Optimal marked statistics from the Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structure

Abstract

We present a simple and robust framework to assess the information content of the power spectrum of a marked density field within the Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structure, providing a physically motivated regime of validity of perturbation theory for such fields. We optimize the choice of mark to maximize the constraining power on cosmological parameters, focusing on the resulting reduction of parameter uncertainties. After marginalizing over the small-scale counterterms, we find improvements in the parameter error bars by a factor of approximately $1.30$-$2.3$, $1.3$-$8.3$, and $1.2$-$2.5$ for $Ω_m$, $σ_8$, and $h$, respectively, depending on redshift and smoothing scale. The optimized mark exhibits a simple functional form, for which we provide a physical interpretation in terms of its response to the underlying density field. These results demonstrate the potential of marked statistics as a tool to extract additional cosmological information beyond standard two-point analyses and open a pathway for further exploration of nonlinear transformations of the density field.