Sensitivity and Insensitivity of Galaxy Cluster Surveys to New Physics

TL;DR

Galaxy cluster surveys are valuable for constraining cosmological parameters and structure formation physics, but have limitations in detecting certain new physics effects like photon-axion mixing due to uncertainties in cluster dynamics.

Contribution

This paper analyzes the sensitivity of galaxy cluster surveys to new physics beyond the Standard Model, highlighting their strengths and limitations.

Findings

Cluster surveys effectively constrain structure formation physics.

Uncertainties in cluster dynamics limit sensitivity to some new physics.

Photon-axion mixing effects are difficult to detect with current cluster data.

Abstract

We study the implications and limitations of galaxy cluster surveys for constraining models of particle physics and gravity beyond the Standard Model. Flux limited cluster counts probe the history of large scale structure formation in the universe, and as such provide useful constraints on cosmological parameters. As a result of uncertainties in some aspects of cluster dynamics, cluster surveys are currently more useful for analyzing physics that would affect the formation of structure than physics that would modify the appearance of clusters. As an example we consider the Lambda-CDM cosmology and dimming mechanisms, such as photon-axion mixing.