Probing Baryonic Feedback and Cosmological Tension with Fast Radio Bursts: Insights from CAMELS

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:25080006,
            doi = {10.48660/25080006},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/25080006},
            author = {Medlock, Isabel},
            keywords = {},
            language = {en},
            title = {Probing Baryonic Feedback and Cosmological Tension with Fast Radio Bursts: Insights from CAMELS},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2025},
            month = {aug},
            note = {PIRSA:25080006 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }
          

Abstract

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are powerful probes of diffuse ionized baryons, offering unique insights into the cosmic ecosystems from the circumgalactic medium (CGM) to the intergalactic medium (IGM). Utilizing simulation suites from the CAMELS project—IllustrisTNG, SIMBA, and Astrid—we analyze FRB dispersion measures (DMs) across models with varying cosmological and astrophysical parameters. Our analysis shows that DM radial profiles around the CGM are highly sensitive to baryonic effects, with strong ejective feedback causing baryon spread in and around halos. On larger scales, we introduce "baryon spread" as a robust measure of baryonic impact on the matter power spectrum. Our study reveals a strong correlation between FRB statistics, particularly the F-parameter, and baryon spread in CAMELS simulations, independent of subgrid galaxy formation models. This correlation offers a novel pathway for using FRBs to correct for baryonic effects in ongoing and upcoming cosmological surveys, such as DESI, Euclid, Roman, and Rubin. With large FRB samples, our findings highlight the pivotal role of FRBs in bridging astrophysics and cosmology, offering new constraints on the CGM and enhancing the power of next-generation cosmological surveys.