Institute for Advanced Study/Princeton University Early Universe/Cosmology Lunch Discussion

The Lyman-alpha forest is the primary cosmological tracer in the post-reionization Universe at 2<z<6. Many attempts have been made to model the Lyman-alpha flux fluctuation power spectrum using perturbation theory, but most of these either only model large (linear) scales or rely on fitting functions to capture small-scale (nonlinear) behavior. In this talk I will present my work on using perturbation theory to model flux fluctuations at second order. I then show how this model refines our understanding of the importance of one BAO systematic, namely, early Universe streaming velocity between dark matter and baryons. Finally, I will discuss my interest in combining improved broadband modeling of the flux fluctuation power spectrum with CMB data from Stage IV experiments to constrain neutrino masses and test for primordial non-Gaussianity.