Selected Topics in Numerical Methods for Cosmology

Abstract

The large amount of cosmological data already available (and in the near future) makes the development of efficient numerical codes necessary. Many software products have been implemented to perform cosmological analyses considering one or few probes. The need of multi-task software is rapidly increasing, in order to combine numerous cosmological probes along with their specificity (e.g., astrophysical descriptions and systematic errors). In this work, we mention some of these libraries, bringing out some challenges they will face in the few-percent error era (on the cosmological parameters). We review some concepts of the standard cosmological model, and examine some specific topics on their implementation, bringing, for example, the discussion on how some quantities are numerically defined in different codes. We also consider implementation differences between public codes, mentioning their advantages/disadvantages.

Keywords

• numerical methods
• cosmology
• cancellation errors