Pontzen, A; Slosar, A; Roth, N; Peiris, HV; (2016) Inverted initial conditions: Exploring the growth of cosmic structure and voids. Physical Review D , 93 (10) , Article 103519. 10.1103/PhysRevD.93.103519.

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Abstract

We introduce and explore "paired" cosmological simulations. A pair consists of an A and B simulation with initial conditions related by the inversion δAðx; tinitialÞ ¼ −δBðx; tinitialÞ (underdensities substituted for overdensities and vice versa). We argue that the technique is valuable for improving our understanding of cosmic structure formation. The A and B fields are by definition equally likely draws from ΛCDM initial conditions, and in the linear regime evolve identically up to the overall sign. As nonlinear evolution takes hold, a region that collapses to form a halo in simulation A will tend to expand to create a void in simulation B. Applications include (i) contrasting the growth of A-halos and B-voids to test excursion-set theories of structure formation, (ii) cross-correlating the density field of the A and B universes as a novel test for perturbation theory, and (iii) canceling error terms by averaging power spectra between the two boxes. Generalizations of the method to more elaborate field transformations are suggested.

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