arXiv subjects

Julien Bel

Publications and source records attributed to Julien Bel.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Improved recipes for peculiar velocity power spectra using Evolution Mapping

We present new fitting functions for the velocity divergence auto- and cross-power spectra, $P_{\theta\theta}(k)$ and $P_{\delta\theta}(k)$, calibrated on gravity-only $N$-body simulations. By applying the Evolution Mapping framework, we revise existing prescriptions to introduce a physically motivated parametrisation in terms of the clustering amplitude $\sigma_{12}$, the RMS density fluctuation smoothed at $12\,\text{Mpc}$. This approach improves robustness and extends the range of applicability beyond that of previous models. Our fits are calibrated using a suite of multi-resolution simulations, with numerical convergence carefully quantified and sampling artefacts mitigated through a conservative patching strategy. This yields converged measurements up to $k\simeq0.56\,\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ and percent-level accuracy for both $P_{\theta\theta}(k)$ and $P_{\delta\theta}(k)$ over a wide range of $\sigma_{12}$. Validation against independent simulations spanning a broad range of cosmological models confirms an accuracy of $1$-$2$ per cent on scales where the measurements are robust, systematically outperforming existing prescriptions. We further assess the impact of deviations from the exact evolution mapping relation induced by differing growth histories. For most cosmologies of practical interest, we find that neglecting these effects introduces only subdominant errors. We show that expressing fitting functions in $h$-dependent units leads to spurious, unphysical dependencies on the Hubble parameter, even for models with identical linear clustering. This provides strong empirical support for parametrising non-linear evolution in terms of $\sigma_{12}$ rather than $\sigma_{8}$. Our fitting functions provide a robust description of velocity power spectra, with direct applications to redshift-space distortion modelling in galaxy redshift surveys.

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arXiv2025

The anisotropic expansion rate of the local Universe and its covariant cosmographic interpretation

Without making any assumption on the underlying geometry and metric of the local Universe, we provide a measurement of the expansion rate fluctuation field using the Cosmicflows-4 and Pantheon+ samples in the redshift range $0.01 < z < 0.1$ ($30 \,h^{-1}\,\mathrm{Mpc} < R < 300\,h^{-1}\,\mathrm{Mpc}$). The amplitude of the anisotropic fluctuations is found to be of order a few percent relative to the monopole of the expansion rate. We further decompose the expansion rate fluctuation field into spherical harmonic components and analyze their evolution with redshift across the studied redshift range. At low redshift, the dipole is clearly dominant, with an amplitude of $\sim (2.2 \pm 0.15)\times 10^{-2}$, significantly larger than the higher--order modes. As redshift increases, the dipole amplitude steadily decreases, reaching roughly half its value in the highest redshift bin investigated. The quadrupole is also significant, at about half the dipole amplitude, and persists across all redshift bins, with no clear decreasing trend, although uncertainties grow at higher redshift. A nonzero octupole is also detected at low redshift. The dipole, quadrupole, and octupole components are found to be aligned, exhibiting axial symmetry around a common axis ($l = 295^\circ,\, b = 5^\circ$). We interpret the observed fluctuations in the expansion rate within the framework of covariant cosmography. Our results indicate that the multipoles of the expansion rate fluctuation field are primarily driven by a strong quadrupole in the covariant Hubble parameter, together with dipole and octupole contributions from the covariant deceleration parameter. These few parameters suffice to reconstruct the luminosity distance with high precision out to $z \sim 0.1$, in a manner that is model--independent, non--perturbative, and free from assumptions about peculiar velocities.

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arXiv2025

Cosmology with the angular cross-correlation of gravitational-wave and galaxy catalogs: Forecasts for next-generation interferometers and the Euclid survey

The spatial clustering of galaxies has long been a key probe of cosmology. Gravitational-wave (GW) sources, which provide direct luminosity-distance measurements, have recently emerged as a complementary tracer of large-scale structures. The cross-correlation of GW and galaxy catalogs offers a novel way to test cosmic expansion. We investigate the potential of tomographic GW-galaxy angular power spectra to constrain cosmological parameters, focusing on the Hubble constant and matter density, in the context of third-generation (3G) GW detectors combined with the Euclid survey. We constructed our forecasts using realistic GW source populations and error models calibrated on recent detector designs. We adopted a Fisher-matrix approach, marginalized over nuisance parameters including tracer biases, primordial spectrum parameters, and baryon density, and compared different survey configurations, binning schemes, and GW detector networks. We find that tomographic cross-correlation can constrain $H_0$ at a percent or sub-percent precision, depending on the binning strategy, network configuration, and observing time. Combining galaxy autocorrelations with GW-galaxy cross-correlations improves constraints by up to a factor of ${\sim}10$ relative to either probe alone. We further show that this performance requires multiple interferometers with accurate sky localization, and we discuss the added value of spectroscopic surveys and the detectability of GW clustering bias. Our results demonstrate that this technique, applied to 3G GW detectors in synergy with large galaxy surveys, can deliver competitive measurements of cosmic expansion, even when marginalizing over a wide range of astrophysical and cosmological nuisance parameters.

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arXiv2025

Effort: a fast and differentiable emulator for the Effective Field Theory of the Large Scale Structure of the Universe

We present the official release of the EFfective Field theORy surrogaTe (Effort), a novel and efficient emulator designed for the Effective Field Theory of Large-Scale Structure (EFTofLSS). This tool combines state-of-the-art numerical methods and clever preprocessing strategies to achieve exceptional computational performance without sacrificing accuracy. To validate the emulator reliability, we compare Bayesian posteriors sampled using Effort via Hamiltonian MonteCarlo methods to the ones sampled using the widely-used pybird code, via the Metropolis-Hastings sampler. On a large-volume set of simulations, and on the BOSS dataset, the comparison confirms excellent agreement, with deviations compatible with MonteCarlo noise. Looking ahead, Effort is poised to analyze next-generation cosmological datasets and to support joint analyses with complementary tools.

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arXiv2024

Evolution mapping II: describing statistics of the non-linear cosmic velocity field

We extend the evolution mapping approach, originally proposed by Sanchez (2022) to describe non-linear matter density fluctuations, to statistics of the cosmic velocity field. This framework classifies cosmological parameters into shape parameters, which determine the shape of the linear matter power spectrum, $P_L(k, z)$, and evolution parameters, which control its amplitude at any given redshift. Evolution mapping leverages the fact that density fluctuations in cosmologies with identical shape parameters but different evolution parameters exhibit remarkably similar non-linear evolutions when expressed as a function of the clustering amplitude. We use a suite of N-body simulations sharing identical shape parameters but spanning a wide range of evolution parameters. Using an efficient method for estimating the volume-weighted velocity field based on the Voronoi tesselation of the simulation particles, we study the non-linear evolution of the power spectra of the velocity divergence, $P_{\theta\theta}(k)$, and its cross-power spectrum with the density field, $P_{\delta\theta}(k)$. By analysing snapshots at redshifts where the linear matter perturbations have the same amplitude, we demonstrate that evolution mapping accurately applies to $P_{\theta\theta}(k)$ and $P_{\delta\theta}(k)$. Deviations at small scales can be modelled in terms of differences in the suppression factor, $g(a) = D(a)/a$, akin to those observed for the density field. Evolution mapping simplifies the description of the cosmological dependence of non-linear density and velocity statistics, streamlining the sampling of large cosmological parameter spaces for the analysis of cosmological observables.

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arXiv2024

Towards an optimal marked correlation function analysis for the detection of modified gravity

Modified gravity (MG) theories have emerged as a promising alternative to explain the late-time acceleration of the Universe. However, the detection of MG in observations of the large-scale structure remains challenging due to the screening mechanisms that obscure any deviations from General Relativity (GR) in high-density regions. The marked two-point correlation function offers a promising approach to potentially detect MG signals. This work investigates novel marks based on large-scale environment estimates but also that exploit the anti-correlation between objects in low- and high-density regions. This is the first time discreteness effects in density-dependent marked correlation functions are investigated in depth. We assess the performance of various marks to distinguish GR from MG by using the ELEPHANT simulations, comprised of realisations of GR as well as $f(R)$ and nDGP gravity. In addition, discreteness effects are studied using the high-density Covmos catalogues. We establish a robust method to correct for shot-noise effects that allows the recovery of the true signal with an accuracy below $5\%$ over a wide range of scales. We find such correction to be crucial to measure the amplitude of the marked correlation function in an unbiased manner. Furthermore, we demonstrate that marks, anti-correlating objects in low- and high-density regions, are among the most effective in distinguishing between MG and GR. We report differences in the marked correlation function between $f(R)$ with $|f_{R0}|=10^{-6}$ and GR simulations of the order of 3-5$\sigma$ in real space up to scales of about $80\, h^{-1} \, {\rm Mpc}$. The redshift-space monopole exhibits similar features and performances. The combination of the proposed $\tanh$-mark with shot-noise correction paves the way towards an optimal approach for the detection of MG in current and future galaxy spectroscopic surveys.

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arXiv2022

COVMOS: a new Monte Carlo approach for galaxy clustering analysis

We validate the COVMOS method introduced in Baratta et al. (2019) allowing for the fast simulation of catalogues of different cosmological field tracers (e.g. dark matter particles, halos, galaxies, etc.). The power spectrum and one-point probability distribution function of the underlying tracer density field are set as inputs of the method and are arbitrarily chosen by the user. In order to evaluate the validity domain of COVMOS at the level of the produced two-point statistics covariance matrix, we choose to target these two input statistical quantities from realistic $N$-body simulation outputs. In particular, we perform this cloning procedure in a $\Lambda$CDM and in a massive neutrino cosmologies, for five redshifts in the range $z\in[0,2]$. First, we validate the output real-space two-point statistics (both in configuration and Fourier space) estimated over $5,000$ COVMOS realisations per redshift and per cosmology, with a volume of $1\ [\mathrm{Gpc}/h]^3$ and $10^8$ particles each. Such a validation is performed against the corresponding $N$-body measurements, estimated from 50 simulations. We find the method to be valid up to $k\sim 0.2h/$Mpc for the power spectrum and down to $r~\sim 20$ Mpc$/h$ for the correlation function. Then, we extend the method by proposing a new modelling of the peculiar velocity distribution, aiming at reproducing the redshift-space distortions both in the linear and mildly non-linear regimes. After validating this prescription, we finally compare and validate the produced redshift-space two-point statistics covariance matrices in the same range of scales. We release on a public repository the Python code associated with this method, allowing the production of tens of thousands of realisations in record time. COVMOS is intended for any user involved in large galaxy-survey science requiring a large number of mock realisations.

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arXiv2022

The multipole expansion of the local expansion rate

We design a new observable, the expansion rate fluctuation $\eta$, to characterize deviations from the linear relation between redshift and distance in the local universe. We also show how to compress the resulting signal into spherical harmonic coefficients in order to better decipher the structure and symmetries of the anisotropies in the local expansion rate. We apply this analysis scheme to several public catalogs of redshift-independent distances, the Cosmicflows-3 and Pantheon data sets, covering the redshift range $0.01<z<0.05$. The leading anisotropic signal is stored in the dipole. Within the standard cosmological model, it is interpreted as a bulk motion ($307 \pm 23$ km/s) of the entire local volume in a direction aligned at better than $4$ degrees with the bulk component of the Local Group velocity with respect to the CMB. This term alone, however, provides an overly simplistic and inaccurate description of the angular anisotropies of the expansion rate. We find that the quadrupole contribution is non-negligible ($\sim 50\%$ of the anisotropic signal), in fact, statistically significant, and signaling a substantial shearing of gravity in the volume covered by the data. In addition, the 3D structure of the quadrupole is axisymmetric, with the expansion axis aligned along the axis of the dipole. Implications for the determination of the $H_0$ parameter are also discussed.

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arXiv2022

Constraining spatial curvature with large-scale structure

We analyse the clustering of matter on large scales in an extension of the concordance model that allows for spatial curvature. We develop a consistent approach to curvature and wide-angle effects on the galaxy 2-point correlation function in redshift space. In particular we derive the Alcock-Paczynski distortion of $f\sigma_{8}$, which differs significantly from empirical models in the literature. A key innovation is the use of the `Clustering Ratio', which probes clustering in a different way to redshift-space distortions, so that their combination delivers more powerful cosmological constraints. We use this combination to constrain cosmological parameters, without CMB information. In a curved Universe, we find that $\Omega_{{\rm m}, 0}=0.26\pm 0.04$ (68\% CL). When the clustering probes are combined with low-redshift background probes -- BAO and SNIa -- we obtain a CMB-independent constraint on curvature: $\Omega_{K,0} = 0.0041\,_{-0.0504}^{+0.0500}$. We find no Bayesian evidence that the flat concordance model can be rejected. In addition we show that the sound horizon at decoupling is $r_{\rm d} = 144.57 \pm 2.34 \; {\rm Mpc}$, in agreement with its measurement from CMB anisotropies. As a consequence, the late-time Universe is compatible with flat $\Lambda$CDM and a standard sound horizon, leading to a small value of $H_{0}$, {\em without} assuming any CMB information. Clustering Ratio measurements produce the only low-redshift clustering data set that is not in disagreement with the CMB, and combining the two data sets we obtain $\Omega_{K,0}= -0.023 \pm 0.010$.

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arXiv2019

High-precision Monte-Carlo modelling of galaxy distribution

We revisit the case of fast Monte-Carlo simulations of galaxy positions for a non-gaussian field. More precisely we address the question of generating a 3D field with a given one-point function (as a log-normal one, but not only) and some power-spectrum fixed by cosmology. We highlight and investigate a problem that occurs when the field is filtered and identify, for the log-normal case, a regime where it can still be used. However we show that the filtering is unnecessary if one takes into account aliasing effects and finely controls the discrete sampling step. In this way we demonstrate a sub-percent precision of all our spectra up to the Nyquist frequency. We extend the method to generate a full light cone evolution comparing two methods for doing it and validate our method with a tomographic analysis. We investigate analytically and numerically the structure of the covariance matrices obtained with such simulations which may be useful for future large and deep surveys.

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arXiv2019

Optimising growth of structure constraints on modified gravity

We use growth of structure data to constrain the effective field theory of dark energy. Considering as case study Horndeski theories with the speed of gravitational waves equal to that of light, we show how constraints on the free parameters and the large-scale structure phenomenological functions can be improved by two ingredients: firstly by complementing the set of redshift-space distortions data with the three recent measurements of the growth rate $f$ and the amplitude of matter fluctuations $σ_8$ from the VIPERS and SDSS collaborations; secondly by applying a local Solar System bound on the variation of the Newton constant. This analysis allows us to conclude that: $i)$ despite firmly restricting the predictions of weaker gravity, the inclusion of the Solar System bound does not prevent suppressed growth relative to the standard model $Λ$CDM at low redshifts; $ii)$ the same bound in conjunction with the growth of structure data strongly restricts the redshift evolution of the gravitational slip parameter to be close to unity and the present value is constrained to one at the $10^{-3}$ level; $iii)$ the growth of structure data favours a fifth force contribution to the effective gravitational coupling at low redshifts and at more than one sigma at present time.

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arXiv2019

Accurate fitting functions for peculiar velocity spectra in standard and massive-neutrino cosmologies

We estimate the velocity field in a large set of $N$-body simulations including massive neutrino particles, and measure the auto-power spectrum of the velocity divergence field as well as the cross-power spectrum between the cold dark matter density and the velocity divergence. We perform these measurements at four different redshifts and within four different cosmological scenarios, covering a wide range in neutrino masses. We find that the nonlinear correction to the velocity power spectra largely depend on the degree of nonlinear evolution with no specific dependence on the value of neutrino mass. We provide a fitting formula, based on the value of the r.m.s. of the matter fluctuations in spheres of $8h^{-1}$Mpc, describing the nonlinear corrections with 3\% accuracy on scales below $k=0.7\; h$ Mpc$^{-1}$.

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arXiv2018

The cosmic aberration drift: proposal for a real-time detection of our acceleration through space

Our proper acceleration with respect to the Cosmic Microwave Background results in a real-time change of the angular position of distant extragalactic sources. The cosmological component of this aberration drift signal, the non-inertial motion generated by the large-scale distribution of matter, can in principle be detected by future high-precision astrometric experiments. It will provide interesting consistency tests of the standard model of cosmology, set independent constraints on the amplitude of the Hubble constant and the linear growth rate of cosmic structures, and be instrumental in searching for evidence of new physics beyond the standard model. We present the formalism of this novel cosmological test, discuss the physics to which it is sensitive and show simulated forecasts of the accuracy with which it can be implemented.

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arXiv2017

Cosmological constraints from galaxy clustering in the presence of massive neutrinos

The clustering ratio is defined as the ratio between the correlation function and the variance of the smoothed overdensity field. In LCDM cosmologies not accounting for massive neutrinos, it has already been proved to be independent from bias and redshift space distortions on a range of linear scales. It therefore allows for a direct comparison of measurements (from galaxies in redshift space) to predictions (for matter in real space). In this paper we first extend the applicability of such properties of the clustering ratio to cosmologies that include massive neutrinos, by performing tests against simulated data. We then investigate the constraining power of the clustering ratio when cosmological parameters such as the total neutrino mass and the equation of state of dark energy are left free. We analyse the joint posterior distribution of the parameters that must satisfy, at the same time, the measurements of the galaxy clustering ratio in the SDSS DR12, and the angular power spectrum of temperature and polarization anisotropies of the CMB measured by the Planck satellite. We find the clustering ratio to be very sensitive to the CDM density parameter, but not very much so to the total neutrino mass. Lastly, we forecast the constraining power the clustering ratio will achieve with forthcoming surveys, predicting the amplitude of its errors in a Euclid-like galaxy survey. In this case, we find it is expected to improve the constraint at 95% level on the CDM density by 40% and on the total neutrino mass by 14%.

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arXiv2016

Initial Conditions for Accurate N-Body Simulations of Massive Neutrino Cosmologies

The set-up of the initial conditions in cosmological N-body simulations is usually implemented by rescaling the desired low-redshift linear power spectrum to the required starting redshift consistently with the Newtonian evolution of the simulation. The implementation of this practical solution requires more care in the context of massive neutrino cosmologies, mainly because of the non-trivial scale-dependence of the linear growth that characterises these models. In this work we consider a simple two-fluid, Newtonian approximation for cold dark matter and massive neutrinos perturbations that can reproduce the cold matter linear evolution predicted by Boltzmann codes such as CAMB or CLASS with a 0.1% accuracy or below for all redshift relevant to nonlinear structure formation. We use this description, in the first place, to quantify the systematic errors induced by several approximations often assumed in numerical simulations, including the typical set-up of the initial conditions for massive neutrino cosmologies adopted in previous works. We then take advantage of the flexibility of this approach to rescale the late-time linear power spectra to the simulation initial redshift, in order to be as consistent as possible with the dynamics of the N-body code and the approximations it assumes. We implement our method in a public code providing the initial displacements and velocities for cold dark matter and neutrino particles that will allow accurate, i.e. one-percent level, numerical simulations for this cosmological scenario.

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arXiv2016

Linear and non-linear bias: predictions vs. measurements

We study the linear and non-linear bias parameters which determine the mapping between the distributions of galaxies and the full matter density fields, comparing different measurements and predictions. Associating galaxies with dark matter haloes in the MICE Grand Challenge N-body simulation we directly measure the bias parameters by comparing the smoothed density fluctuations of haloes and matter in the same region at different positions as a function of smoothing scale. Alternatively we measure the bias parameters by matching the probability distributions of halo and matter density fluctuations, which can be applied to observations. These direct bias measurements are compared to corresponding measurements from two-point and different third-order correlations, as well as predictions from the peak-background model, which we presented in previous articles using the same data. We find an overall variation of the linear bias measurements and predictions of $\sim 5 \%$ with respect to results from two-point correlations for different halo samples with masses between $\sim 10^{12} - 10^{15}$ $h^{-1}M_\odot$ at the redshifts $z=0.0$ and $0.5$. Variations between the second- and third-order bias parameters from the different methods show larger variations, but with consistent trends in mass and redshift. The various bias measurements reveal a tight relation between the linear and the quadratic bias parameters, which is consistent with results from the literature based on simulations with different cosmologies. Such a universal relation might improve constraints on cosmological models, derived from second-order clustering statistics at small scales or higher-order clustering statistics.

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arXiv2016

Improving the modelling of redshift-space distortions - II. A pairwise velocity model covering large and small scales

We develop a model for the redshift-space correlation function, valid for both dark matter particles and halos on scales $>5\,h^{-1}$Mpc. In its simplest formulation, the model requires the knowledge of the first three moments of the line-of-sight pairwise velocity distribution plus two well-defined dimensionless parameters. The model is obtained by extending the Gaussian-Gaussianity prescription for the velocity distribution, developed in a previous paper, to a more general concept allowing for local skewness, which is required to match simulations. We compare the model with the well known Gaussian streaming model and the more recent Edgeworth streaming model. Using N-body simulations as a reference, we show that our model gives a precise description of the redshift-space clustering over a wider range of scales. We do not discuss the theoretical prescription for the evaluation of the velocity moments, leaving this topic to further investigation.

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arXiv2016

DEMNUni: The clustering of large-scale structures in the presence of massive neutrinos

(abridged) We analyse the clustering features of Large Scale Structures (LSS) in the presence of massive neutrinos, employing a set of large-volume, high-resolution cosmological N-body simulations, where neutrinos are treated as a separate collisionless fluid. The volume of 8$\cGpc$, combined with a resolution of about $8\times 10^{10}\Ms$ for the cold dark matter (CDM) component, represents a significant improvement over previous N-body simulations in massive neutrino cosmologies. We show that most of the nonlinear evolution is generated exclusively by the CDM component. We find that accounting only for the nonlinear evolution of the CDM power spectrum allows to recover the total matter power spectrum with the same accuracy as the massless case. Indeed, we show that, the most recent version of the \halofit\ formula calibrated on $Λ$CDM simulations can be applied directly to the linear CDM power spectrum without requiring additional fitting parameters in the massive case. As a second step, we study the abundance and clustering properties of CDM halos, confirming that, in massive neutrino cosmologies, the proper definition of the halo bias should be made with respect to the {\em cold} rather than the {\em total} matter distribution, as recently shown in the literature. Here we extend these results to the redshift space, finding that, when accounting for massive neutrinos, an improper definition of the linear bias can lead to a systematic error of about 1-$2 \%$ in the determination of the linear growth rate from anisotropic clustering. This result is quite important if we consider that future spectroscopic galaxy surveys, as \eg\ Euclid, are expected to measure the linear growth-rate with statistical errors less than about $3 \%$ at $z\lesssim1$.

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