I cross-correlate the galaxy counts from the Canada-France Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) galaxy catalogue and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) convergence from the Planck data release 1 (2013) and 2 (2015), following the work of Omori & Holder (2015). I improve their study by computing an analytic covariance from the Halo Model, implementing simulations to validate the theoretically estimated error bars and the reconstruction method, fitting both a galaxy bias and a cross-correlation amplitude using the joint cross and galaxy auto-correlation, and performing a series of null tests. Using a bayesian analysis, I find a galaxy bias $b=0.92_{-0.02}^{+0.02}$ and a cross-correlation amplitude $A=0.85_{-0.16}^{+0.15}$ for the 2015 release, whereas for the 2013 release I find $b=0.93_{-0.02}^{+0.02}$ and $A=1.05_{-0.15}^{+0.15}$. I thus confirm the difference between the two releases found by Omori & Holder (2015), although both values of the amplitude now appear to be compatible with the fiducial value $A=1$.
We examine the physics of the early universe when neutrinos (electron neutrino, muon neutrino, tau neutrino) possess transition magnetic moments. These extra couplings beyond the usual weak interaction couplings alter the way neutrinos decouple from the plasma of electrons/positrons and photons. We calculate how transition magnetic moment couplings modify neutrino decoupling temperatures, and then use a full weak, strong, and electromagnetic reaction network to compute corresponding changes in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis abundance yields. We find that light element observational constraints and other cosmological constraints may allow probes of neutrino transition magnetic moments which are not directly available in the laboratory.
A scenario with two subsequent periods of inflationary expansion in the very early universe is examined. The model is based on a potential motivated by symmetries being found in field theory at high energy. For various parameter sets of the potential the spectra of scalar and tensor perturbations that are expected to originate from this scenario are calculated. Also the beginning of the reheating epoch connecting the second inflation with thermal equilibrium is studied. Perturbations with wavelengths leaving the horizon around the transition between the two inflations are special: It is demonstrated that the power spectrum at such scales deviates significantly from expectations based on measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). This supports the conclusion that parameters for which this part of the spectrum leaves observable traces in the CMB must be excluded. Parameters entailing a very efficient second inflation correspond to standard small-field inflation and can meet observational constraints. Particular attention is paid to the case where the second inflation leads solely to a shift of the observable spectrum from the first inflation. A viable scenario requires this shift to be small.
We use a complete and rigorous statistical indicator to measure the level of concordance between cosmological data sets, without relying on the inspection of the marginal posterior distribution of some selected parameters. We apply this test to state of the art cosmological data sets, to assess their agreement within the $\Lambda$CDM model. We find that there is a good level of concordance between all the experiments with one noticeable exception. There is substantial evidence of tension between the CMB, temperature and polarization, measurements of the Planck satellite and the data from the CFHTLenS weak lensing survey even when applying ultra conservative cuts. These results robustly point toward the possibility of having unaccounted systematic effects in the data, an incomplete modelling of the cosmological predictions or hints toward new physical phenomena.
The DarkSide-50 dark matter search reports the first results obtained using a target of low-radioactivity argon extracted from underground sources. The experiment is located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and uses a two-phase time projection chamber as a detector. A total of 155 kg of low radioactivity argon has been obtained, and we have determined that underground argon is depleted in Ar-39 by a factor (1.4 +- 0.2) x 10^3 relative to atmospheric argon. The underground argon was also found to contain (2.05 +- 0.13) mBq/kg of Kr-85. We found no evidence for dark matter in the form of WIMPs in 70.9 live-days of data with a fiducial mass of (36.9 +- 0.6) kg. When combined with our preceding search with an atmospheric argon target, we set a 90 % C.L. upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section of 2.0 x 10^-44 cm^2 (8.6 x 10^-44 cm^2, 8.0 x 10^-43 cm^2 ) for a WIMP mass of 100 GeV/c^2 (1 TeV/c^2 , 10 TeV/c^2 ).
We perform a comparative analysis of the properties of galaxies infalling into groups classifying them accordingly to whether they are: falling along filamentary structures; or they are falling isotropically. For this purpose, we identify filamentary structures connecting massive groups of galaxies in the SDSS. We perform a comparative analysis of some properties of galaxies in filaments, in the isotropic infall region, in the field, and in groups. We study the luminosity functions (LF) and the dependence of the specific star formation rate (SSFR) on stellar mass, galaxy type, and projected distance to the groups that define the filaments. We find that the LF of galaxies in filaments and in the isotropic infalling region are basically indistinguishable between them, with the possible exception of late-type galaxies. On the other hard, regardless of galaxy type, their LFs are clearly different from that of field or group galaxies. Both of them have characteristic absolute magnitudes and faint end slopes in between the field and group values. More significant differences between galaxies in filaments and in the isotropic infall region are observed when we analyse the SSFR. We find that galaxies in filaments have a systematically higher fraction of galaxies with low SSFR as a function of both, stellar mass and distance to the groups, indicating a stronger quenching of the star formation in the filaments compared to both, the isotropic infalling region, and the field. Our results suggest that some physical mechanisms that determine the differences observed between field galaxies and galaxies in systems, affect galaxies even when they are not yet within the systems.
The existence of double-double radio galaxies (DDRGs) is evidence for recurrent jet activity in AGN, as expected from standard accretion models. A detailed study of these rare sources provides new perspectives for investigating the AGN duty cycle, AGN-galaxy feedback, and accretion mechanisms. Large catalogues of radio sources provide statistical information about the evolution of the radio-loud AGN population out to high redshifts. Using wide-field imaging with the LOFAR telescope, we study both a well-known DDRG as well as a large number of radio sources in the field of view. We present a high resolution image of the DDRG B1834+620 obtained at 144 MHz using LOFAR commissioning data. Our image covers about 100 square degrees and contains over 1000 sources. The four components of the DDRG B1834+620 have been resolved for the first time at 144 MHz. Inner lobes were found to point towards the direction of the outer lobes, unlike standard FR~II sources. Polarized emission was detected in the northern outer lobe. The high spatial resolution allows the identification of a large number of small double-lobed radio sources; roughly 10% of all sources in the field are doubles with a separation smaller than 1 arcmin. The spectral fit of the four components is consistent with a scenario in which the outer lobes are still active or the jets recently switched off, while emission of the inner lobes is the result of a mix-up of new and old jet activity. From the presence of the newly extended features in the inner lobes of the DDRG, we can infer that the mechanism responsible for their formation is the bow shock that is driven by the newly launched jet. We find that the density of the small doubles exceeds the density of FR-II sources with similar properties at 1.4 GHz, but this difference becomes smaller for low flux densities.
This work investigates the impact of the extragalactic background light fluctuations on very high energy $\gamma$-ray spectra from distant Quasars. We calculate the extragalactic background light spectral energy distribution using a model that extends those proposed by Razzaque et al. (2009ApJ.697.483R) and Finke et al. (2010ApJ.712.238F). We introduce a model for fluctuations in the extragalactic background light based on fluctuations in the star formation rate density, since these two fluctuations can reasonably be expected to be correlated. Fluctuations in the star formation rate are estimated from the semi-analytical galaxy catalogue of Guo et al. (2013MNRAS.428.1351G), we use his model to derive the resulting opacities for $\gamma$-rays from distant sources. We determine the mean, lower and upper limits for the scatter of the star formation rate density, which then allow us to compute corresponding limits on the extragalactic background light spectrum. We then calculate the impact of these fluctuations limits on the $\gamma$-ray optical depth. The model predicts variations of up to $10\%$ between upper and lower limits for the $\gamma$-ray opacity in the energy range less than $100$ GeV for nearby sources. The impact is found to be smaller but still significant ($\lesssim 5\%$) for very high energy $\gamma$-rays from distant sources.
In this paper we describe two different parametrizations of field equations in the $f(R)$ theories of gravity and two resulting parametrizations of the Friedmann Equations. In particular we show how these two parametrizations lead to two different results for the curvature pressure and the curvature density obtained respectively as the $i-i$ component and the $0-0$ component of the curvature stress-energy tensor. We introduce formulas in order to pass from one parametrization to another one for the curvature pressure and the curvature density. Furthermore, we analyse under which conditions the two parametrizations of the curvature stress-energy tensor lead to significantly different results.
A self-consistent pre-inflationary extension of the inflationary scenario with the Starobinksy potential, favored by Planck data, is studied using techniques from loop quantum cosmology (LQC). The results are compared with the quadratic potential previously studied. Planck scale completion of the inflationary paradigm and observable signatures of LQC are found to be robust under the change of the inflaton potential. The entire evolution, from the quantum bounce all the way to the end of inflation, is compatible with observations. Occurrence of desired slow-roll phase is almost inevitable and natural initial conditions exist for both the background and perturbations for which the resulting power spectrum agrees with recent observations. There exist initial data for which the quantum gravitational corrections to the power spectrum are potentially observable. Furthermore, the quantum geometry alters the behavior of super horizon modes. This feature is unique to the Starobinsky potential.
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We compute the bulk motions of cosmic voids, using a $\Lambda$CDM numerical simulation considering the mean velocities of the dark matter inside the void itself and that of the haloes in the surrounding shell. We find coincident values of these two measures in the range $\sim$ 300-400 km/s, not far from the expected mean peculiar velocities of groups and galaxy clusters. When analysing the distribution of the pairwise relative velocities of voids, we find a remarkable bimodal behaviour consistent with an excess of both systematically approaching and receding voids. We determine that the origin of this bimodality resides in the void large scale environment, since once voids are classified into void-in-void (R-type) or void-in-cloud (S-type), R-types are found mutually receding away, while S-types approach each other. The magnitude of these systematic relative velocities account for more than 100 km/s, reaching large coherence lengths of up to 200 h$^{-1}$ Mpc . We have used samples of voids from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS-DR7) and the peculiar velocity field inferred from linear theory, finding fully consistent results with the simulation predictions. Thus, their relative motion suggests a scenario of a sparkling Universe, with approaching and receding voids according to their local environment.
In this work, we introduce a new quintessence model associated with non-Abelian gauge fields, minimally coupled to Einstein gravity. This gauge theory has been originally introduced and studied as an inflationary model, called gauge-flation. Here, however, we are interested in the late time cosmology of the model in the presence of matter and radiation to explain the present time accelerating Universe. During the radiation and matter eras, the gauge field tracks radiation and basically acts like a dark radiation sector. As we approach lower redshifts, the dark component takes the form of a dark energy source which eventually becomes the dominate part of the energy budget of the Universe. Due to the tracking feature of our model, solutions with different initial values are attracted to a common trajectory. The existence of early dark radiation is a robust prediction of our model which contributes to the effective number of relativistic species, $N_{\rm eff}$ and has its own interesting observational features.
The measured CMB angular distribution shows a great consistency with the LCDM model. However, isotropy violations were reported in CMB temperature maps of both WMAP and Planck data. We investigate the influence of different masks employed in the analysis of CMB angular distribution, in particular in the excess of power in the Southeastern quadrant (SEQ) and the lack of power in the Northeastern quadrant (NEQ). We compare the two-point correlation function (TPCF) computed for each quadrant of the CMB foreground-cleaned temperature maps to 1000 simulations generated assuming the LCDM best-fit power spectrum using four different masks. In addition to the quadrants, we computed the TPCF for circular regions in the map where the excess and lack of power are present. We also compare the effect of Galactic cuts in the TPCF calculations as compared to the simulations. We found consistent results for three masks, namely mask-rulerminimal, U73 and U66. The results indicate that the excess of power in the SEQ tends to vanish as the portion of the sky covered by the mask increases and the lack of power in the NEQ remains virtually unchanged. When UT78 mask is applied, the NEQ becomes no longer anomalous and the excess of power in the SEQ becomes the most significant one among the masks. Nevertheless, the asymmetry between the SEQ and NEQ is independent of the mask and it is in disagreement with the isotropic model with at least 95% C.L. We find that UT78 is in disagreement with the other analysed masks, specially considering the SEQ and the NEQ individual analysis. Most importantly, the use of UT78 washes out the anomaly in the NEQ. Furthermore, we found excess of kurtosis, compared with simulations, in the NEQ for the regions not masked by UT78 but masked by the other masks, indicating that the previous result could be due to non-removed residual foregrounds by UT78.
We show the existence of a general mechanism by which heavy scalar fields can be destabilized during inflation. It relies on the fact that the effective mass of fluctuations orthogonal to the inflationary direction contains a contribution proportional to the curvature tensor of the field space metric, and that it can render the entropic fluctuations tachyonic. We describe a simple and rather universal setup in which apparently benign higher-order operators trigger this instability. This phenomenon can prematurely end inflation and have important observational consequences, sometimes excluding models that would otherwise perfectly fit the data. More generally, it modifies the interpretation of cosmological constraints in terms of fundamental physics.
We present an analysis of the compatibility between the Galactic Centre Excess (GCE) and the Constrained MSSM (CMSSM). We perform a global fit to the relevant experimental data including the GCE taking into account the systematic uncertainties. We find that the CMSSM is able to account for the GCE and maintain agreement with the other experimental searches, providing the first example that the GCE can be explained in the framework of universal supersymmetry. We map out the region compatible at 2 sigma and comment on its phenomenology. We find that for the CMSSM to explain the GCE the solution must lie close to the existing limits from LUX, IceCube and the LHC. We show that this provides definite predictions for Run 2 of the LHC, Xenon-1T and future observation with IceCube. Thus there exists the exciting possibility that the CMSSM could be observed in four distinct experimental channels over the next few years, which would be a striking signature for universal supersymmetry.
We study the evolution of the stellar component and the metallicity of both the intracluster medium and of stars in massive ($M_{\rm vir}\approx 6\times 10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$) simulated galaxy clusters from the RHAPSODY-G suite in detail and compare them to observational results. The simulations were performed with the AMR code RAMSES and include the effect of AGN feedback at the sub-grid level. AGN feedback is required to produce realistic galaxy and cluster properties and plays a role in mixing material in the central regions and regulating star formation in the central galaxy. In our low resolution runs with fiducial stellar yields, we find that stellar and ICM metallicities are a factor of two lower than in observations, however they tend to converge to the observed values $\sim 0.3$ Z$_{\odot}$ as the resolution is increased. We find that cool core clusters exhibit steeper metallicity gradients than non-cool core clusters, in qualitative agreement with observations. We verify that the ICM metallicities measured in the simulation can be explained by a simple "regulator" model in which the metallicity is set by a balance of stellar yield and gas accretion. The analytical model also predicts that the metallicities are proportional to the stellar yield. Our results thus indicate that a combination of higher resolution and higher metal yield in AMR simulation would allow the metallicity of simulated clusters to match observed values. Comparison to recent literature highlights that results concerning the metallicity of clusters and cluster galaxies might depend severely on the scheme chosen to solve the hydrodynamics.
Supersymmetric models with radiatively-driven electroweak naturalness require light higgsinos of mass ~ 100-300 GeV. Naturalness in the QCD sector is invoked via the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) axion leading to mixed axion-higgsino dark matter. The SUSY DFSZ axion model provides a solution to the SUSY mu problem and the Little Hierarchy \mu << m_{3/2} may emerge as a consequence of a mismatch between PQ and hidden sector mass scales. The traditional gravitino problem is now augmented by the axino and saxion problems, since these latter particles can also contribute to overproduction of WIMPs or dark radiation, or violation of BBN constraints. We compute regions of the T_R vs. m_{3/2} plane allowed by BBN, dark matter and dark radiation constraints for various PQ scale choices f_a. These regions are compared to the values needed for thermal leptogenesis, non-thermal leptogenesis, oscillating sneutrino leptogenesis and Affleck-Dine leptogenesis. The latter three are allowed in wide regions of parameter space for PQ scale f_a~ 10^{10}-10^{12} GeV which is also favored by naturalness: f_a~ \sqrt{\mu M_P/\lambda_\mu }\sim 10^{10}-10^{12} GeV. These f_a values correspond to axion masses somewhat above the projected ADMX search regions.
We release the next installment of the Stripe 82 X-ray survey point-source catalog, which currently covers 31.3 deg$^2$ of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Stripe 82 Legacy field. In total, 6181 unique X-ray sources are significantly detected with {\it XMM-Newton} ($>5\sigma$) and {\it Chandra} ($>4.5\sigma$). This catalog release includes data from {\it XMM-Newton} cycle AO 13, which approximately doubled the Stripe 82X survey area. The flux limits of the Stripe 82X survey are $8.7\times10^{-16}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, $4.7\times10^{-15}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, and $2.1\times10^{-15}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ in the soft (0.5-2 keV), hard (2-10 keV), and full bands (0.5-10 keV), respectively, with approximate half-area survey flux limits of $5.4\times10^{-15}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, $2.9\times10^{-14}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, and $1.7\times10^{-14}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$. We matched the X-ray source lists to available multi-wavelength catalogs, including updated matches to the previous release of the Stripe 82X survey; 88\% of the sample is matched to a multi-wavelength counterpart. Due to the wide area of Stripe 82X and rich ancillary multi-wavelength data, including coadded SDSS photometry, mid-infrared {\it WISE} coverage, near-infrared coverage from UKIDSS and VHS, ultraviolet coverage from {\it GALEX}, radio coverage from FIRST, and far-infrared coverage from {\it Herschel}, as well as existing $\sim$30\% optical spectroscopic completeness, we are beginning to uncover rare objects, such as obscured high-luminosity AGN at high-redshift. The Stripe 82X point source catalog is a valuable dataset for constraining how this population grows and evolves, as well as for studying how they interact with the galaxies in which they live.
Dynamical models of dark energy can imply that the fine structure constant $\alpha$ varies over cosmological time scales. Data on shifts in resonance energies $E_r$ from the Oklo natural fission reactor have been used to place restrictive bounds on the change in $\alpha$ over the last 1.8 billion years. We review the uncertainties in these analyses, focussing on corrections to the standard estimate of $k_\alpha\!=\!\alpha\,dE_r/d\alpha$ due to Damour and Dyson. Guided, in part, by the best practice for assessing systematic errors in theoretical estimates spelt out by Dobaczewski et al. [in J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 41, 074001 (2014)], we compute these corrections in a variety of models tuned to reproduce existing nuclear data. Although the net correction is uncertain to within a factor of 2 or 3, it constitutes at most no more than 25% of the Damour-Dyson estimate of $k_\alpha$. Making similar allowances for the uncertainties in the modeling of the operation of the Oklo reactors, we conclude that the relative change in $\alpha$ since the Oklo reactors were last active (redshift $z\simeq 0.14$) is less than $\sim 10$ parts per billion. To illustrate the utility of this bound at low-$z$, we consider its implications for the string theory-inspired runaway dilaton model of Damour, Piazza and Veneziano.
We study the behaviour of Bianchi class A universes containing an ultra-stiff isotropic ghost field and a fluid with anisotropic pressures which is also ultra-stiff on the average. This allows us to investigate whether cyclic universe scenarios, like the ekpyrotic model, do indeed lead to isotropisation on approach to a singularity (or bounce) in the presence of dominant ultra-stiff pressure anisotropies. We specialise to consider the closed Bianchi type IX universe and show that when the anisotropic pressures are stiffer on average than any isotropic ultra-stiff fluid then, if they dominate on approach to the singularity, it will be anisotropic. We include an isotropic ultra-stiff ghost fluid with negative energy density in order to create a cosmological bounce at finite volume in the absence of the anisotropic fluid. When the dominant anisotropic fluid is present it leads to an anisotropic cosmological singularity rather than an isotropic bounce. The inclusion of anisotropic stresses generated by collisionless particles in an anisotropically expanding universe is therefore essential for a full analysis of the consequences of a cosmological bounce or singularity in cyclic universes.
Based on the previous works (arXiv:1202.5375 and 1402.1346), we investigate the localization of the fields on the dynamical domain wall, where the four dimensional FRW universe is realized on the domain wall in the five dimensional space-time. Especially we show that the chiral spinor can localize on the domain wall, which has not been succeeded in the past works as the seminal work in arXiv:0810.3746.
We present the complete set of ultra-violet, optical and near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy for SN 2012ca, covering the period from 6 days prior to maximum light, until 531 days after maximum. The spectroscopic time series for SN 2012ca is essentially unchanged over 1.5 years, and appear to be dominated at all epochs by signatures of interaction with a dense circumstellar medium rather than the underlying supernova (SN). SN 2012ca is a member of the class of type Ia-CSM/IIn SNe, the nature of which have been debated extensively in the literature. The two leading scenarios are either a type Ia SN exploding within a dense CSM from a non-degenerate, evolved companion, or a core-collapse SN from a massive star. While some members of the class have been unequivocally associated with type Ia SNe, in other cases the association is less certain. While it is possible that Sn 2012ca does arise from a thermonuclear SN, this would require a relatively high (between 20 and 70 per cent) efficiency in converting kinetic energy to optical luminosity, and a massive (~2.3-2.6 Msun) circumstellar medium. On the basis of energetics, and the results of simple modelling, we suggest that Sn 2012ca is more likely associated with a core-collapse SN. This would imply that the class of type Ia-CSM/IIn SNe is in fact originated by two populations, and while these are drawn from physically distinct channels, they can have observationally similar properties.
We study the links between star formation history and structure for a large mass-selected galaxy sample at 0.05 < z_phot < 0.30. The galaxies inhabit a very broad range of environments, from cluster cores to the field. Using HST images, we quantify their structure following Hoyos et al. (2012), and divide them into disturbed and undisturbed. We also visually identify mergers. Additionally, we provide a quantitative measure of the degree of disturbance for each galaxy ("roughness"). The majority of elliptical and lenticular galaxies have relaxed structure, showing no signs of ongoing star formation. Structurally-disturbed galaxies, which tend to avoid the lowest-density regions, have higher star-formation activity and younger stellar populations than undisturbed systems. Cluster spirals with reduced/quenched star formation have somewhat less disturbed morphologies than spirals with "normal" star-formation activity, suggesting that these "passive" spirals have started their morphological transformation into S0s. Visually identified mergers and galaxies not identified as mergers but with similar roughness have similar specific star formation rates and stellar ages. The degree of enhanced star formation is thus linked to the degree of structural disturbance, regardless of whether it is caused by major mergers or not. This suggests that merging galaxies are not special in terms of their higher-than-normal star-formation activity. Any physical process that produces "roughness", or regions of enhanced luminosity density, will increase the star-formation activity in a galaxy with similar efficiency. An alternative explanation is that star formation episodes increase the galaxies' roughness similarly, regardless of whether they are merger-induced or not.
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We study the two-dimensional topology of the 21-cm differential brightness temperature for two hydrodynamic radiative transfer simulations and two semi-numerical models. In each model, we calculate the two dimensional genus curve for the early, middle and late epochs of reionization. It is found that the genus curve depends strongly on the ionized fraction of hydrogen in each model. The genus curves are significantly different for different reionization scenarios even when the ionized faction is the same. We find that the two-dimensional topology analysis method is a useful tool to constrain the reionization models. Our method can be applied to the future observations such as those of the Square Kilometer Array.
We optimise the parameters of the Population Monte Carlo algorithm using numerical simulations. The optimisation is based on an efficiency statistic related to the number of samples evaluated prior to convergence, and is applied to a D-dimensional Gaussian distribution to derive optimal scaling laws for the algorithm parameters. More complex distributions such as the banana and bimodal distributions are also studied. We apply these results to a cosmological parameter estimation problem that uses CMB anisotropy data from the WMAP nine-year release to constrain a six parameter adiabatic model and a fifteen parameter admixture model, consisting of correlated adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations. In the case of the adiabatic model and the admixture model we find respective degradation factors of three and twenty, relative to the optimal Gaussian case, due to degeneracies in the underlying parameter space. The WMAP nine-year data constrain the admixture model to have an isocurvature fraction of at most $36.3 \pm 2.8$ percent.
We compute the angular power spectra of the E-type and B-type lensing potentials for gravitational waves from inflation and for tensor perturbations induced by scalar perturbations. We derive the tensor-lensed CMB power spectra for both cases. We also apply our formalism to determine the linear lensing potential for a Bianchi I spacetime with small anisotropy.
We present the first comprehensive analysis of the segregation of dark matter subhaloes in their host haloes. Using numerical simulations, we examine the segregation of twelve different subhalo properties with respect to both orbital energy and halo-centric radius (in real space as well as in projection). Subhaloes are strongly segregated by accretion redshift, which is an outcome of the inside-out assembly of their host haloes. Since subhaloes that were accreted earlier have experienced more tidal stripping, subhaloes that have lost a larger fraction of their mass at infall are on more bound orbits. Subhaloes are also strongly segregated in their masses and maximum circular velocities at accretion. We demonstrate that part of this segregation is already imprinted in the infall conditions. For massive subhaloes it is subsequently boosted by dynamical friction, but only during their first radial orbit. The impact of these two effects is counterbalanced, though, by the fact that subhaloes with larger accretion masses are accreted later. Because of tidal stripping, subhaloes reveal little to no segregation by present-day mass or maximum circular velocity, while the corresponding torques cause subhaloes on more bound orbits to have smaller spin. There is a weak tendency for subhaloes that formed earlier to be segregated towards the center of their host halo, which is an indirect consequence of the fact that (sub)halo formation time is correlated with other, strongly segregated properties. We discuss the implications of our results for the segregation of satellite galaxies in galaxy groups and clusters.
The Euclid space mission, designed to probe evolution of the Dark Energy, will map a large area of the sky at three adjacent near-IR filters, Y, J and H. This coverage will also enable mapping source-subtracted cosmic infrared background (CIB) fluctuations with unprecedented accuracy on sub-degree angular scales. Here we propose methodology, using the Lyman-break tomography applied to the Euclid-based CIB maps, to accurately isolate the history of CIB emissions as a function of redshift from 10 < z < 20, and to identify the baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAOs) at those epochs. To identify the BAO signature, we would assemble individual CIB maps over conservatively large contiguous areas of >~ 400 sq deg. The method can isolate the CIB spatial spectrum by z to sub-percent statistical accuracy. We illustrate this with a specific model of CIB production at high z normalized to reproduce the measured Spitzer-based CIB fluctuation. We show that even if the latter contain only a small component from high-z sources, the amplitude of that component can be accurately isolated with the methodology proposed here and the BAO signatures at z>~ 10 are recovered well from the CIB fluctuation spatial spectrum. Probing the BAO at those redshifts will be an important test of the underlying cosmological paradigm, and would narrow the overall uncertainties on the evolution of cosmological parameters, including the Dark Energy. Similar methodology is applicable to the planned WFIRST mission, where we show that a possible fourth near-IR channel at > 2 micron would be beneficial.
A disformal coupling between two scalar fields is considered in the context of cosmological inflation. The coupling introduces novel derivative interactions mixing the kinetic terms of the fields but without introducing superluminal or unstable propagation of the two scalar fluctuation modes. Though the typical effect of the disformal coupling is to inhibit one of the fields from inflating the universe, the energy density of the other field can drive viable near Sitter -inflation in the presence of nontrivial disformal dynamics, in particular when one assumes exponential instead of power-law form for the couplings. The linear perturbation equations are written for the two-field system, its canonical degrees of freedom are quantised, their spectra are derived and the inflationary predictions are reported for numerically solved exponential models. A generic prediction is low tensor-to-scalar ratio.
We study the large scale halo bias b as a function of the environment (defined here as the background dark matter density fluctuation, d) and show that environment, and not halo mass m, is the main cause of large scale clustering. More massive haloes have a higher clustering because they live in denser regions, while low mass haloes can be found in a wide range of environments, and hence they have a lower clustering. Using a Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) test, we can predict b(m) from b(d), but we cannot predict b(d) from b(m), which shows that environment is more fundamental for bias than mass. This has implications for the HOD model interpretation of the galaxy clustering, since when a galaxy selection is affected by environment, the standard HOD implementation fails. We show that the effects of environment are very important for colour selected samples in semi-analytic models of galaxy formation. In these cases, bias can be better recovered if we use environmental density instead of mass as the HOD variable. This can be readily applied to observations as the background density of galaxies is shown to be a very good proxy of environment.
The Integrated Sachs Wolfe (ISW) cross correlation with the galaxy distribution in late time is a promising tool to constrain the dark energy properties. In this work we study the effect of dark energy clustering on the ISW-galaxy cross correlation. Indicating the fact that the bias parameter between the distribution of the galaxies and the underlying dark matter introduce a degeneracy and complications. We argue that as the time of the galaxy's host halo formation is different from the observation time, we have to consider the evolution of the halo bias parameter. We indicate that any deviation from $\Lambda$CDM model will change the evolution of the bias as well. Also we show that the halo bias strongly depends on the sub-sample of galaxies which is chosen for cross correlation. We show that joint kernel of ISW effect and the galaxy distribution have the dominant effect on the observed signal, accordingly we can enhance the signal of a specific dark energy model by choosing an appropriate tracer. More specifically we compare the clustered dark energy models with two samples of galaxies. First is a sub-sample of galaxies from Sloan Digital chosen with the r-band magnitude $18 < r < 21$ with a host dark matter halos of mass $M \sim10^{12}M_{\odot}$ and formation redshift of $z\sim 2.5$. Secondly with the sub-sample of Luminous Red galaxies with a host dark matter halos of mass $M \sim 10^{13}M_{\odot}$ and formation redshift of $z\sim 2.0$. Using the evolved bias we improve the $\chi^2$ for the $\Lambda$CDM which it reconcile the $\sim$1-2$\sigma$ tension of the ISW-galaxy signal and $\Lambda$CDM prediction. Finally we show how sub-samples change the bias parameter and will improve the constrains on dark energy clustering.
Quantum effects derived through conformal anomaly lead to an inflationary model that can be either stable or unstable. The unstable version requires a large dimensionless coefficient of about $5\times 10^8$ in front of the $R^2$ term that results in the inflationary regime in the $R+R^2$ ("Starobinsky") model being a generic intermediate attractor. In this case the non-local terms in the effective action are practically irrelevant, and there is a 'graceful exit' to a low curvature matter-like dominated stage driven by high-frequency oscillations of $R$ -- scalarons, which later decay to pairs of all particles and antiparticles, with the amount of primordial scalar (density) perturbations required by observations. The stable version is a genuine generic attractor, so there is no exit from it. We discuss a possible transition from stable to unstable phases of inflation. It is shown that this transition is automatic if the sharp cut-off approximation is assumed for quantum corrections in the period of transition. Furthermore, we describe two different quantum mechanisms that may provide a required large $\,R^2$-term in the transition period.
We revisit the stability of the complex structure moduli in the large volume regime of type-IIB flux compactifications. We argue that when the volume is not exponentially large, such as in K\"ahler uplifted dS vacua, the quantum corrections to the tree-level mass spectrum can induce tachyonic instabilities in this sector. We discuss a Random Matrix Theory model for the classical spectrum of the complex structure fields, and derive a new stability bound involving the compactification volume and the (very large) number of moduli. We also present a new class of vacua for this sector where the mass spectrum presents a finite gap, without invoking large supersymmetric masses. At these vacua the complex structure sector is protected from tachyonic instabilities even at non-exponential volumes. A distinguishing feature is that all fermions in this sector are lighter than the gravitino.
We present the public data release of halo and galaxy catalogues extracted from the EAGLE suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation. These simulations were performed with an enhanced version of the GADGET code that includes a modified hydrodynamics solver, time-step limiter and subgrid treatments of baryonic physics, such as stellar mass loss, element-by-element radiative cooling, star formation and feedback from star formation and black hole accretion. The simulation suite includes runs performed in volumes ranging from 25 to 100 comoving megaparsecs per side, with numerical resolution chosen to marginally resolve the Jeans mass of the gas at the star formation threshold. The free parameters of the subgrid models for feedback are calibrated to the redshift z=0 galaxy stellar mass function, galaxy sizes and black hole mass - stellar mass relation. The simulations have been shown to match a wide range of observations for present-day and higher-redshift galaxies. The raw particle data have been used to link galaxies across redshifts by creating merger trees. The indexing of the tree produces a simple way to connect a galaxy at one redshift to its progenitors at higher redshift and to identify its descendants at lower redshift. In this paper we present a relational database which we are making available for general use. A large number of properties of haloes and galaxies and their merger trees are stored in the database, including stellar masses, star formation rates, metallicities, photometric measurements and mock gri images. Complex queries can be created to explore the evolution of more than 10^5 galaxies, examples of which are provided in appendix. (abridged)
We investigate interstellar extinction curve variations toward $\sim$4
deg$^{2}$ of the inner Milky Way in $VIJK_{s}$ photometry from the OGLE-III and
$VVV$ surveys, with supporting evidence from diffuse interstellar bands and
$F435W,F625W$ photometry. We obtain independent measurements toward $\sim$2,000
sightlines of $A_{I}$, $E(V-I)$, $E(I-J)$, and $E(J-K_{s})$, with median
precision and accuracy of 2%. We find that the variations in the extinction
ratios $A_{I}/E(V-I)$, $E(I-J)/E(V-I)$ and $E(J-K_{s})/E(V-I)$ are large
(exceeding 20%), significant, and positively correlated, as expected. However,
both the mean values and the trends in these extinction ratios are drastically
shifted from the predictions of Cardelli and Fitzpatrick, regardless of how
$R_{V}$ is varied. Furthermore, we demonstrate that variations in the shape of
the extinction curve has at least two degrees of freedom, and not one (e.g.
$R_{V}$), which we conform with a principal component analysis. We derive a
median value of $<A_{V}/A_{Ks}>=13.44$, which is $\sim$60% higher than the
"standard" value. We show that the Wesenheit magnitude $W_{I}=I-1.61(I-J)$ is
relatively impervious to extinction curve variations.
Given that these extinction curves are linchpins of observational cosmology,
and that it is generally assumed that $R_{V}$ variations correctly capture
variations in the extinction curve, we argue that systematic errors in the
distance ladder from studies of type Ia supernovae and Cepheids may have been
underestimated. Moreover, the reddening maps from the Planck experiment are
shown to systematically overestimate dust extinction by $\sim$100%, and lack
sensitivity to extinction curve variations.
To investigate the evolution of metal-enriched gas over recent cosmic epochs as well as to characterize the diffuse, ionized, metal-enriched circumgalactic medium (CGM), we have conducted a blind survey for C IV absorption systems in 89 QSO sightlines observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS). We have identified 42 absorbers at z < 0.16, comprising the largest uniform blind sample size to date in this redshift range. Our measurements indicate an increasing C IV absorber number density per comoving path length (dN/dX = 7.5 +/- 1.1) and modestly increasing mass density relative to the critical density of the Universe (Omega(C IV) = 10.0 +/- 1.5 x 10^-8 ) from z ~ 1.5 to the present epoch, consistent with predictions from cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. Furthermore, the data support a functional form for the column density distribution function that deviates from a single power-law, also consistent with independent theoretical predictions. As the data also probe heavy element ions in addition to C IV at the same redshifts, we identify, measure, and search for correlations between column densities of these species where components appear aligned in velocity. Among these ion-ion correlations, we find evidence for tight correlations between C II and Si II, C II and Si III, and C IV and Si IV, suggesting that these pairs of species arise in similar ionization conditions. However, the evidence for correlations decreases as the difference in ionization potential increases. Finally, when controlling for observational bias, we find only marginal evidence for a correlation (86.8% likelihood) between the Doppler line width b(C IV) and column density N(C IV).
We probe star formation in the environments of massive $\sim10^{13}\,M_{\odot}$ dark matter halos at redshifts of $z$$\sim$$1$. This star formation is linked to a sub-millimetre clustering signal which we detect in maps of the Planck High Frequency Instrument that are stacked at the positions of a sample of high-redshift ($z$$>$$2$) strongly-lensed dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) selected from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) 2500 deg$^2$ survey. The clustering signal has sub-millimetre colours which are consistent with the mean redshift of the foreground lensing halos ($z$$\sim$$1$). We report a mean excess of star formation rate (SFR) compared to the field, of $(2700\pm700)\,M_{\odot}\,{yr}^{-1}$ from all galaxies contributing to this clustering signal within a radius of 3.5' from the SPT DSFGs. The magnitude of the Planck excess is in broad agreement with predictions of a current model of the cosmic infrared background. The model predicts that 80$\%$ of the excess emission measured by Planck originates from galaxies lying in the neighbouring halos of the lensing halo. Using Herschel maps of the same fields, we find a clear excess, relative to the field, of individual sources which contribute to the Planck excess. The mean excess SFR compared to the field is measured to be ($370\pm40)$$\,M_{\odot}\,{yr}^{-1}$ per resolved, clustered source. Our findings suggest that the environments around these massive $z$$\sim$$1$ lensing halos host intense star formation out to about $2\,$Mpc. The flux enhancement due to clustering should also be considered when measuring flux densities of galaxies in Planck data.
We present coupled stellar evolution (SE) and 3D radiation-hydrodynamic (RHD) simulations of the evolution of primordial protostars, their immediate environment, and the dynamic accretion history under the influence of stellar ionizing and dissociating UV feedback. Our coupled SE-RHD calculations result in a wide diversity of final stellar masses covering $10~M_\odot \lesssim M_* \lesssim 10^3~M_\odot$. The formation of very massive ($\gtrsim 250~M_\odot$) stars is possible under weak UV feedback, whereas ordinary massive (a few $\times 10~M_\odot$) stars form when UV feedback can efficiently halt the accretion. Weak UV feedback occurs in cases of variable accretion, in particular when repeated short accretion bursts temporarily exceed $0.01~M_\odot~{\rm yr}^{-1}$, causing the protostar to inflate. In the bloated state, the protostar has low surface temperature and UV feedback is suppressed until the star eventually contracts, on a thermal adjustment timescale, to create an HII region. If the delay time between successive accretion bursts is sufficiently short, the protostar remains bloated for extended periods, initiating at most only short periods of UV feedback. Disk fragmentation does not necessarily reduce the final stellar mass. Quite the contrary, we find that disk fragmentation enhances episodic accretion as many fragments migrate inward and are accreted onto the star, thus allowing continued stellar mass growth under conditions of intermittent UV feedback. Our results suggest that, together with a number of ordinary massive stars, very massive stars can occur in significant numbers in the early universe. This may explain the recently reported peculiar abundance pattern of a Galactic metal-poor star, possibly the observational signature of very massive precursor primordial stars.
A new Lagrangian framework has recently been proposed to describe interactions between relativistic perfect fluids and scalar fields. In this paper we investigate the Einstein static universe in this new class of theories, which have been named Scalar-Fluid theories. The stability of the static solutions to both homogeneous and inhomogeneous perturbations is analysed deriving the relevant cosmological perturbation equations at the linear order. We can find several configurations corresponding to an Einstein static universes which are stable against inhomogeneous perturbations, but unstable against homogeneous perturbations. This shows the possible applications of Scalar-Fluid theories to the inflationary emergent universe scenario.
(abridged) We report the discovery of PHz G95.5-61.6, a complex structure detected in emission in the Planck all-sky survey that corresponds to two over-densities of high-redshift galaxies. This is the first source from the Planck catalogue of high-z candidates that has been completely characterised with follow-up observations from the optical to the sub-millimetre domain. Herschel/SPIRE observations at 250, 350 and 500 microns reveal the existence of five sources producing a 500 microns emission excess that spatially corresponds to the candidate proto-clusters discovered by Planck. Further observations at CFHT in the optical bands (g and i) and in the near infrared (J, H and K_s), plus mid infrared observations with IRAC/Spitzer (at 3.6 and 4.5 microns) confirm that the sub-mm red excess is associated with an over-density of colour-selected galaxies. Follow-up spectroscopy of 13 galaxies with VLT/X-Shooter establishes the existence of two high-z structures: one at z~1.7 (three confirmed member galaxies), the other at z~2.0 (six confirmed members). This double structure is also seen in the photometric redshift analysis of a sample of 127 galaxies located inside a circular region of 1'-radius containing the five Herschel/SPIRE sources, where we found a double-peaked excess of galaxies at z~1.7 and z~2.0 with respect to the surrounding region. These results suggest that PHz G95.5-61.6 corresponds to two accreting nodes, not physically linked to one another, embedded in the large scale structure of the Universe at z~2 and along the same line-of-sight. In conclusion, the data, methods and results illustrated in this pilot project confirm that Planck data can be used to detect the emission from clustered, dusty star forming galaxies at high-z, and, thus, to pierce through the early growth of cluster-scale structures.
Over the last decade proposal success rates in the fundamental sciences have dropped significantly. Astronomy and related fields funded by NASA and NSF are no exception. Data across agencies show that this is not principally the result of a decline in proposal merit (the proportion of proposals receiving high rankings is largely unchanged), nor of a shift in proposer demographics (seniority, gender, and institutional affiliation have all remained unchanged), nor of an increase (beyond inflation) in the average requested funding per proposal, nor of an increase in the number of proposals per investigator in any one year. Rather, the statistics are consistent with a scenario in which agency budgets for competed research are flat or decreasing in inflation-adjusted dollars, the overall population of investigators has grown, and a larger proportion of these investigators are resubmitting meritorious but unfunded proposals. This White Paper presents statistics which support this conclusion, as well as recent research on the time cost of proposal writing versus that of producing publishable results. We conclude that an aspirational proposal success rate of 30-35% would still provide a healthily competitive environment for researchers, would more fully utilize the scientific capacity of the community's facilities and missions, and provide relief to the funding agencies who face the logistics of ever-increasing volumes of proposals.
Using a fundamental discrete symmetry, ${\bf Z}_N$, we construct a two-axion model with the QCD axion solving the strong-$CP$ problem, and an ultralight axion (ULA) with $m_{\rm ULA}\approx 10^{-22}\text{ eV}$ providing the dominant form of dark matter (DM). The ULA is light enough to be detectable in cosmology from its imprints on structure formation, and may resolve the small-scale problems of cold DM. The necessary relative DM abundances occur without fine tuning in constructions with decay constants $f_{\rm ULA}\sim 10^{17}\text{ GeV}$, and $f_{\rm QCD}\sim 10^{11}\text{ GeV}$. An example model achieving this has $N=27$, and a range $11<N<64$ also produces acceptable models. We compute the ULA couplings to the SM, and discuss prospects for direct detection. The QCD axion may be detectable in standard experiments through the $\vec{E}\cdot\vec{B}$ and $G\tilde{G}$ couplings. In the simplest models, however, the ULA has identically zero coupling to both $G\tilde{G}$ of QCD and $\vec{E}\cdot\vec{B}$ of electromagnetism due to vanishing electromagnetic and color anomalies. The ULA couples to fermions with strength $g\propto 1/f_{\rm ULA}$. This coupling causes spin precession of nucleons and electrons with respect to the DM wind with period $t\sim$months. Current limits do not exclude the predicted coupling strength, and our model is within reach of the CASPEr-Wind experiment, using nuclear magnetic resonance.
We analyze the near-infrared to UV data of 16 quasars with redshifts ranging from 0.71 $<$ $z$ $<$ 2.13 to investigate dust extinction properties. The sample presented in this work is obtained from the High $A_V$ Quasar (HAQ) survey. The quasar candidates were selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS), and follow-up spectroscopy was carried out at the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) and the New Technology Telescope (NTT). To study dust extinction curves intrinsic to the quasars, from the HAQ survey we selected 16 cases where the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) law could not provide a good solution to the spectral energy distributions (SEDs). We derived the extinction curves using Fitzpatrick & Massa 1986 (FM) law by comparing the observed SEDs to the combined quasar template from Vanden Berk et al. 2001 and Glikman et al. 2006. The derived extinction, $A_V$, ranges from 0.2-1.0 mag. All the individual extinction curves of our quasars are steeper ($R_V=2.2$-2.7) than that of the SMC, with a weighted mean value of $R_V=2.4$. We derive an `average quasar extinction curve' for our sample by fitting SEDs simultaneously by using the weighted mean values of the FM law parameters and a varying $R_V$. The entire sample is well fit with a single best-fit value of $R_V=2.2\pm0.2$. The `average quasar extinction curve' deviates from the steepest Milky Way and SMC extinction curves at a confidence level $\gtrsim95\%$. Such steep extinction curves suggest a significant population of silicates to produce small dust grains. Moreover, another possibility could be that the large dust grains may have been destroyed by the activity of the nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN), resulting in steep extinction curves.
We expand our previous study on the relationship between changes in the orientation of the angular momentum vector of dark matter haloes ("spin flips") and changes in their mass (Bett & Frenk 2012), to cover the full range of halo masses in a simulation cube of length 100 $h^{-1}$ Mpc. Since strong disturbances to a halo (such as might be indicated by a large change in the spin direction) are likely also to disturb the galaxy evolving within, spin flips could be a mechanism for galaxy morphological transformation without involving major mergers. We find that 35% of haloes have, at some point in their lifetimes, had a spin flip of at least $45\deg$ that does not coincide with a major merger. Over 75% of large spin flips coincide with non-major mergers; only a quarter coincide with major mergers. We find a similar picture for changes to the inner-halo spin orientation, although here there is an increased likelihood of a flip occurring. Changes in halo angular momentum orientation, and other such measures of halo perturbation, are therefore very important quantities to consider, in addition to halo mergers, when modelling the formation and evolution of galaxies and confronting such models with observations.
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We address the question of whether massive red and blue galaxies trace the same large-scale structure at z~0.6 using the CMASS sample of galaxies from Data Release 12 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III. After splitting the catalog into subsamples of red and blue galaxies using a simple colour cut, we measure the clustering of both subsamples and construct the correlation coefficient, r, using two statistics. The correlation coefficient quantifies the stochasticity between the two subsamples, which we examine over intermediate scales (20 < R < 100 Mpc/h). We find that on these intermediate scales, the correlation coefficient is consistent with 1; in particular, we find r > 0.95 taking into account both statistics and r > 0.974 using the favored statistic.
We introduce a new method for estimating the covariance matrix for the galaxy correlation function in surveys of large-scale structure. Our method combines simple theoretical results with a realistic characterization of the survey to dramatically reduce noise in the covariance matrix. For example, with an investment of only ~1,000 CPU hours we can produce a model covariance matrix with noise levels that would otherwise require ~35,000 mocks. Non-Gaussian contributions to the model are calibrated against mock catalogs, after which the model covariance is found to be in impressive agreement with the mock covariance matrix. Since calibration of this method requires fewer mocks than brute force approaches, we believe that it could dramatically reduce the number of mocks required to analyse future surveys.
We present a detection of the enhancement in the number densities of background galaxies induced from lensing magnification and use it to test the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) inferred masses in a sample of 19 galaxy clusters with median redshift $z\simeq0.42$ selected from the South Pole Telescope SPT-SZ survey. Two background galaxy populations are selected for this study through their photometric colours; they have median redshifts ${z}_{\mathrm{median}}\simeq0.9$ (low-$z$ background) and ${z}_{\mathrm{median}}\simeq1.8$ (high-$z$ background). Stacking these populations, we detect the magnification bias effect at $3.3\sigma$ and $1.3\sigma$ for the low- and high-$z$ backgrounds, respectively. We fit NFW models simultaneously to all observed magnification bias profiles to estimate the multiplicative factor $\eta$ that describes the ratio of the weak lensing mass to the mass inferred from the SZE observable-mass relation. We further quantify systematic uncertainties in $\eta$ resulting from the photometric noise and bias, the cluster galaxy contamination and the estimations of the background properties. The resulting $\eta$ for the combined background populations with $1\sigma$ uncertainties is $0.83\pm0.24\mathrm{(stat)}\pm0.074\mathrm{(sys)}$, indicating good consistency between the lensing and the SZE-inferred masses. We use our best-fit $\eta$ to predict the weak lensing shear profiles and compare these predictions with observations, showing agreement between the magnification and shear mass constraints. This work demonstrates the promise of using the magnification as a complementary method to estimate cluster masses in large surveys.
We develop the tools necessary to assess the statistical significance of resonant features in the CMB correlation functions, combining power spectrum and bispectrum measurements. This significance is typically addressed by running a large number of simulations to derive the probability density function (PDF) of the feature-amplitude in the Gaussian case. Although these simulations are tractable for the power spectrum, for the bispectrum they require significant computational resources. We show that, by assuming that the PDF is given by a multi-variate Gaussian where the covariance is determined by the Fisher matrix of the sine and cosine terms, we can efficiently produce spectra that are statistically close to those derived from full simulations. By drawing a large number of spectra from this PDF, both for the power spectrum and the bispectrum, we can quickly determine the statistical significance of candidate signatures in the CMB, considering both single frequency and multi-frequency estimators. We show that for resonance models, cosmology and foreground parameters have little influence on the estimated amplitude, which allows to simplify the analysis considerably. A more precise likelihood treatment can then be applied to candidate signatures only. We also discuss a modal expansion approach for the power spectrum, aimed at quickly scanning through large families of oscillating models.
A joint analysis of the linear matter power spectrum, distance measurements from type Ia supernovae and the position of the first peak in the anisotropy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background indicates a cosmological, late-time dark matter creation at 99% confidence level.
We have used the Fisher matrix formalism to quantify the prospects of detecting the z = 3.35 redshifted 21-cm HI power spectrum with the upcoming radio-imterferometric array OWFA. OWFA's frequency and baseline coverage spans comoving Fourier modes (k) in the range 0.018 to 2.7 [1/Mpc]. The OWFA HI signal, however, is predominantly from the range k below 0.2 [1/Mpc]. The larger modes, though abundant, do not contribute much to the HI signal. In this work we have focused on combining the entire signal to achieve a detection. We find that a 5-sigma detection of A_{HI} is possible with ~ 150 hr of observations, here A^2 _{HI} is the amplitude of the HI power spectrum. We have also carried out a joint analysis for A_{HI} and the redshift space distortion parameter. Our study shows that OWFA is very sensitive to the amplitude of the HI power spectrum. However, the anisotropic distribution of the k modes does not make it very suitable for measuring the redshift space distortion parameter.
Cosmic strings formed during inflation are expected to be either diluted over super-Hubble distances, i.e., invisible today, or to have crossed our past light cone very recently. We discuss the latter situation in which a few strings imprint their signature in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Anisotropies after recombination. Being almost frozen in the Hubble flow, these strings are quasi static and evade almost all of the previously derived constraints on their tension while being able to source large scale anisotropies in the CMB sky. Using a local variance estimator on thousand of numerically simulated Nambu-Goto all sky maps, we compute the expected signal and show that it can mimic a dipole modulation at large angular scales while being negligible at small angles. Interestingly, such a scenario generically produces one cold spot from the thawing of a cosmic string loop. Mixed with anisotropies of inflationary origin, we find that a few strings of tension GU = O(1) x 10^(-6) match the amplitude of the dipole modulation reported in the Planck satellite measurements and could be at the origin of other large scale anomalies.
Scaling relations of clusters have made them particularly important cosmological probes of structure formation. In this work, we present a comprehensive study of the relation between two profile observables, concentration ($\mathrm{c_{vir}}$) and mass ($\mathrm{M_{vir}}$). We have collected the largest known sample of measurements from the literature which make use of one or more of the following reconstruction techniques: Weak gravitational lensing (WL), strong gravitational lensing (SL), Weak+Strong Lensing (WL+SL), the Caustic Method (CM), Line-of-sight Velocity Dispersion (LOSVD), and X-ray. We find that the concentration-mass (c-M) relation is highly variable depending upon the reconstruction technique used. We also find concentrations derived from dark matter only simulations (at approximately $\mathrm{M_{vir} \sim 10^{14} M_{\odot}}$) to be inconsistent with the WL and WL+SL relations at the $\mathrm{1\sigma}$ level, even after the projection of triaxial halos is taken into account. However, to fully determine consistency between simulations and observations, a volume-limited sample of clusters is required, as selection effects become increasingly more important in answering this. Interestingly, we also find evidence for a steeper WL+SL relation as compared to WL alone, a result which could perhaps be caused by the varying shape of cluster isodensities, though most likely reflects differences in selection effects caused by these two techniques. Lastly, we compare concentration and mass measurements of individual clusters made using more than one technique, highlighting the magnitude of the potential bias which could exist in such observational samples.
We study how the kinetic decoupling of dark matter (DM) within a minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model, by adopting nine independent parameters (MSSM-9), could improve our knowledge of the properties of the DM protohalos. We show that the most probable neutralino mass regions, which satisfy the relic density and the Higgs mass contraints, are those with the lightest supersymmetric neutralino mass around 1 TeV and 3 TeV, corresponding to Higgsino-like and Wino-like neutralino, respectively. The kinetic decoupling temperature in the MSSM-9 scenario leads to a most probable protohalo mass in a range of $M_{\mathrm{ph}}\sim 10^{-12}-10^{-7}\,M_\odot$. The part of the region closer to 2 TeV gives also important contributions from the neutralino-stau co-annihilation, reducing the effective annihilation rate in the early Universe. We also study how the size of the smallest DM substructures correlates to experimental signatures, such as the spin-dependent and spin-independent scattering cross sections, relevant for direct detection of DM. Improvements on the spin-independent sensitivity might reduce the most probable range of the protohalo mass between $\sim$10$^{-9}\,M_\odot$ and $\sim$10$^{-7}\,M_\odot$, while the expected spin-dependent sensitivity provides weaker constraints. We show how the boost of the luminosity due to DM annihilation increases, depending on the protohalo mass. In the Higgsino case, the protohalo mass is lower than the canonical value often used in the literature ($\sim$10$^{-6}\,M_\odot$), while $\langle\sigma v\rangle$ does not deviate from $\langle\sigma v\rangle\sim 10^{-26}$ cm$^3$ s$^{-1}$; there is no significant enhancement of the luminosity. On the contrary, in the Wino case, the protohalo mass is even lighter, and $\langle\sigma v\rangle$ is two orders of magnitude larger; as its consequence, we see a substantial enhancement of the luminosity.
We describe the cryogenic half-wave plate rotation mechanisms built for and used in Spider, a polarization-sensitive balloon-borne telescope array that observed the Cosmic Microwave Background at 95 GHz and 150 GHz during a stratospheric balloon flight from Antarctica in January 2015. The mechanisms operate at liquid helium temperature in flight. A three-point contact design keeps the mechanical bearings relatively small but allows for a large (305 mm) diameter clear aperture. A worm gear driven by a cryogenic stepper motor allows for precise positioning and prevents undesired rotation when the motors are depowered. A custom-built optical encoder system monitors the bearing angle to an absolute accuracy of 0.1 degrees. The system performed well in Spider during its successful 16 day flight.
PKS 2155-304 is one of the brightest extragalactic source in the X-ray and EUV bands, and is a prototype for the BL Lac class of objects. In this paper we investigate the large-scale environment of this source using new multi-object as well as long-slit spectroscopy, together with archival spectra and optical images. We find clear evidence of a modest overdensity of galaxies at z=0.11610, consistent with previous determinations of the BL Lac redshift. The galaxy group has a radial velocity dispersion of 250km/s and a virial radius of 0.22Mpc, yielding a role-of-thumb estimate of the virial mass of M(vir)~1.5x10$^{13}$Msun, i.e., one order of magnitude less than what observed in other similar objects. This result hints toward a relatively wide diversity in the environmental properties of BL Lac objects.
We consider searches for dark matter annihilation in the Sun resulting in monoenergetic neutrinos, produced either directly or through the decay of stopped pions and kaons. We find that this strategy is very successful at increasing the signal-to-background ratio, but that current experiments may be signal limited. We discuss the exposures need to fully exploit this search strategy.
We present broadband photometric and polarimetric observations of two type II supernovae (SNe) 2013hj and 2014G. SN 2014G is a spectroscopically classified type IIL event, which we also confirm photometrically as its light curve show characteristic features (plateau slope of 2.55 mag (100 d)$ ^{-1} $ in V-band and duration of $ \sim77 $d) of a generic IIL SN. On the other hand SN 2013hj also shows high plateau decline rate of $ 1.5 $ mag (100 d)$ ^{-1} $ in V-band, similar to SNe IIL, but marginally lower than SNe IIL template light curves. Our high cadence photometric observations of SNe 2013hj and 2014G enables us to cover all characteristic phases up to radioactive tail of optical light curves. Broadband polarimetric observations reveal some polarization in SN 2013hj with subtle enhancement as SN evolves towards plateau end, however the polarization angle remains constant throughout the evolution. This characteristic is consistent with the idea that the evolving SN with recombining hydrogen envelope is slowly revealing more asymmetric central region of explosion. Modelling of bolometric light curve yields a progenitor mass of $ \sim11 $M$_{\odot}$ with a radius of $ \sim700 $R$_{\odot}$ for SN 2013hj, while for SN 2014G model estimated progenitor mass is $ \sim9 $M$_{\odot}$ with a radius of $ \sim630 $R$_{\odot}$, both having a typical energy budget of $ \sim2\times10^{51} $ erg.
Several large structures, including the Sloan Great Wall, the Huge Large
Quasar Group, and a large gamma-ray burst cluster referred to as the
Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, appear to exceed the maximum structural
size predicted by Universal inflationary models. The existence of very large
structures such as these might necessitate cosmological model modifications.
Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous sources found in nature. They are
associated with the stellar endpoints of massive stars and are found in and
near distant galaxies. Since they are viable indicators of the dense part of
the Universe containing normal matter, the spatial distribution of gamma-ray
bursts can serve as tracers of Universal large-scale structure.
An increased sample size of gamma-ray bursts with known redshift provides us
with the opportunity to validate or invalidate the existence of the
Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall. Nearest-neighbour tests are used to search
the larger sample for evidence of clustering and a bootstrap point-radius
method is used to estimate the angular cluster size. The potential influence of
angular sampling biasing is studied to determine the viability of the results.
The larger gamma-ray burst database further supports the existence of a
statistically significant gamma-ray burst cluster at 1.6 < z < 2.1 with an
estimated angular size of 2000-3000 Mpc.
Although small number statistics limit our angular resolution and do not rule
out the existence of adjacent and/or line-of-sight smaller structures, these
structures must still clump together in order for us to see the large gamma-ray
burst cluster detected here. This cluster provides support for the existence of
very large-scale universal heterogeneities.
Axions and axion like particles are very attractive dark matter candidates. In this review, we briefly investigate how the cosmological observations reveal the existence of dark matter and some unique properties of axions/axion like particles which make them more interesting.
In a quest to explain the small value of the today's cosmological constant, following the approach introduced in [1], we show that the theoretical value of cosmological constant is consistent with its observational value. In more detail, we study the Freidmann-Lama\^{\i}tre-Robertson-Walker cosmology embedded isometrically in an $11$-dimensional ambient space. The field equations determines $\Lambda$ in terms of other measurable fundamental constants. Specifically, it predicts that the cosmological constant measured today be $\Lambda L^2_{\text{Pl}}=2.56\times10^{-122}$, as observed.
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High signal-to-noise ratio spectroscopic observations of the BL Lac object S4 0954+65 at the alleged redshift z = 0.367 are presented. This source was detected at gamma frequencies by MAGIC (TeV) and FERMI (GeV) telescopes during a remarkable outburst that occurred in February 2015, making the determination of its distance particularly relevant for our understanding of the properties of the Extragalactic Background Light. Contrary to previous reports on the redshift, we found that the optical spectrum is featureless at an equivalent width limit of \sim 0.1 Ang. A critical analysis of the existing observations indicates that the redshift is still unknown. Based on the new data we estimate a lower limit to the redshift at z \geq 0.45.
Interplanetary Scintillation (IPS) induces intensity fluctuations in small angular size astronomical radio sources via the distortive effects of spatially and temporally varying electron density associated with outflows from the Sun. These radio sources are a potential foreground contaminant signal for redshifted HI emission from the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) because they yield time-dependent flux density variations in bright extragalactic point sources. Contamination from foreground continuum sources complicates efforts to discriminate the cosmological signal from other sources in the sky. In IPS, at large angles from the Sun applicable to EoR observations, weak scattering induces spatially and temporally correlated fluctuations in the measured flux density of sources in the field, potentially affecting the detectability of the EoR signal by inducing non-static variations in the signal strength. In this work, we explore the impact of interplanetary weak scintillation on EoR power spectrum measurements, accounting for the instrumental spatial and temporal sampling. We use published power spectra of electron density fluctuations and parameters of EoR experiments to derive the IPS power spectrum in the wavenumber phase space of EoR power spectrum measurements. The contrast of IPS power to expected cosmological power is used as a metric to assess the impact of IPS. We show that IPS has a different spectral structure to power from foregrounds alone, but the additional leakage into the EoR observation parameter space is negligible under typical IPS conditions, unless data are used from deep within the foreground contamination region.
The 21-cm forest is a promising probe of the Epoch of Reionization. The local
state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) is encoded in the spectrum of a
background source (radio-loud quasars or gamma ray burst afterglow) by
absorption at the local 21-cm wavelength, resulting in a continuous and
fluctuating absorption level. Small-scale structures (filaments and minihaloes)
in the IGM are responsible for the strongest absorption features. The
absorption can also be modulated on large scales by inhomogeneous heating and
Wouthuysen-Field coupling.
We present the results from a simulation that attempts to preserve the
cosmological environment while resolving some of the small-scale structures (a
few kpc resolution in a 50 Mpc/h box). The simulation couples the dynamics and
the ionizing radiative transfer and includes X-ray and Lyman lines radiative
transfer for a detailed physical modelling. As a result we find that soft X-ray
self-shielding, Lyman-alpha self-shielding and shock heating all have an impact
on the predicted values of the 21-cm optical depth of moderately overdense
structures like filaments. An correct treatment of the peculiar velocities is
also critical. Modelling these processes seems necessary for accurate
predictions and can be done only at high enough resolution. As a result, based
on our fiducial model, we estimate that LOFAR should be able to detect a few
(strong) absorptions features in a frequency range of a few tens of MHz for a
20 mJy source located at z=10, while the SKA would extract a large fraction of
the absorption information for the same source.
Any isotropy violating phenomena on cosmic microwave background (CMB) induces off-diagonal correlations in the two-point function. These correlations themselves can be used to estimate the underlying anisotropic signals. Masking due to residual foregrounds, or availability of partial sky due to survey limitation, are unavoidable circumstances in CMB studies. But, masking induces additional correlations, and thus complicates the recovery of such signals. In this work, we discuss a procedure based on bipolar spherical harmonic (BipoSH) formalism to comprehensively addresses any spurious correlations induced by masking and successfully recover hidden signals of anisotropy in observed CMB maps. This method is generic, and can be applied to recover a variety of isotropy violating phenomena. Here, we illustrate the procedure by recovering the subtle Doppler boost signal from simulated boosted CMB skies, which has become possible with the unprecedented full-sky sensitivity of PLANCK probe.
Most dark matter (DM) models set the DM relic density by some interaction with Standard Model particles. Such models generally assume the existence of Standard Model particles early on, with the DM relic density a later consequence of those interactions. Perhaps a more compelling assumption is that DM is not part of the Standard Model sector and a population of DM too is generated at the end of inflation. This democratic assumption does not necessarily provide a natural value for the DM relic density, and superficially leads to too much entropy in the dark sector. We address the latter issue by the late decay of heavy particles produced at early times, associating the DM relic density with the lifetime of a long-lived state. We ask what it would take for this scenario to be compatible with observations in what we call Flooded Dark Matter (FDM) and discuss several interesting consequences. One is that DM can be very light and furthermore, light DM is in some sense the most natural scenario in FDM as it is compatible with larger couplings of the decaying particle. Moreover, the decay of the field with the smallest coupling and hence the longest lifetime dominates the entropy and possibly the matter content of the Universe, a principle we refer to as 'Maximum Baroqueness'. We also show that the dark sector should be colder than the ordinary sector, relaxing the free-streaming constraints on light DM. We will discuss the implications for the core-cusp problem in a follow-up paper. FDM also has interesting baryogenesis implications. One possibility is that both DM and baryon asymmetries are simultaneously diluted by a late entropy dump. Alternatively, FDM is compatible with an elegant non-thermal leptogenesis implementation in which decays of a heavy RH neutrino lead to late time reheating of the Standard Model and provide suitable conditions for creation of a lepton asymmetry.
It is shown, using the data obtained by the Planck space telescope (2009-2013), that the angular CMB Doppler spectrum: $C_l \sim \exp-(l/l_c)$, with $l_c \simeq 300$ in the interval $370 < l < 2500$. The waviness observed along the exponential decay has period (distance between peaks) equal to the same $l_c \simeq 300$. It means that the waviness is generated by the same, presumably chaotic, mechanism that generates the exponential decay. Comparison with deterministic chaos simulations has been briefly discussed.
We study the embedding of the monodromy inflation mechanism by E. Silverstein and A. Westphal (2008) in a concrete compactification setting. To that end, we look for an appropriate vacuum of type IIA supergravity, corresponding to the minimum of the inflaton potential. We prove a no-go theorem on the existence of such a vacuum, using ten-dimensional equations of motion. Anti-de Sitter and Minkowski vacua are ruled out; de Sitter vacua are not excluded, but have a lower bound on their cosmological constant which is too high for phenomenology.
The main progenitor candidate of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) is white dwarfs in binary systems where the companion star is another white dwarf (double degenerate system) or a less evolved non-degenerate star with R* >~ 0.1 Rsun (single degenerate system), but no direct observational evidence exists that tells which progenitor system is more common. Recent studies suggest that the light curve of a supernova shortly after its explosion can be used to set a limit on the progenitor size, R*. Here, we report a high cadence monitoring observation of SN 2015F, a normal SN Ia, in the galaxy NGC 2442 starting about 84 days before the first light time. With our daily cadence data, we catch the emergence of the radioactively powered light curve, but more importantly detect with a > 97.4% confidence a possible dim precursor emission that appears at roughly 1.5 days before the rise of the radioactively powered emission. The signal is consistent with theoretical expectations for a progenitor system involving a companion star with R* = ~0.1 -- 1 Rsun or a prompt explosion of a double degenerate system, but inconsistent with a typically invoked size of white dwarf progenitor of R* ~ 0.01 Rsun. Upper limits on the precursor emission also constrain the progenitor size to be R* < 0.1 Rsun, and a companion star size of R* < ~1.0 Rsun, excluding a very large companion star in the progenitor system. Additionally, we find that the distance to SN 2015F is 23.9 +-0.4 Mpc.
A nonminimally coupled quintessence dark energy in teleparallel model of gravity is considered. It is clarified how a matter dominated universe with initial negligible dark energy density can evolve to a late time de Sitter space-time via the $Z_2$ symmetry breaking.
The dwarf galaxies of the Local Group are believed to be similar to the most abundant galaxies during the epoch of reionization (z>6). As a result of their proximity, there is a wealth of information that can be obtained about these galaxies; however, due to their low surface brightnesses, detecting their progenitors at high redshifts is challenging. We compare the physical properties of these dwarf galaxies to those of galaxies detected at high redshifts using Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer observations and consider the promise of the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope on the prospects for detecting high redshift analogues of these galaxies.
We present reduced data and data products from the 3D-HST survey, a 248-orbit HST Treasury program. The survey obtained WFC3 G141 grism spectroscopy in four of the five CANDELS fields: AEGIS, COSMOS, GOODS-S, and UDS, along with WFC3 $H_{140}$ imaging, parallel ACS G800L spectroscopy, and parallel $I_{814}$ imaging. In a previous paper (Skelton et al. 2014) we presented photometric catalogs in these four fields and in GOODS-N, the fifth CANDELS field. Here we describe and present the WFC3 G141 spectroscopic data, again augmented with data from GO-1600 in GOODS-N. The data analysis is complicated by the fact that no slits are used: all objects in the WFC3 field are dispersed, and many spectra overlap. We developed software to automatically and optimally extract interlaced 2D and 1D spectra for all objects in the Skelton et al. (2014) photometric catalogs. The 2D spectra and the multi-band photometry were fit simultaneously to determine redshifts and emission line strengths, taking the morphology of the galaxies explicitly into account. The resulting catalog has 98,663 measured redshifts and line strengths down to $JH_{IR}\leq 26$ and 22,548 with $JH_{IR}\leq 24$, where we comfortably detect continuum emission. Of this sample 5,459 galaxies are at $z>1.5$ and 9,621 are at $0.7<z<1.5$, where H$\alpha$ falls in the G141 wavelength coverage. Based on comparisons with ground-based spectroscopic redshifts, and on analyses of paired galaxies and repeat observations, the typical redshift error for $JH_{IR}\leq 24$ galaxies in our catalog is $\sigma_z \approx 0.003 \times (1+z)$, i.e., one native WFC3 pixel. The $3\sigma$ limit for emission line fluxes of point sources is $1.5\times10^{-17}$ ergs s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$. We show various representations of the full dataset, as well as individual examples that highlight the range of spectra that we find in the survey.
Within the framework of the Standard Model of particle physics and standard cosmology, observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) set stringent bounds on the sum of the masses of neutrinos. If these bounds are satisfied, the upcoming KATRIN experiment which is designed to probe neutrino mass down to $\sim 0.2$ eV will observe only a null signal. We show that the bounds can be relaxed by introducing new interactions for the massive active neutrinos, making neutrino masses in the range observable by KATRIN compatible with cosmological bounds. Within this scenario, neutrinos convert to new stable light particles by resonant production of intermediate states around a temperature of $T\sim$ keV in the early Universe, leading to a much less pronounced suppression of density fluctuations compared to the standard model.
We, in the first part, contemplate a massless minimally coupled scalar which is Yukawa-coupled to a massless Dirac fermion in a locally de Sitter background of an inflating spacetime. We compute the scalar's quantum corrected mode function, power spectrum, spectral index and the running of the spectral index at one-loop order. We find that the spectrum is slightly blue-tilted; hence, the amplitudes of fluctuations grow slightly toward the smaller scales. Then, in the second part, we apply the computation method used in the first part to a massless minimally coupled scalar with a quartic self-interaction in the same background and obtain exact analytic expressions for the associated quantities at one-loop order. In contrast to the Yukawa scalar, the spectrum in this case is slightly red-tilted; hence, the amplitudes of fluctuations grow slightly toward the larger scales.
We consider Supersymmetric (SUSY) and non-SUSY models of chaotic inflation based on the simplest power-law potential with exponents n=2 and 4. We propose a convenient non-minimal coupling to gravity and a non-minimal kinetic term which ensure, mainly for n=4, inflationary observables favored by the BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck results. Inflation can be attained for subplanckian inflaton values with the corresponding effective theories retaining the perturbative unitarity up to the Planck scale.
Here we report our recent results of variability studies in optical and X-ray bands of three blazars namely 3C 273, PKS 2155 - 304 and BL Lacertae with XMM-Newton. We found large amplitude optical to X-rays variability in 3C 273, and PKS 2155 - 304 on year time scale. In 3C 273, we noticed that synchrotron cooling and particle acceleration are at work at different epoch of observations. In PKS 2155 - 304, spectral energy distribution from optical to X-ray is fitted with LPPL (log parabolic + power law) model. In BL Lacertae, optical flux and degree of polarization were anti-correlated.
We investigate the electrodynamic in a Bianchi type I cosmological model. This scenario reveals the possibility that photons, during their traveling, can make quantum interference. This effect is only due to the presence of two different axes of expansion in the cosmic evolution. In other word, it is possible to conclude that a purely metrical - or, equivalently, gravitational - phenomenon gives rise up to a quantum effect that manifests itself in the light propagation.
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