{
  "id": "1812.02731",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2018-12-06T18:59:40.000Z",
  "updated": "2018-12-06T18:59:40.000Z",
  "title": "A new scale in the bias expansion",
  "authors": [
    "Giovanni Cabass",
    "Fabian Schmidt"
  ],
  "comment": "26+5 pages, 5 figures",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.CO",
    "astro-ph.GA"
  ],
  "abstract": "The fact that the spatial nonlocality of galaxy formation is controlled by some short length scale like the Lagrangian radius is the cornerstone of the bias expansion for large-scale-structure tracers. However, the first sources of ionizing radiation between $z\\approx 15$ and $z\\approx 6$ are expected to have significant effects on the formation of galaxies we observe at lower redshift, at least on low-mass galaxies. These radiative-transfer effects introduce a new scale in the clustering of galaxies, i.e. the finite distance which ionizing radiation travels until it reaches a given galaxy. This mean free path can be very large, of order $100\\,h^{-1}\\,{\\rm Mpc}$. Consequently, higher-derivative terms in the bias expansion could turn out to be non-negligible even on these scales: treating them perturbatively would lead to a massive loss in predictivity and, for example, could spoil the determination of the BAO feature or constraints on the neutrino mass. Here, we investigate under what assumptions an explicit non-perturbative model of radiative-transfer effects can maintain the robustness of large-scale galaxy clustering as a cosmological probe.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2018-12-06T18:59:40.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "bias expansion",
      "radiative-transfer effects",
      "mean free path",
      "short length scale",
      "finite distance"
    ],
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 5,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}