Cluster abundance in f(R) gravity models

Journal Article · Tue Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.83.063503· OSTI ID:21537496

Ferraro, Simone; Hu, Wayne ^[1]; Schmidt, Fabian ^[2]

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1. Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States)
2. Theoretical Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Mail Code 350-17, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States)

As one of the most powerful probes of cosmological structure formation, the abundance of massive galaxy clusters is a sensitive probe of modifications to gravity on cosmological scales. In this paper, we present results from N-body simulations of a general class of f(R) models, which self-consistently solve the nonlinear field equation for the enhanced forces. Within this class we vary the amplitude of the field, which controls the range of the enhanced gravitational forces, both at the present epoch and as a function of redshift. Most models in the literature can be mapped onto the parameter space of this class. Focusing on the abundance of massive dark matter halos, we compare the simulation results to a simple spherical collapse model. Current constraints lie in the large-field regime, where the chameleon mechanism is not important. In this regime, the spherical collapse model works equally well for a wide range of models and can serve as a model-independent tool for placing constraints on f(R) gravity from cluster abundance. Using these results, we show how constraints from the observed local abundance of X-ray clusters on a specific f(R) model can be mapped onto other members of this general class of models.

• OSTI ID: 21537496
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 83, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.83.063503; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ABUNDANCE
AMPLITUDES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
FIELD EQUATIONS
GALAXY CLUSTERS
GRAVITATION
MODIFICATIONS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
RED SHIFT
SIMULATION
SPHERICAL CONFIGURATION
X RADIATION
CONFIGURATION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
EQUATIONS
EVALUATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATTER
RADIATIONS