Detecting Dark Matter–Dark Energy Coupling with the Halo Mass Function

Abstract

We use high-resolution simulations of large-scale structure formation to analyze the effects of interacting dark matter and dark energy on the evolution of the halo mass function. Using a χ2 likelihood analysis, we find significant differences in the mass function between models of coupled dark matter-dark energy and standard concordance cosmology (ΛCDM) out to redshift z=1.5. We also find a preliminary indication that the Dark Energy Survey (DES) should be able to distinguish these models from ΛCDM within its mass and redshift constraints. While we can distinguish the effects of these models from ΛCDM cosmologies with different fundamental parameters, DES will require independent measurements of σ8 to confirm these effects.