Halo models of large scale structure and reliability of cosmological N-body simulations

Abstract

Halo models of the large scale structure of the Universe are critically examined, focusing on the definition of halos as smooth distributions of cold dark matter. This definition is essentially based on the results of cosmological N-body simulations. By a careful analysis of the standard assumptions of halo models and N-body simulations and by taking into account previous studies of self-similarity of the cosmic web structure, we conclude that N-body cosmological simulations are not fully reliable in the range of scales where halos appear. Therefore, to have a consistent definition of halos is necessary either to define them as entities of arbitrary size with a grainy rather than smooth structure or to define their size in terms of small-scale baryonic physics.