Lyman-$��$ forest constraints on interacting dark sectors

The Lyman-$��$ forest is a valuable probe of dark matter models featuring a scale-dependent suppression of the power spectrum as compared to $��$CDM. In this work, we present a new estimator of the Lyman-$��$ flux power spectrum that does not rely on hydrodynamical simulations. Our framework is characterized by nuisance parameters that encapsulate the complex physics of the intergalactic medium and sensitivity to highly non-linear small-scale modes. After validating the approach based on high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations for $��$CDM, we derive conservative constraints on interacting dark matter models from BOSS Lyman-$��$ data on large scales, k
27 pages, 11 figures