Addressing the too-big-to-fail problem and the void phenomenon through a modified initial power spectrum

ABSTRACT We investigate the impact of early-time initial conditions on non-linear structure formation and evolution within the framework of the semi-analytical excursion set theory (EST). Our analysis reveals that adding a Gaussian bump to the initial curvature power spectrum at small scales enhances the abundance of massive haloes while sharply reducing the number of small-mass haloes, and consequently, satellite galaxies. Moreover, this modification increases the frequency of major mergers while suppressing high-mass-ratio minor mergers. These features may offer resolutions to the missing satellite and too-big-to-fail (TBTF) problems. In underdense regions –voids – the same modifications increase the likelihood of finding massive haloes embedded in voids while similarly decreasing the small-halo population, and consequently, faint galaxies. This behaviour suggests a potential solution to the void phenomenon, in which embedded haloes, despite being too massive, were too rare to be noticed. More precisely, our results indicate that an excess of massive structures emerges at mass scales near the centre of the Gaussian bump: $k_* = 1.85$ and $3.95 \, {h^{-1}\,\rm {Mpc}}$. These scales correspond to mass scales of $M_* = 10^{11}$ and $10^{10}$, respectively. This modification extends up to two orders of magnitude in higher mass scales, while reducing the abundance of haloes below $M_*$ by 2–3 orders of magnitude. Additionally, we find that evolutionary conditions, halo-in-halo, and particularly halo-in-void statistics serve as more sensitive and complementary probes for differentiating among cosmological models.