N-body simulations with a cosmic vector for dark energy

TL;DR

This paper presents N-body simulations of a Vector Dark Energy model, revealing enhanced structure formation, different growth behavior, and smaller voids compared to Lambda Cold Dark Matter, with minor halo property differences.

Contribution

It introduces a modified GADGET-2 code to simulate VDE, analyzing its impact on large-scale structure and halo properties, and compares results with standard cosmology.

Findings

Enhanced high-redshift mass function in VDE

Different growth factor behavior in VDE

Smaller, less abundant voids in VDE

Abstract

We present the results of a series of cosmological $N$-body simulations of a Vector Dark Energy (VDE) model, performed using a suitably modified version of the publicly available \texttt{GADGET}-2 code. The setups of our simulations were calibrated pursuing a twofold aim: 1) to analyze the large scale distribution of massive objects and 2) to determine the properties of halo structure in this different ramework.We observe that structure formation is enhanced in VDE, since the mass function at high redshift is boosted up to a factor of ten with respect to \LCDM, possibly alleviating tensions with the observations of massive clusters at high redshifts and early reionization epoch. Significant differences can also be found for the value of the growth factor, that in VDE shows a completely different behaviour, and in the distribution of voids, which in this cosmology are on average smaller and less abundant. We further studied the structure of dark matter haloes more massive than $5\times10^{13}$\hMsun, finding that no substantial difference emerges when comparing spin parameter, shape, triaxiality and profiles of structures evolved under different cosmological pictures. Nevertheless, minor differences can be found in the concentration-mass relation and the two point correlation function; both showing different amplitudes and steeper slopes.Using an additional series of simulations of a \LCDM\ scenario with the same $\Omega_M$ and $\sigma_8$ used in the VDE cosmology, we have been able to establish whether the modifications induced in the new cosmological picture were due to the particular nature of the dynamical dark energy or a straightforward consequence of the cosmological parameters.