Physical Calibration of a Minimal Effective Field Theory of the Three-Dimensional Lyman-$α$ Forest

Abstract

We study a minimal effective field theory description of the three-dimensional Lyman-$α$ forest using the Sherwood and Sherwood--Relics hydrodynamical simulations. We model the Lyman-$α$ flux auto-power spectrum and its cross-correlation power spectrum with the dark matter density field using a tree-level bias model supplemented by the leading counterterms and stochastic contributions. We find that the model describes the simulated auto- and cross-power spectra well up to $k_{\mathrm{max}}=3\,h\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ and $k_{\mathrm{max}}=2\,h\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$, respectively. We analyse simulations spanning multiple redshifts, reionisation histories, box sizes and resolutions to assess the robustness of the model. Even within this minimal model, we find strong parameter degeneracies, highlighting the need for independent constraints on nuisance parameters in applications to real data analyses. The redshift evolution of the linear bias parameters is consistent with previous simulation-based studies and is driven primarily by the evolution of the effective optical depth, $τ_{\mathrm{eff}}$. We also find that the inferred parameters are affected by the resolution of the simulation and, to a lesser extent, by the simulation box size. We also explore the impact of reionisation history, finding that variations mainly affect the linear bias parameters over the range of scales considered. Moreover, we find empirical correlations between model parameters and the Lyman-$α$ forest density bias that show some scatter, indicating that one single parameter is not enough to determine the model parameters. Finally, we compare our results with theoretical predictions from analytical models of the Lyman-$α$ forest.