astro-ph.COMay 27, 2026

Dark Quest II: A Wide-Coverage Neural Network Emulator of the Nonlinear Matter Power Spectrum Across Extended Cosmologies

Authors: Satoshi Tanaka, Takahiro Nishimichi, Yosuke Kobayashi

Abstract

\textsc{DarkEmulator2} is a neural network emulator of the nonlinear matter power spectrum in a nine-dimensional w0waνoCDMw_0 w_a νo \mathrm{CDM} parameter space, developed as the emulator component of the \textsc{Dark Quest II} (DQ2) program. It is trained on simulations generated with the \textsc{Ginkaku} code, whose numerical implementation, accuracy tests, and post-processing pipeline are described in the companion paper. The design follows a unified strategy: in addition to the cosmological parameter vector, we supplement the neural network's inputs with three families of physically motivated auxiliary quantities -- the linear matter power spectrum, descriptors of the simulation resolution, and a low-dimensional summary of the initial Gaussian random field -- that are expected to improve generalization across the parameter space. Training a single network jointly across three simulation resolution tiers allows the emulator to exploit a small number of high-resolution simulations while retaining broad coverage from lower-resolution simulations. For a Lbox=1 \hiGpcL_{\mathrm{box}}=1\,\hiGpc box with N=30003N=3000^{3} particles, the emulator reproduces the simulated matter power spectrum to subpercent accuracy up to the particle Nyquist scale, kNy≃10 \hMpcik_{\mathrm{Ny}}\simeq 10\,\hMpci. The emulator remains accurate over the calibrated wavenumber range, while its highest-kk predictions depend on the simulation resolution and shot noise. We validate the emulator on independent test suites and, through a cross-comparison with several public emulators and widely used fitting formulas, characterize the inter-model consistency and the parameter-dependent trends in their residuals.

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