arXiv subjects

João Rebouças

Publications and source records attributed to João Rebouças.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Beyond $w_0-w_a$ and Phantom Crossing: Testing Models of Coupled Dark Sector

The combination of cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements with distance measurements from baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) and type Ia supernovae (SNIa) suggests that dark energy is dynamical, with an equation of state crossing the phantom divide at low redshifts. This feature can not be described within canonically normalized, minimally coupled, self-interacting scalar field models. We investigate the possibility of achieving phantom crossing by introducing an interaction in the dark sector such that the dark matter particle mass is dependent on the dark energy field $ϕ$ as $m \propto ϕ^α$. We consider a self-interacting potential of the inverse power-law form $V \propto ϕ^{-β}$. We implement this model both at the background and perturbative levels in a Boltzmann solver and use a bayesian framework to constrain its parameters using using CMB, BAO and SNIa data. We find best-fits that have similar goodness-of-fits as the commonly used phenomenological $w_0-w_a$ parameterization, providing a more fundamental understanding of the dark sector.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Joint Curvature and Growth Rate measurements with Supernova Peculiar Velocities and the CMB

Type Ia supernova (SN) magnitudes present correlations due to the fact that their peculiar velocities are sourced by the large-scale structure of the Universe. This effect can be used to constrain properties related to the distribution and growth of matter perturbations. We analyze both Pantheon+ and Dark Energy Survey (DES-Y5 and DES-Dovekie) SN catalogues in combination with CMB data from Planck PR4 to constrain $σ_8$ in $Λ$CDM, optionally including both curvature and a modified growth index $γ$. We show that SN and CMB datasets are highly complementary and capable of measuring $σ_8$, $γ$ and $Ω_k$ simultaneously. Using only SN, we find $σ_8 = 0.73 \pm 0.22$ ($0.70_{-0.38}^{+0.31}$) [$1.02^{+0.38}_{-0.45}$] for Pantheon+ (DES-Y5) [DES-Dovekie] in the base flat $Λ$CDM model. Interestingly, allowing for free $γ$ and $Ω_k$, we find hints of positive curvature: $Ω_k = -0.011 \pm 0.006$ $(-0.013^{+0.005}_{-0.006})$ $[-0.008^{+0.004}_{-0.006}]$, which exclude flatness at 2.0$σ$ (2.6$σ$) [1.8$σ$], for the combination of CMB with Pantheon+ (DES-Y5) [DES-Dovekie]. Such hints do not degrade if we also include a modified amplitude of CMB lensing, parametrized by $A_L$. We find that $γ= 0.519^{+0.061}_{-0.099}$ ($0.500^{+0.054}_{-0.098}$) [$0.525^{+0.074}_{-0.073}$], which are consistent with the predictions of General Relativity. Finally, the strong degeneracy between all three $Ω_k$, $γ$ and $H_0$ results in a broader CMB $H_0$ posterior. However, if we include SH0ES $H_0$ data, which is in known strong tension with the CMB in flat $Λ$CDM, we find that the $H_0$ tension is recast in terms of a significantly negative curvature and suppressed growth of structures.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

The sound of dynamical dark energy and modified gravity

Different candidate models are able to reproduce the dynamical dark energy signal preferred by combinations of recent distance measurements. These models may be distinguished by the behavior of their perturbations, which are controlled by the effective sound speed $c_s^2(k,a)$. To explore correlations between the dark energy sound speed and perturbative behavior, we test modified gravity (MG) scenarios in which the dark energy equation of state and sound speed determine modifications to the clustering of matter. We investigate the impact of varying the dark energy sound speed on several cosmological quantities in both General Relativity (GR) and MG. We constrain the dark energy and modified gravity parameters using measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from Planck PR4, type Ia supernova luminosity distances (SN) from Pantheon+, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) from DESI DR2, and cosmic shear from DES-Y3. Using the combination of CMB+BAO+SN, we find that, in the MG scenarios, the preference for dynamical dark energy is correlated with deviations from GR over redshifts $z < 2$ at over 95\% confidence level. The significance of these deviations is not degraded when considering a dynamical or superluminal sound speed, but vanishes if we assume a cosmological constant. The inclusion of cosmic shear and CMB lensing data significantly shifts the constraints towards GR. Our framework enables the exploration of modified gravity models using the dark energy sound speed as a physically meaningful free parameter.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Modeling nonlinear scales for dynamical dark energy cosmologies with COLA

Upcoming galaxy surveys will bring a wealth of information about the clustering of matter, but modeling small-scale structure beyond $Λ$CDM remains computationally challenging. While accurate N-body emulators exist to model the matter power spectrum for $Λ$CDM and some limited extensions, it's unfeasible to generate N-body simulation suites for all candidate models. Motivated by recent hints of an evolving dark energy equation of state, we assess the viability of employing the COmoving Lagrangian Acceleration (COLA) method to generate simulation suites assuming the $w_0w_a$ dark energy model. We combine COLA simulations with an existing high-precision $Λ$CDM emulator to extend its predictions into new regions of parameter space. We assess the precision of our emulator at the level of the matter power spectrum, finding that our emulator can reproduce the nonlinear boosts from EuclidEmulator2 at less than $2\%$ error. Moreover, we perform an analysis of a simulated cosmic shear survey akin to the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) first year of observations, assessing the differences in parameter constraints between our COLA-based emulator and the benchmark emulator. We find our emulator to be in excellent agreement with the benchmark, achieving less than $0.3σ$ shifts in cosmological parameters. We compare our emulator's performance to a commonly used approach: assuming the $Λ$CDM boost can be employed for extended parameter spaces without modification. We find that our emulator yields a significantly smaller $Δχ^2$ distribution, parameter constraint biases, and a more accurate figure of merit compared to this second approach. Our results demonstrate that COLA emulators provide a computationally efficient path forward for modeling nonlinear structure in extended cosmologies, offering a practical alternative to full N-body suites.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Investigating Late-Time Dark Energy and Massive Neutrinos in Light of DESI Y1 BAO

Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), in combination with Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data and Type Ia Supernovae (SN) luminosity distances, suggests a dynamical evolution of the dark energy equation of state with a phantom phase ($w < -1$) in the past when the so-called $w_0w_a$ parametrization $w(a) = w_0 + w_a(1-a)$ is assumed. In this work, we investigate more general dark energy models that also allow a phantom equation of state. We consider three cases: an equation of state with a transition feature, a model-agnostic equation of state with constant values in chosen redshift bins, and a k-essence model. Since the dark energy equation of state is correlated with neutrino masses, we reassess constraints on the neutrino mass sum focusing on the model-agnostic equation of state. We find that the combination of DESI BAO with Planck 2018 CMB data and SN data from Pantheon, Pantheon+, or Union3 is consistent with an oscillatory dark energy equation of state, while a monotonic behavior is preferred by the DESY5 SN data. Performing model comparison techniques, we find that the $w_0w_a$ parametrization remains the simplest dark energy model that can provide a better fit to DESI BAO, CMB, and all SN datasets than $Λ$CDM. Constraints on the neutrino mass sum assuming dynamical dark energy are relaxed compared to $Λ$CDM and we show that these constraints are tighter in the model-agnostic case relative to $w_0w_a$ model by $70\%-90\%$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Modeling nonlinear scales with COLA: preparing for LSST-Y1

Year 1 results of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will provide tighter constraints on small-scale cosmology, beyond the validity of linear perturbation theory. This heightens the demand for a computationally affordable prescription that can accurately capture nonlinearities in beyond-$Λ$CDM models. The COmoving Lagrangian Acceleration (COLA) method, a cost-effective \textit{N}-body technique, has been proposed as a viable alternative to high-resolution \textit{N}-body simulations for training emulators of the nonlinear matter power spectrum. In this study, we evaluate this approach by employing COLA emulators to conduct a cosmic shear analysis with LSST-Y1 simulated data across three different nonlinear scale cuts. We use the $w$CDM model, for which the \textsc{EuclidEmulator2} (\textsc{ee2}) exists as a benchmark, having been trained with high-resolution \textit{N}-body simulations. We primarily utilize COLA simulations with mass resolution $M_{\rm part}\approx 8 \times 10^{10} ~h^{-1} M_{\odot}$ and force resolution $\ell_{\rm force}=0.5 ~h^{-1}$Mpc, though we also test refined settings with $M_{\rm part}\approx 1 \times 10^{10} ~h^{-1}M_{\odot}$ and force resolution $\ell_{\rm force}=0.17 ~h^{-1}$Mpc. We find the performance of the COLA emulators is sensitive to the placement of high-resolution \textit{N}-body reference samples inside the prior, which only ensure agreement in their local vicinity. However, the COLA emulators pass stringent criteria in goodness-of-fit and parameter bias throughout the prior, when $Λ$CDM predictions of \textsc{ee2} are computed alongside every COLA emulator prediction, suggesting a promising approach for extended models.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Early dark energy constraints with late-time expansion marginalization

Early dark energy (EDE) is an extension to the $Λ$CDM model, proposed to reduce the tension between the measurements of the Hubble constant $H_0$ from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and from the local cosmic distance ladder. However, this model increases the $S_8$ tension between CMB and large scale structure measurements. Analyses of galaxy clustering and lensing correlation functions report a decreased preference for EDE and its effect on the Hubble tension. Smooth dark energy models affect growth of structure through the background expansion. In this work, we study the inclusion of a general, smooth late-time dark energy modification in combination with EDE and obtain constraints on EDE marginalized over the late-time expansion. We assess the impact on the $S_8$ and Hubble tensions. In order to generalize the late expansion, we use a late dark energy fluid model with a piecewise constant equation of state $w(z)$ over 3, 5 and 10 redshift bins in the window $z \in [0,3]$. We show that, when analyzing ACT and Planck CMB data combined with Pantheon supernovae, BAO from 6dF, SDSS and BOSS, Planck 2018 CMB lensing and Dark Energy Survey cosmic shear and clustering data, the inclusion of a general smooth dark energy modification at late times has no significant effect on $S_8$ and EDE parameter constraints. Using the aforementioned datasets, the EDE fraction constraint with late-time expansion marginalization is $f_\mathrm{EDE} = 0.067^{+0.019}_{-0.027}$ using 3 redshift bins, with similar results for 5 and 10 redshift bins. This work shows that in order to solve simultaneously the Hubble and $S_8$ tensions, one needs a mechanism for increasing the clustering of matter at late times different from a simple change in the background evolution of late dark energy. [Abridged]

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