ 8(z), and their growth, f σ 8(z). We adopt a tomographic approach with 15 redshift bins in z ∈ [0.15, 0.67]. We restrict our analysis to strictly linear scales, implementing a redshift-dependent maximum multipole for each bin. The measurements do not appear to suffer from systematic effects, and they show excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions from the Planck cosmic microwave background analysis assuming a ΛCDM cosmology. Our results also agree with previous analyses by the BOSS collaboration. Furthermore, our method provides the community with a new tool for data analyses of the cosmic large-scale structure, complementary to state-of-the-art approaches in configuration or Fourier space. Among its merits, we list: it being more agnostic with respect to the underlying cosmological model; its roots in a well-defined and gauge-invariant observable; the possibility to account naturally for wide-angle effects and even relativistic corrections on ultra-large scales; and the capability to perform an almost arbitrarily fine redshift binning with little computational effort. These aspects are all the more relevant for the oncoming generation of cosmological experiments such as Euclid, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, and the SKA Project.

Constraining the curvature density parameter in cosmology

The cosmic curvature density parameter has been constrained in the present work independent of any background cosmological model. The reconstruction is performed adopting the non-parametric Gaussian Processes (GP). The constraints on $\Omega_{k0}$ are obtained via a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis. Late-time cosmological probes viz., the Supernova (SN) distance modulus data, the Cosmic Chronometer (CC) and the radial Baryon Acoustic Oscillations ($r$BAO) measurements of the Hubble data have been utilized for this purpose. The results are further combined with the data from redshift space distortions (RSD) which studies the growth of large scale structure in the universe. The only \textit{a priori} assumption is that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic, described by the FLRW metric. Results indicate that a spatially flat universe is well consistent in 2$\sigma$ within the domain of reconstruction $0<z<2$ for the background data. On combining the RSD data we find that the results obtained are consistent with spatial flatness mostly within 2$\sigma$ and always within 3$\sigma$ in the domain of reconstruction $0<z<2$.

A designer approach to f(Q) gravity and cosmological implications

We investigate the evolution of linear perturbations in the Symmetric Teleparallel Gravity, namely $f(Q)$ gravity, for which we design the $f(Q)$ function to match specific expansion histories. We consider different evolutions of the effective dark energy equation of state, $w_Q(a)$, which includes $w_Q=-1$, a constant $w_Q \neq -1$ and a fast varying equation of state. We identify clear patterns in the effective gravitational coupling, which accordingly modifies the linear growth of large scale structures. We provide theoretical predictions for the product of the growth rate $\tilde{f}$ and the root mean square of matter fluctuations $\sigma_8$, namely $\tilde{f}\sigma_8$ and for the sign of the cross-correlation power spectrum of the galaxy fluctuations and the cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropies. These properties can be used to distinguish the $f(Q)$ gravity from the standard cosmological model using accurate cosmological observations.

The High Latitude Spectroscopic Survey on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Abstract The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will conduct a High Latitude Spectroscopic Survey (HLSS) over a large volume at high redshift, using the near-IR grism (1.0–1.93 μm, R = 435–865) and the 0.28 deg2 wide-field camera. We present a reference HLSS that maps 2000 deg2 and achieves an emission-line flux limit of 10−16 erg s−1 cm−2 at 6.5σ, requiring ∼0.6 yr of observing time. We summarize the flowdown of the Roman science objectives to the science and technical requirements of the HLSS. We construct a mock redshift survey over the full HLSS volume by applying a semianalytic galaxy formation model to a cosmological N-body simulation and use this mock survey to create pixel-level simulations of 4 deg2 of HLSS grism spectroscopy. We find that the reference HLSS would measure ∼10 million Hα galaxy redshifts that densely map large-scale structure at z = 1–2 and 2 million [O iii] galaxy redshifts that sparsely map structures at z = 2–3. We forecast the performance of this survey for measurements of the cosmic expansion history with baryon acoustic oscillations and the growth of large-scale structure with redshift-space distortions. We also study possible deviations from the reference design and find that a deep HLSS at f line &gt; 7 × 10−17 erg s−1 cm−2 over 4000 deg2 (requiring ∼1.5 yr of observing time) provides the most compelling stand-alone constraints on dark energy from Roman alone. This provides a useful reference for future optimizations. The reference survey, simulated data sets, and forecasts presented here will inform community decisions on the final scope and design of the Roman HLSS.

Backreaction from inhomogeneous matter fields during large-scale structure formation

We study how inhomogeneities of the cosmological fluid fields backreact on the homogeneous part of energy density and how they modify the Friedmann equations. In general, backreaction requires to go beyond the pressureless ideal fluid approximation, and this can lead to a reduced growth of cosmological large-scale structure. Since observational evidence favors evolution close to the standard growing mode in the linear regime, we focus on two-component fluids in which the nonideal fluid is gravitationally coupled to cold dark matter and in which a standard growing mode persists. This is realized, e.g., for a baryonic fluid coupled to cold dark matter. We calculate the backreaction for this case and for a wide range of other two-fluid models. Here the effect is either suppressed because the nonideal matter properties are numerically too small, or because they lead to a too stringent UV cutoff of the integral over the power spectrum that determines backreaction. We discuss then matter field backreaction from a broader perspective and generalize the formalism such that also far-from-equilibrium scenarios relevant to late cosmological times and nonlinear scales can be addressed in the future.

The BAHAMAS project: evaluating the accuracy of the halo model in predicting the non-linear matter power spectrum

ABSTRACT The halo model formalism is widely adopted in cosmological studies for predicting the growth of large-scale structure in the Universe. However, to date there have been relatively few direct comparisons of the halo model with more accurate (but much more computationally expensive) cosmological simulations. We test the accuracy of the halo model in reproducing the non-linear matter power spectrum, P(k), when the main inputs of the halo model (specifically the matter density profiles, halo mass function, and linear bias) are taken directly from the BAHAMAS simulations, and we assess how well the halo model reproduces P(k) from the same simulations. We show that the halo model generally reproduces P(k) in the deep non-linear regime (1-halo) to typically a few per cent accuracy, but struggles to reproduce (approx. 15 per cent error) P(k) at intermediate scales of $0.1 \la k \ [h/{\rm Mpc}] \la 3$ at $z$ = 0, marking the transition between the 1-halo and 2-halo terms. We show that the magnitude of this error is a strong function of the halo mass definition (through its effects on radial extent of haloes) and of redshift. Furthermore, we test the accuracy of the halo model in recovering the relative impact of baryons on P(k). We show that the systematic errors in recovering the absolute P(k) largely cancel when considering the relative impact of baryons. This suggests that the halo model can make precise predictions for the baryonic suppression, offering a fast and accurate way to adjust collisionless matter power spectra for the presence of baryons and associated processes.

Toward a more stringent test of gravity with the redshift space power spectrum: Simultaneous probe of growth and amplitude of large-scale structure

Redshift-space distortions (RSD) offers an exciting opportunity to test the gravity on cosmological scales. In the presence of galaxy bias, however, the RSD measurement at large scales, where the linear theory prediction is safely applied, is known to exhibit a degeneracy between the parameters of structure growth f and fluctuation amplitude sigma8, and one can only constrain the parameters in the form of fsigma8. In order to disentangle this degeneracy, in this paper, we go beyond the linear theory, and consider the model of RSD applicable to a weakly nonlinear regime. Based on the Fisher matrix analysis, we show explicitly that the degeneracy of the parameter fsigma8 can be broken, and sigma8 is separately estimated in the presence of galaxy bias. Performing further the Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis, we verify that our model correctly reproduces the fiducial values of fsigma8 and sigma8, with the statistical errors consistent with those estimated from the Fisher matrix analysis. We show that upcoming galaxy survey of the stage-IV class can unambiguously determine sigma8 at the precision down to 10% at higher redshifts even if we restrict the accessible scales to k<0.16h/Mpc

Multi-field dark energy: Cosmic acceleration on a steep potential

We argue that dark energy with multiple fields is theoretically well-motivated and predicts distinct observational signatures, in particular when cosmic acceleration takes place along a trajectory that is highly non-geodesic in field space. Such models provide novel physics compared to ΛCDM and quintessence by allowing cosmic acceleration on steep potentials. From the theoretical point of view, these theories can easily satisfy the conjectured swampland constraints and may in certain cases be technically natural, potential problems which are endemic to standard single-field dark energy. Observationally, we argue that while such multi-field models are likely to be largely indistinguishable from the concordance cosmology at the background level, dark energy perturbations can cluster, leading to an enhanced growth of large-scale structure that may be testable as early as the next generation of cosmological surveys.

Euclid: Impact of non-linear and baryonic feedback prescriptions on cosmological parameter estimation from weak lensing cosmic shear

Upcoming surveys will map the growth of large-scale structure with unprecented precision, improving our understanding of the dark sector of the Universe. Unfortunately, much of the cosmological information is encoded on small scales, where the clustering of dark matter and the effects of astrophysical feedback processes are not fully understood. This can bias the estimates of cosmological parameters, which we study here for a joint analysis of mock Euclid cosmic shear and Planck cosmic microwave background data. We use different implementations for the modelling of the signal on small scales and find that they result in significantly different predictions. Moreover, the different non-linear corrections lead to biased parameter estimates, especially when the analysis is extended into the highly non-linear regime, with the Hubble constant, H0, and the clustering amplitude, σ8, affected the most. Improvements in the modelling of non-linear scales will therefore be needed if we are to resolve the current tension with more and better data. For a given prescription for the non-linear power spectrum, using different corrections for baryon physics does not significantly impact the precision of Euclid, but neglecting these correction does lead to large biases in the cosmological parameters. In order to extract precise and unbiased constraints on cosmological parameters from Euclid cosmic shear data, it is therefore essential to improve the accuracy of the recipes that account for non-linear structure formation, as well as the modelling of the impact of astrophysical processes that redistribute the baryons.

Dark D-brane cosmology: From background evolution to cosmological perturbations

We study the cosmological predictions of the dark D-brane model, in which dark matter resides on a D-brane moving in a higher-dimensional space. By construction, dark matter interacts only gravitationally with the standard model sector in this framework. The dark energy scalar field is associated with the position of the D-brane, and its dynamics is encoded in a Dirac-Born-Infeld action. On the other hand, dark matter is identified with matter on the D-brane, that naturally couples to dark energy \textit{via} a disformal coupling. We analyse the numerical evolution of the cosmological background, highlighting the fact that there are two regimes of interest: one, in which the coupling is positive throughout; and another, in which the coupling is negative at the present. In the latter, there is the enticing possibility of having scenarios in which the coupling is positive for a significant part of the evolution, before decreasing towards negative values. In both cases, the coupling is very small at early times, and only starts to grow during the late matter dominated era. We also derive the equations for the linear cosmological perturbations, an expression for the effective time-dependent gravitational coupling between dark matter particles and present the numerical results for the CMB anisotropy and matter power spectra. This allows for a direct comparison of the predictions for the growth of large scale structure with other disformal quintessence models.

Proca-stinated cosmology. Part I. A N-body code for the vector Galileon

We investigate the nonlinear growth of large-scale structure in the generalised Proca theory, in which a self-interacting massive vector field plays the role of driving the acceleration of the cosmic expansion. Focusing to the Proca Lagrangian at cubic order—the cubic vector Galileon model—we derive the simplified equations for gravity as well as the longitudinal and transverse modes of the vector field under the weak-field and quasi-static approximations, and implement them in a modified version of the ECOSMOG N-body code. Our simulations incorporate the Vainshtein screening effect, which reconciles the fifth force propagated by the longitudinal mode of the cubic vector Galileon model with local tests of gravity. The results confirm that for all scales probed by the simulation, the transverse mode has a negligible impact on structure formation in a realistic cosmological setup. It is well known that in this model the strength of the fifth force is controlled by a free model parameter, which we denote as β̃3. By running a suite of cosmological simulations for different values of β̃3, we show that this parameter also determines the effectiveness of the Vainshtein screening. The model behaves identically to the cubic scalar Galileon for 0β̃3 → , in which the fifth force is strong in unscreened regions but is efficiently screened in high-density regions. In the opposite limit, β̃3 → ∞, the model approaches its 'quintessence' counterpart, which has a vanishing fifth force but a modified expansion history compared to ΛCDM. This endows the model with rich phenomenology, which will be investigated in future works.

Suppressed cosmic growth in coupled vector-tensor theories

We study a coupled dark energy scenario in which a massive vector field $A_{\mu}$ with broken $U(1)$ gauge symmetry interacts with the four-velocity $u_c^{\mu}$ of cold dark matter (CDM) through the scalar product $Z=-u_c^{\mu} A_{\mu}$. This new coupling corresponds to the momentum transfer, so that the background vector and CDM continuity equations do not have explicit interacting terms analogous to the energy exchange. Hence the observational preference of uncoupled generalized Proca theories over the $\Lambda$CDM model can be still maintained at the background level. Meanwhile, the same coupling strongly affects the evolution of cosmological perturbations. While the effective sound speed of CDM vanishes, the propagation speed and no-ghost condition of a longitudinal scalar of $A_{\mu}$ and the CDM no-ghost condition are subject to nontrivial modifications by the $Z$ dependence in the Lagrangian. We propose a concrete dark energy model and show that the gravitational interaction on scales relevant to the linear growth of large-scale structures can be smaller than the Newton constant at low redshifts. This leads to the suppression of growth rates of both CDM and total matter density perturbations, so our model allows an interesting possibility for reducing the tension of matter density contrast $\sigma_8$ between high- and low-redshift measurements.

A crucial test of the phantom closed cosmological model

ABSTRACT We suggest a crucial direct-observational test for measuring distinction between the standard ΛCDM model and recently proposed phantom dark energy positive curvature cosmological model. The test is based on the fundamental distance–flux–redshift relation for general Friedmann models. It does not depend on the CMBR data, on the large-scale structure growth models, and also on the value of the Hubble constant H0. Our crucial test can be performed by future gamma-ray burst observations with THESEUS space mission and by using gravitational-wave standard siren observations with modern advanced LIGO–Virgo and also forthcoming LISA detectors.