Origin and full characterization of the secondary (assembly) halo bias

TL;DR

This paper investigates the innate origin of secondary (assembly) halo bias, showing that differences in peak curvature in the initial density field lead to variations in halo properties and clustering, aligning with simulation results.

Contribution

It demonstrates that peak curvature in the initial density peaks causes secondary bias, providing a new theoretical explanation beyond merger-based models.

Findings

Peak curvature varies with halo background

Differences in peak curvature lead to different inner halo properties

Results match simulation observations of secondary bias

Abstract

The clustering of dark matter halos depends not only on their mass, the so-called primary bias, but also on their internal properties, the so-called secondary bias. While the former effect is well-understood within the Press-Schechter (PS) and excursion set (ES) models of structure formation, the latter is not. In those models, protohalos are fully characterised by their height and scale, which determine the halo mass and collapse time, so there is no room for any other halo property. This is why the secondary bias was believed not to be innate but due to the distinct merger rate of halos lying in different backgrounds, and dubbed assembly bias. However, it is now admitted that mergers leave no imprint in the inner halo properties. In fact, the innate origin of the secondary bias cannot be discarded because, in the more realistic peak model of structure formation, halo seeds are characterized by one additional property: the peak curvature. Here we use the confluent system of peak trajectories (CUSP) formalism to show that peaks lying in different backgrounds have different mean curvatures, which in turn cause them to evolve in halos with different typical inner properties. The dependence we find of the properties on halo background (or halo clustering) reproduces the results of simulations.