Matter power spectrum

The density power spectrum records the squared Fourier-mode amplitude, up to the chosen statistical normalization. Scale dependence acquired from primordial amplitudes and subsequent growth determines its spectral shape.

The parameter ${\sigma }_8$ is the present linear rms density contrast averaged in a spherical top-hat of comoving radius $8h^{-1}\mathrm{Mpc}$, with $h=H_0/(100\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}\mathrm{Mp}{\mathrm{c}}^{-1})$. Thus ${\sigma }_8^2=(2{\pi }^2{)}^{-1}{\int }_0^{\infty }{k}^2{P}_m(k,0)|W(k{R}_8){|}^{2}dk$. It specifies an amplitude on a chosen scale rather than the complete matter power spectrum; converting cluster abundance into this parameter also requires a spectral shape and background cosmology.

For $P_{\delta }(k)=A{k}^n$, the cosmological Poisson equation gives $P_{\phi }(k)=(4\pi G{a}^2\bar{\rho }{)}^2{P}_{\delta }(k)/k^4$. The contribution to variance per logarithmic wavenumber is $k^3{P}_{\phi }(k)/(2{\pi }^2)$, giving the displayed expression and rms scaling ${\phi }_{\mathrm{rms}}(R)\propto R^{(1-n)/2}$ for a band around $k\sim R^{-1}$. The Harrison-Zeldovich spectrum $n=1$ has equal potential variance per logarithmic interval. An uncut power law over all scales has divergent total potential variance for every $n$, so the scale-local amplitude must not be confused with a finite global rms.

For an isotropic matter power spectrum $P(k)=Ak$ on $0\le k\le k_{\max }$ and zero elsewhere, put $K=k_{\max }r$. Angular integration of the Fourier transform gives $\xi (r)=A(2{\pi }^{2}r{)}^{-1}{\int }_0^{k_{\max }}{k}^2\sin (kr)dk$, and two integrations by parts yield the displayed answer. Its apparent origin singularity is removable, with $\xi (0)=A{k}_{\max }^4/(8{\pi }^2)$. The sharp cutoff creates oscillatory, including negative, correlations without violating positivity of the spectrum.

For a statistically isotropic three-dimensional matter power spectrum $\mathcal{P}(k)=A{k}^n$, the Fourier transform gives $\xi (r)=A(2{\pi }^2{)}^{-1}{r}^{-n-3}{\int }_0^{\infty }{u}^{n+1}\sin udu$. The improper integral converges at zero precisely when $n>-3$ and at infinity when $n<-1$; it is absolutely convergent only when $n<-2$. Within this range its positive coefficient is $\Gamma (n+2)\sin [\pi (n+2)/2]$, interpreted continuously as $\pi /2$ at $n=-2$. Outside this range, cutoffs, smoothing or an explicitly stated distributional interpretation are necessary; dimensional scaling alone does not establish an ordinary positive power-law correlation function.

The Harrison-Peebles-Zeldovich spectrum is the scale-invariant primordial growing-mode spectrum: in a fixed conformal time slice before cosmological horizon crossing, the matter power spectrum is proportional to ${\tau }^{4}k$ in the usual growing-mode density convention. At horizon entry ${\tau }_H\sim k^{-1}$, its dimensionless mass variance $k^{3}P(k,{\tau }_H)$ is independent of $k$. This statement fixes a spectral shape, not its amplitude. Radiation domination subsequently suppresses small-scale density growth through the Mészáros effect, producing the asymptotic matter power spectrum $P\propto k^{-3}{\ln }^2(k/k_{\mathrm{eq}})$ after matter-radiation equality.

For the growing matter-era spectrum $P(k,\tau )=Ak(\tau /{\tau }_{\mathrm{eq}}{)}^4$ and Gaussian Fourier window $W(kr)=e^{-(kr{)}^2/2}$, integration gives the displayed smoothed matter density variance. A physical Hubble-radius window has $r=1/(aH)=\tau /2$, making its variance independent of crossing time. The dimensionless mode variance $k^{3}P/(2{\pi }^2)$ is likewise constant at $k\tau =2$. A pure $P\propto k$ spectrum needs ultraviolet-convergent smoothing: a real-space top-hat alone leaves a logarithmic divergence.

// Target: cosmology.bigb

If primordial horizon-crossing perturbations satisfy $V⟨|{\delta }_k{|}^2⟩=C/k^3$, remain frozen during radiation domination, and grow as $a$ during matter domination, then