We present a quantitative study of the X-ray morphology of galaxy clusters, as a function of their detection method and redshift. We analyze two separate samples of galaxy clusters: a sample of 36 clusters at 0.35 < z < 0.9 selected in the X-ray with the ROSAT PSPC 400 deg2 survey, and a sample of 90 clusters at 0.25 < z < 1.2 selected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect with the South Pole Telescope. Clusters from both samples have similar-quality Chandra observations, which allow us to quantify their X-ray morphologies via two distinct methods: centroid shifts and photon asymmetry. The latter technique provides nearly unbiased morphology estimates for clusters spanning a broad range of redshift and data quality. We further compare the X-ray morphologies of X-ray- and SZ-selected clusters with those of simulated clusters. We do not find a statistically significant difference in the measured X-ray morphology of X-ray and SZ-selected clusters over the redshift range probed by these samples, suggesting that the two are probing similar populations of clusters. We find that the X-ray morphologies of simulated clusters are statistically indistinguishable from those of X-ray- or SZ-selected clusters, implying that the most important physics for dictating the large-scale gas morphology (outside of the core) is well-approximated in these simulations. Finally, we find no statistically significant redshift evolution in the X-ray morphology (both for observed and simulated clusters), over the range z ~ 0.3 to z ~ 1, seemingly in contradiction with the redshift-dependent halo merger rate predicted by simulations.
We present a complete framework for numerical calculation of the power spectrum and bispectrum in canonical inflation with an arbitrary number of light or heavy fields. Our method includes all relevant effects at tree-level in the loop expansion, including (i) interference between growing and decaying modes near horizon exit; (ii) correlation and coupling between species near horizon exit and on superhorizon scales; (iii) contributions from mass terms; and (iv) all contributions from coupling to gravity. We track the evolution of each correlation function from the vacuum state through horizon exit and the superhorizon regime, with no need to match quantum and classical parts of the calculation; when integrated, our approach corresponds exactly with the tree-level Schwinger or 'in-in' formulation of quantum field theory. In this paper we give the equations necessary to evolve all two- and three-point correlation functions together with suitable initial conditions. The final formalism is suitable to compute the amplitude, shape, and scale dependence of the bispectrum in models with |fNL| of order unity or less, which are a target for future galaxy surveys such as Euclid, DESI and LSST. As an illustration we apply our framework to a number of examples, obtaining quantitatively accurate predictions for their bispectra for the first time. Two accompanying reports describe publicly-available software packages that implement the method.
CppTransport is a numerical platform that can automatically generate and solve the evolution equations for the 2- and 3-point correlation functions (in field space and for the curvature perturbation) for any inflationary model with canonical kinetic terms. It makes no approximations beyond the applicability of tree-level perturbation theory. Given an input Lagrangian, CppTransport performs symbolic calculations to determine the 'Feynman rules' of the model and generates efficient C++ to integrate the correlation functions of interest. It includes a visualization suite that automates extraction of observable quantities from the raw n-point functions and generates high quality plots with minimal manual intervention. It is intended to be used as a collaborative platform, promoting the rapid investigation of models and systematizing their comparison with observation. This guide describes how to install and use the system, and illustrates its use through some simple examples.
PyTransport constitutes a straightforward code written in C++ together with Python scripts which automatically edit, compile and run the C++ code as a Python module. It has been written for Unix-like systems (OS X and Linux). Primarily the module employs the transport approach to inflationary cosmology to calculate the tree-level power-spectrum and bispectrum of user specified models of multi-field inflation, accounting for all sub and super-horizon effects. The transport method we utilise means only coupled differential equations need to be solved, and the implementation presented here combines the speed of C++ with the functionality and convenience of Python. At present the code is restricted to canonical models. This document details the code and illustrates how to use it with a worked example.
Parameter inference with an estimated covariance matrix systematically loses information due to the remaining uncertainty of the covariance matrix. Here, we quantify this loss of precision and develop a framework to hypothetically restore it, which allows to judge how far away a given analysis is from the ideal case of a known covariance matrix. We point out that it is insufficient to estimate this loss by debiasing a Fisher matrix as previously done, due to a fundamental inequality that describes how biases arise in non-linear functions. We therefore develop direct estimators for parameter credibility contours and the figure of merit. We apply our results to DES Science Verification weak lensing data, detecting a 10% loss of information that increases their credibility contours. No significant loss of information is found for KiDS. For a Euclid-like survey, with about 10 nuisance parameters we find that 2900 simulations are sufficient to limit the systematically lost information to 1%, with an additional uncertainty of about 2%. Without any nuisance parameters 1900 simulations are sufficient to only lose 1% of information. We also derive an estimator for the Fisher matrix of the unknown true covariance matrix, two estimators of its inverse with different physical meanings, and an estimator for the optimally achievable figure of merit. The formalism here quantifies the gains to be made by running more simulated datasets, allowing decisions to be made about numbers of simulations in an informed way.
Modified gravity theories are a popular alternative to dark energy as a possible explanation for the observed accelerating cosmic expansion, and their cosmological tests are currently an active research field. Studies in recent years have been increasingly focused on testing these theories in the nonlinear regime, which is computationally demanding. Here we show that, under certain circumstances, a whole class of theories can be ruled out by using background cosmology alone. This is possible because certain classes of models (i) are fundamentally incapable of producing specific background expansion histories, and (ii) said histories are incompatible with local gravity tests. As an example, we demonstrate that a popular class of models, $f(R)$ gravity, would not be viable if observations suggest even a slight deviation of the background expansion history from that of the $\Lambda$CDM paradigm.
Most of the upcoming cosmological information will come from analyzing the clustering of the Large Scale Structures (LSS) of the universe through LSS or CMB observations. It is therefore essential to be able to understand their behavior with exquisite precision. The Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structures (EFTofLSS) provides a consistent framework to make predictions for LSS observables in the mildly non-linear regime. In this paper we focus on biased tracers. We argue that in calculations at a given order in the dark matter perturbations, highly biased tracers will underperform because of their larger higher derivative biases. A natural prediction of the EFTofLSS is therefore that by simply adding higher derivative biases, all tracers should perform comparably well. We implement this prediction for the halo-halo and the halo-matter power spectra at one loop, and the halo-halo-halo, halo-halo-matter, and halo-matter-matter bispectra at tree-level, and compare with simulations. We find good agreement with the prediction: for all tracers, we are able to match the bispectra up to $k\simeq0.17\,h/$Mpc at $z=0$ and the power spectra to a higher wavenumber.
We develop a new class of supergravity cosmological models where inflation is induced by terms in the K\"ahler potential which mix a nilpotent superfield $S$ with a chiral sector $\Phi$. As the new terms are non-(anti)holomorphic, and hence cannot be removed by a K\"ahler transformation, these models are intrinsically K\"ahler potential driven. Such terms could arise for example due to a backreaction of an anti-D3 brane on the string theory bulk geometry. We show that this mechanism is very general and allows for a unified description of inflation and dark energy, with controllable SUSY breaking at the vacuum. When the internal geometry of the bulk field is hyperbolic, we prove that small perturbative K\"ahler corrections naturally lead to $\alpha$-attractor behaviour, with inflationary predictions in excellent agreement with the latest Planck data
We derive highly constraining no-go theorems for classical de Sitter backgrounds of string theory, with parallel sources; this should impact the embedding of cosmological models. We study ten-dimensional vacua of type II supergravities with parallel and backreacted orientifold Op-planes and Dp-branes, on four-dimensional de Sitter space-time times a compact manifold. Vacua for p=3, 7 or 8 are completely excluded, and we obtain tight constraints for p=4, 5, 6. This is achieved through the derivation of an enlightening expression for the four-dimensional Ricci scalar. Further interesting expressions and no-go theorems are obtained. The paper is self-contained so technical aspects, including conventions, might be of more general interest.
We employ a recent, general gauge computation of the one loop graviton contribution to the vacuum polarization on de Sitter to solve for one loop corrections to the photon mode function. The vacuum polarization takes the form of a gauge independent, spin 2 contribution and a gauge dependent, spin 0 contribution. We show that the leading secular corrections derive entirely from the spin 2 contribution.
Extended inverse Compton halos are generally anticipated around extragalactic sources of gamma rays with energies above 100 GeV. These result from inverse Compton scattered cosmic microwave background photons by a population of high-energy electron/positron pairs produced by the annihilation of the high-energy gamma rays on the infrared background. Despite the observed attenuation of the high-energy gamma rays, the halo emission has yet to be directly detected. Here, we demonstrate that in most cases these halos are expected to be highly anisotropic, distributing the up-scattered gamma rays along axes defined either by the radio jets of the sources or oriented perpendicular to a global magnetic field. We present a pedagogical derivation of the angular structure in the inverse Compton halo and provide an analytic formalism that facilitates the generation of mock images. We discuss exploiting this fact for the purpose of detecting gamma-ray halos in a set of companion papers.
The properties of submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) that are fainter than the confusion limit of blank-field single-dish surveys ($S_{850} \lesssim$ 2 mJy) are poorly constrained. Using a newly developed color selection technique, Optical-Infrared Triple Color (OIRTC), that has been shown to successfully {select} such faint SMGs, we identify a sample of 2938 OIRTC-selected galaxies, dubbed Triple Color Galaxies (TCGs), in the UKIDSS-UDS field. We show that these galaxies have a median 850 $\mu$m flux of S$_{850} = 0.96\pm0.04$ mJy (equivalent to a star-formation rate SFR $\sim60-100$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ based on SED fitting), representing the first large sample of faint SMGs that bridges the gap between bright SMGs and normal star-forming galaxies in S$_{850}$ and $L_{\rm IR}$. We assess the basic properties of TCGs and their relationship with other galaxy populations at $z\sim2$. We measure the two-point autocorrelation function for this population and derive a typical halo mass of log$_{10}$(M$_{\rm halo}$) $=12.9^{+0.2}_{-0.3}$, $12.7^{+0.1}_{-0.2}$, and $12.9^{+0.2}_{-0.3}$ $h^{-1}$M$_\odot$ at $z=1-2$, $2-3$, and $3-5$, respectively. Together with the bright SMGs (S$_{850} \gtrsim 2$ mJy) and a comparison sample of less far-infrared luminous star-forming galaxies, we find a lack of dependence between spatial clustering and S$_{850}$ (or SFR), suggesting that the difference between these populations may lie in their local galactic environment. Lastly, on the scale of $\sim8-17$ kpc at $1<z<5$ we find a tentative enhancement of the clustering of TCGs over the comparison star-forming galaxies, suggesting that some faint SMGs are physically associated pairs, perhaps reflecting a merging origin in their triggering.
Radio astronomy has changed. For years it studied relatively rare sources, which emit mostly non-thermal radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, i.e. radio quasars and radio galaxies. Now it is reaching such faint flux densities that it detects mainly star-forming galaxies and the more common radio-quiet active galactic nuclei. These sources make up the bulk of the extragalactic sky, which has been studied for decades in the infrared, optical, and X-ray bands. I follow the transformation of radio astronomy by reviewing the main components of the radio sky at the bright and faint ends, the issue of their proper classification, their number counts, luminosity functions, and evolution. The overall "big picture" astrophysical implications of these results, and their relevance for a number of hot topics in extragalactic astronomy, are also discussed. The future prospects of the faint radio sky are very bright, as we will soon be flooded with survey data. This review should be useful to all extragalactic astronomers, irrespective of their favourite electromagnetic band(s), and even stellar astronomers might find it somewhat gratifying.
The Lockman Hole is a well-studied extragalactic field with extensive
multi-band ancillary data covering a wide range in frequency, essential for
characterising the physical and evolutionary properties of the various source
populations detected in deep radio fields (mainly star-forming galaxies and
AGNs). In this paper we present new 150-MHz observations carried out with the
LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR), allowing us to explore a new spectral window for
the faint radio source population. This 150-MHz image covers an area of 34.7
square degrees with a resolution of 18.6$\times$14.7 arcsec and reaches an rms
of 160 $\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$ at the centre of the field.
As expected for a low-frequency selected sample, the vast majority of sources
exhibit steep spectra, with a median spectral index of
$\alpha_{150}^{1400}=-0.78\pm0.015$. The median spectral index becomes slightly
flatter (increasing from $\alpha_{150}^{1400}=-0.84$ to
$\alpha_{150}^{1400}=-0.75$) with decreasing flux density down to $S_{150}
\sim$10 mJy before flattening out and remaining constant below this flux level.
For a bright subset of the 150-MHz selected sample we can trace the spectral
properties down to lower frequencies using 60-MHz LOFAR observations, finding
tentative evidence for sources to become flatter in spectrum between 60 and 150
MHz. Using the deep, multi-frequency data available in the Lockman Hole, we
identify a sample of 100 Ultra-steep spectrum (USS) sources and 13 peaked
spectrum sources. We estimate that up to 21 percent of these could have $z>4$
and are candidate high-$z$ radio galaxies, but further follow-up observations
are required to confirm the physical nature of these objects.
High-redshift radio-loud quasars are used to, among other things, test the predictions of cosmological models, set constraints on black hole growth in the early universe and understand galaxy evolution. Prior to this paper, 20 extragalactic radio sources at redshifts above 4.5 have been imaged with very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). Here we report on observations of an additional ten z>4.5 sources at 1.7 and 5 GHz with the European VLBI Network (EVN), thereby increasing the number of imaged sources by 50%. Combining our newly observed sources with those from the literature, we create a substantial sample of 30 z>4.5 VLBI sources, allowing us to study the nature of these objects. Using spectral indices, variability and brightness temperatures, we conclude that of the 27 sources with sufficient information to classify, the radio emission from one source is from star formation, 13 are flat-spectrum radio quasars and 13 are steep-spectrum sources. We also argue that the steep-spectrum sources are off-axis (unbeamed) radio sources with rest-frame self-absorption peaks at or below GHz frequencies and that these sources can be classified as gigahertz peaked-spectrum (GPS) and megahertz peaked-spectrum (MPS) sources.
We present average R-band optopolarimetric data, as well as variability parameters, from the first and second RoboPol observing season. We investigate whether gamma- ray--loud and gamma-ray--quiet blazars exhibit systematic differences in their optical polarization properties. We find that gamma-ray--loud blazars have a systematically higher polarization fraction (0.092) than gamma-ray--quiet blazars (0.031), with the hypothesis of the two samples being drawn from the same distribution of polarization fractions being rejected at the 3{\sigma} level. We have not found any evidence that this discrepancy is related to differences in the redshift distribution, rest-frame R-band lu- minosity density, or the source classification. The median polarization fraction versus synchrotron-peak-frequency plot shows an envelope implying that high synchrotron- peaked sources have a smaller range of median polarization fractions concentrated around lower values. Our gamma-ray--quiet sources show similar median polarization fractions although they are all low synchrotron-peaked. We also find that the random- ness of the polarization angle depends on the synchrotron peak frequency. For high synchrotron-peaked sources it tends to concentrate around preferred directions while for low synchrotron-peaked sources it is more variable and less likely to have a pre- ferred direction. We propose a scenario which mediates efficient particle acceleration in shocks and increases the helical B-field component immediately downstream of the shock.
We use NuSTAR observations of the Galactic Center to search for X-ray lines from the radiative decays of sterile neutrino dark matter. Finding no evidence of unknown lines, we set limits on the sterile neutrino mass and mixing angle. In most of the mass range 10-50 keV, these are now the strongest limits, at some masses improving upon previous limits by a factor of ~10. When combined with constraints on the primordial lepton asymmetry and structure formation, the allowed mass range of the the $\nu$MSM framework is reduced by more than half. Future NuSTAR observations may be able to cover much of the remaining parameter space.
Planning to explore the beginning of the Universe? A lightweight introductory guide to the theory of Inflation.
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Constrained realisations of Gaussian random fields are used in cosmology to design special initial conditions for numerical simulations. We review this approach and its application to density peaks providing several worked-out examples. We then critically discuss the recent proposal to use constrained realisations to modify the linear density field within and around the Lagrangian patches that form dark-matter haloes. The ambitious concept is to forge `genetically modified' haloes with some desired properties after the non-linear evolution. We demonstrate that the original implementation of this method is not exact but approximate because it tacitly assumes that protohaloes sample a set of random points with a fixed mean overdensity. We show that carrying out a full genetic modification is a formidable and daunting task requiring a mathematical understanding of what determines the biased locations of protohaloes in the linear density field. We discuss approximate solutions based on educated guesses regarding the nature of protohaloes. We illustrate how the excursion-set method can be adapted to predict the non-linear evolution of the modified patches and thus fine tune the constraints that are necessary to obtain preselected halo properties. This technique allows us to explore the freedom around the original algorithm for genetic modification. We find that the quantity which is most sensitive to changes is the halo mass-accretion rate at the mass scale on which the constraints are set. Finally we discuss constraints based on the protohalo angular momenta.
In recent years, significant progress has been made in building new galaxy clusters samples, at low and high redshifts, from wide-area surveys, particularly exploiting the Sunyaev--Zel'dovich (SZ) effect. A large effort is underway to identify and characterize these new systems with optical/NIR and X-ray facilities, thus opening new avenues to constraint cosmological models using structure growth and geometrical tests. A census of galaxy clusters sets constraints on reionization mechanisms and epochs, which need to be reconciled with recent limits on the reionization optical depth from cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. Future advances in SZ effect measurements will include the possibility to (unambiguously) measure directly the kinematic SZ effect, to build an even larger catalogue of galaxy clusters able to study the high redshift universe, and to make (spatially-)resolved galaxy cluster maps with even spectral capability to (spectrally-)resolve the relativistic corrections of the SZ effect.
The recent discovery of gravitational waves from mergers of $\sim 10 \, M_{\odot}$ black hole binaries has stimulated interested in Primordial Black Hole dark matter in this mass range. Microlensing and dynamical constraints exclude all of the dark matter being in compact objects with a delta function mass function in the range $10^{-7} \lesssim M/ M_{\odot} \lesssim 10^{5}$. However it has been argued that all of the dark matter could be composed of compact objects in this range with an extended mass function. We explicitly recalculate the microlensing and dynamical constraints for compact objects with an extended mass function which replicates the PBH mass function produced by inflation models. We find that the microlensing and dynamical constraints place conflicting constraints on the width of the mass function, and do not find a mass function which satisfies both constraints.
The chameleon model is a scalar field theory with a screening mechanism that explains how a cosmologically relevant light scalar can avoid the constraints of intra-solar-system searches for fifth-forces. The chameleon is a popular dark energy candidate and also arises in $f(R)$ theories of gravity. Whilst the chameleon is designed to avoid historical searches for fifth-forces it is not unobservable and much effort has gone into identifying the best observables and experiments to detect it. These results are not always presented for the same models or in the same language, a particular problem when comparing astrophysical and laboratory searches making it difficult to understand what regions of parameter space remain. Here we present combined constraints on the chameleon model from astrophysical and laboratory searches for the first time and identify the remaining windows of parameter space. We discuss the implications for cosmological chameleon searches and future small-scale probes.
Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) might have formed in the early Universe as a consequence of the collapse of density fluctuations with an amplitude above a critical value $\delta_{c}$: the formation threshold. Although for a radiation-dominated Universe $\delta_{c}$ remains constant, if the Universe experiences some dust-like phases (e.g. phase transitions) $\delta_{c}$ might decrease, improving the chances of PBH formation. We studied the evolution of $\delta_{c}$ during the QCD phase transition epoch within three different models: Bag Model (BM), Lattice Fit Model (LFM), and Crossover Model (CM). We found that the reduction on the background value of $\delta_{c}$ can be as high as $77\%$ (BM), which might imply a $\sim10^{-10}$ probability of PBHs forming at the QCD epoch.
We explore general scalar-tensor models in the presence of a kinetic mixing between matter and the scalar field, which we call Kinetic Matter Mixing. In the frame where gravity is de-mixed from the scalar this is due to disformal couplings of matter species to the gravitational sector, with disformal coefficients that depend on the gradient of the scalar field. In the frame where matter is minimally coupled, it originates from the so-called beyond Horndeski quadratic Lagrangian. We extend the Effective Theory of Interacting Dark Energy by allowing disformal coupling coefficients to depend on the gradient of the scalar field as well. In this very general approach, we derive the conditions to avoid ghost and gradient instabilities and we define Kinetic Matter Mixing independently of the frame metric used to described the action. We study its phenomenological consequences for a $\Lambda$CDM background evolution, first analytically on small scales. Then, we compute the matter power spectrum and the angular spectra of the CMB anisotropies and the CMB lensing potential, on all scales. We employ the public version of COOP, a numerical Einstein-Boltzmann solver that implements very general scalar-tensor modifications of gravity. Rather uniquely, Kinetic Matter Mixing weakens gravity on short scales, predicting a lower $\sigma_8$ with respect to the $\Lambda$CDM case. We propose this as a possible solution to the tension between the CMB best-fit model and low-redshift observables.
The z = 6.6 Lyman-$\alpha$ emitter 'CR7' has been claimed to have a Population III-like stellar population, or alternatively, be a candidate Direct Collapse Black Hole (DCBH). In this paper we investigate the evidence for these exotic scenarios using recently available, deeper, optical, near-infrared and mid-infrared imaging. We find strong Spitzer/IRAC detections for the main component of CR7 at 3.6 and 4.5 microns, and show that it has a blue colour ([3.6] - [4.5] $= -1.2\pm 0.3$). This colour cannot be reproduced by current Pop. III or pristine DCBH models. Instead, the results suggest that the [3.6] band is contaminated by the [OIII]4959,5007 emission line with an implied rest-frame equivalent width of EW_0 (H$\beta$ + [OIII]) $\gtrsim 2000$\AA. Furthermore, we find that new near-infrared data from the UltraVISTA survey supports a weaker He II 1640 emission line than previously measured, with EW_0 $= 40 \pm 30$\AA. For the fainter components of CR7 visible in Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we find no evidence that they are particularly red as previously claimed, and show that the derived masses and ages are considerably uncertain. In light of the likely detection of strong [OIII] emission in CR7 we discuss other more standard interpretations of the system that are consistent with the data. We find that a low-mass, narrow-line AGN can reproduce the observed features of CR7, including the lack of radio and X-ray detections. Alternatively, a young, low-metallicity (~1/2000 solar) starburst, modelled including binary stellar pathways, can reproduce the inferred strength of the He II and [OIII] emission, and simultaneously satisfy the observational upper limits on metal lines.
We compute the entanglement and R\'enyi entropy growth after a global quench in various dimensions in free scalar field theory. We study two types of quenches: a boundary state quench and a global mass quench. Both of these quenches are investigated for a strip geometry in 1, 2, and 3 spatial dimensions, and for a spherical geometry in 2 and 3 spatial dimensions. We compare the numerical results for massless free scalars in these geometries with the predictions of the analytical quasiparticle model based on EPR pairs, and find excellent agreement in the limit of large region sizes. At subleading order in the region size, we observe an anomalous logarithmic growth of entanglement coming from the zero mode of the scalar.
We entertain the possibility that primordial black holes of mass $\sim (10^{24} - 10^{26})$ g, with sub-millimeter Schwarzschild radii, constitute all or a significant fraction of cosmic dark matter, as allowed by various constraints. In case such primordial black holes get captured in orbits around neutron stars or astrophysical black holes in our galactic neighborhood, gravitational waves from the resulting "David & Goliath" binaries could be detectable at Advanced LIGO or Advanced Virgo from days to years, for a range of possible parameters. The proposed Einstein Telescope would further expand the reach for dark matter primordial black holes in this search mode.
Context. QSO B0218+357 is a gravitationally lensed blazar located at a redshift of 0.944. The gravitational lensing splits the emitted radiation into two components, spatially indistinguishable by gamma-ray instruments, but separated by a 10-12 day delay. In July 2014, QSO B0218+357 experienced a violent flare observed by the Fermi-LAT and followed by the MAGIC telescopes. Aims. The spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 can give information on the energetics of z ~ 1 very high energy gamma- ray sources. Moreover the gamma-ray emission can also be used as a probe of the extragalactic background light at z ~ 1. Methods. MAGIC performed observations of QSO B0218+357 during the expected arrival time of the delayed component of the emission. The MAGIC and Fermi-LAT observations were accompanied by quasi-simultaneous optical data from the KVA telescope and X-ray observations by Swift-XRT. We construct a multiwavelength spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 and use it to model the source. The GeV and sub-TeV data, obtained by Fermi-LAT and MAGIC, are used to set constraints on the extragalactic background light. Results. Very high energy gamma-ray emission was detected from the direction of QSO B0218+357 by the MAGIC telescopes during the expected time of arrival of the trailing component of the flare, making it the farthest very high energy gamma-ray sources detected to date. The observed emission spans the energy range from 65 to 175 GeV. The combined MAGIC and Fermi-LAT spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 is consistent with current extragalactic background light models. The broad band emission can be modeled in the framework of a two zone external Compton scenario, where the GeV emission comes from an emission region in the jet, located outside the broad line region.
An algorithm is used to generate new solutions of the scalar field equations in homogeneous and isotropic universes. Solutions can be found for pure scalar fields with various potentials in the absence and presence of spatial curvature and other perfect fluids. A series of generalisations of the Chaplygin gas and bulk viscous cosmological solutions for inflationary universes are found. We also show how the Hubble slow-roll parameters can be calculated using the solution algorithm and we compare these inflationary solutions with the observational data provided by the Planck 2015 collaboration in order to constraint and rule out some of these models.
The nature of the scalar field responsible for the cosmological inflation, the "inflaton", is found to be rooted in the most fundamental concept of the Weyl's differential geometry: the parallel displacement of vectors in curved space-time. The Euler-Lagrange theory based on a scalar-tensor Weyl-Dirac Lagrangian leads straightforwardly to the Einstein equation admitting as a source the characteristic energy-momentum tensor of the inflaton field. Within the dynamics of the inflation, e.g. in the slow roll transition from a "false" toward a "true vacuum", the inflaton's geometry implies a temperature driven symmetry change between a highly symmetrical Weylan to a low symmetry Riemannian scenario. Since the dynamics of the Weyl curvature scalar, constructed over differentials of the inflaton field, has been found to account for the quantum phenomenology at the microscopic scale, the present work suggests interesting connections between the "micro" and the "macro" aspects of our Universe.
We analyze the effect of gravitational back reaction on cosmic string loops with kinks, which is an important determinant of the shape, and thus the potential observability, of string loops which may exist in the universe today. Kinks are not rounded off, but may be straightened out. In some loops, symmetries prevent even this process, so that the loop evaporates in a self-similar fashion and the kinks are unchanged. As an example, we give results for the rectangular Garfinkle-Vachaspati loop.
We recently showed how it is possible to use a cubic Galileon action to construct classical cosmological solutions that enter a contracting null energy condition (NEC) violating phase, bounce at finite values of the scale factor and exit into an expanding NEC-satisfying phase without encountering any singularities or pathologies. A drawback of these examples is that singular behavior is encountered at some time either just before or just after the NEC-violating phase. In this Letter, we show that it is possible to circumvent this problem by extending our method to actions that include the next order ${\cal L}_4$ Galileon interaction. Using this approach, we construct non-singular classical bouncing cosmological solutions that are non-pathological for all times.
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Using a Monte Carlo random walks of a log-normal distribution, we show how to qualitatively study void properties for non-standard cosmologies. We apply this method to an f(R) modified gravity model and recover the N-body simulation results of (Achitouv et al. 2016) for the void profiles and their deviation from GR. This method can potentially be extended to study other properties of the large scale structures such as the abundance of voids or overdense environments. We also introduce a new way to identify voids in the cosmic web, using only a few measurements of the density fluctuations around random positions. This algorithm allows to select voids with specific profiles and radii. As a consequence, we can target classes of voids with higher differences between f(R) and standard gravity void profiles. Finally we apply our void criteria to galaxy mock catalogues and discuss how the flexibility of our void finder can be used to reduce systematics errors when probing the growth rate in the galaxy-void correlation function.
We investigate primordial black hole formation in the matter-dominated phase of the Universe, where nonspherical effects in gravitational collapse play a crucial role. This is in contrast to the black hole formation in a radiation-dominated era. We apply the Zel'dovich approximation, Thorne's hoop conjecture, and Doroshkevich's probability distribution and subsequently derive the production probability $\beta_{0}$ of primordial black holes. The numerical result obtained is applicable even if the density fluctuation $\sigma$ at horizon entry is of the order of unity. For $\sigma\ll 1$, we find a semi-analytic formula $\beta_{0}\simeq 0.05556 \sigma^{5}$, which is comparable with the Khlopov-Polnarev formula. We find that the production probability in the matter-dominated era is much larger than that in the radiation-dominated era for $\sigma\lesssim 0.05$, while they are comparable with each other for $\sigma\gtrsim 0.05$. We also discuss how $\sigma$ can be written in terms of primordial curvature perturbations.
By absorbing fluctuations into a local background, separate universe simulations provide a powerful technique to characterize the response of small-scale observables to the long-wavelength density fluctuations, for example those of the power spectrum and halo mass function which lead to the squeezed-limit $n$-point function and halo bias, respectively. Using quintessence dark energy as the paradigmatic example, we extend these simulation techniques to cases where non-gravitational forces in other sectors establish a Jeans scale across which the growth of density fluctuations becomes scale dependent. By characterizing the separate universes with matching background expansion histories, we show that the power spectrum and mass function responses depend on whether the long-wavelength mode is above or below the Jeans scale. Correspondingly, the squeezed bispectrum and halo bias also become scale dependent. Models of bias that are effectively local in the density field at a single epoch, initial or observed, cannot describe this effect which highlights the importance of temporal nonlocality in structure formation. Validated by these quintessence tests, our techniques are applicable to a wide range of models where the complex dynamics of additional fields affect the clustering of matter in the linear regime and it would otherwise be difficult to simulate their impact in the nonlinear regime.
We investigate the early Universe production of sterile neutrino Dark Matter by the decays of singlet scalars. All previous studies applied simplifying assumptions and/or studied the process only on the level of number densities, which makes it impossible to give statements about cosmic structure formation. We overcome these issues by dropping all simplifying assumptions (except for one we showed earlier to work perfectly) and by computing the full course of Dark Matter production on the level of non-thermal momentum distribution functions. We are thus in the position to study all aspects of the resulting settings and apply all relevant bounds in a reliable manner. We have a particular focus on how to incorporate bounds from structure formation on the level of the linear power spectrum, since the simplistic estimate using the free-streaming horizon clearly fails for highly non-thermal distributions. Our work comprises the most detailed and comprehensive study of sterile neutrino Dark Matter production by scalar decays presented so far.
We constrain the shape of the Milky Way's halo by dynamical modeling of the observed phase-space tracks of the Pal 5 and GD-1 tidal streams. We find that the only information about the potential gleaned from the tracks of these streams are precise measurements of the shape of the gravitational potential---the ratio of vertical to radial acceleration---at the location of the streams, with weaker constraints on the radial and vertical accelerations separately. The latter will improve significantly with precise proper-motion measurements from Gaia. We measure that the overall potential flattening is 0.95 +/- 0.04 at the location of GD-1 ([R,z] ~ [12.5,6.7] kpc) and 0.94 +/- 0.05 at the position of Pal 5 ([R,z] ~ [8.4,16.8] kpc). Combined with constraints on the force field near the Galactic disk, we determine that the axis ratio of the dark-matter halo's density distribution is 1.05 +/- 0.14 within the inner 20 kpc, with a hint that the halo becomes more flattened near the edge of this volume. The halo mass within 20 kpc is 1.1 +/- 0.1 x 10^{11} M_sun. A dark-matter halo this close to spherical is in tension with the predictions from numerical simulations of the formation of dark-matter halos.
It is understood that in free bosonic theories, the classical field theory accurately describes the full quantum theory when the occupancy numbers of systems are very large. However, the situation is less understood in interacting theories, especially on time scales longer than the dynamical relaxation time. Recently there have been claims that the quantum theory deviates spectacularly from the classical theory on this time scale, even if the occupancy numbers are extremely large. Furthermore, it is claimed that the quantum theory quickly thermalizes while the classical theory does not. The evidence for these claims comes from noticing a spectacular difference in the time evolution of expectation values of quantum operators compared to the classical micro-state evolution. If true, this would have dramatic consequences for many important phenomena, including laboratory studies of interacting BECs, dark matter axions, preheating after inflation, etc. In this work we critically examine these claims. We show that in fact the classical theory can describe the quantum behavior in the high occupancy regime, even when interactions are large. The connection is that the expectation values of quantum operators in a single quantum micro-state are approximated by the corresponding classical ensemble average over many classical micro-states. Furthermore, by the ergodic theorem, the classical ensemble average of local fields with statistical translation invariance is the spatial average of a single micro-state. So the correlation functions of the quantum and classical field theories of a single micro-state approximately agree at high occupancy, even in interacting systems. Furthermore, both quantum and classical field theories can thermalize, when appropriate coarse graining is introduced, with the classical case requiring a cutoff on low occupancy UV modes. We discuss applications of our results.
We present the discovery of a molecular cloud at zabs=2.5255 along the line of sight to the quasar J0000+0048. We perform a detailed analysis of the absorption lines from ionic, neutral atomic and molecular species in different excitation levels, as well as the broad-band dust extinction. We find that the absorber classifies as a Damped Lyman-alpha system (DLA) with logN(HI)(cm^-2)=20.8+/-0.1. The DLA has super-Solar metallicity with a depletion pattern typical of cold gas and an overall molecular fraction ~50%. This is the highest f-value observed to date in a high-z intervening system. Most of the molecular hydrogen arises from a clearly identified narrow (b~0.7 km/s), cold component in which CO molecules are also found, with logN(CO)~15. We study the chemical and physical conditions in the cold gas. We find that the line of sight probes the gas deep after the HI-to-H2 transition in a ~4-5 pc-size cloud with volumic density nH~80 cm^-3 and temperature of only 50 K. Our model suggests that the presence of small dust grains (down to about 0.001 {\mu}m) and high cosmic ray ionisation rate (zeta_H a few times 10^-15 s^-1) are needed to explain the observed atomic and molecular abundances. The presence of small grains is also in agreement with the observed steep extinction curve that also features a 2175 A bump. The properties of this cloud are very similar to what is seen in diffuse molecular regions of the nearby Perseus complex. The high excitation temperature of CO rotational levels towards J0000+0048 betrays however the higher temperature of the cosmic microwave background. Using the derived physical conditions, we correct for a small contribution (0.3 K) of collisional excitation and obtain TCMB(z = 2.53)~9.6 K, in perfect agreement with the predicted adiabatic cooling of the Universe. [abridged]
We construct gravitational modifications that go beyond Horndeski, namely theories with extended nonminimal derivative couplings, in which the coefficient functions depend not only on the scalar field but also on its kinetic energy. Such theories prove to be ghost-free in a cosmological background. We investigate the early-time cosmology and show that a de Sitter inflationary phase can be realized as a pure result of the novel gravitational couplings. Additionally, we study the late-time evolution, where we obtain an effective dark energy sector which arises from the scalar field and its extended couplings to gravity. We extract various cosmological observables and analyse their behavior at small redshifts for three choices of potentials, namely, for the exponential, the power-law, and the Higgs potential. We show that the Universe passes from deceleration to acceleration in the recent cosmological past, while the effective dark-energy equation-of-state parameter tends to the cosmological-constant value at present. Finally, the effective dark energy can be phantom-like, although the scalar field is canonical, which is an advantage of the model.
We numerically solve the evolution equations of neutrino three-flavor density matrices, and show that, even if neutrino oscillations mix neutrino flavors, large lepton number asymmetries are still allowed in certain limits by Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN).
We calculate the metric and affine connection due to a piecewise linear cosmic string loop, and the effect of gravitational back reaction for the Garfinkle-Vachaspati loop with four straight segments. As expected, back reaction reduces the size of the loop, in accord with the energy going into gravitational waves. The "square" loop whose generators lie at right angles evaporates without changing shape, but in all other cases, the kinks become less sharp and segments between kinks become curved. If the loop is close to the square case, the loop will evaporate before its kinks are significantly changed; if it is far from square, the opening out of the kinks is much faster than evaporation of the loop. In more realistic loops, the curvature of the straight segments due to gravitational back reaction may lead to cusps which did not exist in the original shape with the bending of the string concentrated at kinks.
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Fiber-fed multi-object spectroscopic surveys, with their ability to collect
an unprecedented number of redshifts, currently dominate large-scale structure
studies. However, physical constraints limit these surveys from successfully
collecting redshifts from galaxies too close to each other on the focal plane.
This ultimately leads to significant systematic effects on galaxy clustering
measurements. Using simulated mock catalogs, we demonstrate that fiber
collisions have a significant impact on the power spectrum, $P(k)$, monopole
and quadrupole that exceeds sample variance at scales smaller than
$k\sim0.1~h/Mpc$.
We present two methods to account for fiber collisions in the power spectrum.
The first, statistically reconstructs the clustering of fiber collided galaxy
pairs by modeling the distribution of the line-of-sight displacements between
them. It also properly accounts for fiber collisions in the shot-noise
correction term of the $P(k)$ estimator. Using this method, we recover the true
$P(k)$ monopole of the mock catalogs with residuals of $<0.5\%$ at
$k=0.3~h/Mpc$ and $<4\%$ at $k=0.83~h/Mpc$ -- a significant improvement over
existing correction methods. The quadrupole, however, does not improve
significantly.
The second method models the effect of fiber collisions on the power spectrum
as a convolution with a configuration space top-hat function that depends on
the physical scale of fiber collisions. It directly computes theoretical
predictions of the fiber-collided $P(k)$ multipoles and reduces the influence
of smaller scales to a set of nuisance parameters. Using this method, we
reliably model the effect of fiber collisions on the monopole and quadrupole
down to the scale limits of theoretical predictions. The methods we present in
this paper will allow us to robustly analyze galaxy power spectrum multipole
measurements to much smaller scales than previously possible.
In the next few years, intensity-mapping surveys that target lines such as CO, Ly$\alpha$, and CII stand to provide powerful probes of high-redshift astrophysics. However, these line emissions are highly non-Gaussian, and so the typical power-spectrum methods used to study these maps will leave out a significant amount of information. We propose a new statistic, the probability distribution of voxel intensities, which can access this extra information. Using a model of a CO intensity map at $z\sim3$ as an example, we demonstrate that this voxel intensity distribution (VID) provides substantial constraining power beyond what is obtainable from the power spectrum alone. We find that a future survey similar to the planned COMAP Full experiment could constrain the CO luminosity function to order $\sim10\%$. We also explore the effects of contamination from continuum emission, interloper lines, and gravitational lensing on our constraints and find that the VID statistic retains significant constraining power even in pessimistic scenarios.
We present the improved visibility based Tapered Gridded Estimator (TGE) for the power spectrum of the diffuse sky signal. The visibilities are gridded to reduce the computation, and tapered through a convolution to suppress the contribution from the outer regions of the telescope's field of view. The TGE also internally estimates the noise bias, and subtracts this out to give an unbiased estimate of the power spectrum. An earlier version of the 2D TGE for the angular power spectrum $C_{\ell}$ is improved and then extended to obtain the 3D TGE for the power spectrum $P({\bf k})$ of the 21-cm brightness temperature fluctuations. Analytic formulas are also presented for predicting the variance of the binned power spectrum. The estimator and its variance predictions are validated using simulations of $150 \, {\rm MHz}$ GMRT observations. We find that the estimator accurately recovers the input model for the 1D Spherical Power Spectrum $P(k)$ and the 2D Cylindrical Power Spectrum $P(k_\perp,k_\parallel)$, and the predicted variance is also in reasonably good agreement with the simulations.
Thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) power spectrum is one of the most sensitive methods to constrain cosmological parameters, scaling as the amplitude $\sigma_8^8$. It is determined by the integral over the halo mass function multiplied by the total pressure content of clusters, and further convolved by the cluster gas pressure profile. It has been shown that various feedback effects can change significantly the pressure profile, strongly affecting the tSZ power spectrum at high $l$. Energetics arguments and SZ-halo mass scaling relations suggest feedback is unlikely to significantly change the total pressure content, making low $l$ tSZ power spectrum more robust against feedback effects. Furthermore, the separation between the cosmic infrared background (CIB) and tSZ is more reliable at low $l$. Low $l$ modes are however probing very small volumes, giving rise to very large non-gaussian sampling variance errors. By computing the trispectrum contribution we identify $90<l<250$ as the minimum variance scale where the combined error is minimized. We extend the work by the Planck collaboration by including a full trispectrum and feedback effects in the analysis. We perform a Markov-Chain Monte Carlo analysis over the two dimensional parameter space and find constraints on $\sigma_8$ by marginalizing over the feedback nuisance parameter. We obtain $\sigma_8 = 0.831^{+0.024}_{-0.013}$, when fixing other parameters to Planck cosmology values. Our results suggest it is possible to obtain competitive cosmological constraints from tSZ without cluster redshift information, and that the current tSZ power spectrum shows no evidence for a low amplitude of $\sigma_8$.
We study the main cosmological properties of the agegraphic dark energy model at the expansion and perturbation levels. Initially, using the latest cosmological data we implement a joint likelihood analysis in order to constrain the cosmological parameters. Then we test the performance of the agegraphic dark energy model at the perturbation level and we define its difference from the usual $\Lambda$CDM model. Within this context, we verify that the growth index of matter fluctuations depends on the choice of the considered agegraphic dark energy (homogeneous or clustered). In particular, assuming a homogeneous agegraphic dark energy we find, for the first time, that the asymptotic value of the growth index is $\gamma \approx 5/9$, which is close to that of the usual $\Lambda$ cosmology, $\gamma^{(\Lambda)} \approx 6/11$. Finally, if the distribution of dark energy is clustered then we obtain $\gamma \approx 1/2$ which is $\sim 8\%$ smaller than that of the $\Lambda$CDM model.
The properties of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarisation anisotropies measured by a static, off-centered observer located in a local spherically symmetric void, are described. In particular in this paper we compute, together with the standard 2- point angular correlation functions, the off-diagonal correlators, which are no more vanishing by symmetry. While the energy shift induced by the off-centered position of the observer can be suppressed by a proper choice of the observer velocity, a lensing-like effect on the CMB emission point remains. This latter effect is genuinely geometrical (e.g. non-degenerate with a boost) and reflects in the structure of the off-diagonal correlators. At lowest order in this effect, the temperature and polarisation correlation matrices have non-vanishing diagonal elements, as usual, and all the off-diagonal terms are excited. This particular signature of a local void model allows one, in principle, to disentangle geometrical effects from local kinematical ones in CMB observations.
Here we utilise recent measures of galaxy total dynamical mass and X-ray gas luminosities (L$_{X,Gas}$) for a sample of 29 massive early-type galaxies from the SLUGGS survey to probe L$_{X,Gas}$--mass scaling relations. In particular, we investigate scalings with stellar mass, dynamical mass within 5 effective radii (R$_e$) and total virial mass. We also compare these relations with predictions from $\Lambda$CDM simulations. We find a strong linear relationship between L$_{X,Gas}$ and galaxy dynamical mass within 5 R$_e$, which is consistent with the recent cosmological simulations of Choi et al. that incorporate mechanical heating from AGN. We conclude that the gas surrounding massive early-type galaxies was shock heated as it fell into collapsing dark matter halos so that L$_{X,Gas}$ is primarily driven by the depth of a galaxy's potential well. Heating by an AGN plays an important secondary role in determining L$_{X,Gas}$.
The predicted abundance and properties of the low-mass substructures embedded inside larger dark matter haloes differ sharply among alternative dark matter models. Too small to host galaxies themselves, these subhaloes may still be detected via gravitational lensing, or via perturbations of the Milky Way's globular cluster streams and its stellar disk. Here we use the Apostle cosmological simulations to predict the abundance and the spatial and velocity distributions of subhaloes in the range 10^6.5-10^8.5 solar masses inside haloes of mass ~ 10^12 solar masses in LCDM. Although these subhaloes are themselves devoid of baryons, we find that baryonic effects are important. Compared to corresponding dark matter only simulations, the loss of baryons from subhaloes and stronger tidal disruption due to the presence of baryons near the centre of the main halo, reduce the number of subhaloes by ~ 1/4 to 1/2, independently of subhalo mass, but increasingly towards the host halo centre. We also find that subhaloes have non-Maxwellian orbital velocity distributions, with centrally rising velocity anisotropy and positive velocity bias which reduces the number of low-velocity subhaloes, particularly near the halo centre. We parameterise the predicted population of subhaloes in terms of mass, galactocentric distance, and velocities. We discuss implications of our results for the prospects of detecting dark matter substructures and for possible inferences about the nature of dark matter.
We present zoom-in, AMR, high-resolution ($\simeq 30$ pc) simulations of high-redshift ($z \simeq 6$) galaxies with the aim of characterizing their internal properties and interstellar medium. Among other features, we adopt a star formation model based on a physically-sound molecular hydrogen prescription, and introduce a novel scheme for supernova feedback, stellar winds and dust-mediated radiation pressure. In the zoom-in simulation the target halo hosts "Dahlia", a galaxy with a stellar mass $M_*=1.6\times 10^{10}$M$_\odot$, representative of a typical $z\sim 6$ Lyman Break Galaxy. Dahlia has a total H2 mass of $10^{8.5}$M$_\odot$, that is mainly concentrated in a disk-like structure of effective radius $\simeq 0.6$ kpc and scale height $\simeq 200$ pc. Frequent mergers drive fresh gas towards the center of the disk, sustaining a star formation rate per unit area of $\simeq 15 $M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-2}$. The disk is composed by dense ($n \gtrsim 25$ cm$^{-3}$), metal-rich ($Z \simeq 0.5 $ Z$_\odot$) gas, that is pressure-supported by radiation. We compute the $158\mu$m [CII] emission arising from {Dahlia}, and find that $\simeq 95\%$ of the total [CII] luminosity ($L_{[CII]}\simeq10^{7.5}$ L$_\odot$) arises from the H2 disk. Although $30\%$ of the CII mass is transported out of the disk by outflows, such gas negligibly contributes to [CII] emission, due to its low density ($n \lesssim 10$ cm$^{-3}$) and metallicity ($Z\lesssim 10^{-1}$Z$_\odot$). Dahlia is under-luminous with respect to the local [CII]-SFR relation; however, its luminosity is consistent with upper limits derived for most $z\sim6$ galaxies.
The Bondi-Sachs formalism of General Relativity is a metric-based treatment of the Einstein equations in which the coordinates are adapted to the null geodesics of the spacetime. It provided the first convincing evidence that gravitational radiation is a nonlinear effect of general relativity and that the emission of gravitational waves from an isolated system is accompanied by a mass loss from the system. The asymptotic behaviour of the Bondi-Sachs metric revealed the existence of the symmetry group at null infinity, the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs group, which turned out to be larger than the Poincare group.
In this work we investigate the semi-classical backreaction for a quantised conformal scalar field and classical vacuum energy. In contrast to the usual approximation of a closed system, our analysis includes an environmental sector such that a quantum-to-classical transition can take place. We show that when the environment decoheres the system into a mixed state with particle number as the classical observable de Sitter space is destabilized, which is observable as a gradually decreasing Hubble rate. In particular we show that at late times this mechanism can drive the curvature of the Universe to zero and has an interpretation as the decay of the vacuum energy demonstrating that quantum effects can be relevant for the fate of the Universe.
We present a brief qualitative overview of the current state of the problem of Hubble expansion at the sufficiently small scales (e.g., in planetary systems or local intergalactic volume). The crucial drawbacks of the available theoretical treatments are emphasized, and the possible ways to avoid them are outlined. Attention is drawn to a number of observable astronomical phenomena that could be naturally explained by the local Hubble expansion.
We investigate the contentious issue of the presence, or lack thereof, of satellites mass segregation in galaxy groups using the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, the GALFORM semi-analytic and the EAGLE cosmological hydrodynamical simulation catalogues of galaxy groups. We select groups with halo mass $12 \leqslant \log(M_{\text{halo}}/h^{-1}M_\odot) <14.5$ and redshift $z \leqslant 0.32$ and probe the radial distribution of stellar mass out to twice the group virial radius. All the samples are carefully constructed to be complete in stellar mass at each redshift range and efforts are made to regularise the analysis for all the data. Our study shows negligible mass segregation in galaxy group environments with absolute gradients of $\lesssim0.08$ dex and also shows a lack of any redshift evolution. Moreover, we find that our results at least for the GAMA data are robust to different halo mass and group centre estimates. Furthermore, the EAGLE data allows us to probe much fainter luminosities ($r$-band magnitude of 22) as well as investigate the three-dimensional spatial distribution with intrinsic halo properties, beyond what the current observational data can offer. In both cases we find that the fainter EAGLE data show a very mild spatial mass segregation at $z \leqslant 0.22$, which is again not apparent at higher redshift. Interestingly, our results are in contrast to some earlier findings using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We investigate the source of the disagreement and suggest that subtle differences between the group finding algorithms could be the root cause.
We study the collective behaviour of a chiral plasma, for the first and second order conformal hydrodynamics. We have shown that in the early Universe, when the Universe was in thermal equilibrium and there was an asymmetry in the number densities of right and left handed particles, few modes grow exponentially for the values of wave number $k \leq \xi^B$. However, by using conformal first order hydro, we have shown that in a quasi-equilibrium state of the chiral plasma, waves moving parallel or perpendicular to the background magnetic field, get split into two modes similar to the fast and slow hydrodynamic modes in the standard plasma. However, for the second order conformal hydrodynamics, dispersion relation has a series of terms proportional to different powers of $k$. These terms are in accordance with the results obtained using ADS/CFT correspondence.
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For the first time, we explore the dynamics of the central region of a galaxy cluster within $r_{500}\sim 600h^{-1}$~kpc from its center by combining optical and X-ray spectroscopy. We use (1) the caustic technique that identifies the cluster substructures and their galaxy members with optical spectroscopic data, and (2) the X-ray redshift fitting procedure that estimates the redshift distribution of the intracluster medium (ICM). We use the spatial and redshift distributions of the galaxies and of the X-ray emitting gas to associate the optical substructures to the X-ray regions. When we apply this approach to Abell 85 (A85), a complex dynamical structure of A85 emerges from our analysis: a galaxy group, with redshift $z=0.0509 \pm 0.0021$ is passing through the cluster center along the line of sight dragging part of the ICM present in the cluster core; two additional groups, at redshift $z=0.0547 \pm 0.0022$ and $z=0.0570 \pm 0.0020$, are going through the cluster in opposite directions, almost perpendicularly to the line of sight, and have substantially perturbed the dynamics of the ICM. An additional group in the outskirts of A85, at redshift $z=0.0561 \pm 0.0023$, is associated to a secondary peak of the X-ray emission, at redshift $z=0.0583^{+0.0039}_{-0.0047}$. Although our analysis and results on A85 need to be confirmed by high-resolution spectroscopy, they demonstrate how our new approach can be a powerful tool to constrain the formation history of galaxy clusters by unveiling their central and surrounding structures.
The early star-forming Universe is still poorly constrained, with the properties of high-redshift stars, the first heating sources, and reionization highly uncertain. This leaves observers planning 21-cm experiments with little theoretical guidance. In this work we explore the possible range of high-redshift parameters including the star formation efficiency and the minimal mass of star-forming halos; the efficiency, spectral energy distribution, and redshift evolution of the first X-ray sources; and the history of reionization. These parameters are only weakly constrained by available observations, mainly the optical depth to the cosmic microwave background. We use realistic semi-numerical simulations to produce the global 21-cm signal over the redshift range $z = 6-40$ for each of 181 different combinations of the astrophysical parameters spanning the allowed range. We show that the expected signal fills a large parameter space, but with a fixed general shape for the global 21-cm curve. Even with our wide selection of models we still find clear correlations between the key features of the global 21-cm signal and underlying astrophysical properties of the high redshift Universe, namely the Ly$\alpha$ intensity, the X-ray heating rate, and the production rate of ionizing photons. These correlations can be used to directly link future measurements of the global 21-cm signal to astrophysical quantities in a mostly model-independent way. We identify additional correlations that can be used as consistency checks.
We performed the photometric analysis of M2 and M92 globular clusters in g and r bands of SLOAN photometric system. We transformed these g and r bands into BV bands of Johnson-Cousins photometric system and built the color magnitude diagram (CMD). We estimated the age, and metallicity of both the clusters, by fitting Padova isochrones of different age and metallicities onto the CMD. We studied Einstein and de Sitter model, bench mark model, the cosmological parameters by WMAP and Planck surveys. Finally, we compared estimated age of globular clusters to the ages from the cosmological models and cosmological parameters values of WMAP and Planck surveys.
We use a spherical model and an extended excursion set formalism with drifting diffusive barriers to predict the abundance of cosmic voids in the context of general relativity as well as f(R) and symmetron models of modified gravity. We detect spherical voids from a suite of N-body simulations of these gravity theories and compare the measured void abundance to theory predictions. We find that our model correctly describes the abundance of both dark matter and galaxy voids, providing a better fit than previous proposals in the literature based on static barriers. We use the simulation abundance results to fit for the abundance model free parameters as a function of modified gravity parameters, and show that counts of dark matter voids can provide interesting constraints on modified gravity. For galaxy voids, more closely related to optical observations, we find that constraining modified gravity from void abundance alone may be significantly more challenging. In the context of current and upcoming galaxy surveys, the combination of void and halo statistics including their abundances, profiles and correlations should be effective in distinguishing modified gravity models that display different screening mechanisms.
Suppression of H2-cooling in early protogalaxies has important implications for the formation of supermassive black holes seeds, the first generation of stars, and the epoch of reionization. This suppression can occur via photodissociation of H2 (by ultraviolet Lyman-Werner [LW] photons) or by photodetachment of H, a precursor in H2 formation (by infrared [IR] photons). Previous studies have typically adopted idealised spectra, with a blackbody or a power-law shape, in modeling the chemistry of metal-free protogalaxies, and utilised a single parameter, the critical UV flux, or Jcrit, to determine whether H2-cooling is prevented. Here we point out that this can be misleading, and that independent of the spectral shape, there is a critical curve in the (kLW,kH) plane, where kLW and kH are the H2-dissociation rates by LW and IR photons, which determines whether a protogalaxy can cool below ~1000 Kelvin. We use a one-zone model to follow the chemical and thermal evolution of gravitationally collapsing protogalactic gas, to compute this critical curve, and provide an accurate analytical fit for it. We then consider a variety of more realistic Pop III or Pop II-type spectra from population synthesis models, and perform fully frequency-dependent calculations of the H2-photodissociation rates for each spectrum. We compute the ratio kLW/kH for each spectrum, as well as the minimum stellar mass M*, for various IMFs and metallicities, required to prevent cooling in a neighboring halo a distance d away. We provide critical M*/d2 values for suppression of H2-cooling, with analytic fits, which can be used in future studies.
We report a new ultra-faint stellar system found in Dark Energy Camera data from the first observing run of the Magellanic Satellites Survey (MagLiteS). MagLiteS J0664-5953 (Pictor II or Pic II) is a low surface brightness ({\mu} = 28.5 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ within its half-light radius) resolved overdensity of old and metal-poor stars located at a heliocentric distance of 45 kpc. The physical size (r$_{1/2}$ = 46 pc) and low luminosity (Mv = -3.2 mag) of this satellite are consistent with the locus of spectroscopically confirmed ultra-faint galaxies. MagLiteS J0664-5953 (Pic II) is located 11.3 kpc from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), and comparisons with simulation results in the literature suggest that this satellite was likely accreted with the LMC. The close proximity of MagLiteS J0664-5953 (Pic II) to the LMC also makes it the most likely ultra-faint galaxy candidate to still be gravitationally bound to the LMC.
For a long time very little experimental information was available about neutrino properties, even though a minute neutrino mass has intriguing cosmological and astrophysical implications. This situation has changed in recent decades: intense experimental activity to measure many neutrino properties took place. Some of these developments and their implications for astrophysics and cosmology are briefly reviewed with a particular emphasis on neutrino magnetic moments and collective neutrino oscillations
We propose a novel particle physics model in which vector dark matter (VDM) and dark radiation (DR) originate from the same non-Abelian dark sector. We show an illustrating example where dark $SU(3)$ is spontaneously broken into $SU(2)$ subgroup by the nonzero vacuum expectation value of a complex scalar in fundamental representation of $SU(3)$. The massless gauge bosons associated with the residual unbroken $SU(2)$ constitute DR and help to relieve the tension in Hubble constant measurements between $\textit{Planck}$ and Hubble Space Telescope. In the meantime, massive dark gauge bosons associated with the broken generators are VDM candidates. Intrinsically, this non-Abelian VDM can interact with non-Abelian DR in the cosmic background, which results in a suppressed matter power spectrum and leads to a smaller $\sigma_8$ for structure formation.
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