Astrophysics

Improving cosmological constraints from galaxy clustering presents several challenges, particularly in extracting information beyond the power spectrum due to the complexities involved in higher-order n-point function analysis. In this talk, I will introduce novel inference techniques that allow us to go beyond the state-of-the-art, not only by utilizing the galaxy trispectrum, a task that remains computationally infeasible with traditional methods, but also by accessing the full information encoded in the galaxy density field for the first time in cosmological analysis. I will present simulation-based inference (SBI), a powerful deep learning technique that enables cosmological inference directly from summary statistics in simulations, bypassing the need for explicit analytical likelihoods or covariance matrices. This is achieved using LEFTfield, a Lagrangian forward model based on the Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structure (EFTofLSS) and the bias expansion, ensuring robustness on large scales. Furthermore, LEFTfield enables field-level Bayesian inference (FBI), where a field-level likelihood is used to directly analyze the full galaxy density field rather than relying on compressed statistics. I will conclude by exploring the question of how much cosmological information can be extracted at the field level through a comparison of σ8 constraints obtained from FBI, which directly uses the 3D galaxy density field, and those obtained from n-point functions via SBI.

Deviations from a parity-symmetric Universe would strongly signal the presence of new physics beyond the Standard Model. The lowest-order scalar observable sensitive to parity in a homogeneous and isotropic Universe is the connected four-point function of a given cosmological field. Geometrically, this function is described by a suitable average of this field over many tetrahedral configurations. As the CMB represents a spherical projection of three-dimensional curvature fluctuations, its four-point function serves as a unique, but potentially limited, probe of this fundamental symmetry. In this talk, I will discuss progress in rigorously understanding the CMB’s sensitivity to parity-violating physics from both early- and late-time sources.