Cosmic Structure Formation with Kinetic Field Theory - A New Approach to an Old Problem

Abstract

Thus far, the non-linear regime of structure formation is only accessible through expensive numerical N-body simulations since the conventional ana-
lytic treatment of cosmic density fluctuations via the hydrodynamical equations runs into severe problems even in a mildly non-linear regime. I will give an overview of Kinetic Field Theory, a novel analytic approach to cosmic large-scale structure formation, which provides a density fluctuation power spectrum that agrees well with state of the art N-body simulations up to k = 10h Mpc−1. I will point out how Kinetic Field Theory avoids the difficulties of standard perturbation theory by construction and allows to proceed deeply into the non-linear regime of density fluctuations. I will give a summary of the most important results and recent developments for cosmic structure formation and briefly show applications of Kinetic Field Theory outside of cosmology, stressing the opportunities this method provides for the study of the physics behind structure formation. I will then focus my discussion on how the form of the interaction potential influences the formation of cosmic structures in the highly non-linear regime and the implications it bears on the NFW density profile of dark matter halos.