Euclid: Forecasts on $\Lambda$CDM consistency tests with growth rate data

TL;DR

This paper assesses Euclid's potential to improve constraints on deviations from the $$CDM model using growth rate data, employing binning and machine learning methods to enhance null test sensitivity.

Contribution

It introduces a combined analysis of Euclid and other survey data, applying novel binning and genetic algorithm techniques to better detect deviations from $$CDM.

Findings

Euclid will significantly improve null test constraints by a factor of 6 to 8.

Combining Euclid with other surveys enhances the detection of deviations.

Statistical methods like genetic algorithms are effective in disentangling parameter degeneracies.

Abstract

The large-scale structure (LSS) of the Universe is an important probe for deviations from the canonical cosmological constant $\Lambda$ and cold dark matter ($\Lambda$CDM) model. A statistically significant detection of any deviations would signify the presence of new physics or the breakdown of any number of the underlying assumptions of the standard cosmological model or possible systematic errors in the data. In this paper, we quantify the ability of the LSS data products of the spectroscopic survey of the Euclid mission, together with other contemporary surveys, to improve the constraints on deviations from $\Lambda$CDM in the redshift range $0<z<1.75$. We consider both currently available growth rate data and simulated data with specifications from Euclid and external surveys, based on $\Lambda$CDM and a modified gravity (MoG) model with an evolving Newton's constant (denoted $\mu$CDM), and carry out a binning method and a machine learning reconstruction, based on genetic algorithms (GAs), of several LSS null tests. Using the forecast Euclid growth data from the spectroscopic survey in the range $0.95<z<1.75$, we find that in combination with external data products (covering the range $0<z<0.95$), Euclid will be able to improve on current constraints of null tests of the LSS on average by a factor of eight when using a binning method and a factor of six when using the GAs. Our work highlights the need for synergies between Euclid and other surveys, but also the usefulness of statistical analyses, such as GAs, in order to disentangle any degeneracies in the cosmological parameters. Both are necessary to provide tight constraints over an extended redshift range and to probe for deviations from the $\Lambda$CDM model.