Growth index of matter perturbations in the light of Dark Energy Survey

Abstract

We study how the cosmological constraints from growth data are improved by including the measurements of bias from Dark Energy Survey (DES). In particular, we utilize the biasing properties of the DES Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) and the growth data provided by the various galaxy surveys in order to constrain the growth index (γ) of the linear matter perturbations. Considering a constant growth index we can put tight constraints, up to ∼ 10 % accuracy, on γ. Specifically, using the priors of the Dark Energy Survey and implementing a joint likelihood procedure between theoretical expectations and data we find that the best fit value is in between γ= 0.64 ± 0.075 and 0.65 ± 0.063. On the other hand utilizing the Planck priors we obtain γ= 0.680 ± 0.089 and 0.690 ± 0.071. This shows a small but non-zero deviation from General Relativity (γGR≈ 6 / 11), nevertheless the confidence level is in the range ∼ 1.3 - 2 σ. Moreover, we find that the estimated mass of the dark-matter halo in which LRGs survive lies in the interval ∼ 6.2 × 10 12h- 1M⊙ and 1.2 × 10 13h- 1M⊙, for the different bias models. Finally, allowing γ to evolve with redshift [Taylor expansion: γ(z) = γ+ γ1z/ (1 + z)] we find that the (γ, γ1) parameter solution space accommodates the GR prediction at ∼ 1.7 - 2.9 σ levels.