Growth Rate Of Matter Perturbations Research Articles

Scrutinizing coupled vector dark energy in light of data

Since current challenges faced by ΛCDM might be hinting at new unravelled physics, here we investigate a plausible cosmological model where a vector field acts as source of dark energy. In particular, we examine whether an energy-momentum exchange between dark energy and dark matter could provide an explanation for current discrepancies in cosmological parameters. We carefully work out equations governing background and linear order perturbations and implement them in a Boltzmann code. We found that a negative coupling makes the dark energy equation of state less negative and closer to a cosmological constant during the matter dominated epoch than an uncoupled vector dark energy model. While the effect of the coupling is hardly noticeable through its effect on matter density perturbations, matter velocity perturbations and gravitational potentials are enhanced at late-times when dark energy dominates. Therefore, data of redshift space distortions help to narrow down these kinds of couplings in the dark sector. We computed cosmological constraints and found common parameters also present in ΛCDM are in good agreement with the Planck collaboration baseline result. Our best fit for a negatively coupled vector field predicts a higher growth rate of matter perturbations at low redshift, thus exacerbating the disagreement with redshift space distortions data. While a positively coupled vector field can lead to power suppression of P m(k,z = 0) on small scales as well as a lower growth rate of matter perturbations than the standard model, it might compromise the goodness of fit to the CMB angular power spectrum on small scales. We conclude that our negatively coupled vector dark energy model does not solve current tensions (i.e., H 0 and σ 8). Moreover, having three additional parameters with respect to ΛCDM, the negatively coupled vector dark energy model is heavily disfavoured by Bayesian evidence.

Growth of matter perturbations in some parametrization of dark energy models

In this work, we investigate the growth of matter perturbations in some known parameterizations of dark energy (DE) models i.e, CPL, JBP, BA, and a new parameterization of DE introduced in this study. We examine the growth of perturbations in the linear region by assuming the possibility of perturbations in DE. Then, we follow an overall likelihood analysis to put the same constraints on models using background and growth rate data, and we conclude that the reviewed DE parameterizations are compatible with the observational data at both background and perturbation levels. Furthermore, we find that DE parameterizations are comparable with each other, and with the Lambda CDM model. In particular, we obtain the following significant results: (i) the growth rate of matter perturbations in the homogeneous DE case is smaller than its value in the clustered case for CPL and BA models, while it is the opposite for JBP and the new model. (ii) The growth rate of matter perturbations related to the CPL and BA models have very similar behavior for both homogeneous and clustered DE cases at all redshift z. This is also true for JBP and the new model. (iii) We show that the growth rate of matter perturbations relevant to the models is lower than its value in the Lambda CDM model at low redshifts, and at high redshifts, the difference between them is insignificant. Finally, using AIC and BIC analysis, we conclude that the selection of a model that has better compatible with the observational data depends on the background and perturbation data.

Cosmology in f(Q) gravity: A unified dynamical systems analysis of the background and perturbations

Motivated by the fact that cosmological models based on $f(Q)$ gravity are very efficient in fitting observational datasets at both background and perturbation levels, we perform a combined dynamical system analysis of both background and perturbation equations in order to examine the validity of this result through an independent method. We examine two studied $f(Q)$ models of the literature, namely the power-law and the exponential ones. For both cases, we obtain a matter-dominated saddle point characterized by the correct growth rate of matter perturbations, followed by the transition to a stable dark-energy dominated accelerated universe in which matter perturbations remain constant. Furthermore, analyzing the behavior of $f \sigma_8$, we find that the models fit observational data successfully, obtaining a behavior similar to that of $\Lambda$CDM scenario, although the exponential model does not possess the latter as a particular limit. Hence, through the independent approach of dynamical systems, we do verify the results of observational confrontation, namely that $f(Q)$ gravity can be considered as a very promising alternative to the $\Lambda$CDM concordance model.

Growth of perturbations in Tsallis and Barrow cosmology

We report the effects of entropic corrections to the Friedmann equations on the growth of perturbations in the early stages of the universe. We consider two types of corrections to the area law of entropy, known as Tsallis and Barrow entropy. Using these corrections to entropy, we derive the modified Friedmann equations and explore the growth of perturbations in a flat universe filled with dark matter (DM) and the cosmological constant. We employ the spherically symmetric collapse formalism and work in the linear regime for the perturbations. Interestingly enough, we find that the profile of density contrast is quite different from the standard cosmology in Tsallis and Barrow cosmology. We observe that the growth rate of matter perturbations crucially depends on the values of Tsallis and Barrow parameters. By increasing these entropy correction parameters, the total density contrast increases as well. This implies that perturbations grow faster in a universe with modified entropy-corrected Friedmann equations.

New parameterizations of generalized Chaplygin gas model constrained at background and perturbation levels

We study the main cosmological properties of the generalized Chaplygin gas (GCG) dark energy model at the background and perturbation levels. By using the latest cosmological data in both the background and perturbation levels, we implement a joint likelihood analysis to constrain the cosmological parameters of the model. Using the available expansion and growth rate data, we place constraints on the free parameters of the GCG model based on the statistical Markov chain Monte Carlo method. Then, the best-fit values of cosmological parameters and those of confidence regions are found. We obtain the best-fit value of the current expansion rate of the Universe in the GCG model and show that it is in good agreement with the $$\Lambda$$ CDM model. Moreover, the growth rate of matter perturbations is investigated in the context of a unified GCG model. It is shown that in this model, the dark energy component, like the $$\Lambda$$ sector in the $$\Lambda$$ CDM model, can suppress the amplitude of matter perturbations. We show that the growth rate of perturbations in GCG parametrization is consistent with cluster-scale observations similar to the case of the concordance $$\Lambda$$ CDM model. Our results show that the tension on $$\sigma _{8}$$ appeared in the concordance model can be alleviated in GCG cosmology.

An extended analysis for a generalized Chaplygin gas model

In this work, we have extended the analysis on the generalized Chaplygin gas (GCG) model as the unification of dark energy and dark matter. Specifically, we have shown that the model of our consideration known as the new generalized Chaplygin gas (NGCG) model, admits a scalar field description, which means that there exist a minimally coupled scalar field for a given scalar field potential where the equation of state is that of the NGCG. With the use of the later property we can construct the slow-roll parameters and derive the corresponding values for the spectral indices for the tensor to scalar perturbation and for the density perturbations. We have also studied the growth rate of matter perturbations in the NGCG scenario. Finally, we have studied the viability of the generalized second law of thermodynamics by assuming that the dynamical apparent horizon in a NGCG universe is endowed with Hawking temperature and Bekenstein entropy.

Growth factor parametrization

The growth rate of matter perturbations can be used to distinguish between different general relativity dark energy models and also between general relativity dark energy and modified gravity models in explaining cosmic acceleration. We propose as an approximation to the growth factor [Formula: see text] the analytical expression [Formula: see text] (with [Formula: see text]) when the radiation [Formula: see text] is included. The growth factor is analyzed for the dark energy models within general relativity. The growth index [Formula: see text] takes distinct values for each model. We find that the new analytical form [Formula: see text] approximates [Formula: see text] better than [Formula: see text].

Matter perturbations in Einstein dark energy model

We consider the growth rate of matter perturbations in the Einstein dark energy theory. The theory consists of the Einstein–Hilbert Lagrangian plus the trace of the energy momentum tensor, coupled non-minimally to a dynamical vector field. We will show that the theory has three fixed points corresponding to the dust, radiation and de Sitter universes. Due to the present of trace of the energy–momentum tensor in the Lagrangian, the fixed points occurs in different locations compared to Lambda CDM theory. We will analyze the theory with and without cosmological constant. We will fit the model parameters using two independent data sets corresponding to the Hubble parameter H and also fsigma _8. The theory is then shown to be consistent with observational data.

Cosmological constraints on nonadiabatic dark energy perturbations

The exact nature of dark energy is currently unknown and its cosmological perturbations, when dark energy is assumed not to be the cosmological constant, are usually modeled as adiabatic. Here we explore the possibility that dark energy might have a nonadiabatic component and we examine how it would affect several key cosmological observables. We present analytical solutions for the growth rate and growth index of matter density perturbations and compare them to both numerical solutions of the fluid equations and an implementation in the Boltzmann code CLASS, finding that they all agree to well below one percent. We also perform a Monte Carlo analysis to derive constraints on the parameters of the nonadiabatic component using the latest cosmological data, including the temperature and polarization spectra of the Cosmic Microwave Background as observed by Planck, the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations, the Pantheon type Ia supernovae compilation and lastly, measurements of Redshift Space Distortions (RSD) of the growth rate of matter perturbations. We find that the amplitude of the nonadiabatic pressure perturbation is consistent with zero within $1\sigma$. Finally, we also present a new, publicly available, RSD likelihood for MontePython based on the "Gold 2018" growth rate data compilation.

Cosmic acceleration and growth of structure in massive gravity

We introduce a cosmological model in the framework of Generalised Massive Gravity. This theory is an extension of non-linear massive gravity with a broken translation symmetry in the St\"uckelberg space. In a recent work, we showed the existence of cosmological solutions stable against linear perturbations. In the present paper, we build up on the previous result and study the evolution of the background solutions and the linear perturbations. At the background level, we find that the mass terms act like a fluid with time dependent equation of state $w < -1$ at late times. At linear order, we derive the Poisson's equation. We find that the scalar graviton mode invokes anisotropic stress, which brings a modification with respect to LCDM in the effective Newton's constant and the growth rate of matter perturbations. Moreover, we study the propagation of gravitational waves and find that the tensor modes acquire a time dependent mass.

Growth of matter perturbations in the bi-Galileons field model

We study a dark energy cubic bi-Galileons field model based on truncation of the recently proposed generalized covariant multi-Galileons model. We investigate the cosmological dynamic of the model by the theory of dynamical systems through the analysis of the properties of the fixed points in each cosmological epoch. We show the existence of two tracker solutions, one of which is that of the cubic single Galileon model and the other solution is the signature of the second Galileon field. Exploiting the competition between the two Galileon fields, we find a dark energy solution that avoids the approach to the tracker solution with dark energy equation of state $w_{DE}=-2$ during the matter epoch which is disfavored by the observational data. We study also the growth rate of matter perturbations. Using recent $f\sigma_{8}$ redshift space distortion (RSD) and model-independent observational Hubble (OHD) data sets, we place observational constraints on the coupling constant and cosmological parameters of the bi-Galileons model through Monte Carlo numerical method based on the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. We find that the amplitude of growth matter fluctuations is consistent with the Planck15 data and ease the tension between early and later clustering, and fits better the data from the DES survey over the data from KiDS-450 survey. We also find that the best fit value for the Hubble constant is compatible with new measurements of Cepheid-supernovae distance scale. Finally, we perform a model selection through the Bayes factor and found that the bi-Galileons model is disfavored in comparison to the $\Lambda$CDM model, but slightly preferred to $w$CDM model.

Quintessential isocurvature in separate universe simulations

In a universe with quintessence isocurvature, or perturbations in dark energy that are independent from the usual curvature perturbations, structure formation is changed qualitatively. The existence of two independent fields, curvature and isocurvature, causes the growth rate of matter perturbations to depend on their initial conditions. The quintessence perturbations cause their growth to depend on scale. We perform the first separate universe simulations for this cosmology. We demonstrate that the power spectrum response and the halo bias depend on scale and initial conditions and that the presence of the isocurvature mode changes the mapping from these quantities to the halo auto- and cross-power spectra, and the squeezed-limit bispectrum. We compare the bias to several models, finding reasonable agreement with both a power-spectrum-response model with one free parameter and a model that fits two independent bias parameters for curvature and isocurvature sourced fluctuations. We also verify that simulation responses to pure isocurvature and pure curvature modes can be linearly combined to reproduce responses with different ratios of isocurvature and curvature. This allows our results to be used to predict the halo power spectrum and stochasticity with arbitrary large-scale curvature and isocurvature power spectra. In an appendix, we study the generation of quintessence isocurvature during inflation and show that a modified kinetic term is typically required to produce observable isocurvature modes in a field with $w_Q\approx -1$.

Model-independent cosmic acceleration and redshift-dependent intrinsic luminosity in type-Ia supernovae

Context. The cosmological concordance model (ΛCDM) is the current standard model in cosmology thanks to its ability to reproduce the observations. The first observational evidence for this model appeared roughly 20 years ago from the type-Ia supernovae (SNIa) Hubble diagram from two different groups. However, there has been some debate in the literature concerning the statistical treatment of SNIa, and their stature as proof of cosmic acceleration. Aims. In this paper we relax the standard assumption that SNIa intrinsic luminosity is independent of redshift, and examine whether it may have an impact on our cosmological knowledge and more precisely on the accelerated nature of the expansion of the universe. Methods. To maximise the scope of this study, we do not specify a given cosmological model, but we reconstruct the expansion rate of the universe through a cubic spline interpolation fitting the observations of the different cosmological probes: SNIa, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), and the high-redshift information from the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Results. We show that when SNIa intrinsic luminosity is not allowed to vary as a function of redshift, cosmic acceleration is definitely proven in a model-independent approach. However, allowing for redshift dependence, a nonaccelerated reconstruction of the expansion rate is able to fit, at the same level of ΛCDM, the combination of SNIa and BAO data, both treating the BAO standard ruler rd as a free parameter (not entering on the physics governing the BAO), and adding the recently published prior from CMB observations. We further extend the analysis by including the CMB data. In this case we also consider a third way to combine the different probes by explicitly computing rd from the physics of the early universe, and we show that a nonaccelerated reconstruction is able to nicely fit this combination of low- and high-redshift data. We also check that this reconstruction is compatible with the latest measurements of the growth rate of matter perturbations. We finally show that the value of the Hubble constant (H0) predicted by this reconstruction is in tension with model-independent measurements. Conclusions. We present a model-independent reconstruction of a nonaccelerated expansion rate of the universe that is able to fit all the main background cosmological probes nicely. However, the predicted value of H0 is in tension with recent direct measurements. Our analysis points out that a final reliable and consensual value for H0 is critical to definitively prove cosmic acceleration in a model-independent way.

Growth of matter perturbations in nonminimal teleparallel dark energy

We study the growth rate of matter perturbations in the context of teleparallel dark energy in a flat universe. We investigate the dynamics of different theoretical scenarios based on specific forms of the scalar field potential. Allowing for non-minimal coupling between torsion scalar and scalar field, we perform a phase-space analysis of the autonomous systems of equations through the study of critical points. We thus analyze the stability of the critical points, and discuss the cosmological implications searching for possible attractor solutions at late times. Furthermore, combing the growth rate data and the Hubble rate measurements, we place observational constraints on the cosmological parameters of the models through Monte Carlo numerical method. We find that the scenario with a non-minimal coupling is favoured with respect to the standard quintessence case. Adopting the best-fit results, we show that the dark energy equation of state parameter can cross the phantom divide. Finally, we compare our results with the predictions of the concordance $\Lambda$CDM paradigm by performing Bayesian model selection.

Effective gravitational coupling in modified teleparallel theories

In the present study, we consider an extended form of teleparallel Lagrangian $f(T,\phi,X)$, as function of a scalar field $\phi$, its kinetic term $X$ and the torsion scalar $T$. We use linear perturbations to obtain the equation of matter density perturbations on sub-Hubble scales. The gravitational coupling is modified in scalar modes with respect to the one of General Relativity, albeit vector modes decay and do not show any significant effects. We thus extend these results by involving multiple scalar field models. Further, we study conformal transformations in teleparallel gravity and we obtain the coupling as the scalar field is non-minimally coupled to both torsion and boundary terms. Finally, we propose the specific model $f(T,\phi,X)=T + \partial_\mu \phi\ \partial^\mu \phi +\xi T \phi^2$. To check its goodness, we employ the observational Hubble data, constraining the coupling constant, $\xi$, through a Monte Carlo technique based on the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. Hence, fixing $\xi$ to its best-fit value got from our numerical analysis, we calculate the growth rate of matter perturbations and we compare our outcomes with the latest measurements and the predictions of the $\Lambda$CDM model.

Cosmology in beyond-generalized Proca theories

The beyond-generalized Proca theories are the extension of second-order massive vector-tensor theories (dubbed generalized Proca theories) with two transverse vector modes and one longitudinal scalar besides two tensor polarizations. Even with this extension, the propagating degrees of freedom remain unchanged on the isotropic cosmological background without an Ostrogradski instability. We study the cosmology in beyond-generalized Proca theories by paying particular attention to the dynamics of late-time cosmic acceleration and resulting observational consequences. We derive conditions for avoiding ghosts and instabilities of tensor, vector, and scalar perturbations and discuss viable parameter spaces in concrete models allowing the dark energy equation of state smaller than $-1$. The propagation speeds of those perturbations are subject to modifications beyond the domain of generalized Proca theories. There is a mixing between scalar and matter sound speeds, but such a mixing is suppressed during most of the cosmic expansion history without causing a new instability. On the other hand, we find that derivative interactions arising in beyond-generalized Proca theories give rise to important modifications to the cosmic growth history. The growth rate of matter perturbations can be compatible with the redshift-space distortion data due to the realization of gravitational interaction weaker than that in generalized Proca theories. Thus, it is possible to distinguish the dark energy model in beyond-generalized Proca theories from the counterpart in generalized Proca theories as well as from the $\Lambda$CDM model.

Discriminating dark energy models by using the Statefinder hierarchy and the growth rate of matter perturbations

We apply the Statefinder hierarchy and the growth rate of matter perturbations to discriminate modified Chaplygin gas (MCG), generalized Chaplygin gas (GCG), superfluid Chaplygin gas (SCG), purely kinetic k-essence (PKK), and ΛCDM model. We plot the evolutional trajectories of these models in the Statefinder plane and in the composite diagnostic plane. We find that GCG, MCG, SCG, PKK, and ΛCDM can be distinguished well from each other at the present epoch by using the composite diagnostic {ϵ(z), S(1)5}. Using other combinations, such as {S(1)3, S(1)4}, {S(1)3, S5}, {ϵ(z), S(1)3}, and {ϵ(z), S4}, some of these five dark energy models cannot be distinguished.

A new perspective on dark energy modeling via genetic algorithms

We use Genetic Algorithms to extract information from several cosmological probes, such as the type Ia supernovae (SnIa), the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and the growth rate of matter perturbations. This is done by implementing a model independent and bias-free reconstruction of the various scales and distances that characterize the data, like the luminosity dL(z) and the angular diameter distance dA(z) in the SnIa and BAO data, respectively, or the dependence with redshift of the matter density Ωm(a) in the growth rate data, fσ8(z). These quantities can then be used to reconstruct the expansion history of the Universe, and the resulting Dark Energy (DE) equation of state w(z) in the context of FRW models, or the mass radial function ΩM(r) in LTB models. In this way, the reconstruction is completely independent of our prior bias. Furthermore, we use this method to test the Etherington relation, ie the well-known relation between the luminosity and the angular diameter distance, η≡dL(z)/(1+z)2dA(z), which is equal to 1 in metric theories of gravity. We find that the present data seem to suggest a 3-σ deviation from one at redshifts z ∼ 0.5. Finally, we present a novel way, within the Genetic Algorithm paradigm, to analytically estimate the errors on the reconstructed quantities by calculating a Path Integral over all possible functions that may contribute to the likelihood. We show that this can be done regardless of the data being correlated or uncorrelated with each other and we also explicitly demonstrate that our approach is in good agreement with other error estimation techniques like the Fisher Matrix approach and the Bootstrap Monte Carlo.

Effective gravitational couplings for cosmological perturbations in the most general scalar–tensor theories with second-order field equations

In the Horndeskiʼs most general scalar–tensor theories the equations of scalar density perturbations are derived in the presence of non-relativistic matter minimally coupled to gravity. Under a quasi-static approximation on sub-horizon scales we obtain the effective gravitational coupling Geff associated with the growth rate of matter perturbations as well as the effective gravitational potential Φeff relevant to the deviation of light rays. We then apply our formulas to a number of modified gravitational models of dark energy – such as those based on f(R) theories, Brans–Dicke theories, kinetic gravity braidings, covariant Galileons, and field derivative couplings with the Einstein tensor. Our results are useful to test the large-distance modification of gravity from the future high-precision observations of large-scale structure, weak lensing, and cosmic microwave background.

Matter perturbations in Galileon cosmology

We study the evolution of matter density perturbations in Galileon cosmology where the late-time cosmic acceleration can be realized by a field kinetic energy. We obtain full perturbation equations at linear order in the presence of five covariant Lagrangians ${cal L}_i$ ($i=1,...,5$) satisfying a Galilean symmetry in the flat space-time. The equations for a matter perturbation as well as an effective gravitational potential are derived under a quasi-static approximation on sub-horizon scales. This approximation can reproduce full numerical solutions with high accuracy for the wavelengths relevant to large-scale structures. For the model parameters constrained by the background expansion history of the Universe the growth rate of matter perturbations is larger than that in the LCDM model, with the growth index $gamma$ today typically smaller than 0.4. We also find that, even on very large scales associated with the Integrated-Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect in Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropies, the effective gravitational potential exhibits a temporal growth during the transition from the matter era to the epoch of cosmic acceleration. These properties are useful to distinguish the Galileon model from the LCDM in future high-precision observations.