arXiv subjects

Henrique Rubira

Publications and source records attributed to Henrique Rubira.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

The Effective Field Theory of Large-Scale Structure and Multi-tracer

We study the performance of the perturbative bias expansion when combined with the multi-tracer technique, and their impact on the extraction of cosmological parameters. We consider two populations of tracers of large-scale structure and perform a series of Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis for those two tracers separately. The constraints in $ω_{\rm cdm}$ and $h$ using multi-tracer are less biased and approximately $60\%$ better than those obtained for a single tracer. The multi-tracer approach also provides stronger constraints on the bias expansion parameters, breaking degeneracies between them and with their error being typically half of the single-tracer case. Finally, we studied the impacts caused in parameter extraction when including a correlation between the stochastic field of distinct tracers. We also include a study with galaxies showing that multi-tracer still lead to substantial gains in the cosmological parameters.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Effect of density fluctuations on gravitational wave production in first-order phase transitions

We study the effect of density perturbations on the process of first-order phase transitions and gravitational wave production in the early Universe. We are mainly interested in how the distribution of nucleated bubbles is affected by fluctuations in the local temperature. We find that large-scale density fluctuations ($H_* < k_* < β$) result in a larger effective bubble size at the time of collision, enhancing the produced amplitude of gravitational waves. The amplitude of the density fluctuations necessary for this enhancement is ${\cal P}_ζ(k_*) \gtrsim (β/ H_*)^{-2}$, and therefore the gravitational wave signal from first-order phase transitions with relatively large $β/ H_*$ can be significantly enhanced by this mechanism even for fluctuations with moderate amplitudes.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

A hybrid simulation of gravitational wave production in first-order phase transitions

The LISA telescope will provide the first opportunity to probe the scenario of a first-order phase transition happening close to the electroweak scale. By now, it is evident that the main contribution to the GW spectrum comes from the sound waves propagating through the plasma. Current estimates of the GW spectrum are based on numerical simulations of a scalar field interacting with the plasma or on analytical approximations -- the so-called sound shell model. In this work we present a novel setup to calculate the GW spectra from sound waves. We use a hybrid method that uses a 1d simulation (with spherical symmetry) to evolve the velocity and enthalpy profiles of a single bubble after collision and embed it in a 3d realization of multiple bubble collisions, assuming linear superposition of the velocity and enthalpy. The main advantage of our method compared to 3d hydrodynamic simulations is that it does not require to resolve the scale of bubble wall thickness. This makes our simulations more economical and the only two relevant physical length scales that enter are the bubble size and the shell thickness (that are in turn enclosed by the box size and the grid spacing). The reduced costs allow for extensive parameter studies and we provide a parametrization of the final GW spectrum as a function of the wall velocity and the fluid kinetic energy.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

The Effective Field Theory and Perturbative Analysis for Log-Density Fields

A logarithm transformation over the matter overdensity field $δ$ brings information from the bispectrum and higher-order n-point functions to the power spectrum. We calculate the power spectrum for the log-transformed field $A$ at one, two and three loops using perturbation theory (PT). We compare the results to simulated data and give evidence that the PT series is asymptotic already on large scales, where the $k$ modes no longer decouple. This motivates us to build an alternative perturbative series for the log-transformed field that is not constructed on top of perturbations of $δ$ but directly over the equations of motion for $A$ itself. This new approach converges faster and better reproduces the large scales at low $z$. We then show that the large-scale behaviour for the log-transformed field power spectrum can be captured by a small number of free parameters. Finally, we add the counter-terms expected within the effective field theory framework and show that the theoretical model, together with the IR-resummation procedure, agrees with the measured spectrum with percent precision until $k \simeq 0.38 $ Mpc$^{-1}$h at $z=0$. It indicates that the non-linear transformation indeed linearizes the density field and, in principle, allows us to access information contained on smaller scales.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

The Halo Void (Dust) Model of Large Scale Structure

Within the Halo Model of large scale structure, all matter is contained in dark matter halos. This simple yet powerful framework has been broadly applied to multiple data sets and enriched our comprehension of how matter is distributed in the Universe. In this work we extend this assumption by allowing for matter to rest not only inside halos but also within cosmic voids and in between halos and voids (which we call 'dust'). This assumption leads to additional contributions (1Void, 2Void, Halo-Void, etc.) to the predictions of correlation functions, spectra and profiles for both halos and voids. Whereas the Halo Model can only make predictions for halo quantities, the Halo Void Model extends those for void statistics and halo-void cross-correlations. We provide recipes for all new ingredients of the Halo Void (Dust) Model, such as the void abundance, linear bias and density profile and test their validity in a N-body simulation. Including voids and dust into the calculations improves the transition between the 1Halo and the 2Halo terms by up to $\sim 6\%$. It also eliminates the need to include low-mass structures on the normalization of large-scale terms, suggesting that halos and voids are complementary cosmic structures to effectively describe matter distribution on large scales of the Universe.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Deformation of the gravitational wave spectrum by density perturbations

We study the effect of primordial scalar curvature perturbations on the propagation of gravitational waves over cosmic distances. We point out that such curvature perturbations deform the isotropic spectrum of any stochastic background of gravitational waves of primordial origin through the (integrated) Sachs-Wolfe effect. Computing the changes in the amplitude and frequency of the propagating gravitational wave induced at linear order by scalar curvature perturbations, we show that the resulting deformation of each frequency bin of the gravitational wave spectrum is described by a linearly biased Gaussian with the variance $σ^2 \simeq \int d\ln k Δ_{\mathcal R}^2$, where $Δ_{\mathcal R}^2(k)$ denotes the amplitude of the primordial curvature perturbations. The linear bias encodes the correlations between the changes induced in the frequency and amplitude of the gravitational waves. Taking into account the latest bounds on $Δ_{\mathcal R}^2$ from primordial black hole and gravitational wave searches, we demonstrate that the resulting ${\mathcal O}(σ)$ deformation can be significant for extremely peaked gravitational wave spectra. We further provide an order of magnitude estimate for broad spectra, for which the net distortion is ${\mathcal O}(σ^2)$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

The Schrödinger-Poisson method for Large-Scale Structure

We study the Schrödinger-Poisson (SP) method in the context of cosmological large-scale structure formation in an expanding background. In the limit $\hbar \to 0$, the SP technique can be viewed as an effective method to sample the phase space distribution of cold dark matter that remains valid on non-linear scales. We present results for the 2D and 3D matter correlation function and power spectrum at length scales corresponding to the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) peak. We discuss systematic effects of the SP method applied to cold dark matter and explore how they depend on the simulation parameters. In particular, we identify a combination of simulation parameters that controls the scale-independent loss of power observed at low redshifts, and discuss the scale relevant to this effect.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

The Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structure at Three Loops

We study the power spectrum of dark matter density fluctuations in the framework of the Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structures (EFTofLSS) up to three loop orders. In principle, several counter-terms may be needed to handle the short-distance sensitivity in perturbation theory. However, we show that a small number of extra coefficients are sufficient to match numerical simulations with percent accuracy when a generic renormalization prescription is implemented (allowing for running of the individual counter-terms). We show that the level of accuracy increases with respect to the two loop results, up to $k \simeq 0.4\, h$Mpc$^{-1}$ at redshift $z=0$, although the overall improvement is somewhat marginal. At the same time, we argue there is evidence that the behavior of the loop expansion in the EFTofLSS is typical of an asymptotic series, already on the brink of its maximum predictive power (at $z=0$). Hence, the inclusion of higher orders will likely deteriorate the matching to data, even at moderate values of $k$. Part of the reason for this behavior is due to large contributions to the (renormalized) power spectrum at three loop order from mildly non-linear scales, even after the UV counter-terms are included. In conclusion, the EFTofLSS to three loop orders provides the best approximation to the (deterministic part of the) power spectrum in the weakly non-linear regime at $z=0$, and higher loops are not expected to improve our level of accuracy.

astro-ph.CO↗