Rapid cosmological inference with the two-loop matter power spectrum
We compute the two-loop effective field theory (EFT) power spectrum of dark matter density fluctuations in <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mi>Λ</mml:mi> </mml:math> CDM using the recently proposed COBRA method (Bakx. et al, 2025). With COBRA, we are able to evaluate the two-loop matter power spectrum in <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> millisecond at <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.1</mml:mn> <mml:mi>%</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> precision on one CPU for arbitrary redshifts and on scales where perturbation theory applies. As an application, we use the nonlinear matter power spectrum from the Dark Sky simulation to assess the performance of the two-loop EFT power spectrum compared to the one-loop EFT power spectrum at <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>z</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . We find that, for volumes typical for Stage IV galaxy surveys, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>V</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>25</mml:mn> <mml:mspace width="0.167em"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true" form="prefix">(</mml:mo> <mml:mtext mathvariant="normal">Gpc</mml:mtext> <mml:mi>/</mml:mi> <mml:mi>h</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="true" form="postfix">)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , the two-loop EFT can provide unbiased cosmological constraints on <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>Ω</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>H</mml:mi> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>A</mml:mi> <mml:mi>s</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:math> using scales up to <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>k</mml:mi> <mml:mtext mathvariant="normal">max</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.26</mml:mn> <mml:mspace width="0.167em"/> <mml:mi>h</mml:mi> <mml:mi>/</mml:mi> <mml:mtext mathvariant="normal">Mpc</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , thereby outperforming the constraints from the one-loop EFT ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>k</mml:mi> <mml:mtext mathvariant="normal">max</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.11</mml:mn> <mml:mspace width="0.167em"/> <mml:mi>h</mml:mi> <mml:mi>/</mml:mi> <mml:mtext mathvariant="normal">Mpc</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ). The Figure of Merit on these three parameters increases by a factor <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2.6</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> and the one-dimensional marginalized constraints improve by <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>35</mml:mn> <mml:mi>%</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> for <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>Ω</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:math> , <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>20</mml:mn> <mml:mi>%</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> for <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>H</mml:mi> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:math> and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>15</mml:mn> <mml:mi>%</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> for <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>A</mml:mi> <mml:mi>s</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:math> .
Authors
- Thomas Bakx (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4344-888X)
- Zvonimir Vlah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9274-5768)
- Nora Elisa Chisari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4221-6718)
- Henrique Rubira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8215-6740)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Open Journal of Astrophysics
- Published
- 2026-02-10
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.33232/001c.157501
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 27.96