Exploring extensions to the standard cosmological model and the impact of baryons on small scales

Understand

It has been claimed that the standard model of cosmology (LCDM) cannot easily account for a number of observations on relatively small scales, motivating extensions to the standard model.

• Here we introduce a new suite of cosmological simulations that systematically explores three plausible extensions: warm dark matter, self-interacting dark matter, and a running of the scalar spectral index of density fluctuations.
• Current observational constraints are used to specify the additional parameters that come with these extensions.
• We examine a large range of observable metrics on small scales, including the halo mass function, density and circular velocity profiles, the abundance of satellite subhaloes, and halo concentrations.