Simulation-based modeling of large-scale structure in the DESI era

In this talk, I will shed light on a new class of theoretical models of large-scale structure that leverage state-of-the-art simulations. I will start with recent explorations of aspects of galaxy-dark matter connection with hydrodynamical simulations and empirical models such as Universe Machine. I will showcase some novel galaxy-dark matter connection findings with early DESI data. Then, I will move on to demonstrate the power and also challenges of simulation-based models in cosmology inference, especially with the level of precision available to DESI and beyond. Finally, I will gather some recent work on beyond-2point statistics that should further help us maximally extract information from data.