Power spectra in the eikonal approximation with adiabatic and nonadiabatic modes

We use the so-called eikonal approximation, recently introduced in the context of cosmological perturbation theory, to compute power spectra for multicomponent fluids. We demonstrate that, at any given order in standard perturbation theory, multipoint power spectra do not depend on the large-scale adiabatic modes. Moreover, we employ perturbation theories to decipher how nonadiabatic modes, such as a relative velocity between two different components, damp the small-scale matter power spectrum, a mechanism recently described in the literature. In particular, we do an explicit calculation at one-loop order of this effect. While the one-loop result eventually breaks down, we show how the damping effect can be fully captured by the help of the eikonal approximation. A relative velocity not only induces mode damping but also creates large-scale anisotropic modulations of the matter power spectrum amplitude. We illustrate this for the Local Group environment. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.87.043530