Nonlinear cosmological structure with ultralight bosons via modified gravity

Ultralight bosons as dark matter has become a model of major interest in cosmology, due to the possible imprint of a distinct signature in the cosmic structure both at the linear and nonlinear scales. In this work we show that the equations of motion for density perturbations for this kind of models can be written in terms of a modified gravitational potential. Taking advantage of this parallelism, we use the MG-PICOLA code originally developed for modified gravity models to evolve the density field of axion models with and without self-interaction. Our results indicate that the quantum potential adds extra suppression of power at the nonlinear level, and it is even capable of smoothing any bumpy features initially present in the mass power spectrum.

Automated summary

Ultralight bosons as dark matter have gained significant interest in cosmology due to their potential impact on the cosmic structure at both linear and nonlinear scales. This study demonstrates that the quantum potential introduces extra power suppression at the nonlinear level and has the ability to smooth any initial bumpy features in the mass power spectrum.