Effects of cosmological model assumptions on galaxy redshift survey measurements

Abstract

The clustering of galaxies observed in future redshift surveys will provide a wealth of cosmological information. Matching the signal at different redshifts constrains the dark energy driving the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe. In tandem with these geometrical constraints, redshift-space distortions depend on the build up of large-scale structure. As pointed out by many authors, measurements of these effects are intrinsically coupled. We investigate this link and argue that it strongly depends on the cosmological assumptions adopted when analysing data. Using representative assumptions for the parameters of the Euclid survey in order to provide a baseline future experiment, we show how the derived constraints change due to different model assumptions. We argue that even the assumption of a Friedman–Robertson–Walker space–time is sufficient to reduce the importance of the coupling to a significant degree. Taking this idea further, we consider how the data would actually be analysed and argue that we should not expect to be able to simultaneously constrain multiple deviations from the standard Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model. We therefore consider different possible ways in which the Universe could deviate from the ΛCDM model, and show how the coupling between geometrical constraints and structure growth affects the measurement of such deviations.