# The impact of the observed baryon distribution in haloes on the total matter power spectrum

## TL;DR

This study assesses how baryon distribution in galaxy groups affects the matter power spectrum relevant for weak lensing, highlighting the significance of baryonic effects and the importance of accurate halo mass measurements.

## Contribution

It introduces a halo model incorporating empirical baryon constraints to quantify baryonic impact on the matter power spectrum, emphasizing observational strategies.

## Key findings

- Baryons suppress the power spectrum by up to 5% on certain scales.
- Galaxy groups dominate the total power at scales below 10 h/Mpc.
- Halo mass bias can lead to underestimating baryonic suppression by up to 4%.

## Abstract

The interpretation of upcoming weak gravitational lensing surveys depends critically on our understanding of the matter power spectrum on scales $k < 10 h/\mathrm{Mpc}$, where baryonic processes are important. We study the impact of galaxy formation processes on the matter power spectrum using a halo model that treats the stars and gas separately from the dark matter distribution. We use empirical constraints from X-ray observations (hot gas) and halo occupation distribution modelling (stars) for the baryons. Since X-ray observations cannot generally measure the hot gas content outside $r_\mathrm{500c}$, we vary the gas density profiles beyond this radius. Compared with dark matter only models, we find a total power suppression of $1 \%$ ($5 \%$) on scales $0.2-1 h/\mathrm{Mpc}$ ($0.5-2h/\mathrm{Mpc}$), where lower baryon fractions result in stronger suppression. We show that groups of galaxies ($10^{13} < m_\mathrm{500c} / (\mathrm{M_\odot}/h) < 10^{14}$) dominate the total power at all scales $k \lesssim 10 h/\mathrm{Mpc}$. We find that a halo mass bias of $30 \%$ (similar to what is expected from the hydrostatic equilibrium assumption) results in an underestimation of the power suppression of up to $4 \%$ at $k = 1 h/\mathrm{Mpc}$, illustrating the importance of measuring accurate halo masses. Contrary to work based on hydrodynamical simulations, our conclusion that baryonic effects can no longer be neglected is not subject to uncertainties associated with our poor understanding of feedback processes. Observationally, probing the outskirts of groups and clusters will provide the tightest constraints on the power suppression for $k \lesssim 1 h/\mathrm{Mpc}$.