Signatures of Very Early Dark Energy in the Matter Power Spectrum

Abstract

Axion-like scalar fields can induce temporary deviations from the standard expansion history of the universe. The scalar field's contribution to the energy density of the universe grows while the field is held constant by Hubble friction, but when the scalar field starts to evolve, its energy density decreases faster than the radiation density for some potentials. We explore the observational signatures of such a scalar field that becomes dynamical between big bang nucleosynthesis and matter-radiation equality, which we call very Early Dark Energy (vEDE). If vEDE momentarily dominates the energy density of the universe, it generates a distinctive feature in the matter power spectrum that includes a bump on scales that enter the horizon just after the scalar field starts to evolve. For $k\gtrsim 10h{\text{Mpc}}^{-1}$, the amplitude of this bump can exceed the amplitude of the standard matter spectrum. The power on scales on either side of this peak is suppressed relative to the standard power spectrum, but only scales that are within the horizon while the scalar field makes a significant contribution to the total energy density are affected. We determine how vEDE scenarios are constrained by observations of the cosmic microwave background, measurements of the primordial deuterium abundance, and probes of the late-time expansion history. We find that these observations are consistent with vEDE scenarios that enhance power on scales $k\gtrsim 30h{\text{Mpc}}^{-1}$ and nearly double the amplitude of the matter power spectrum around $200h{\text{Mpc}}^{-1}$. These scenarios also suppress power on scales between $0.3h{\text{Mpc}}^{-1}$ and $30h{\text{Mpc}}^{-1}$.

25 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables, updated to match publication in PrD

References in corpus (54)

• A Comprehensive Measurement of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant with 1 km/s/Mpc Uncertainty from the Hubble Space Telescope and the SH0ES Team
• Large Magellanic Cloud Cepheid Standards Provide a 1% Foundation for the Determination of the Hubble Constant and Stronger Evidence for Physics Beyond LambdaCDM
• The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Cosmological Implications from two Decades of Spectroscopic Surveys at the Apache Point observatory
• The Pantheon+ Analysis: Cosmological Constraints
• DESI 2024 VI: Cosmological Constraints from the Measurements of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
• The Pantheon+ Analysis: The Full Dataset and Light-Curve Release
• A population of red candidate massive galaxies ~600 Myr after the Big Bang
• A Comprehensive Study on Galaxies at z~9-16 Found in the Early JWST Data: UV Luminosity Functions and Cosmic Star-Formation History at the Pre-Reionization Epoch
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog: Sixteenth Data Release
• Early dark energy, the Hubble-parameter tension, and the string axiverse
• The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Baryon acoustic oscillations with Lyman-$\alpha$ forests
• A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: A Candidate z ~ 12 Galaxy in Early JWST CEERS Imaging
• The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: BAO and RSD measurements from anisotropic clustering analysis of the Quasar Sample in configuration space between redshift 0.8 and 2.2
• Early Dark Energy Does Not Restore Cosmological Concordance
• The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurement of the BAO and growth rate of structure of the luminous red galaxy sample from the anisotropic correlation function between redshifts 0.6 and 1
• Milky Way Satellite Census. III. Constraints on Dark Matter Properties from Observations of Milky Way Satellite Galaxies
• The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurement of the BAO and growth rate of structure of the luminous red galaxy sample from the anisotropic power spectrum between redshifts 0.6 and 1.0
• The Clustering of the SDSS Main Galaxy Sample II: Mock galaxy catalogues and a measurement of the growth of structure from Redshift Space Distortions at $z=0.15$
• The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: BAO and RSD measurements from the anisotropic power spectrum of the Quasar sample between redshift 0.8 and 2.2
• Measurements of the E-Mode Polarization and Temperature-E-Mode Correlation of the CMB from SPT-3G 2018 Data
• Resolving the Hubble Tension with New Early Dark Energy
• Revealing Galaxy Candidates out to $z\sim 16$ with JWST Observations of the Lensing Cluster SMACS0723
• The Hubble Constant from Infrared Surface Brightness Fluctuation Distances
• Early dark energy is not excluded by current large-scale structure data
• Early dark energy resolution to the Hubble tension in light of weak lensing surveys and lensing anomalies
• Dark energy from the string axiverse
• New constraint on Early Dark Energy from Planck and BOSS data using the profile likelihood
• Interpreting DESI's evidence for evolving dark energy
• Scant evidence for thawing quintessence
• First Batch of Candidate Galaxies at Redshifts 11 to 20 Revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope Early Release Observations
• Underdetermination of dark energy
• Hints of Early Dark Energy in Planck, SPT, and ACT data: new physics or systematics?
• Dark energy with non-adiabatic sound speed: initial conditions and detectability
• Gravitational Wave and CMB Probes of Axion Kination
• A fast test to assess the impact of marginalization in Monte Carlo analyses, and its application to cosmology
• Clustering and Halo Abundances in Early Dark Energy Cosmological Models
• Resolved Dwarf Galaxy Searches within ~5 Mpc with the Vera Rubin Observatory and Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam
• Quantifying Scalar Field Dynamics with DESI 2024 Y1 BAO measurements
• Alleviating the need for exponential evolution of JWST galaxies in 10${}^{10}{M}_{\odot }$ haloes at $z>10$ by a modified $\Lambda$CDM power spectrum
• Self-Interacting Neutrinos in Light of Large-Scale Structure Data
• Observational constraints on early dark energy
• Natural inflation with and without modulations in type IIB string theory
• Forecasts for Galaxy Formation and Dark Matter Constraints from Dwarf Galaxy Surveys
• $5\sigma$ tension between Planck cosmic microwave background and eBOSS Lyman-alpha forest and constraints on physics beyond $\Lambda$CDM
• PRIYA: A New Suite of Lyman-alpha Forest Simulations for Cosmology
• Cosmological Constraints from the eBOSS Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest using the PRIYA Simulations
• Compressing the cosmological information in one-dimensional correlations of the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest
• Excess of high-$z$ galaxies as a test for bumpy power spectrum of density perturbations
• Cascading Dark Energy
• Prospects for Detecting Gaps in Globular Cluster Stellar Streams in External Galaxies with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
• How an era of kination impacts substructure and the dark matter annihilation rate
• Early Dark Energy During Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Cosmological signatures of a Rapid Diluted Energy Density
• Impact of a Rapid Diluted Energy Density on the halo mass function

Cited by in corpus (3)

• The peculiar case of the Viaggiu holographic dark energy
• Modified Cosmology or Modified Galaxy Astrophysics is Driving the z>6 JWST Results? CMB Experiments can discover the Origin in the Near Future
• Insights for Early Dark Energy with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis