Cosmological Simulations of Normal-Branch Braneworld Gravity

TL;DR

This paper explores a cosmological model based on the normal branch of DGP braneworld gravity with a dark energy component, using N-body simulations to analyze large-scale structure formation and compare it with LambdaCDM.

Contribution

It introduces a new normal-branch DGP braneworld model with identical expansion history to LambdaCDM and studies its structure formation via detailed N-body simulations.

Findings

Matter power spectrum shows enhancement at k ~ 0.7 h/Mpc

Massive halo abundance is significantly increased

Dark matter halo profiles and brane-bending mode effects are characterized

Abstract

We introduce a cosmological model based on the normal branch of DGP braneworld gravity with a smooth dark energy component on the brane. The expansion history in this model is identical to LambdaCDM, thus evading all geometric constraints on the DGP cross-over scale r_c. This model can serve as a first approximation to more general braneworld models whose cosmological solutions have not been obtained yet. We study the formation of large scale structure in this model in the linear and non-linear regime using N-body simulations for different values of r_c. The simulations use the code presented in (F.S., arXiv:0905.0858) and solve the full non-linear equation for the brane-bending mode in conjunction with the usual gravitational dynamics. The brane-bending mode is attractive rather than repulsive in the DGP normal branch, hence the sign of the modified gravity effects is reversed compared to those presented in arXiv:0905.0858. We compare the simulation results with those of ordinary LambdaCDM simulations run using the same code and initial conditions. We find that the matter power spectrum in this model shows a characteristic enhancement peaking at k ~ 0.7 h/Mpc. We also find that the abundance of massive halos is significantly enhanced. Other results presented here include the density profiles of dark matter halos, and signatures of the brane-bending mode self-interactions (Vainshtein mechanism) in the simulations. Independently of the expansion history, these results can be used to place constraints on the DGP model and future generalizations through their effects on the growth of cosmological structure.