The coyote universe. I. Precision determination of the nonlinear matter power spectrum

Abstract

Near-future cosmological observations targeted at investigations of dark energy pose stringent requirements on the accuracy of theoretical predictions for the nonlinear clustering of matter. Currently, N-body simulations comprise the only viable approach to this problem. In this paper, we study various sources of computational error and methods to control them. By applying our methodology to a large suite of cosmological simulations we show that results for the (gravity-only) nonlinear matter power spectrum can be obtained at 1% accuracy out to k ∼ 1 h Mpc-1. The key components of these high accuracy simulations are precise initial conditions, very large simulation volumes, sufficient mass resolution, and accurate time stepping. This paper is the first in a series of three; the final aim is a high-accuracy prediction scheme for the nonlinear matter power spectrum that improves current fitting formulae by an order of magnitude. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.