We present a model to simulate CO rotational lines emission in molecular clouds taking into account their 3D spatial distribution across galaxies with different geometrical properties. The model implemented is based on recent results that appeared in the literature and has been designed to perform Monte-Carlo simulations of this emission. We compare the simulations produced with this model and calibrate them, both on map and power spectrum level, using Planck satellite 2015 data in the Galactic plane, where signal-to-noise ratio is higher. We use the calibrated model to extrapolate the CO power spectrum at low Galactic latitudes where high sensitivity observation are still missing. We then forecast the level of unresolved polarized emission of CO molecular clouds which could contaminate Cosmic Microwave Background polarization B-modes power spectrum away from the Galactic plane. Assuming realistic levels of polarization fraction we show that the level of contamination is equivalent to a cosmological signal with $r \lesssim 0.02$. The Monte-Carlo MOlecular Line Emission (MCMOLE3D) Python package implementing this model is made publicly available
Accurate rates for energy-degenerate l-changing collisions are needed to determine cosmological abundances and recombination. There are now several competing theories for the treatment of this process, and it is not possible to test these experimentally. We show that the H I two-photon continuum produced by astrophysical nebulae is strongly affected by l-changing collisions. We perform an analysis of the different underlying atomic processes and simulate the recombination and two-photon spectrum of a nebula containing H and He. We provide an extended set of effective recombination coefficients and updated l-changing 2s-2p transition rates using several competing theories. In principle, accurate astronomical observations could determine which theory is correct.
In this paper we report a 3$\sigma$ detection of an emission line at $\sim$3.5 keV in the spectrum of the Cosmic X-ray Background using a total of $\sim$10 Ms Chandra observations towards the COSMOS Legacy and CDFS survey fields. The line is detected with an intensity is 8.8$\pm{2.9}\times10^{-7}$ ph cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$. Based on our knowledge of $Chandra$, and the reported detection of the line by other instruments, we can rule out an instrumental origin for the line. We cannot though rule out a background fluctuation, in that case, with the current data, we place a 3$\sigma$ upper limit at 10$^{-6}$ ph cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$. We discuss the interpretation of this observed line in terms of the iron line background, S XVI charge exchange, as well as arising from sterile neutrino decay. We note that our detection is consistent with previous measurements of this line toward the Galactic center, and can be modeled as the result of sterile neutrino decay from the Milky Way when the dark matter distribution is modeled with an NFW profile. In this event, we estimate a mass m$_{s}\sim$7.02 keV and a mixing angle sin$^2$(2$\theta$)= 0.69-2.29 $\times 10^{-10}$. These derived values of the neutrino mass are in agreement with independent measurements toward galaxy clusters, the Galactic center and M31.
We report observations of CO(J=2-1) and CO(J=3-2) line emission towards the quadruply-lensed quasar RXS J1131-1231 at z = 0.654 obtained using the Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) and the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA). Our lens modeling shows that the asymmetry in the double-horned CO(J = 2-1) line profile is mainly a result of differential lensing, where the magnification factor varies from ~3 to ~9 across different kinematic components. The intrinsically symmetric line profile and a smooth source-plane velocity gradient suggest that the host galaxy is an extended rotating disk, with a CO size of R_CO~6 kpc and a dynamical mass of M_dyn~8x10^10 Msun. We also find a secondary CO-emitting source near RXS J1131-1231 whose location is consistent with the optically-faint companion reported in previous studies. The lensing-corrected molecular gas masses are M_gas = (1.4+/-0.3)x10^10 Msun and (2.0+/-0.1)x10^9 Msun for RXS J1131-1231 and the companion, respectively. We find a lensing-corrected stellar mass of M_* = (3+/-1)x10^10 Msun and a star formation rate of SFR_FIR = (120+/-63) Msun yr^-1 , corresponding to a specific SFR and star formation efficiency comparable to z~1 disk galaxies not hosting quasars. The implied gas mass fraction of ~18+/-4% is consistent with the previously-observed cosmic decline since z~2. We thus find no evidence for quenching of star formation in RXS J1131-1231. This agrees with our finding of an elevated MBH/Mbulge ratio of >0.27+0.11% -0.08 compared to the local value, suggesting that the bulk of its black hole mass is largely in place while its stellar bulge is still assembling.
We perform an exhaustive scan of the allowed resonant production regime for sterile neutrino dark matter in order to improve constraints for dark matter structures which arise from the non-thermal sterile neutrino energy spectra. Small-scale structure constraints are particularly sensitive to large lepton asymmetries/small mixing angles which result in relatively warmer sterile neutrino momentum distributions. We revisit Milky Way galaxy subhalo count constraints and combine them with recent searches for X-ray emission from sterile neutrino decays. Together they rule out models outside the mass range 7.0 keV < m_nu_s < 36 keV and lepton asymmetries smaller than 15 x 10-6 per unit entropy density at 95 percent CI or greater. We also find that while a portion of the parameter space remains unconstrained, the combination of subhalo counts and X-ray data indicate the candidate 3.55 keV X-ray line signal potentially originating from a 7.1 keV sterile neutrino decay to be disfavored at 93 percent CI.
The inflationary landscape could have had a rich structure, characterized by a multi-scalar field potential with many local minima separated by field distances smaller than the value of the Hubble expansion rate $H$ during inflation. If this is the case, the quantum fluctuations of scalar fields had a chance to experience excursions traversing the minima of the landscape potential. We study this situation by analyzing the dynamics of an axion-like field $\psi$, present during inflation, with a potential given by $v(\psi) = \Lambda^4 (1 - \cos (\psi / f))$ such that $\Lambda^4 \ll H^2 m_{\rm Pl}^2$ (where $m_{\rm Pl}$ is the Planck mass). By assuming that the vacuum expectation value of the field is stabilized at one of its minima, say $\psi = 0$, we compute every $n$-point correlation function of $\psi$ to first order in $\Lambda^4$ using the in-in formalism. This computation, which requires resumming all loops due to the non-linear nature of $v(\psi)$, allows us to find the distribution function describing the probability of measuring $\psi$ at a particular field-value during inflation. Because $\psi$ is able to tunnel between the barriers of the potential, we find that the probability distribution function consists of a non-Gaussian multi-modal distribution such that the probability of finding $\psi$ near a given minimum of $v(\psi)$, different from $\psi=0$, increases with time. We briefly discuss the consequences of this result for: (a) Multi-field inflation, (b) Standard Model properties, and (c) Dark Matter.
The advancement of our understanding of MHD turbulence opens ways to develop new techniques to probe magnetic fields. In MHD turbulence, the velocity gradients are expected to be perpendicular to magnetic fields and this fact was used by Gonsalvez-Casanova & Lazarian to introduce a new technique to trace magnetic fields using velocity centroid gradients. The latter can be obtained from spectroscopic observations. We apply the technique to GALFA HI survey data and compare the directions of magnetic fields obtained with our technique with the direction of magnetic fields obtained using PLANCK polarization. We find excellent correspondence between the two ways of magnetic field tracing, which is obvious via visual comparison and through measuring of the statistics of magnetic field fluctuations obtained with the polarization data and our technique. This suggests that the velocity centroid gradients can provide a reliable way of measuring of the foreground magnetic field fluctuations and thus provide a new way of separating foreground and CMB polarization signals.
According to the currently favored picture, relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei (AGN) are launched in the vicinity of the black hole by magnetic fields extracting energy from the spinning black hole or the accretion disk. In the past decades, various models from shocks to magnetic reconnection have been proposed as the energy dissipation mechanism in the jets. This paper presents a short review on how linear polarization observations can be used to constrain the magnetic field structure in the jets of AGN, and how the observations can be used to constrain the various emission models.
A real singlet scalar, connected to the Standard Model sector through a portal with the Higgs boson, is one of the simplest and most popular models for dark matter (DM). However, the experimental advances in direct and indirect DM searches, together with the latest results from the LHC, have ruled out vast areas of the parameter space of this scenario, and are expected to probe it completely within the next years, ruling it out if no signal is found. Motivated by the simplicity of this model, in this article we address a minimal, renormalizable extension that could evade detection, consisting of the addition of an extra real singlet scalar field in the dark sector. We analyze the physical constraints on the model and show that the new annihilation and/or coannihilation channels involving the extra singlet allow to reproduce the correct DM relic abundance while avoiding the bounds from direct and indirect searches for any DM mass above 50 GeV. We also show that, in some interesting regions of the parameter space, the extra particle can be integrated-out, leaving a "clever" effective theory (just involving the DM particle and the Higgs), that essentially reproduces the results.
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The distribution of metals in the intracluster medium (ICM) of galaxy clusters provides valuable information on their formation and evolution, on the connection with the cosmic star formation and on the effects of different gas processes. By analyzing a sample of simulated galaxy clusters, we study the chemical enrichment of the ICM, its evolution, and its relation with the physical processes included in the simulation and with the thermal properties of the core. These simulations, consisting of re-simulations of 29 Lagrangian regions performed with an upgraded version of the SPH GADGET-3 code, have been run including two different sets of baryonic physics: one accounts for radiative cooling, star formation, metal enrichment and supernova (SN) feedback, and the other one further includes the effects of feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN). In agreement with observations, we find an anti-correlation between entropy and metallicity in cluster cores, and similar radial distributions of heavy-element abundances and abundance ratios out to large cluster-centric distances (~R180). In the outskirts, namely outside of ~0.2R180, we find a remarkably homogeneous metallicity distribution, with almost flat profiles of the elements produced by either SNIa or SNII. We investigated the origin of this phenomenon and discovered that it is due to the widespread displacement of metal-rich gas by early (z>2-3) AGN powerful bursts, acting on small high-redshift haloes. Our results also indicate that the intrinsic metallicity of the hot gas for this sample is on average consistent with no evolution between z=2 and z=0, across the entire radial range.
We examine the ability of the $\Lambda$CDM model to simultaneously fit different types of cosmological observations and apply a recently proposed test, based on the Kullback-Leibler divergence, to quantify the tension between different subsets of data. We find a tension between the distance indicators derived from a $\Lambda$CDM model using a combined dataset, and the recent $H_0$ measurements, as well as the high redshift Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) obtained from the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest spectra. We then allow for a dynamical dark energy (DE) and perform a Bayesian non-parametric reconstruction of the DE equation of state as a function of redshift. We find that the tension with $H_0$ and Lyman-$\alpha$ forest BAO is effectively relieved by a dynamical DE. Although a comparison of the Bayesian evidence for dynamical DE with that of $\Lambda$CDM shows that the tension between the datasets is not sufficiently strong to support a model with more degrees of freedom, we find that an evolving DE is preferred at a $3.5\sigma$ significance level based solely on the improvement in the fit. We also perform a forecast for the upcoming DESI survey and demonstrate that, if the current best fit DE happens to be the true model, it will be decisively supported by the Bayesian evidence.
Using some of the latest cosmological datasets publicly available, we derive the strongest bounds in the literature on the sum of the three active neutrino masses, $M_\nu$. In the most conservative scheme, combining Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data, as well as the up-to-date constraint on the optical depth to reionization ($\tau$), the tightest $95\%$ confidence level (C.L.) upper bound we find is $M_\nu<0.151$~eV. The addition of Planck high-$\ell$ polarization tightens the bound to $M_\nu<0.118$~eV. Further improvements are possible when a less conservative prior on the Hubble parameter is added, bringing down the $95\%$~C.L. upper limit to $\sim 0.09$~eV. The three aforementioned combinations exclude values of $M_\nu$ larger than the minimal value allowed in the inverted hierarchical (IH) mass ordering, $0.0986$~eV, at $\sim 82\%$~C.L., $\sim 91\%$~C.L., and $\sim 96\%$~C.L. respectively. A proper model comparison treatment shows that the same combinations exclude the IH at $\sim 64\%$~C.L., $\sim 71\%$~C.L., and $\sim 77\%$~C.L. respectively. We test the stability of the bounds against the distribution of the total mass $M_\nu$ among the three mass eigenstates, finding that these are relatively stable against the choice of distributing the total mass among three (the usual approximation) or one mass eigenstate. Finally, we compare the constraining power of measurements of the full-shape galaxy power spectrum versus the BAO signature, from the BOSS survey. Even though the latest BOSS full shape measurements cover a larger volume and benefit from smaller error bars compared to previous similar measurements, the analysis method commonly adopted results in their constraining power still being less powerful than that of the extracted BAO signal. (abridged)
We study the Planck CMB temperature at different scales through its derivatives up to second order, which allows one to characterize the local shape and isotropy of the field. The problem of having an incomplete sky in the calculation and statistical characterization of the derivatives is addressed in the paper. The analysis confirms the existence of a low variance in the CMB at large scales, which is also noticeable in the derivatives. Moreover, deviations from the standard model in the gradient, curvature and the eccentricity tensor are studied in terms of extreme values on the data. As it is expected, the Cold Spot is detected as one of the most prominent peaks in terms of curvature, but additionally, when the information of the temperature and its Laplacian are combined, another feature with similar probability at the scale of $10^\circ$ is also observed. However, the $p$-value of these two deviations increase above the $6\%$ when they are referred to the variance calculated from the theoretical fiducial model, indicating that these deviations can be associated to the low variance anomaly. Finally, an estimator of the directional anisotropy for spinorial quantities is introduced, which is applied to the spinors derived from the field derivatives. An anisotropic direction whose probability is $<1\%$ is detected in the eccentricity tensor.
In the present work, we study the largest structures of the CMB temperature measured by Planck in terms of the most prominent peaks on the sky, which, in particular, are located in the southern galactic hemisphere. Besides these large-scale features, the well-known Cold Spot anomaly is included in the analysis. All these peaks would contribute significantly to some of the CMB large-scale anomalies, as the parity and hemispherical asymmetries, the dipole modulation, the alignment between the quadrupole and the octopole, or in the case of the Cold Spot, to the non-Gaussianity of the field. The analysis of the peaks is performed by using their multipolar profiles, which characterize the local shape of the peaks in terms of the discrete Fourier transform of the azimuthal angle. In order to quantify the local anisotropy of the peaks, the distribution of the phases of the multipolar profiles is studied by using the Rayleigh random walk methodology. Finally, a direct analysis of the 2-dimensional field around the peaks is performed in order to take into account the effect of the galactic mask. The results of the analysis conclude that, once the peak amplitude and its first and second order derivatives at the centre are conditioned, the rest of the field is compatible with the standard model. In particular, it is observed that the Cold Spot anomaly is caused by the large value of curvature at the centre.
The integrated Sachs-Wolfe imprint of extreme structures in the cosmic web probes the dynamical nature of dark energy. Looking through typical cosmic voids, no anomalous signal has been reported. On the contrary, $super$voids, associated with large-scale fluctuations in the gravitational potential, have shown potentially disturbing excess signals. In this study, we used the Jubilee ISW simulation to demonstrate how the stacked signal depends on the void definition. We found that large underdensities, with at least $\sim5$ merged sub-voids, show a peculiar ISW imprint shape with central cold spots and surrounding hot rings, offering a natural way to define $super$voids in the cosmic web. We then inspected the real-world BOSS DR12 data using the simulated imprints as templates. The imprinted profile of BOSS $super$voids appears to be more compact than in simulations, requiring an extra $\alpha \approx 0.7$ re-scaling of filter sizes. The data reveals an excess ISW-$like$ signal with $A_{\rm ISW}\approx9$ amplitude at the $\sim2.5\sigma$ significance level, unlike previous studies that used isolated voids and reported good consistency with $A_{\rm ISW}=1$. The tension with the Jubilee-based $\Lambda$CDM predictions is $>2\sigma$, in consistency with independent analyses of $super$voids in Dark Energy Survey data. We show that such a very large enhancement of the $A_{\rm ISW}$ parameter hints at a possible causal relation between the CMB Cold Spot and the Eridanus $super$void. The origin of these findings remains unclear.
The main foundations of the standard $\Lambda $CDM model of cosmology are that: 1) The redshifts of the galaxies are due to the expansion of the Universe plus peculiar motions; 2) The cosmic microwave background radiation and its anisotropies derive from the high energy primordial Universe when matter and radiation became decoupled; 3) The abundance pattern of the light elements is explained in terms of primordial nucleosynthesis; and 4) The formation and evolution of galaxies can be explained only in terms of gravitation within a inflation+dark matter+dark energy scenario. Numerous tests have been carried out on these ideas and, although the standard model works pretty well in fitting many observations, there are also many data that present apparent caveats to be understood with it. In this paper, I offer a review of these tests and problems, as well as some examples of alternative models.
Astrophysical tests of the stability of fundamental couplings are becoming an increasingly important probe of new physics. Motivated by the recent availability of new and stronger constraints we update previous works testing the consistency of measurements of the fine-structure constant $\alpha$ and the proton-to-electron mass ratio $\mu=m_p/m_e$ (mostly obtained in the optical/ultraviolet) with combined measurements of $\alpha$, $\mu$ and the proton gyromagnetic ratio $g_p$ (mostly in the radio band). We carry out a global analysis of all available data, including the 293 archival measurements of {\it Webb et al.} and 66 more recent dedicated measurements, and constraining both time and spatial variations. While nominally the full datasets show a slight statistical preference for variations of $\alpha$ and $\mu$ (at up to two standard deviations), we also find several inconsistencies between different sub-sets, likely due to hidden systematics and implying that these statistical preferences need to be taken with caution. The statistical evidence for a spatial dipole in the values of $\alpha$ is found at the 2.3 sigma level. Forthcoming studies with facilities such as ALMA and ESPRESSO should clarify these issues.
We present a VLT/MUSE survey of lensed high-redshift galaxies behind the z=0.77 cluster RCS0224-0002. We study the detailed internal properties of a highly magnified ({\mu}~29) z=4.88 galaxy seen through the cluster. We detect wide-spread nebular CIV{\lambda}{\lambda}1548,1551{\AA} emission from this galaxy as well as a bright Ly{\alpha} halo with a spatially-uniform wind and absorption profile across 12 kpc in the image plane. Blueshifted high- and low-ionisation interstellar absorption indicate the presence of a high-velocity outflow ({\Delta}v~300 km/s) from the galaxy. Unlike similar observations of galaxies at z=2-3, the Ly{\alpha} emission from the halo emerges close to the systemic velocity - an order of magnitude lower in velocity offset than predicted in "shell"-like outflow models. To explain these observations we favour a model of an outflow with a strong velocity gradient, which changes the effective column density seen by the Ly{\alpha} photons. We also search for high-redshift Ly{\alpha} emitters and identify 14 candidates between z=4.8-6.6, including an over-density at z=4.88, of which only one has a detected counterpart in HST/ACS+WFC3 imaging.
We present results from WIYN pODI imaging of Lacerta I (And XXXI), a satellite dwarf galaxy discovered in the outskirts of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) in Pan-STARRS1 survey data. Our deep, wide-field $g,i$ photometry reaches $\sim$3 magnitudes fainter than the photometry in the Pan-STARRS1 discovery paper and allows us to trace the stellar population of Lac I beyond two half-light radii from the galaxy center. We measure a Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) distance for Lac I of $(m-M)_0=24.44\pm0.11$ mag (773$\pm$40 kpc, or 264$\pm$6 kpc from M31), which is consistent with the Pan-STARRS1 distance. We use a maximum-likelihood technique to derive structural properties for the galaxy, and find a half-light radius ($r_h$) of 3.24$\pm$0.21 arcmin (728$\pm$47 pc), ellipticity ($\epsilon$) of 0.44$\pm$0.03, total magnitude $M_V$ $=$ $-$11.4$\pm$0.3, and central surface brightness $\mu_{V,0}$ $=$ 24.8$\pm$0.3 mag arcsec$^{-2}$. We find no HI emission in archival data and set a limit on Lac I's neutral gas mass-to-light ratio of $M_{HI}/L_V$ $<$ 0.06 $M_{sun}$/$L_{sun}$, confirming Lac I as a gas-poor dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Photometric metallicities derived from Red Giant Branch stars within 2 $r_h$ yield a median [Fe/H] of $-$1.68$\pm$0.03, which is more metal-rich than the spectroscopically-derived value from Martin et al. (2014). Combining our measured magnitude with this higher metallicity estimate places Lac I closer to its expected position on the luminosity-metallicity relation for dwarf galaxies.
We search for high-redshift dropout galaxies behind the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) galaxy cluster MACS J1149.5+2223, a powerful cosmic lens that has revealed a number of unique objects in its field. Using the deep images from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, we find 11 galaxies at z>7 in the MACS J1149.5+2223 cluster field, and 11 in its parallel field. The high-redshift nature of the bright z~9.6 galaxy MACS1149-JD, previously reported by Zheng et al. (2012), is further supported by non-detection in the extremely deep optical images from the HFF campaign. With the new photometry, the best photometric redshift solution for MACS1149-JD reduces slightly to z=9.44 +/- 0.12. The young galaxy has an estimated stellar mass of (7 +/- 2)X10E8 Msun, and was formed at z=13.2 +1.9-1.6 when the Universe was ~300 Myr old. Data available for the first four HFF clusters have already enabled us to find faint galaxies to an intrinsic magnitude of M(UV) ~ -15.5, approximately a factor of ten deeper than the parallel fields.
Light dark matter is a compelling experimental target in light of stringent constraints on heavier WIMPs. However, for a sub-MeV WIMP, the universe is sufficiently well understood at temperature below 10 MeV that there is no room for it to be a thermal relic. Avoiding thermalization is itself a strong constraint with significant implications for direct detection. In this paper, we explore the space of models of sub-MeV dark matter with viable cosmologies. The parameter space of these models that is also consistent with astrophysical and lab-based limits is highly restricted for couplings to electrons but somewhat less constrained for nuclei. We find that achieving nuclear cross-sections above the neutrino floor necessarily predicts a new contribution to the effective number of neutrino species, $\Delta N_{\rm eff} = 0.09$ that will be tested by the next generation of CMB observations. On the other hand, models with absorptions signatures of dark matter are less restricted by cosmology even with future observations.
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Current measurements of the temperature and polarization anisotropy power spectra of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) seem to indicate that the naive expectation for the slow-roll hierarchy within the most simple inflationary paradigm may not be respected in nature. We show that a primordial power spectra with localized features could in principle give rise to the observed slow-roll anarchy when fitted to a featureless power spectrum. Future CMB missions have the key to disentangle among the two possible paradigms and firmly establish the slow-roll mechanism as the responsible one for the inflationary period in the early universe. From a model comparison perspective, and assuming that nature has chosen a featureless primordial power spectrum, we find that, while with mock Planck data there is only weak evidence against a model with localized features, upcoming CMB measurements may provide strong evidence against such a non-standard primordial power spectrum.
Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect and X-ray emission from galaxy clusters have been extensively used to constrain cosmological parameters. These constraints are highly sensitive to the relations between cluster masses and observables (tSZ and X-ray fluxes). The cross-correlation of tSZ and X-ray data is thus a powerful tool, in addition of tSZ and X-ray based analysis, to test our modeling of both tSZ and X-ray emission from galaxy clusters. We chose to explore this cross correlation as both emissions trace the hot gas in galaxy clusters and thus constitute one the easiest correlation that can be studied. We present a complete modeling of the cross correlation between tSZ effect and X-ray emission from galaxy clusters, and focuses on the dependencies with clusters scaling laws and cosmological parameters. We show that the present knowledge of cosmological parameters and scaling laws parameters leads to an uncertainties of 47\% on the overall normalization of the tSZ-X cross correlation power spectrum. We present the expected signal-to-noise ratio for the tSZ-X cross-correlation angular power spectrum considering the sensitivity of actual tSZ and X-ray surveys from {\it Planck}-like data and ROSAT. We demonstrate that this signal-to-noise can reach 31.5 in realistic situation, leading to a constraint on the amplitude of tSZ-X cross correlation up to 3.2\%, fifteen times better than actual modeling limitations. Consequently, used in addition to other probes of cosmological parameters and scaling relations, we show that the tSZ-X is a powerful probe to constrain scaling relations and cosmological parameters.
We present the first detection of the cross-correlation angular power spectrum between the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect and the X-ray emission over the full sky. The tSZ effect and X-rays are produced by the same hot gas within groups and clusters of galaxies, which creates a naturally strong correlation between them that can be used to boost the joint signal and derive cosmological parameters. We computed the correlation between the ROSAT All Sky Survey in the 0.5-2 keV energy band and the tSZ effect reconstructed from six Planck all-sky frequency maps between 70 and 545 GHz. We detect a significant correlation over a wide range of angular scales. In the range $50<\ell < 2000$, the cross-correlation of X-rays to tSZ is detected at an overall significance of 28 $\sigma$. As part of our systematic study, we performed a multi-frequency modelling of the AGN contamination and the correlation between cosmic infra-red background and X-rays. Taking advantage of the strong dependence of the cross-correlation signal on the amplitude of the power spectrum, we constrained $\sigma_8 = 0.804 \pm 0.037$, where modelling uncertainties dominate statistical and systematic uncertainties. We also derived constraints on the mass indices of scaling relations between the halo mass and X-ray luminosity, L$_{500}$-M$_{500}$, and SZ signal, Y$_{500}$-M$_{500}$, $a_{\rm sz} + a_{\rm x} = 3.37 \pm 0.09$, and on the indices of the extra-redshift evolution, $\beta_{\rm sz} + \beta_{\rm x} = 0.4^{+0.4}_{-0.5}$.
The thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect is produced by the interaction of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons with the hot (a few keV) and diffuse gas of electrons inside galaxy clusters integrated along the line of sight. This effect produces a distortion of CMB blackbody emission law. This distortion law depends on the electronic temperature of the intra-cluster hot gas, $T_{e}$, through the so-called tSZ relativistic corrections. In this work, we have performed a statistical analysis of the tSZ spectral distortion on large galaxy cluster samples. We performed a stacking analysis for several electronic temperature bins, using both spectroscopic measurements of X-ray temperatures and a scaling relation between X-ray luminosities and electronic temperatures. We report the first high significance detection of the relativistic tSZ at a significance of 5.3 $\sigma$. We also demonstrate that the observed tSZ relativistic corrections are consistent with X-ray deduced temperatures. This measurement of the tSZ spectral law demonstrates that tSZ effect spectral distorsion can be used as a probe to measure galaxy cluster temperatures.
In this contribution we discuss the possibility of generating an observable gravitational wave (GW) background by coupling a pseudo-scalar inflaton to some Abelian gauge fields. This analysis is performed by dividing inflationary models into universality classes. We find that of the most promising scenario is a Starobinsky-like model, which may lead to the generation of observational signatures both in upcoming CMB detectors as well as for direct GW detectors. The signal which can be produced in these models would both be observable in ground-based detectors, such as advanced LIGO, and in space-based detectors, such as LISA. The complementarity between the CMB and direct GW detection may be used to extract informations on the microphysics of inflation. Interestingly the mechanism discussed in this contribution may also be relevant for the generation of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs).
The recent release of {\it Planck} data gives access to a full sky coverage
of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect and of the cosmic microwave
background (CMB) lensing potential ($\phi$).
The cross-correlation of these two probes of the large-scale structures in
the Universe is a powerful tool for testing cosmological models, especially in
the context of the difference between galaxy clusters and CMB for the
best-fitting cosmological parameters.
However, the tSZ effect maps are highly contaminated by cosmic infra-red
background (CIB) fluctuations.
Unlike other astrophysical components, the spatial distribution of CIB varies
with frequency.
Thus it cannot be completely removed from a tSZ Compton parameter map, which
is constructed from a linear combination of multiple frequency maps.
We have estimated the contamination of the CIB-$\phi$ correlation in the
tSZ-$\phi$ power-spectrum.
We considered linear combinations that reconstruct the tSZ Compton parameter
from {\it Planck} frequency maps.
We conclude that even in an optimistic case, the CIB-$\phi$ contamination is
significant with respect to the tSZ-$\phi$ signal itself.
Consequently, We stress that tSZ-$\phi$ analyses that are based on Compton
parameter maps are highly limited by the bias produced by CIB-$\phi$
contamination.
The high-significance measurement of large-scale structure signals enables testing the isotropy of the Universe. The measurement of cosmological parameters through the large-scale distribution of matter is now a mature domain. This approach is mainly limited by our knowledge of astrophysical processes that are used to observe the large-scale structure. However, when we assume that these astrophysical processes are the same across the Universe, then it is possible to tightly constrain the isotropy of cosmological parameters across the sky. Particularly the X-SZ cross-correlation has been shown to be a probe of the large scale structures that has a high signal-to-noise ratio and low bias. For this analysis, we used a localized measurement of the X-SZ cross-correlation as a test of the cosmological parameter isotropy. Using the scatter of the X-SZ cross-correlation across the sky, we derive cosmological constraints $\sigma_{8} \left( \Omega_{\rm m}/0.28 \right)^{0.34} = 0.78 \pm 0.02$ and tight isotropy constraints on the dark energy dipole $\Delta \Omega_{\Lambda} < 0.07$ at 95\% confidence level.
The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect is a powerful probe of the evolution of structures in the universe, and is thus highly sensitive to cosmological parameters $\sigma_8$ and $\Omega_m$, though its power is hampered by the current uncertainties on the cluster mass calibration. In this analysis we revisit constraints on these cosmological parameters as well as the hydrostatic mass bias, by performing (i) a robust estimation of the tSZ power-spectrum, (ii) a complete modeling and analysis of the tSZ bispectrum, and (iii) a combined analysis of galaxy clusters number count, tSZ power spectrum, and tSZ bispectrum. From this analysis, we derive as final constraints $\sigma_8 = 0.79 \pm 0.02$, $\Omega_{\rm m} = 0.29 \pm 0.02$, and $(1-b) = 0.71 \pm 0.07$. These results favour a high value for the hydrostatic mass bias compared to numerical simulations and weak-lensing based estimations. They are furthermore consistent with both previous tSZ analyses, CMB derived cosmological parameters, and ancillary estimations of the hydrostatic mass bias.
The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effects are produced by the interaction of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons with the ionized and diffuse gas of electrons inside galaxy clusters integrated along the line of sight. The two main effects are the thermal SZ (tSZ) produced by thermal pressure inside galaxy clusters and the kinetic SZ (kSZ) produce by peculiar motion of galaxy clusters compared to CMB rest-frame. The kSZ effect is particularly challenging to measure as it follows the same spectral behavior as the CMB, and consequently can not be separated from the CMB using spectral considerations. In this paper, we explore the feasibility of detecting the kSZ through the computation of the tSZ-CMB-CMB cross-correlation bispectrum for current and future CMB experiments. We conclude that next generation of CMB experiments will offer the possibility to detect at high S/N the tSZ-kSZ-kSZ bispectrum. This measurement will constraints the intra-cluster dynamics and the velocity field of galaxy cluster that is extremely sensitive to the growth rate of structures and thus to dark energy properties. Additionally, we also demonstrate that the tSZ-kSZ-kSZ bispectrum can be used to break the degeneracies between the mass-observable relation and the cosmological parameters to set tight constraints, up to 4\%, on the $Y-M$ relation calibration.
We develop a new perturbation theory (PT) treatment that can describe gravitational dynamics of large-scale structure after shell-crossing in the one-dimensional cosmological case. Starting with cold initial conditions, the motion of matter distribution follows at early stages the single-stream regime, which can, in one dimension, be described exactly by the first-order Lagrangian perturbation, i.e. the Zel'dovich solution. However, the single-stream flow no longer holds after shell-crossing and a proper account of the multi-stream flow is essential for post-collapse dynamics. In this paper, extending previous work by Colombi (2015, MNRAS 446, 2902), we present a perturbative description for the multi-stream flow after shell-crossing in a cosmological setup. In addition, we introduce an adaptive smoothing scheme to deal with the bulk properties of phase-space structures. The filtering scales in this scheme are linked to the next-crossing time in the post-collapse region, estimated from our PT calculations. Our PT treatment combined with adaptive smoothing is illustrated in several cases. Predictions are compared to simulations and we find that post-collapse PT with adaptive smoothing reproduces the power spectrum and phase-space structures remarkably well even at small scales, where Zel'dovich solution substantially deviates from simulations.
The quantum break-time of a system is the time-scale after which its true quantum evolution departs from the classical mean field evolution. For capturing it, a quantum resolution of the classical background - e.g., in terms of a coherent state - is required. In this paper, we first consider a simple scalar model with anharmonic oscillations and derive its quantum break-time. Next, we apply these ideas to de Sitter space. We formulate a simple model of a spin-2 field, which for some time reproduces the de Sitter metric and simultaneously allows for its well-defined representation as quantum coherent state of gravitons. The mean occupation number $N$ of background gravitons turns out to be equal to the de Sitter horizon area in Planck units, while their frequency is given by the de Sitter Hubble parameter. In the semi-classical limit, we show that the model reproduces all the known properties of de Sitter, such as the redshift of probe particles and thermal Gibbons-Hawking radiation, all in the language of quantum $S$-matrix scatterings and decays of coherent state gravitons. Most importantly, this framework allows to capture the $1/N$-effects to which the usual semi-classical treatment is blind. They violate the de Sitter symmetry and lead to a finite quantum break-time of the de Sitter state equal to the de Sitter radius times $N$. We also point out that the quantum-break time is inversely proportional to the number of particle species in the theory. Thus, the quantum break-time imposes the following consistency condition: Older and species-richer universes must have smaller cosmological constants. For the maximal, phenomenologically acceptable number of species, the observed cosmological constant would saturate this bound if our Universe were $10^{100}$ years old in its entire classical history.
We have compiled a catalog of 903 candidates for type 1 quasars at redshifts 3<z<5.5 selected among the X-ray sources of the serendipitous XMM-Newton survey presented in the 3XMM-DR4 catalog (the median X-ray flux is 5x10^{-15} erg/s/cm^2 the 0.5-2 keV energy band) and located at high Galactic latitudes >20 deg in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) fields with a total area of about 300 deg^2. Photometric SDSS data as well infrared 2MASS and WISE data were used to select the objects. We selected the point sources from the photometric SDSS catalog with a magnitude error Delta z<0.2 and a color i-z<0.6 (to first eliminate the M-type stars). For the selected sources, we have calculated the dependences chi^2(z) for various spectral templates from the library that we compiled for these purposes using the EAZY software. Based on these data, we have rejected the objects whose spectral energy distributions are better described by the templates of stars at z=0 and obtained a sample of quasars with photometric redshift estimates 2.75<zphot<5.5. The selection completeness of known quasars at z>3 in the investigated fields is shown to be about 80%. The normalized median absolute deviation is 0.07, while the outlier fraction is eta= 9. The number of objects per unit area in our sample exceeds the number of quasars in the spectroscopic SDSS sample at the same redshifts approximately by a factor of 1.5. The subsequent spectroscopic testing of the redshifts of our selected candidates for quasars at 3<z<5.5 will allow the purity of this sample to be estimated more accurately.
We build a statistical description of fermions, taking into account the spin degree of freedom in addition to the momentum of particles, and we detail its use in the context of the kinetic theory of gases of fermions particles. We show that the one-particle distribution function needed to write a Liouville equation is a spinor valued operator. The degrees of freedom of this function are covariantly described by an intensity function and by a polarisation vector which are parallel transported by free streaming. Collisions are described on the microscopic level and lead to a Boltzmann equation for this operator. We apply our formalism to the case of weak interactions, which at low energies can be considered as a contact interaction between fermions, allowing us to discuss the structure of the collision term for a few typical weak-interaction mediated reactions. In particular we find for massive particles that a dipolar distribution of velocities in the interacting species is necessary to generate linear polarisation, as opposed to the case of photons for which linear polarisation is generated from the quadrupolar distribution of velocities.
The sum of squared epicyclic frequencies of nearly circular motion ($\omega_r^2+\omega_\theta^2$) in axially symmetric configurations of Newtonian gravity is known to depend both on the matter density and on the angular velocity profile of circular orbits. It was recently found that this sum goes to zero at the photon orbits of Schwarzschild and Kerr spacetimes. However, these are the only relativistic configurations for which such result exists in the literature. Here, we extend the above formalism in order to describe the analogous relation for geodesic motion in arbitrary static, axially symmetric, asymptotically flat solutions of general relativity. The sum of squared epicyclic frequencies is found to vanish at photon radii of vacuum solutions. In the presence of matter, we obtain that $\omega_r^2+\omega_\theta^2>0$ for perturbed timelike circular geodesics on the equatorial plane if the strong energy condition holds for the matter-energy fluid of spacetime; in vacuum, the allowed region for timelike circular geodesic motion is characterized by the inequality above. The results presented here may be of use to shed light on general issues concerning the stability of circular orbits once they approach photon radii, mainly the ones corresponding to stable photon motion.
In this paper, we consider the recently proposed hybrid metric-Palatini gravitational theory, which consists of adding to the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian an $f(\mathcal{R})$ term constructed \`a la Palatini. Using the respective dynamically equivalent scalar-tensor representation, we explore the cosmological evolution of a specific model, given by $f(\mathcal{R}) \propto \mathcal{R}^2$, and obtain constraints on the free parameters by using different sources of cosmological data. The viability of the model is analysed by combining the conditions imposed by the Supernovae Ia and Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations data and the results are compared with the local constraints.
Dynamical scanning of the Higgs mass by an axion-like particle during inflation may provide a cosmological component to explaining part of the hierarchy problem. We propose a novel interplay of this cosmological relaxation mechanism with inflation, whereby the backreaction of the Higgs vacuum expectation value near the weak scale causes inflation to end. As Hubble drops, the relaxion's dissipative friction increases relative to Hubble and slows it down enough to be trapped by the barriers of its periodic potential. Such a scenario raises the natural cut-off of the theory up to $\sim 10^{10}$ GeV, while maintaining a minimal relaxion sector without having to introduce additional scanning scalars or new physics coincidentally close to the weak scale.
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We study the substructure content of the strong gravitational lens RXJ1131-1231 through a forward modelling approach that relies on generating an extensive suite of realistic simulations. The statistics of the substructure population of halos depends on the properties of dark matter. We use a merger tree prescription that allows us to stochastically generate substructure populations whose properties depend on the dark matter particle mass. These synthetic halos are then used as lenses to produce realistic mock images that have the same features, e.g. luminous arcs, quasar positions, instrumental noise and PSF, as the data. By analysing the data and the simulations in the same way, we are able to constrain models of dark matter statistically using Approximate Bayesian Computing (ABC) techniques. This method relies on constructing summary statistics and distance measures that are sensitive to the signal being targeted. We find that using the HST data for \RXJ we are able to rule out a warm dark matter thermal relict mass below 2 keV at the 2$\sigma$ confidence level.
We present the first combination of thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) map with a multi-frequency quality assessment of the sky pixels based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) aiming at detecting tSZ sources from sub-millimeter observations of the sky by Planck. We construct an adapted full-sky ANN assessment on the fullsky and we present the construction of the resulting filtered and cleaned tSZ map, MILCANN. We show that this combination allows to significantly reduce the noise fluctuations and foreground residuals compared to standard tSZ maps. From the MILCANN map, we constructed the HAD tSZ source catalog that consists of 3969 sources with a purity of 90\%. Finally, We compare this catalog with ancillary catalogs and show that the galaxy-cluster candidates in the HAD catalog are essentially low-mass (down to $M_{500} = 10^{14}$ M$_\odot$) high-redshift (up to $z \leq 1$) galaxy cluster candidates.
We use flux-transmission correlations in \Lya forests to measure the imprint of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). The study uses spectra of 157,783 quasars in the redshift range $2.1\le z \le 3.5$ from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 12 (DR12). Besides the statistical improvements on our previous studies using SDSS DR9 and DR11, we have implemented numerous improvements in the analysis procedure, allowing us to construct a physical model of the correlation function and to investigate potential systematic errors in the determination of the BAO peak position. The Hubble distance, $\DHub=c/H(z)$, relative to the sound horizon is $\DHub(z=2.33)/r_d=9.07 \pm 0.31$. The best-determined combination of comoving angular-diameter distance, $\DM$, and the Hubble distance is found to be $\DHub^{0.7}\DM^{0.3}/r_d=13.94\pm0.35$. This value is $1.028\pm0.026$ times the prediction of the flat-\lcdm model consistent with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy spectrum. The errors include marginalization over the effects of unidentified high-density absorption systems and fluctuations in ultraviolet ionizing radiation. Independently of the CMB measurements, the combination of our results and other BAO observations determine the open-\lcdm density parameters to be $\om=0.296 \pm 0.029$, $\ol=0.699 \pm 0.100$ and $\Omega_k = -0.002 \pm 0.119$.
A large fraction of baryons predicted from the standard cosmology has been missing observationally. Although previous numerical simulations have indicated that most of the missing baryons reside in large-scale filaments in the form of Warm Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM), it is generally very difficult to detect signatures from such a diffuse gas. In this work, we focus on the hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen (HI) called 21-cm line as a tool to trace the WHIM. For the purpose, we first construct the map of the 21-cm signals by using the data provided by the state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamics simulation project, Illustris, in which detailed processes affecting the dynamical and thermal evolution of the WHIM are implemented. From the comparison with the constructed 21-cm signal map with the expected noise level of the Square Kilometre Array phase 1 mid-frequency instrument (SKA1-mid), we find that the 21-cm signals from the filamentary structures at redshifts z=0.5-3 are detectable with the SKA1-mid if we assume the angular resolution of \Delta\theta > 10 arcmin and the observing time of t_obs > 100 hours. However, it also turns out that the signals mainly come from galaxies residing in the filamentary structures and the contribution from the WHIM is too small to detect with the SKA1-mid. Our results suggest that about 10 times higher sensitivity than the SKA1-mid is possibly enough to detect the WHIM at z=0.5-3.
Recent analyses of cosmic microwave background surveys have revealed hints that there may be a non-trivial running of the running of the spectral index. If future experiments were to confirm these hints, it would prove a powerful discriminator of inflationary models, ruling out simple single field models. We discuss how isocurvature perturbations in multi-field models can be invoked to generate large runnings in a non-standard hierarchy, and find that a minimal model capable of practically realising this would be a two-field model with a non-canonical kinetic structure. We also consider alternative scenarios such as variable speed of light models and canonical quantum gravity effects and their implications for runnings of the spectral index.
We propose a new table-top experimental configuration for the direct detection of dark matter axions with mass in the $(10^{-6} \rm eV - 10^{-2} \rm eV)$ range using non-perturbative effects in a system with non-trivial spatial topology. Different from most experimental setups found in literature on direct dark matter axion detection, which relies on $\dot{\theta}$ or $\vec{\nabla}\theta$, we found that our system is in principle sensitive to a static $\theta\geq 10^{-14}$ and can also be used to set limit on the fundamental constant $\theta_{\rm QED}$ which becomes the fundamental observable parameter of the Maxwell system if some conditions are met. Connection with Witten effect when the induced electric charge $e'$ is proportional to $\theta$ and the magnetic monopole becomes the dyon with non-vanishing $e'=-e \frac{\theta}{2\pi}$ is also discussed.
We study vector portal dark matter models where the mediator couples only to leptons. In spite of the lack of tree-level couplings to colored states, radiative effects generate interactions with quark fields that could give rise to a signal in current and future experiments. We identify such experimental signatures: scattering of nuclei in dark matter direct detection; resonant production of lepton-antilepton pairs at the Large Hadron Collider; and hadronic final states in dark matter indirect searches. Furthermore, radiative effects also generate an irreducible mass mixing between the vector mediator and the $Z$ boson, severely bounded by ElectroWeak Precision Tests. We use current experimental results to put bounds on this class of models, accounting for both radiatively induced and tree-level processes. Remarkably, the former often overwhelm the latter.
We report the discovery and spectroscopic confirmation of the quad-like lensed quasar system DES J0408-5354 found in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 1 (Y1) data. This system was discovered during a search for DES Y1 strong lensing systems using a method that identified candidates as red galaxies with multiple blue neighbors. DES J0408-5354 consists of a central red galaxy surrounded by three bright (i < 20) blue objects and a fourth red object. Subsequent spectroscopic observations using the Gemini South telescope confirmed that the three blue objects are indeed the lensed images of a quasar with redshift z = 2.375, and that the central red object is an early-type lensing galaxy with redshift z = 0.597. DES J0408-5354 is the first quad lensed quasar system to be found in DES and begins to demonstrate the potential of DES to discover and dramatically increase the sample size of these very rare objects.
Globular clusters are the oldest conglomerates of stars in our Galaxy and can be useful laboratories to test theories from stellar evolution to cosmology. In this paper, we present a new method to estimate the absolute age of a globular cluster from observations of its brown dwarfs. The transition region between the end of the main sequence and the brown dwarf regime is characterized by a dearth of objects as function of magnitude. The brightest of the cooling brown dwarfs is easily identified by an increase in density in the color-magnitude diagram as you go fainter in magnitudes, and these brightest brown dwarfs get fainter with age. By identifying the brightest brown dwarfs, it is thus possible to determine the age of a globular cluster within a 1 Gyr precision with four-sigma confidence. This new method, which is independent of current methods of age estimation and which does not rely on the knowledge of the cluster's distance from Earth, will become feasible thanks to the high spatial resolution and incredible infrared sensitivity of the James Webb Space Telescope.
We examine the star formation properties of galaxies with very thin disks selected from the Revised Flat Galaxy Catalog (RFGC). The sample contains 333 ultra-flat galaxies (UFG) at high Galactic latitudes, $|b|>10^{\circ}$, with a blue major angular diameter of $a\geq 1.2^{\prime}$, blue and red apparent axial ratios of $(a/b)_b > 10$, $(a/b)_r > 8.5$ and radial velocities within 10000~km s$^{-1}$. As a control sample for them we use a population of 722 more thick RFGC galaxies with $(a/b)_b > 7$, situated in the same volume. The UFG distribution over the sky indicates them as a population of quite isolated galaxies. We found that the specific star formation rate, sSFR FUV, determined via the FUV GALEX flux, increases steadily from the early type to late type disks for both the UFG and RFGC-UFG samples, showing no significant mutual difference within each morphological type T. The population of UFG disks has the average H,I-mass-to-stellar-mass ratio by $(0.25\pm0.03)$ dex higher than that of RFGC--UFG galaxies. Being compared with arbitrary orientated disks of the same type, the ultra-flat edge-on galaxies reveal that their total H,I mass is hidden by self-absorption on the average by approximately 0.20 dex. We demonstrate that using the robust stellar mass estimate via $\langle B-K \rangle$-color and galaxy type T for the thin disks, together with a nowaday accounting for internal extinction, yields their sSFR quantities definitely lying below the limit of $-9.4$ dex,(yr$^{-1}$). The collected observational data on UFG disks imply that their average star formation rate in the past has been approximately three times the current SFR. The UFG galaxies have also sufficient amount of gas to support their observed SFR over the following nearly 9 Gyrs.
We study flat FLRW $\alpha$-attractor $\mathrm{E}$- and $\mathrm{T}$-models by introducing a dynamical systems framework that yields regularized unconstrained field equations on two-dimensional compact state spaces. This results in both illustrative figures and a complete description of the entire solution spaces of these models, including asymptotics. In particular, it is shown that observational viability, which requires a sufficient number of e-folds, is associated with a solution given by a one-dimensional center manifold of a past asymptotic de Sitter state, where the center manifold structure also explains why nearby solutions are attracted to this `inflationary attractor solution.' A center manifold expansion yields a description of the inflationary regime with arbitrary analytic accuracy, where the slow-roll approximation asymptotically describes the tangency condition of the center manifold at the asymptotic de Sitter state.
We reconsider the minimal SU(5) Grand Unified Theory (GUT) in the context of no-scale supergravity, assuming that the soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters satisfy universality conditions at some input scale M_in above the GUT scale M_GUT. When setting up such a no-scale super-GUT model, special attention must be paid to avoiding the Scylla of rapid proton decay and the Charybdis of an excessive density of cold dark matter, while also having an acceptable mass for the Higgs boson. We do not find consistent solutions if none of the matter and Higgs fields are assigned to twisted chiral supermultiplets, even in the presence of Giudice-Masiero terms. However, consistent solutions may be found if at least one fiveplet of GUT Higgs fields is assigned to a twisted chiral supermultiplet, with a suitable choice of modular weights. Spin-independent dark matter scattering may be detectable in some of these consistent solutions.
CONTEXT. A set of 20 extremely red galaxies at 2.5<z<3.8 with photometric
features of old passive-evolving galaxies without dust, with stellar masses of
~10^{11} M_sun, have colors that could be related to passive-evolving galaxies
with mean ages larger than 1 Gyr. This suggests they have been formed, on
average, when the Universe was very young (<1 Gyr).
AIMS. We provide new estimates for the stellar content of these 20 galaxies,
with a deeper analysis for two of them that includes spectroscopy.
METHODS. We obtained, with the GRANTECAN-10.4 m, ultraviolet rest-frame
spectra of two galaxies and analyzed them together with photometric data. The
remaining 18 galaxies are analyzed only with photometry. We fit the data with
models of a single-burst stellar population (SSP), combinations of two SSPs, as
well as with extended star formation.
RESULTS. Fits based on one SSP do not provide consistent results for the blue
and red wavelengths. Moreover, the absence in the spectra of a break at ~2,000
angstroms indicates that a rather young component is necessary. Using two SSPs
we can match the photometric and spectroscopic data, with the bulk of the
stellar population being very old (several Gyr) and the remaining contribution
(<5% of stellar mass fraction) from a young, likely residual star formation
component with age <~0.1 Gyr. Exponentially decaying extended star formation
models improve slightly the fits with respect to the single burst model, but
they are considerably worse than the two SSP based fits, further supporting the
residual star formation scenario.
CONCLUSIONS. The fact that one SSP cannot match these early-type galaxies
highlights the limitations for the use of age estimators based on single lines
or breaks, such as the Balmer break used in cosmic chronometers, thus
questioning this approach for cosmological purposes.
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For models in which dark matter annihilation is Sommerfeld-enhanced, the annihilation cross section increases at low relative velocities. Dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) have low characteristic dark matter particle velocities and are thus ideal candidates to study such models. In this paper we model the dark matter phase space of dSphs as isotropic and spherically-symmetric, and determine the $J$-factors for several of the most important targets for indirect dark matter searches. For Navarro-Frenk-White density profiles, we quantify the scatter in the $J$-factor arising from the astrophysical uncertainty in the dark matter potential. We show that, in Sommerfeld-enhanced models, the ordering of the most promising dSphs may be different relative to the standard case of velocity-independent cross sections. This result can have important implications for derived upper limits on the annihilation cross section, or on possible signals, from dSphs.
By heating the intergalactic medium (IGM) before reionization, X-rays are expected to play a prominent role in the early Universe. The cosmic 21-cm signal from this "Epoch of Heating" (EoH) could serve as a clean probe of high-energy processes inside the first galaxies. Here we improve on prior estimates of this signal by using high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations to calculate the X-ray absorption due to the interstellar medium (ISM) of the host galaxy. X-rays absorbed inside the host galaxy are unable to escape into the IGM and contribute to the EoH. We find that the X-ray opacity through these galaxies can be approximated by a metal-free ISM with a typical column density of log[N / cm^-2] = 21.4 +0.40-0.65. We compute the resulting 21-cm signal by combining these ISM opacities with public spectra of high-mass X-ray binaries (thought to be important X-ray sources in the early Universe). Our results support "standard scenarios" in which the X-ray heating of the IGM is inhomogeneous, and occurs before the bulk of reionization. The large-scale (k ~ 0.1/Mpc) 21-cm power reaches a peak of ~100 mK^2 at z = 10 - 15, with the redshift depending on the cosmic star formation history. This is in contrast to some recent work, motivated by the much larger X-ray absorption towards local HMXBs inside the Milky Way. Our main results can be reproduced by approximating the X-ray emission from HMXBs with a power-law spectrum with energy index alpha = 1, truncated at energies below 0.5 keV.
We measure a value for the cosmic expansion of $H(z) = 89 \pm 23$(stat) $\pm$ 44(syst) km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ at a redshift of $z \simeq 0.47$ based on the differential age technique. This technique, also known as cosmic chronometers, uses the age difference between two redshifts for a passively evolving population of galaxies to calculate the expansion rate of the Universe. Our measurement is based on analysis of high quality spectra of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) obtained with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) in two narrow redshift ranges of $z \simeq 0.40$ and $z \simeq 0.55$ as part of an initial pilot study. Ages were estimated by fitting single stellar population models to the observed spectra. This measurement presents one of the best estimates of $H(z)$ via this method at $z\sim0.5$ to date.
Yes, but only for a parameter value that makes it almost coincide with the standard model. We reconsider the cosmological dynamics of a generalized Chaplygin gas (gCg) which is split into a cold dark matter (CDM) part and a dark energy (DE) component with constant equation of state. This model, which implies a specific interaction between CDM and DE, has a $\Lambda$CDM limit and provides the basis for studying deviations from the latter. Including matter and radiation, we use the (modified) CLASS code \cite{class} to construct the CMB and matter power spectra in order to search for a gCg-based concordance model that is in agreement with the SNIa data from the JLA sample and with recent Planck data. The results reveal that the gCg parameter $\alpha$ is restricted to $|\alpha|\lesssim 0.05$, i.e., to values very close to the $\Lambda$CDM limit $\alpha =0$. This excludes, in particular, models in which DE decays linearly with the Hubble rate.
The study of neutrinos in astrophysics requires the combination of different observational probes. The temperature anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background induced via the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect may provide interesting information since they are expected to receive significant contribution from high-redshift plasma. We present a set of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations that include a treatment of the neutrino component considering four different sum of neutrino masses: $\Sigma m_\nu=(0,0.15,0.3,0.6)$ eV. Using their outputs, we modelled the kSZ effect due to the large-scale structure after the reionization by producing mock maps, then computed the kSZ power spectrum and studied how it depends on $z_{\rm re}$ and $\Sigma m_\nu$. We also run a set of four simulations to study and correct possible systematics due to resolution, finite box size and astrophysics. With massless neutrinos we obtain $\mathcal{D}^{\rm kSZ}_{3000}=4.0$ $\mu {\rm K}^2$ ($z_{\rm re}$=8.8), enough to account for all of the kSZ signal of $\mathcal{D}^{\rm kSZ}_{3000}=(2.9\pm1.3)$ $\mu {\rm K}^2$ measured with the South Pole Telescope. This translates into an upper limit on the kSZ effect due to patchy reionization of $\mathcal{D}^{\rm kSZ,patchy}_{3000}<1.0$ $\mu {\rm K}^2$ (95 per cent confidence level). Massive neutrinos induce a damping of kSZ effect power of about 8, 12 and 40 per cent for $\Sigma m_\nu=(0.15,0.3,0.6)$ eV, respectively. We study the dependence of the kSZ signal with $z_{\rm re}$ and the neutrino mass fraction, $f_\nu$, and obtain $\mathcal{D}^{\rm kSZ}_{3000}\propto z_{\rm re}^{0.26}(1-f_\nu)^{14.3}$. Interestingly, the scaling with $f_\nu$ is significantly shallower with respect to the equivalent thermal SZ effect, and may be used to break the degeneracy with other cosmological parameters.
Cosmological constraints on the scalar-tensor theory of gravity by analyzing the angular power spectrum data of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) obtained from the Planck 2015 results together with the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data are presented. We find that the inclusion of the BAO data improves the constraints on the time variation of the effective gravitational constant by more than 10\%, that is, the time variation of the effective gravitational constant between the recombination and the present epochs is constrained as $G_{\rm rec}/G_0-1 <1.9\times 10^{-3}\ (95.45\% {\rm C.L.})$ and $G_{\rm rec}/G_0-1 <5.5\times 10^{-3}\ (99.99 \%{\rm C.L.})$. We also discuss the dependence of the constraints on the choice of the prior.
We present a weak lensing analysis of a sample of SDSS Compact Groups (CGs). Using the measured radial density contrast profile, we derive the average masses under the assumption of spherical symmetry, obtaining a velocity dispersion for the Singular Isothermal Spherical model, $\sigma_V = 270 \pm 40 \rm ~km~s^{-1}$, and for the NFW model, $R_{200}=0.53\pm0.10\,h_{70}^{-1}\,\rm Mpc$. We test three different definitions of CGs centres to identify which best traces the true dark matter halo centre, concluding that a luminosity weighted centre is the most suitable choice. We also study the lensing signal dependence on CGs physical radius, group surface brightness, and morphological mixing. We find that groups with more concentrated galaxy members show steeper mass profiles and larger velocity dispersions. We argue that both, a possible lower fraction of interloper and a true steeper profile, could be playing a role in this effect. Straightforward velocity dispersion estimates from member spectroscopy yields $\sigma_V \approx 230 \rm ~km~s^{-1}$ in agreement with our lensing results.
We present gravitational lens models of the multiply imaged quasar DES J0408-5354, recently discovered in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) footprint, with the aim of interpreting its remarkable quad-like configuration. We first model the DES single-epoch $grizY$ images as a superposition of a lens galaxy and four point-like objects, obtaining spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and relative positions for the objects. Three of the point sources (A,B,D) have SEDs compatible with the discovery quasar spectra, while the faintest point-like image (G2/C) shows significant reddening and a `grey' dimming of $\approx0.8$mag. In order to understand the lens configuration, we fit different models to the relative positions of A,B,D. Models with just a single deflector predict a fourth image at the location of G2/C but considerably brighter and bluer. The addition of a small satellite galaxy ($R_{\rm E}\approx0.2$") in the lens plane near the position of G2/C suppresses the flux of the fourth image and can explain both the reddening and grey dimming. All models predict a main deflector with Einstein radius between $1.7"$ and $2.0",$ velocity dispersion $267-280$km/s and enclosed mass $\approx 6\times10^{11}M_{\odot},$ even though higher resolution imaging data are needed to break residual degeneracies in model parameters. The longest time-delay (B-A) is estimated as $\approx 85$ (resp. $\approx125$) days by models with (resp. without) a perturber near G2/C. The configuration and predicted time-delays of J0408-5354 make it an excellent target for follow-up aimed at understanding the source quasar host galaxy and substructure in the lens, and measuring cosmological parameters. We also discuss some lessons learnt from J0408-5354 on lensed quasar finding strategies, due to its chromaticity and morphology.
We study the consistency of large-field inflation in low-energy effective field theories of string theory. In particular, we focus on the stability of K\"ahler moduli in the particularly interesting case where the non-perturbative superpotential of the K\"ahler sector explicitly depends on the inflaton field. This situation arises generically due to one-loop corrections to the instanton action. The field dependence of the modulus potential feeds back into the inflationary dynamics, potentially impairing slow roll. We distinguish between world-sheet instantons from Euclidean D-branes, which typically yield polynomial one-loop Pfaffians, and gaugino condensates, which can yield exponential or periodic corrections. In all scenarios successful slow-roll inflation imposes bounds on the magnitude of the one-loop correction, corresponding to constraints on possible compactifications. While we put a certain emphasis on Type IIB constructions with mobile D7-branes, our results seem to apply more generally.
A generalization of Bekenstein's Tensor-Vector-Scalar (TeVeS) model of
modified gravity has recently been proposed as an alternative to dark matter.
This model -- which we will refer to as g-TeVeS -- utilizes a Galileon-induced
Vainshtein mechanism to suppress modifications to General Relativity in strong
gravity regimes and so avoids the need to introduce the baroque kinetic terms
that typically exist in relativistic models of Modified Newtonian Dynamics
(MOND).
We explore the behavior of this model in spacetimes with exact
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) symmetry. The ability of the theory to recover
MOND phenomenology places restrictions on the theory's parameter space and it
is found that within an estimate of this area of parameter space the theory
cannot successfully approximate the Friedmannian cosmological behavior of cold
dark matter. It is found that much closer agreement may be recovered in other
regions of the theory's parameter space and the reasons for this are discussed.
We introduce a new set of simplified models to address the effects of 3-point interactions between the dark matter particle, its dark co-annihilation partner, and the Standard Model degree of freedom, which we take to be the tau lepton. The contributions from dark matter co-annihilation channels are highly relevant for a determination of the correct relic abundance. We investigate these effects as well as the discovery potential for dark matter co-annihilation partners at the LHC. A small mass splitting between the dark matter and its partner is preferred by the co-annihilation mechanism and suggests that the co-annihilation partners may be long-lived (stable or meta-stable) at collider scales. It is argued that such long-lived electrically charged particles can be looked for at the LHC in searches of anomalous charged tracks. This approach and the underlying models provide an alternative/complementarity to the mono-jet and multi-jet based dark matter searches widely used in the context of simplified models with the s-channel mediators. We consider four types of simplified models with different particle spins and coupling structures. Some of these models are manifestly gauge invariant and renormalizable, others would ultimately require a UV completion. These can be realised in terms of supersymmetric models in the neutralino-stau co-annihilation regime, as well as models with extra dimensions or composite models.
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