2016/02/01 by Tobias Baldauf, Mehrdad Mirbabayi, Baldauf, Tobias +5 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1602.00674
openalex publication_date 2016/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Forecasts and analyses of cosmological observations often rely on the assumption of a perfect theoretical model over a defined range of scales. We explore how model uncertainties and nuisance parameters in perturbative models of the matter and galaxy spectra affect constraints on neutrino mass and primordial non-Gaussianities. We provide a consistent treatment of theoretical errors and argue that their inclusion is a necessary step to obtain realistic cosmological constraints. We find that galaxy surveys up to high redshifts will allow a detection of the minimal neutrino mass and local non-Gaussianity of order unity, but improving the constraints on equilateral non-Gaussianity beyond the CMB limits will be challenging. We argue that similar considerations apply to analyses where theoretical models are based on simulations.