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We study the properties of dark matter (DM) halos in several models in which we have included dark energy (DE). We consider both dynamical DE, due to a scalar field self-interacting through Ratra-Peebles or supergravity potentials, and DE with constant negative w ¼ p= > À1. We find that at zero redshift, both the nonlinear power spectrum of DM and the mass function of halos do not depend appreciably on the state equation of DE, which implies that both statistics are almost indistinguishable from those of Ã-dominated cold dark matter (ÃCDM). This result is consistent with the nonlinear treatment in the accompanying paper and is also a welcome feature, because ÃCDM fits a large variety of data. On the other hand, DE halos differ from ÃCDM halos in that they are denser in their central parts, because DE halos collapsed earlier. Nevertheless, such differences are not so large. For example, the density at 10 kpc of a $10 13 M DE halo is only 50% denser than the ÃCDM halo. This means that DE does not ease the problem with cuspy DM profiles. Addressing another cosmological problem, the abundance of subhalos, we find that the number of satellites of halos in various DE models does not change with respect to ÃCDM when normalized to the same circular velocity as the parent halo. Most of the above similarities are related to choosing for all models the same normalization factor 8 at z ¼ 0. At high redshifts, different DE and ÃCDM models have different amplitudes of fluctuations, which causes substantial deviations of halo properties to occur. Therefore, the way to find which DE equation of state gives the best fit to the observed universe is to look at the evolution of halo properties. For example, the abundance of galaxy groups with mass larger than 10 13 h À1 M at ze2 can be used to discriminate between the models and thus to constrain the nature of DE.

Cosmological models with different types of Dark Energy are becoming viable alternatives for standard models with the cosmological constant. Yet, such models are more difficult to analyze and to simulate. We present analytical approximations and discuss ways of making simulations for two families of models, which cover a wide range of possibilities and include models with both slow and fast changing ratio w=p\rho. More specifically, we give analytical expressions for the evolution of the matter density parameter Omega_m(z) and the virial density contrast Delta_c at any redshift z. The latter is used to identify halos and to find their virial masses. We also provide an approximation for the linear growth factor of linear fluctuations between redshift z=40 and z=0. This is needed to set the normalization of the spectrum of fluctuations. Finally, we discuss the expected behavior of the halo mass function and its time evolution.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures ApJ submitte

Within the frame of cosmologies where Dark Energy (DE) is a self-interacting scalar field, we allow for a CDM-DE coupling and non-zero neutrino masses, simultaneously. In their 0-0 version, i.e. in the absence of coupling and neutrino mass, these cosmologies provide an excellent fit to WMAP, SNIa and deep galaxy sample spectra, at least as good as ΛCDM. When the new degrees of freedom are open, we find that CDM-DE coupling and significant neutrino masses (∼ 0.1 eV per ν species) are at least as likely as the 0-0 option and, in some cases, even statistically favoured. Results are obtained by using a Monte Carlo Markov Chain approach.

We evaluate the mass function of virialized halos, by using Press & Schechter (PS) and/or Steth & Tormen (ST) expressions, for cosmologies where Dark Energy (DE) is due to a scalar selfinteracting field, coupled with Dark Matter (DM). We keep to coupled DE (cDE) models known to fit linear observables. To implement the PS-ST approach, we start from reviewing and extending the results of a previous work on the growth of a spherical top-hat fluctuation in cDE models, confirming their most intriguing astrophysical feature, i.e. a significant baryon-DM segregation, occurring well before the onset of any hydrodynamical effect. Accordingly, the predicted mass function depends on how halo masses are measured. For any option, however, the coupling causes a distortion of the mass function, still at z = 0. Furthermore, the z-dependence of cDE mass functions is mostly displaced, in respect to ΛCDM, in the opposite way of uncoupled dynamical DE. This is an aspect of the basic underlying result, that even a little DM-DE coupling induces relevant modifications in the non-linear evolution. Therefore, without causing great shifts in linear astrophysical observables, the DM-baryon segregation induced by the coupling can have an impact on a number of cosmological problems, e.g., galaxy satellite abundance, spiral disk formation, apparent baryon shortage, entropy input in clusters, etc..

Axions are likely to be the Dark Matter (DM) that cosmological data require. They arise in the Peccei-Quinn solution of the strong-CP problem. In a previous work we showed that their model has a simple and natural generalization which yields also Dark Energy (DE), in fair proportions, without tuning any parameter: DM and DE arise from a single scalar field and are weakly coupled in the present era. In this paper we extend the analysis of this dual-axion cosmology and fit it to WMAP data, by using a Markov chain technique. We find that ΛCDM, dynamical DE with a SUGRA potential, DE with a SUGRA potential and a constant DE-DM coupling, as well as the dual-axion model with a SUGRA potential, fit data with a similar accuracy. The best-fit parameters are however fairly different, although consistency is mostly recovered at the 2-σ level. A peculiarity of the dual-axion model with SUGRA potential is to cause more stringent constraints on most parameters and to favor high values of the Hubble parameter.

Dynamical dark energy (DE) is a viable alternative to the cosmological constant. Constructing tests to discriminate between Λ and dynamical DE models is difficult, however, because the differences are not large. In this paper we explore tests based on the galaxy mass function, the void probability function (VPF), and the number of galaxy clusters. At high z, the number density of clusters shows large differences between DE models, but geometrical factors reduce the differences substantially. We find that detecting a model dependence in the cluster redshift distribution is a significant challenge. We show that the galaxy redshift distribution is potentially a more sensitive characteristic. We do this by populating dark matter haloes in N‐body simulations with galaxies using well‐tested halo occupation distributions. We also estimate the VPF and find that samples with the same angular surface density of galaxies, in different models, exhibition almost model‐independent VPF which therefore cannot be used as a test for DE. Once again, geometry and cosmic evolution compensate each other. By comparing VPFs for samples with fixed galaxy mass limits, we find measurable differences.

We consider cosmological models with dynamical dark energy (dDE) coupled to cold dark matter (CDM), while simultaneously allowing neutrinos to be massive. Using a MCMC approach, we compare these models with a wide range of cosmological data sets. We find a strong correlation between this coupling strength and the neutrino mass. This correlation persists when BAO data are included in the analysis. We add then priors on ν mass from particle experiments. The claimed detection of ν mass from the Heidelberg-Moscow neutrinoless double-β decay experiment would imply a 7-8σ detection of CDM-DE coupling. Similarly, the detection of ν mass from coming KATRIN tritium β decay experiment will imply a safe detection of a coupling in the dark sector. Previous attempts to accommodate cosmic phenomenology with such possible ν mass data made recourse to a w < −1 eoS. We compare such an option with the coupling option and find that the latter allows a drastic improvement.