When modelling the ionisation of gas in the intergalactic medium after reionisation, it is standard practice to assume a uniform radiation background. This assumption is not always appropriate; models with radiative transfer show that large-scale ionisation rate fluctuations can have an observable impact on statistics of the Lyman-alpha forest. We extend such calculations to include beaming of sources, which has previously been neglected but which is expected to be important if quasars dominate the ionising photon budget. Beaming has two effects: first, the physical number density of ionising sources is enhanced relative to that directly observed; and second, the radiative transfer itself is altered. We calculate both effects in a hard-edged beaming model where each source has a random orientation, using an equilibrium Boltzmann hierarchy in terms of spherical harmonics. By studying the statistical properties of the resulting ionisation rate and HI density fields at redshift $z\sim 2.3$, we find that the two effects partially cancel each other; combined, they constitute a maximum $5\%$ correction to the power spectrum $P_{\mathrm{HI}}(k)$ at $k=0.04 \, h/\mathrm{Mpc}$. On very large scales ($k<0.01\, h/\mathrm{Mpc}$) the source density renormalisation dominates; it can reduce, by an order of magnitude, the contribution of ionising shot-noise to the intergalactic HI power spectrum. The effects of beaming should be considered when interpreting future observational datasets.
We are at an interesting juncture in cosmology. With new methods and technology, the accuracy in measurement of the Hubble constant has vastly improved, but a recent tension has arisen that is either signaling new physics or as-yet unrecognized uncertainties.
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) explores the first few minutes of nuclei formation after the Big Bang. We present updates that result in new constraints at the 2{\sigma} level for the abundances of the four primary light nuclides - D,3He,4He, and 7Li - in BBN. A modified standard BBN code was used in a Monte Carlo analysis of the nucleosynthesis uncertainty as a function of baryon-to-photon ratio. Reaction rates were updated to those of NACRE and REACLIB, and R-Matrix calculations. The results are then used to derive a new constraint on the effective number of neutrinos.
We estimate uncertainties of cosmological parameters for phenomenological interacting dark energy models using weak lensing convergence power spectrum and bispectrum. We focus on the bispectrum tomography and examine how weak lensing bispectrum tomography can constrain the interaction between dark sectors, as well as other cosmological parameters. Employing the Fisher matrix analysis, we forecast uncertainties of the parameters in our models and find that the lensing bispectrum measurement can constrain the coupling parameters $\Delta\lambda_1\simeq 0.07$, $\Delta\lambda_2\simeq 0.02$ or even tighter if the equation of state of dark energy is set to be a constant. The cosmic shear will be measured from upcoming weak lensing surveys with high sensitivity, thus it enables us to use the higher order correlation functions of weak lensing to constrain the interaction between dark sectors and will potentially provide more stringent results with other observations combined.
We present measurements of the weak gravitational lensing shear power spectrum based on $450$ sq. deg. of imaging data from the Kilo Degree Survey. We employ a quadratic estimator in two and three redshift bins and extract band powers of redshift auto-correlation and cross-correlation spectra in the multipole range $76 \leq \ell \leq 1310$. The cosmological interpretation of the measured shear power spectra is performed in a Bayesian framework assuming a $\Lambda$CDM model with spatially flat geometry, while accounting for small residual uncertainties in the shear calibration and redshift distributions as well as marginalising over intrinsic alignments, baryon feedback and an excess-noise power model. Moreover, massive neutrinos are included in the modelling. The cosmological main result is expressed in terms of the parameter combination $S_8 \equiv \sigma_8 \sqrt{\Omega_{\rm m}/0.3}$ yielding $S_8 = \ 0.651 \pm 0.058$ (3 z-bins), confirming the recently reported tension in this parameter with constraints from Planck at $3.2\sigma$ (3 z-bins). We cross-check the results of the 3 z-bin analysis with the weaker constraints from the 2 z-bin analysis and find them to be consistent. The high-level data products of this analysis, such as the band power measurements, covariance matrices, redshift distributions, and likelihood evaluation chains are available at this http URL
Sterile neutrinos produced through oscillations are a well motivated dark matter candidate, but recent constraints from observations have ruled out most of the parameter space. We analyze the impact of new interactions on the evolution of keV sterile neutrino dark matter in the early Universe. Based on general considerations we find a mechanism which thermalizes the sterile neutrinos after an initial production by oscillations. The thermalization of sterile neutrinos is accompanied by dark entropy production which increases the yield of dark matter and leads to a lower characteristic momentum. This resolves the growing tensions with structure formation and X-ray observations and even revives simple non-resonant production as a viable way to produce sterile neutrino dark matter. We investigate the parameters required for the realization of the thermalization mechanism in a representative model and find that a simple estimate based on energy- and entropy conservation describes the mechanism well.
We present the extension of the effective field theory framework to the mildly non-linear scales. The effective field theory approach has been successfully applied to the late time cosmic acceleration phenomenon and it has been shown to be a powerful method to obtain predictions about cosmological observables on linear scales. However, mildly non-linear scales need to be consistently considered when testing gravity theories because a large part of the data comes from those scales. Thus, non-linear corrections to predictions on observables coming from the linear analysis can help in discriminating among different gravity theories. We proceed firstly by identifying the necessary operators which need to be included in the effective field theory Lagrangian in order to go beyond the linear order in perturbations and then we construct the corresponding non-linear action. Moreover, we present the complete recipe to map any single field dark energy and modified gravity models into the non-linear effective field theory framework by considering a general action in the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner formalism. In order to illustrate this recipe we proceed to map the beyond-Horndeski theory and low-energy Horava gravity into the effective field theory formalism. The approach we present here will allow to construct, in a model independent way, all the relevant predictions on observables at mildly non-linear scales.
We perform a post-processing radiative feedback analysis on a three-dimensional ab initio cosmological simulation of an atomic cooling halo under the direct collapse black hole (DCBH) scenario. We maintain the spatial resolution of the simulation by incorporating native ray-tracing on unstructured mesh data, including Monte Carlo Lyman-alpha (Ly{\alpha}) radiative transfer. DCBHs are born in gas-rich, metal-poor environments with the possibility of Compton-thick conditions, $N_H \gtrsim 10^{24} {\rm cm}^{-2}$. Therefore, the surrounding gas is capable of experiencing the full impact of the bottled-up radiation pressure. In particular, we find that multiple scattering of Ly{\alpha} photons provides an important source of mechanical feedback after the gas in the sub-parsec region becomes partially ionized, avoiding the bottleneck of destruction via the two-photon emission mechanism. We provide detailed discussion of the simulation environment, expansion of the ionization front, emission and escape of Ly{\alpha} radiation, and Compton scattering. A sink particle prescription allows us to extract approximate limits on the post-formation evolution of the radiative feedback. Fully-coupled Ly{\alpha} radiation hydrodynamics will be crucial to consider in future DCBH simulations.
We comment on the relation between string theory and empirical science, grounding our discussion in cosmology, a subject with increasingly precise data in which this connection operates at several levels. It is important to take into account the phenomenon of dangerous irrelevance: over long times or large field ranges, physics can become sensitive to higher scales than the input energies. This pertains in inflationary cosmology (and possibly other aspects of horizon physics). String theory also contributes to our understanding of observational constraints and search strategies at the level of low energy field theory. We illustrate this with a current example concerning a new form of non-Gaussianity generated by very massive degrees of freedom coupling to the inflaton. New constraints on such fields and couplings can be obtained from existing data, increasing our empirical knowledge of the universe. This builds in part from the development of the string landscape, which is neither random nor an abdication of science as has sometimes been suggested. {\it Invited contribution to the proceedings of the conference `Why trust a theory'.}
We analytically investigate the Schwinger pair production in the de Sitter background by using {\em the uniform asymptotic approximation method}, and show that the equation of motion in general has two turning points, and the nature of these points could be single, double, real or complex, depending on the choice of the free parameters involved in the theory. Different natures of these points lead to different electric currents. In particular, when $\beta \equiv m^2/H^2-9/4$ is positive, both turning points are complex, and the electric current due to the Schwinger process is highly suppressed, where $m$ and $H$ denote, respectively, the mass of the particle and the Hubble parameter. For the turning points to be real, it is necessary to have $\beta < 0$, and the more negative of $\beta$, the easier to produce particles. In addition, when $\beta < 0$, we also study the particle production when the electric field $E$ is very weak. We find that the electric current in this case is proportional to $E^{1/2 - \sqrt{|\beta|}}$, which is strongly enhanced in the weak electric field limit when $m < \sqrt{2} H$.
We propose a model-independent formalism to numerically solve the modified Friedmann equations in the framework of $f(T)$ teleparallel cosmology. Our strategy is to expand the Hubble parameter around the redshift $z=0$ up to a given order and to adopt cosmographic bounds as initial settings to determine the corresponding $f(z)\equiv f(T(H(z)))$ function. In this perspective, we distinguish two cases: the first expansion is up to the jerk parameter, the second expansion is up to the snap parameter. We show that inside the observed redshift domain $z\leq1$, only the net strength of $f(z)$ is modified passing from jerk to snap, whereas its functional behavior and shape turn out to be identical. As first step, we set the cosmographic parameters by means of the most recent observations. Afterwards, we calibrate our numerical solutions with the concordance $\Lambda$CDM model. In both cases, there is a good agreement with the cosmological standard model around $z\leq 1$, with severe discrepancies outer of this limit. We demonstrate that the effective dark energy term evolves following the test-function: $f(z)=\mathcal A+\mathcal Bz^2e^{\mathcal Cz}$. Bounds over the set $\left\{\mathcal A, \mathcal B, \mathcal C\right\}$ are also fixed by statistical considerations, comparing discrepancies between $f(z)$ with data. The approach opens the possibility to get a wide class of test-functions able to frame the dynamics of $f(T)$ without postulating any model \emph{a priori}. We thus re-obtain the $f(T)$ function through a back-scattering procedure once $f(z)$ is known. We figure out the properties of our $f(T)$ function at the level of background cosmology, to check the goodness of our numerical results. Finally, a comparison with previous cosmographic approaches is carried out giving results compatible with theoretical expectations.
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We use the BOSS DR9 quasar spectra to constrain non-thermal dark matter
models: cold-plus-warm dark matter and sterile neutrinos resonantly produced in
the presence of a lepton asymmetry. We establish constraints on the warm
thermal relic mass $m_{x}$ and its relative abundance
$F_{wdm}=\Omega_{wdm}/\Omega_{dm}$ using a suite of cosmological hydrodynamical
simulations in 28 C+WDM configurations. The 2D bounds in the $m_{x} - F_{wdm}$
parameter space approximately follow $F_{\rm{wdm}} \sim 0.243
(\rm{keV}/m_x)^{-1.31}$. At 95% C.L., our limits from BOSS data alone imply
that $m_{x}> 2.5$ keV if $F_{\rm{wdm}}>80\%$, while masses as low as 0.7 keV
are consistent with the data if $F_{\rm{wdm}}<15\%$ of the total dark matter
density. We also constrain sterile neutrino mass and mixing angle by further
producing the non-linear flux power spectrum of 8 RPSN models, where the input
linear power spectrum is computed directly from the particles distribution
functions. We find values of lepton asymmetries for which sterile neutrinos as
light as 6 keV (resp. 3.5 keV) are consistent with BOSS at $2\sigma$ (resp.
$3\sigma$). These limits tighten by close to a factor of 2 for values of lepton
asymmetries departing from those yielding the coolest distribution functions.
Our bounds can be strengthened if we include higher-resolution data (XQ-100,
HIRES MIKE). At these scales, however, the flux power spectrum exhibits a
suppression compatible with the one expected from WDM. We do not investigate
the mechanism responsible for this suppression, but we show how much our bounds
would strengthen under the assumption that it is caused by the evolution of the
IGM temperature. A 7 keV neutrino produced in a lepton asymmetry $\mathcal{L} =
|n_{\nu_e} - n_{\bar{\nu}_e}|/s = 8 \times 10^{-6}$ is consistent at
$1.9\sigma$ with BOSS data, and not necessarily excluded by our
higher-resolution bounds.
Primordial nucleosynthesis remains as one of the pillars of modern cosmology. It is the testing ground upon which many cosmological models must ultimately rest. It is our only probe of the universe during the important radiation-dominated epoch in the first few minutes of cosmic expansion. This chapter reviews the basic equations of space-time, cosmology, and big bang nucleosynthesis. We also summarize the current state of observational constraints on primordial abundances along with the key nuclear reactions and their uncertainties. We summarize which nuclear measurements are most crucial during the big bang. We also review various cosmological models and their constraints. In particular, we analyze the constraints that big bang nucleosynthesis places upon the possible time variation of fundamental constants, along with constraints on the nature and origin of dark matter and dark energy, long-lived supersymmetric particles, gravity waves, and the primordial magnetic field.
We review important reactions in the big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) model involving a long-lived negatively charged massive particle, $X^-$, which is much heavier than nucleons. This model can explain the observed $^7$Li abundances of metal-poor stars, and predicts a primordial $^9$Be abundance that is larger than the standard BBN prediction. In the BBN epoch, nuclei recombine with the $X^-$ particle. Because of the heavy $X^-$ mass, the atomic size of bound states $A_X$ is as small as the nuclear size. The nonresonant recombination rates are then dominated by the $d$-wave $\rightarrow$ 2P transition for $^7$Li and $^{7,9}$Be. The $^7$Be destruction occurs via a recombination with the $X^-$ followed by a proton capture, and the primordial $^7$Li abundance is reduced. Also, the $^9$Be production occurs via the recombination of $^7$Li and $X^-$ followed by deuteron capture. The initial abundance and the lifetime of the $X^-$ particles are constrained from a BBN reaction network calculation. We estimate that the derived parameter region for the $^7$Li reduction is allowed in supersymmetric or Kaluza-Klein (KK) models. We find that either the selectron, smuon, KK electron or KK muon could be candidates for the $X^-$ with $m_X\sim {\mathcal O}(1)$ TeV, while the stau and KK tau cannot.
A new generation of surveys will soon map large fractions of sky to ever greater depths and their science goals can be enhanced by exploiting cross correlations between them. In this paper we study cross correlations between the lensing of the CMB and biased tracers of large-scale structure at high $z$. We motivate the need for more sophisticated bias models for modeling increasingly biased tracers at these redshifts and propose the use of perturbation theories, specifically Convolution Lagrangian Effective Field Theory ({\sc CLEFT}). Since such signals reside at large scales and redshifts, they can be well described by perturbative approaches. We compare our model with the current approach of using scale independent bias coupled with fitting functions for non-linear matter power spectra, showing that the latter will not be sufficient for upcoming surveys. We illustrate our ideas by estimating $\sigma_8$ from the auto- and cross-spectra of mock surveys, finding that {\sc CLEFT} returns accurate and unbiased results at high $z$. We discuss uncertainties due to the redshift distribution of the tracers, and several avenues for future development.
Axions arise in many theoretical extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, in particular the "string axiverse". If the axion masses, $m_a$, and (effective) decay constants, $f_a$, lie in specific ranges, then axions contribute to the cosmological dark matter and dark energy densities. We compute the background cosmological (quasi-)observables for models with a large number of axion fields, $n_{\rm ax}\sim \mathcal{O}(10-100)$, with the masses and decay constants drawn from statistical distributions. This reduces the number of parameters from $2n_{\rm ax}$ to a small number of "hyperparameters". We consider a number of distributions, from those motivated purely by statistical considerations, to those where the structure is specified according to a class of M-theory models. Using Bayesian methods we are able to constrain the hyperparameters of the distributions. In some cases the hyperparameters can be related to string theory, e.g. constraining the number ratio of axions to moduli, or the typical decay constant scale needed to provide the correct relic densities. Our methodology incorporates the use of both random matrix theory and Bayesian networks.
We present calculations showing how electron rest mass influences entropy flow, neutrino decoupling, and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) in the early universe. Electromagnetic equilibrium, coupled with the high entropy of the early universe, guarantees that significant numbers of electron-positron pairs are present, and dominate over the number of ionization electrons to temperatures much lower than the vacuum electron rest mass. Scattering between the electrons-positrons and the neutrinos largely controls the flow of entropy from the plasma into the neutrino seas. Moreover, the number density of electron-positron-pair targets can be exponentially sensitive to the effective in-medium electron mass. This entropy flow influences the phasing of scale factor and temperature, the charged current weak-interaction-determined neutron-to-proton ratio, and the spectral distortions in the relic neutrino energy spectra. Our calculations show the sensitivity of the physics of this epoch to three separate effects: finite electron mass, finite temperature quantum electrodynamic (QED) effects on the plasma equation of state, and Boltzmann neutrino energy transport. The ratio of neutrino to plasma-component energy scales manifests in Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observables, namely the baryon density and the radiation energy density, along with the primordial helium and deuterium abundances. Our results demonstrate how the treatment of in-medium electron mass (i.e., QED effects) could translate into an important source of uncertainty in extracting neutrino and beyond-standard-model physics limits from future high-precision CMB data.
The network of filaments with embedded clusters surrounding voids seen in maps derived from redshift surveys and reproduced in simulations has been referred to as the cosmic web. A complementary description is provided by considering the shear in the velocity field of galaxies. The eigenvalues of the shear provide information on whether a region is collapsing in three dimensions, the condition for a knot, expanding in three-dimensions, the condition for a void, or in the intermediate condition of a filament or sheet. The structures that are quantitatively defined by the eigenvalues can be approximated by iso-contours that provide a visual representation of the cosmic velocity (V) web. The current application is based on radial peculiar velocities from the Cosmicflows-2 collection of distances. The three-dimensional velocity field is constructed using the Wiener filter methodology in the linear approximation. Eigenvalues of the velocity shear are calculated at each point on a grid. Here, knots and filaments are visualized across a local domain of diameter ~0.1c.
Making a simple model of gravitational collapse in cosmology and astrophysics, this paper examines the creation and destruction of kinetic theory entropy after a small perturbation is introduced into a homogeneous distribution of self-gravitating particles. To keep the problem tractable, gravity is Newtonian and the focus is on a coarse-grained slice of entropy constructed from the one- and two-particle distribution functions. The slice chosen is asymptotically-dominant, in the sense that it will eventually dominate over all other entropy associated with a given scale within the system. Its entropy is destroyed within a central sphere near the initial location of the perturbation - the core - and created in a surrounding shell - the halo. The core-halo transition radii are not fixed, but are proportional to the coarse-graining length used. At leading order, creation and destruction are in balance. At next-to-leading order, destruction predominates, the rate of destruction being proportional to an exponent of the time elapsed after the perturbation was introduced, and further proportional to the square of the perturbation size, divided by the square of the coarse-graining volume. For late times, destruction of asymptotic coarse-grained entropy is at least offset by entropy creation ever further from the central perturbation. We can interpret this as gravitational collapse leading to local large-scale structure formation - that is, destruction of coarse-grained entropy - at least offset by ever more distant creation of disorder. Making a plausible assumption about the application of the second law of thermodynamics to coarse-grained entropy, that distant disorder would itself be large scale.
As a generalization of our previous work [Phys. Rev. D 95 043528 (2017)], in which an analytic model for the galaxy bispectrum in redshift space was developed on the basis of the halo approach, we here investigate its higher multipoles that have not been known so far. The redshift-space bispectrum includes the two variables $\omega$ and $\phi$ for the line-of-sight direction, and the higher multipole bispectra are defined by the coefficients in the expansion of the redshift-space bispectrum using the spherical harmonics Y_{\ell}^m(\omega,\phi). We find 6 new nonvanishing components out of $25$ total components up to \ell=4, in addition to 3 components discussed in the previous work (monopole, quadruple, and hexadecapole of m=0). The characteristic behaviors of the new nonvanishing multipoles are compared with the results of galaxy mock catalogs that match the halo occupation distribution of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey low-redshift sample. Analytic approximation formulas for these nonzero components are also presented; these are useful for understanding the characteristic behaviors.
We present the results of a multi-wavelength investigation of the very X-ray
luminous galaxy cluster MACSJ0553.4$-$3342 ($z{=}0.4270$; hereafter MACSJ0553).
Combining high-resolution data obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and the
Chandra X-ray Observatory with groundbased galaxy spectroscopy, our analysis
establishes the system unambiguously as a binary, post-collision merger of
massive clusters. Key characteristics include perfect alignment of luminous and
dark matter for one component, a separation of almost 650 kpc (in projection)
between the dark-matter peak of the other subcluster and the second X-ray peak,
extremely hot gas (k$T{>}15$ keV) at either end of the merger axis, a potential
cold front in the East, an unusually low gas mass fraction of approximately
0.075 for the western component, a velocity dispersion of $1490_{-130}^{+104}$
km s$^{-1}$, and no indication of significant substructure along the line of
sight.
We propose that the MACSJ0553 merger proceeds not in the plane of the sky,
but at a large inclination angle, is observed very close to turnaround, and
that the eastern X-ray peak is the cool core of the slightly less massive
western component that was fully stripped and captured by the eastern
subcluster during the collision. If correct, this hypothesis would make
MACSJ0553 a superb target for a competitive study of ram-pressure stripping and
the collisional behavior of luminous and dark matter during cluster formation.
The term dark radiation is used both to describe a noninteracting neutrino species and as a correction to the Friedmann Equation in the simplest five-dimensional RS-II brane-world cosmology. In this paper we consider the constraints on both meanings of dark radiation based upon the newest results for light-element nuclear reaction rates, observed light-element abundances and the power spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Adding dark radiation during big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) alters the Friedmann expansion rate causing the nuclear reactions to freeze out at a different temperature. This changes the final light element abundances at the end of BBN. Its influence on the CMB is to change the effective expansion rate at the surface of last scattering. We find that the BBN constraint reduces the allowed range for both types of dark radiation at 10 Mev to between $-12.1\%$ and $+6.2\%$ of the {\bf total} background energy density at 10 Mev. Combining this result with fits to the CMB power spectrum, produces different results for particle vs. brane-world dark radiation. In the brane-world, the range decreases to $-6.0\%$ to $+6.2\%$. Thus, we find, that the ratio of dark radiation to the background total relativistic mass energy density $\rho_{\rm DR}/\rho$ is consistent with zero although there remains a very slight preference for a positive (rather than negative) contribution.
Wave dark matter ($\psi \rm{DM}$) composed of extremely light bosons ($m_{\psi} \sim 10^{-22}\,\rm eV$), with quantum pressure suppressing structures below a kpc-scale de Broglie wavelength, has become a viable dark matter candidate. Compared to the conventional free-particle $\psi {\rm DM}$ (${\rm FP} \psi {\rm DM}$), the extreme-axion $\psi \rm{DM}$ model (${\rm EA} \psi {\rm DM}$) proposed by Zhang & Chiueh (2017) features a larger cut-off wavenumber and a broad spectral bump in the matter transfer function. Here we conduct cosmological simulations to compare the halo abundances and assembly histories at $z=4-11$ between three different scenarios: ${\rm FP} \psi {\rm DM}$, ${\rm EA} \psi {\rm DM}$, and cold dark matter (CDM). We show that ${\rm EA} \psi {\rm DM}$ produces significantly more abundant low-mass haloes than ${\rm FP} \psi {\rm DM}$ with the same $m_{\psi}$, and therefore could alleviate the tension in $m_{\psi}$ required by the Ly$\alpha$ forest data and by the kpc-scale dwarf galaxy cores. We also find that, compared to the CDM counterparts, massive ${\rm EA} \psi {\rm DM}$ haloes are on average $3-4$ times more massive at $z=10-11$ due to their earlier formation, undergo a slower mass accretion at $7 \lesssim z \lesssim 11$, and then show a rapidly rising major merger rate exceeding CDM by $\sim 50\%$ at $4 \lesssim z \lesssim 7$. This fact suggests that ${\rm EA} \psi {\rm DM}$ haloes may exhibit more prominent starbursts at $z \lesssim 7$.
We study production of primordial black holes (PBH) during an early matter-dominated phase. As a source of perturbations, we consider either the inflaton field with a running spectral index or a spectator field that has a blue spectrum and thus provides a significant contribution to the PBH production at small scales. First, we identify the region of the parameter space where a significant fraction of the observed dark matter can be produced, taking into account all current PBH constraints. Then, we present constraints on the amplitude and spectral index of the spectator field as a function of the reheating temperature. We also derive constraints on the running of the inflaton spectral index, ${\rm d}n/{\rm d}{\rm ln}k \lesssim -0.002$, which are comparable to those from the Planck satellite for a scenario where the spectator field is absent.
The relation between the mass and integrated electron pressure of galaxy group and cluster halos can be probed by stacking maps of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect. Perhaps surprisingly, recent observational results have indicated that the scaling relation between integrated pressure and mass follows the prediction of simple, self-similar models down to halo masses as low as $10^{12.5} M_{\odot}$. Hydrodynamical simulations that incorporate energetic feedback processes suggest that gas should be depleted from such low-mass halos, thus decreasing their tSZ signal relative to self-similar predictions. Here, we build on the modeling of Vikram, Lidz, and Jain (2017) to evaluate the bias in the interpretation of stacked tSZ measurements due to the signal from correlated halos (the "two-halo" term), which has generally been neglected in the literature. We fit theoretical models to a measurement of the tSZ -- galaxy group cross-correlation function, accounting explicitly for the one- and two- halo contributions. We find moderate evidence of a deviation from self-similarity in the pressure -- mass relation, even after marginalizing over conservative miscentering effects. We explore pressure -- mass models with a break at $10^{14} M_{\odot}$, as well as other variants. We discuss and test for sources of uncertainty in our analysis, in particular a possible bias in the halo mass estimates and the coarse resolution of the Planck beam. We compare our findings with earlier analyses by exploring the extent to which halo isolation criteria can reduce the two-halo contribution. Finally, we show that ongoing third-generation CMB experiments will explicitly resolve the one-halo term in low-mass groups; our methodology can be applied to these upcoming data sets to obtain a clear answer to the question of self-similarity and an improved understanding of hot gas in low-mass halos.
We study generalized disformal transformations, including derivatives of the metric, in the context of the Effective Field Theory of Inflation. All these transformations do not change the late-time cosmological observables but change the coefficients of the operators in the action: some couplings are effectively redundant. At leading order in derivatives and up to cubic order in perturbations, one has 6 free functions that can be used to set to zero 6 of the 17 operators at this order. This is used to show that the tensor three-point function cannot be modified at leading order in derivatives, while the scalar-tensor-tensor correlator can only be modified by changing the scalar dynamics. At higher order in derivatives there are transformations that do not affect the Einstein-Hilbert action: one can find 6 additional transformations that can be used to simplify the inflaton action, at least when the dynamics is dominated by the lowest derivative terms. We also identify the leading higher-derivative corrections to the tensor power spectrum and bispectrum.
We present a toy model of an axion-gauge field inflation scenario that yields viable density and gravitational wave spectra. The scenario consists of an axionic inflaton in a steep potential that is effectively flattened by a coupling to a collection of non-Abelian gauge fields. The model predicts a blue-tilted gravitational wave spectrum that is dominated by one circular polarization, resulting in unique observational targets for cosmic microwave background and gravitational wave experiments. The handedness of the gravitational wave spectrum is incorporated in a model of leptogenesis through the axial-gravitational anomaly; assuming electroweak sphaeleron processes convert the lepton asymmetry into baryons, we predict an approximate lower bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r ~ 3-4e-2 for models that also explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe.
Modified gravity models can introduce modifications to the Poisson's equation in Newtonian limit. As a result we expect to see interesting features of these modifications inside stellar objects. White dwarf stars are one of the most well observed and studied stars in stellar astrophysics. We explore the effect of modified gravity models inside white dwarf stars. We derive the modified stellar structure equations and solve them to study the mass radius relationships for various modified gravity models. We also constrain the parameter space of these modified gravity models from observations.
Line-intensity mapping surveys probe large-scale structure through spatial variations in molecular line emission from a population of unresolved cosmological sources. Future such surveys of carbon monoxide line emission (specifically the CO(1-0) line) face potential contamination from a disjoint population of sources emitting in a hydrogen cyanide emission line, HCN(1-0). This paper explores the potential range of the strength of HCN emission and its effect on the CO auto power spectrum, using simulations with an empirical model of the CO/HCN--halo connection. We find that effects on the observed CO power spectrum vary with modeling approaches but are very small for our fiducial model, with the undesirable boost in overall CO detection significance due to HCN expected to be less than 1%.
The cosmological relaxation of the electroweak scale has been proposed as a mechanism to address the hierarchy problem of the Standard Model. A field, the relaxion, rolls down its potential and, in doing so, scans the squared mass parameter of the Higgs, relaxing it to a parametrically small value. In this work, we promote the relaxion to an inflaton. We couple it to Abelian gauge bosons, thereby introducing the necessary dissipation mechanism which slows down the field in the last stages. We describe a novel reheating mechanism, which relies on the gauge-boson production leading to strong electromagnetic fields, and proceeds via the vacuum production of electron-positron pairs through the Schwinger effect. We refer to this mechanism as Schwinger reheating. We discuss the cosmological dynamics of the model and the phenomenological constraints from CMB and other experiments. We find that a cutoff close to the Planck scale may be achieved.
Recently proposed Born-Infeld (BI) theories of gravity assume a constant BI parameter ($\kappa$). However, no clear consensus exists on the sign and value of $\kappa$. Recalling the Brans-Dicke (BD) approach, where a scalar field was used to generate the gravitational constant $G$, we suggest an extension of Born-Infeld gravity with a similar Brans-Dicke flavour. Thus, a new action, with $\kappa$ elevated to a spacetime dependent real scalar field, is proposed. We illustrate this new theory in a cosmological setting with pressureless dust and radiation as matter. Assuming a functional form of $\kappa(t)$, we numerically obtain the scale factor evolution and other details of the background cosmology. It is known that BI gravity differs from GR in the strong field regime but reduces to GR for intermediate and weak fields. Our studies in cosmology demonstrate how, with this new, scalar-tensor BI gravity, deviations from GR as well as usual BI gravity, may arise in the weak field regime too. For example, we note a late-time acceleration without any dark energy contribution. Apart from such qualitative differences, we note that fixing the sign and value of $\kappa$ is no longer a necessity in this theory, though the origin of the BD scalar does remain an open question.
The spectrum of primordial gravitational waves is one of the most robust inflationary observables, often thought of as a direct probe of the energy scale of inflation. We present a simple model, where the dynamics controlling this observable is very different than in the standard paradigm of inflation. The model is based on a peculiar finite density phase---the magnetic gaugid---which stems from a highly non-linear effective theory of a triplet of abelian gauge fields. The gaugid extends the notion of homogeneous isotropic solid, in that its spectrum of fluctuations includes helicity-2 phonons. We show how, upon implementing the gaugid to drive inflation, the helicity-2 phonon mixes with the graviton, significantly affecting the size of the primordial tensor spectrum. The rest of the features of the theory, in particular the vector and scalar perturbations, closely resemble those of solid inflation.
The metallicity gradients of the stellar populations in disc galaxies and their evolution store relevant information on the disc formation history and on those processes which could mix stars a posteriori, such as migration, bars and/or galaxy-galaxy interactions. We aim to investigate the evolution of the metallicity gradients of the whole stellar populations in disc components of simulated galaxies in a cosmological context. We analyse simulated disc galaxies selected from a cosmological hydrodynamical simulation that includes chemical evolution and a physically motivated Supernova feedback capable of driving mass-loaded galactic winds. We detect a mild evolution with redshift in the metallicity slopes of $-0.02 \pm 0.01$ dex~kpc$^{-1}$ from $z\sim 1$. If the metallicity profiles are normalised by the effective radius of the stellar disc, the slopes show no clear evolution for $z < 1$, with a median value of approximately $-0.23$ dex ~$r_{\rm reff}^{-1}$. As a function of stellar mass, we find that metallicity gradients steepen for stellar masses smaller than $\sim 10^{10.3} {\rm M_{\odot}}$ while the trend reverses for higher stellar masses, in the redshift range $z=[0,1]$. Galaxies with small stellar masses have discs with larger $r_{\rm reff}$ and flatter metallicity gradients than expected. We detect migration albeit weaker than in previous works. Our stellar discs show a mild evolution of the stellar metallicity slopes up to $z\sim 1,$ which is well-matched by the evolution calculated archeologically from the abundance distributions of mono-age stellar populations at $z\sim 0$. Overall, Supernova feedback could explain the trends but an impact of migration can not be totally discarded. Galaxy-galaxy interactions or small satellite accretions can also contribute to modify the metallicity profiles in the outer parts. [abridged]
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We study inflation in models with many interacting fields subject to randomly generated scalar potentials. We use methods from non-equilibrium random matrix theory to construct the potentials and an adaption of the 'transport method' to evolve the two-point correlators during inflation. This construction allows, for the first time, for an explicit study of models with up to 100 interacting fields supporting a period of 'approximately saddle-point' inflation. We determine the statistical predictions for observables by generating over 30,000 models with 2-100 fields supporting at least 60 efolds of inflation. These studies lead us to seven lessons: i) Manyfield inflation is not single-field inflation, ii) The larger the number of fields, the simpler and sharper the predictions, iii) Planck compatibility is not rare, but future experiments may rule out this class of models, iv) The smoother the potentials, the sharper the predictions, v) Hyperparameters can transition from stiff to sloppy, vi) Despite tachyons, isocurvature can decay, vii) Eigenvalue repulsion drives the predictions. We conclude that many of the 'generic predictions' of single-field inflation can be emergent features of complex inflation models.
Cosmological simulations suggest that most of the matter in the Universe is distributed along filaments connecting galaxies. Illuminated by the cosmic UV background (UVB), these structures are expected to glow in fluorescent Lyman alpha emission with a Surface Brightness (SB) that is well below current observational limits for individual detections. Here, we perform a stacking analysis of the deepest MUSE/VLT data using three-dimensional regions (subcubes) with orientations determined by the position of neighbouring Lyman alpha galaxies (LAEs) at 3<z<4. Our method should increase the probability of detecting filamentary Lyman alpha emission, provided that these structures are Lyman Limit Systems (LLSs). By stacking 390 oriented subcubes we reach a 2 sigma sensitivity level of SB ~ 0.44e-20 erg/s/cm^2/arcsec^2 in an aperture of 1 arcsec^2 x 6.25 Angstrom, which is three times below the expected fluorescent Lyman alpha signal from the Haardt-Madau 2012 (HM12) UVB at z~3.5. No detectable emission is found on intergalactic scales, implying that at least two thirds of our subcubes do not contain oriented LLSs for a HM12 UVB. On the other hand, significant emission is detected in the circum-galactic medium (CGM) of galaxies in the direction of the neighbours. The signal is stronger for galaxies with a larger number of neighbours and appears to be independent of any other galaxy properties such as luminosity, redshift and neighbour distance. We estimate that preferentially oriented satellite galaxies cannot contribute significantly to this signal, suggesting instead that gas densities in the CGM are typically larger in the direction of neighbouring galaxies on cosmological scales.
The future detection and measurement of the diffuse neutrino supernova background will shed light on the rate of supernovae events in the Universe, the star formation rate and the neutrino spectrum from each supernova. Little has been said about what those measurements will tell us about the expansion history of the universe. The purpose of this article is to show that the detection of the diffuse supernova neutrino background will be a complementary tool for the study and possible discrimination of cosmological models. In particular, we study three different cosmological models: the $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter model, the Logotropic universe and a bulk viscous matter-dominated universe. By fitting the free parameters of each model with the supernova Ia probe, we found that the predicted number of events computed with the best fit parameters for the $\Lambda$-Cold dark matter model and with the Logotropic model are the same, while a bulk viscous matter-dominated cosmological model predicts $\sim 3$ times more events. We show that the current limit set by Super-Kamiokande on the diffuse supernova neutrino background flux gives complementary constraints on the free parameters of a bulk viscous matter-dominated universe. Furthermore, this limit implies, within a $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter model, that the universe should be expanding with $H_0 > 21.5 ~\rm{Km/sec/Mpc}$ independently of the content of dark matter $\Omega_m$.
Astronomers are often confronted with funky populations and distributions of objects: brighter objects are more likely to be detected; targets are selected based on colour cuts; imperfect classification yields impure samples. Failing to account for these effects leads to biased analyses. In this paper we present a simple overview of a Bayesian consideration of sample selection, giving solutions to both analytically tractable and intractable models. This is accomplished via a combination of analytic approximations and Monte Carlo integration, in which dataset simulation is efficiently used to correct for issues in the observed dataset. This methodology is also applicable for data truncation, such as requiring densities to be strictly positive. Toy models are included for demonstration, along with discussions of numerical considerations and how to optimise for implementation. We provide sample code to demonstrate the techniques. The methods in this paper should be widely applicable in fields beyond astronomy, wherever sample selection effects occur.
Highly precise weak lensing shear measurement is required for statistical weak gravitational lensing analysis such as cosmic shear measurement to achieve severe constrain on the cosmological parameters. For this purpose any systematic error in the measurement should be corrected. One of the main systematic error comes from Pixel noise which is Poisson noise of flux from atmosphere. We investigate how the pixel noise makes systematic error in shear measurement based on ERA method and develop the correction method. This method is tested by simulations with various conditions and it is confirmed that the correction method can correct $80 \sim 90\%$ of the systematic error except very low signal to noise ratio galaxies.
Mysterious dark matter constitutes about 85% of all mass in the Universe. Clustering of dark matter plays the dominant role in the formation of all observed structures on scales from a fraction to a few hundreds of Mega-parsecs. Galaxies play a role of lights illuminating these structures so they can be observed. The observations in the last several decades have unveiled opulent geometry of these structures currently known as the cosmic web. Haloes are the highest concentrations of dark matter and host luminous galaxies. Currently the most accurate modeling of dark matter haloes is achieved in cosmological N-body simulations. Identifying the haloes from the distribution of particles in N-body simulations is one of the problems attracting both considerable interest and efforts. We propose a novel framework for detecting potential dark matter haloes using the field unique for dark matter -- multistream field. The multistream field emerges at the nonlinear stage of the growth of perturbations because the dark matter is collisionless. Counting the number of velocity streams in gravitational collapses supplements our knowledge of spatial clustering. We assume that the virialized haloes have convex boundaries. Closed and convex regions of the multistream field are hence isolated by imposing a positivity condition on all three eigenvalues of the Hessian estimated on the smoothed multistream field. In a single-scale analysis of high multistream field resolution and low softening length, the halo substructures with local multistream maxima are isolated as individual halo sites.
There exists various proposals to detect cosmic strings from Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) or 21 cm temperature maps. Current proposals do not aim to find the location of strings on sky maps, all of these approaches can be thought of as a statistic on a sky map. We propose a Bayesian interpretation of cosmic string detection and within that framework, we derive a connection between estimates of cosmic string locations and cosmic string tension $G\mu$. We use this Bayesian framework to develop a machine learning framework for detecting strings from sky maps and outline how to implement this framework with neural networks. The neural network we trained was able to detect and locate cosmic strings on noiseless CMB temperature map down to a string tension of $G\mu=5 \times10^{-9}$ and can say there is an 0.95 probability that $G\mu\leq2.3\times10^{-9}$ when analyzing a CMB temperature map that does not contain strings.
In this paper we provide a new expression for the variation of the inflaton field $\Delta\phi$ during the horizon crossing epoch in the context of single field slow roll inflationary models. Such an expression represents a generalization of the well-know Lyth bound. We also explore the consequences of a detection of permille order of the tensor-to-scalar ratio amplitude, $r$, as well as an improvement on the estimation of the scalar spectral index, $n_s$ and its running $\alpha_s$, by the upcoming CMB polarization experiments that will provide plausible constraints on the quantity $\Delta\phi$ during the horizon exit moment. In addition we discuss the relation between the local variation of the field and the possibilities of an eternal inflation. The results of the analysis are completely model independent.
We present a three-dimensional model of the polarised galactic dust emission that takes into account the variation of the dust density, spectral index and temperature along the line of sight as well as small scale turbulent magnetic field distribution. The model is constrained to match observed dust emission on large scales. This model can be used to investigate the impact of the polarised dust foreground emission for future CMB polarisation observations.
We explore the origin of fast molecular outflows that have been observed in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Previous numerical studies have shown that it is difficult to create such an outflow by accelerating existing molecular clouds in the host galaxy, as the clouds will be destroyed before they can reach the high velocities that are observed. In this work, we consider an alternative scenario where molecules form in-situ within the AGN outflow. We present a series of hydro-chemical simulations of an isotropic AGN wind interacting with a uniform medium. We follow the time-dependent chemistry of 157 species, including 20 molecules, to determine whether molecules can form rapidly enough to produce the observed molecular outflows. We find H$_2$ outflow rates up to 140 M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$, which is sensitive to density, AGN luminosity, and metallicity. We compute emission and absorption lines of CO, OH and warm (a few hundred to a few thousand K) H$_2$ from the simulations in post-processing. The CO-derived outflow rates and OH absorption strengths at solar metallicity agree with observations, although the maximum line of sight velocities from the model CO spectra are a factor $\approx$2 lower than is observed. We derive a CO (1-0) to H$_2$ conversion factor of $\alpha_{\rm{CO} (1-0)}$ = 0.15 M$_\odot$ (K km s$^{-1}$ pc$^2$)$^{-1}$, 5 times lower than is commonly assumed in observations of such systems. We find strong emission from the mid-infrared lines of H$_2$, which traces at least 70 per cent of the total H$_2$ mass. This H$_2$ emission may be observable by JWST.
The primary goal of the pulsar timing array projects is to detect ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves. The pulsar data sets are affected by numerous noise processes including varying dispersive delays in the interstellar medium and from the solar wind. The solar wind can lead to rapidly changing variations that, with existing telescopes, can be hard to measure and then remove. In this paper we study the possibility of using a low frequency telescope to aid in such correction for the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) and also discuss whether the ultra-wide-bandwidth receiver for the FAST telescope is sufficient to model the solar wind variations. Our key result is that a single wide-bandwidth receiver can be used to model and remove the effect of the solar wind. However, for pulsars that pass close to the Sun such as PSR J1022+1022, the solar wind is so variable that observations at two telescopes separated by a day are insufficient to correct the solar wind effect.
We study the dynamical evolution of supermassive black holes, in the late stage of galaxy mergers, from kpc to pc scales. In particular, we capture the formation of the binary, a necessary step before the final coalescence, and trace back the main processes causing the decay of the orbit. We use hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy mergers with different resolutions, from $20\,\rm pc$ down to $1\,\rm pc$, in order to study the effects of the resolution on our results, remove numerical effects, and assess that resolving the influence radius of the orbiting black hole is a minimum condition to fully capture the formation of the binary. Our simulations include the relevant physical processes, namely star formation, supernova feedback, accretion onto the black holes and the ensuing feedback. We find that, in these mergers, dynamical friction from the smooth stellar component of the nucleus is the main process that drives black holes from kpc to pc scales. Gas does not play a crucial role and even clumps do not induce scattering or perturb the orbits. We compare the time needed for the formation of the binary to analytical predictions and suggest how to apply such analytical formalism to obtain estimates of binary formation times in lower resolution simulations.
In this work, we consider the so-called $\Lambda(\alpha)$CDM cosmology with $\Lambda\propto\alpha^{-6}$ while the fine-structure "constant" $\alpha$ is varying. In this scenario, the accelerated expansion of the universe is driven by the cosmological "constant" $\Lambda$ (equivalently the vacuum energy), and the varying $\alpha$ is driven by a subdominant scalar field $\phi$ coupling with the electromagnetic field. The observational constraints on the varying $\alpha$ and $\Lambda\propto\alpha^{-6}$ models with various couplings $B_F(\phi)$ between the subdominant scalar field $\phi$ and the electromagnetic field are considered.
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Pairs of radio relics are believed to form during cluster mergers, and are best observed when the merger occurs in the plane of the sky. Mergers can also produce radio halos, through complex processes likely linked to turbulent re-acceleration of cosmic-ray electrons. However, only some clusters with double relics also show a radio halo. Here, we present a novel method to derive upper limits on the radio halo emission, and analyse archival X-ray Chandra data, as well as galaxy velocity dispersions and lensing data, in order to understand the key parameter that switches on radio halo emission. We place upper limits on the halo power below the $P_{\rm 1.4 \, GHz}\, M_{500}$ correlation for some clusters, confirming that clusters with double relics have different radio properties. Computing X-ray morphological indicators, we find that clusters with double relics are associated with the most disturbed clusters. We also investigate the role of different mass-ratios and time-since-merger. Data do not indicate that the merger mass ratio has an impact on the presence or absence of radio halos (the null hypothesis that the clusters belong to the same group cannot be rejected). However, the data suggests that the absence of radio halos could be associated with early and late mergers, but the sample is too small to perform a statistical test. Our study is limited by the small number of clusters with double relics. Future surveys with LOFAR, ASKAP, MeerKat and SKA will provide larger samples to better address this issue.
Recently, it has been claimed that inflationary models with an inflection point in the scalar potential can produce a large resonance in the power spectrum of curvature perturbation. In this paper however we show that the previous analyses are incorrect. The reason is twofold: firstly, the inflaton is over-shot from a stage of standard inflation and so deviates from the slow-roll attractor before reaching the inflection. Secondly, on the (or close to) the inflection point, the ultra-slow-roll trajectory supersede the slow-roll one and thus, the slow-roll approximations used in the literature cannot be used. We then reconsider the model and provide a recipe for how to produce nevertheless a large peak in the matter power spectrum via fine-tuning of parameters.
Annihilating dark matter (DM) models offer promising avenues for future DM detection, in particular via modification of astrophysical signals. However when modelling such potential signals at high redshift the emergence of both dark matter and baryonic structure, as well as the complexities of the energy transfer process, need to be taken into account. In the following paper we present a detailed energy deposition code and use this to examine the energy transfer efficiency of annihilating dark matter at high redshift, including the effects on baryonic structure. We employ the PYTHIA code to model neutralino-like DM candidates and their subsequent annihilation products for a range of masses and annihilation channels. We also compare different density profiles and mass-concentration relations for 10^5-10^7 M_sun haloes at redshifts 20 and 40. For these DM halo and particle models, we show radially dependent ionisation and heating curves and compare the deposited energy to the haloes' gravitational binding energy. We use the "filtered" annihilation spectra escaping the halo to calculate the heating of the circumgalactic medium and show that the mass of the minimal star forming object is increased by a factor of 2-3 at redshift 20 and 4-5 at redshift 40 for some DM models.
We report the discovery of 11 very faint (r< 23), low surface brightness ({\mu}_r< 27 mag/arcsec^2) dwarf galaxies in one deep field in the Virgo cluster, obtained by the prime focus cameras (LBC) at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). These extend our previous sample to reach a total number of 27 galaxies in a field of just of 0.17 deg^2 located at a median distance of 390 kpc from the cluster center. Their association with the Virgo cluster is supported by their separate position in the central surface brightness - total magnitude plane with respect to the background galaxies of similar total magnitude. For a significant fraction (26\%) of the sample the association to the cluster is confirmed by spectroscopic follow-up. We show that the mere abundance of satellite galaxies corresponding to our observed number in the target field provides extremely tight constraints on Dark Matter models with suppressed power spectrum compared to the Cold Dark Matter case, independently of the galaxy luminosity distribution. In particular, requiring the observed number of satellite galaxies not to exceed the predicted abundance of Dark Matter sub-halos yields a limit m_X >3 keV at 1-{\sigma} and m_X > 2.3 keV at 2-{\sigma} confidence level for the mass of thermal Warm Dark Matter particles. Such a limit is competitive with other limits set by the abundance of ultra-faint satellite galaxies in the Milky Way, is completely independent of baryon physics involved in galaxy formation, and has the potentiality for appreciable improvements with next observations. We extend our analysis to Dark Matter models based on sterile neutrinos, showing that our observations set tight constraints on the combination of sterile neutrino mass m_{\nu} and mixing parameter sin^2(2{\theta}). We discuss the robustness of our results with respect to systematics.
We constrain the contribution of tensor-mode perturbations with free $n_t$ in the models with dynamical dark energy with the barotropic equation of state using Planck-2015 data on CMB anisotropy, polarization and lensing, BICEP2/Keck Array data on B-mode polarization, power spectrum of galaxies from WiggleZ and SN Ia data from the JLA compilation. We also investigate the uncertainties of reconstructed potential of the scalar field dark energy.
The standard model of cosmology, $\Lambda$CDM, is the simplest model that matches the current observations, but relies on two hypothetical components, to wit, dark matter and dark energy. Future galaxy surveys and cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments will independently shed light on these components, but a joint analysis that includes cross-correlations will be necessary to extract as much information as possible from the observations. In this paper, we aim at developing the methods needed to perform such an analysis, and test it on publicly available data sets. In particular, we use CMB temperature anisotropies and CMB lensing observations from Planck, and the spectroscopic galaxy and quasar samples of SDSS-III/BOSS. We build a likelihood to simultaneously analyse the auto and cross spectra of the CMB lensing and the galaxy overdensity maps before running Monte-Carlo Markov Chains (MCMC) to assess the constraining power of the combined analysis. We then add CMB temperature information and run MCMCs to test the $\Lambda$CDM model. We present constraints on cosmological parameters and galaxy biases, and demonstrate that the joint analysis can additionally constrain the mass of neutrinos as well as the dark energy equation of state. Finally, we discuss several difficulties regarding the analysis itself and the theoretical precision of the models, which will require additional work to properly analyse the observations of the next generation of cosmological experiments.
Dynamical mechanisms to generate an ultralight axion of mass $\sim 10^{-21}-10^{-22}$ eV in supergravity and strings are discussed. An ultralight particle of this mass provides a candidate for dark matter that may play a role for cosmology at scales $10\, {\rm kpc}$ or less. An effective operator approach for the axion mass provides a general framework for models of ultralight axions, and in one case recovers the scale $10^{-21}-10^{-22}$ eV as the electroweak scale times the square of the hierarchy with an $O(1)$ Wilson coefficient. We discuss several classes of models realizing this framework where an ultralight axion of the necessary size can be generated. In one class of supersymmetric models an ultralight axion is generated by instanton like effects. In the second class higher dimensional operators involving couplings of Higgs, standard model singlets, and axion fields naturally lead to an ultralight axion. Further, for the class of models considered the hierarchy between the ultralight scale and the weak scale is maintained. We also discuss the generation of an ultralight scale within string based models. Here it is shown that in the single modulus KKLT moduli stabilization scheme an ultralight axion would require an ultra-low weak scale. However, within the Large Volume Scenario, the desired hierarchy between the axion scale and the weak scale is achieved. A general analysis of couplings of Higgs fields to instantons within the string framework is discussed and it is shown that the condition necessary for achieving such couplings is the existence of vector-like zero modes of the instanton. Some of the phenomenological aspects of these models are also discussed.
In the QCD axion scenario, a network of domain walls bounded by cosmic strings fragments into pieces. As these fragments collapse, some of them will form black holes. With standard QCD axion parameters, the black holes will have lunar masses ($M_{\rm bh} \sim 10^{-8}\, {\rm M}_\odot$). Even though their number density is difficult to estimate, arguments suggest that they can constitute a reasonable fraction of the critical cosmological density.
Einstein's theory of General Relativity implies that energy, i.e. matter, curves space-time and thus deforms lightlike geodesics, giving rise to gravitational lensing. This phenomenon is well understood in the case of the Schwarzschild metric, and has been accurately described in the past; however, lensing in the Kerr space-time has received less attention in the literature despite potential practical observational applications. In particular, lensing in such space is not expressible as the gradient of a scalar potential and as such is a source of curl-like signatures and an asymmetric shear pattern. In this paper, we develop a differentiable lensing map in the Kerr metric, reworking and extending previous approaches. By using standard tools of weak gravitational lensing, we isolate and quantify the distortion that is uniquely induced by the presence of angular momentum in the metric. We apply this framework to the distortion induced by a Kerr-like foreground object on a distribution of background of sources. We verify that the new unique lensing signature is orders of magnitude below current observational bounds for a range of lens configurations.
As astronomers increasingly exploit the information available in the time domain, spectroscopic variability in particular opens broad new channels of investigation. Here we describe the selection algorithms for all targets intended for repeat spectroscopy in the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS), part of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-IV. Also discussed are the scientific rationale and technical constraints leading to these target selections. The TDSS includes a large "Repeat Quasar Spectroscopy" (RQS) program delivering ~13,000 repeat spectra of confirmed SDSS quasars, and several smaller "Few-Epoch Spectroscopy" (FES) programs targeting specific classes of quasars as well as stars. The RQS program aims to provide a large and diverse quasar data set for studying variations in quasar spectra on timescales of years, a comparison sample for the FES quasar programs, and opportunity for discovering rare, serendipitous events. The FES programs cover a wide variety of phenomena in both quasars and stars. Quasar FES programs target broad absorption line quasars, high signal-to-noise ratio normal broad line quasars, quasars with double-peaked or very asymmetric broad emission line profiles, binary supermassive black hole candidates, and the most photometrically variable quasars. Strongly variable stars are also targeted for repeat spectroscopy, encompassing many types of eclipsing binary systems, and classical pulsators like RR Lyrae. Other stellar FES programs allow spectroscopic variability studies of active ultracool dwarf stars, dwarf carbon stars, and white dwarf/M dwarf spectroscopic binaries. We present example TDSS spectra and describe anticipated sample sizes and results.
Light scalar fields can form gravitationally bound compact objects called boson stars. The profile of boson stars in the Newtonian limit is described by the Gross-Pitaevskii-Poisson equations. We present a semi-analytic solution to these equations and construct the profile of boson stars formed by a non-interacting scalar field. Our solution is stable with respect to numerical errors and has accuracy better than $10^{-6}$ over the entire range.
Two very different methods are used to estimate the magnitude of the effective cosmological constant / dark energy (for the present cosmic epoch). Their results agree with each other and are in agreement with observations. One method makes use of unimodular gravity and causal set theory, while the other one employs arguments involving spacetime foam and holography. I also motivate and discuss the possibility that quanta of (both) dark energy (and dark matter in the Modified Dark Matter model) are extended/non-local, obeying infinite statistics, also known as quantum Boltzmann statistics. Such quanta out-number ordinary particles obeying Bose-Einstein or Fermi-Dirac statistics by a factor of $\sim 10^{30}$.
The general solution of the system of General Relativity equations has been found for isotropic Universe with the flat spatial distribution and synchronized time taking into account a perfect dust and the cosmological constant. Schwarzschild, Friedmann and Einstein-de Sitter solutions (as well as all of their fusion with each other) are special cases of the found general solution. A method of generating an infinite number of Tolman's like solutions has been found. Exact solutions has been found for the spherically symmetric gravitational field of perfect dust clouds in the expanding Universe filled with radiation. A system of ordinary differential equations has been obtained for the spherically symmetric gravitational field of perfect dust clouds in the expanding Universe filled with radiation and nonrelativistic gas. A system of equations has been obtained for the spherically symmetric gravitational field of ultrarelativistic celestial body explosion (supernova, quasar). The problem of a negative density of a perfect dust cloud in General Relativity has been considered.
Future observations of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarisation have the potential to answer some of the most fundamental questions of modern physics and cosmology. In this paper, we list the requirements for a future CMB polarisation survey addressing these scientific objectives, and discuss the design drivers of the CORE space mission proposed to ESA in answer to the "M5" call for a medium-sized mission. The rationale and options, and the methodologies used to assess the mission's performance, are of interest to other future CMB mission design studies. CORE is designed as a near-ultimate CMB polarisation mission which, for optimal complementarity with ground-based observations, will perform the observations that are known to be essential to CMB polarisation scienceand cannot be obtained by any other means than a dedicated space mission.
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Considering high-energy modifications of Einstein gravity during inflation is an interesting issue. We can constrain the strength of the new gravitational terms through observations of inflationary imprints in the actual universe. In this paper we analyze the effects on slow-roll models due to a Chern-Simons term coupled to the inflaton field through a generic coupling function $f(\phi)$. A well known result is the polarization of primordial gravitational waves (PGW) into left and right eigenstates, as a consequence of parity breaking. In such a scenario the modifications to the power spectrum of PGW are suppressed under the conditions that allow to avoid the production of ghost gravitons at a certain energy scale, the so-called Chern-Simons mass $M_{CS}$. In general it has been recently pointed out that there is very little hope to efficiently constrain chirality of PGW on the basis solely of two-point statistics from future CMB data, even in the most optimistic cases. Thus we search if significant parity breaking signatures can arise at least in the bispectrum statistics. We find that the tensor-tensor-scalar bispectra $\langle \gamma \gamma \zeta \rangle$ for each polarization state are the only ones that are not suppressed. Their amplitude, setting the level of parity breaking during inflation, is proportional to the second derivative of the coupling function $f(\phi)$ and they turn out to be maximum in the squeezed limit. We comment on the squeezed-limit consistency relation arising in the case of chiral gravitational waves, and on possible observables to constrain these signatures.
I examine a possible spectral distortion of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) due to its absorption by galactic and intergalactic dust. I show that even subtle intergalactic opacity of $1 \times 10^{-7}\, \mathrm{mag}\, h\, \mathrm{Gpc}^{-1}$ at the CMB wavelengths in the local Universe causes non-negligible CMB absorption and decline of the CMB intensity because the opacity steeply increases with redshift. The CMB should be distorted even during the epoch of the Universe defined by redshifts $z < 10$. For this epoch, the maximum spectral distortion of the CMB is at least $20 \times 10^{-22} \,\mathrm{Wm}^{-2}\, \mathrm{Hz}^{-1}\, \mathrm{sr}^{-1}$ at 300 GHz being well above the sensitivity of the COBE/FIRAS, WMAP or Planck flux measurements. If dust mass is considered to be redshift dependent with noticeable dust abundance at redshifts 2-4, the predicted CMB distortion is even higher. The CMB would be distorted also in a perfectly transparent universe due to dust in galaxies but this effect is lower by one order than that due to intergalactic opacity. The fact that the distortion of the CMB by dust is not observed is intriguing and questions either opacity and extinction law measurements or validity of the current model of the Universe.
We study the effect of different feedback prescriptions on the properties of the low redshift ($z\leq1.6$) Ly$\alpha$ forest using a selection of hydrodynamical simulations drawn from the Sherwood simulation suite. The simulations incorporate stellar feedback, AGN feedback and a simplified scheme for efficiently modelling the low column density Ly$\alpha$ forest. We confirm a discrepancy remains between Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) observations of the Ly$\alpha$ forest column density distribution function (CDDF) at $z \simeq 0.1$ for high column density systems ($N_{\rm HI}>10^{14}\rm\,cm^{-2}$), as well as Ly$\alpha$ velocity widths that are too narrow compared to the COS data. Stellar or AGN feedback -- as currently implemented in our simulations -- have only a small effect on the CDDF and velocity width distribution. We conclude that resolving the discrepancy between the COS data and simulations requires an increase in the temperature of overdense gas with $\Delta=4$--$40$, either through additional He$\,\rm \scriptstyle II\ $ photo-heating at $z>2$ or fine-tuned feedback that ejects overdense gas into the IGM at just the right temperature for it to still contribute significantly to the Ly$\alpha$ forest. Alternatively a larger, currently unresolved turbulent component to the line width could resolve the discrepancy.
Self-interacting dark matter may have striking astrophysical signatures, such as observable offsets between galaxies and dark matter in merging galaxy clusters. Numerical N-body simulations used to predict such observables typically treat the galaxies as collisionless test particles, a questionable assumption given that each galaxy is embedded in its own dark matter halo. To enable a more accurate treatment we develop an effective description of small dark matter haloes taking into account the two major effects due to dark matter self-scatterings: deceleration and evaporation. We point out that self-scatterings can have a sizeable impact on the trajectories of galaxies, diminishing the separation between galaxies and dark matter in merging clusters. This effect depends sensitively on the underlying particle physics, in particular the angular dependence of the self-scattering cross section, and cannot be predicted from the momentum transfer cross section alone.
Recently the CIBER experiment measured the diffuse cosmic infrared background (CIB) flux and claimed an excess compared with integrated emission from galaxies. We show that the CIB spectrum can be fitted by the additional photons produced by the decay of a new particle. However, it also contributes too much to the anisotropy of the CIB, which is in contradiction with the anisotropy measurements by the CIBER and Hubble Space Telescope.
The presence of a radio halo in the massive, merging cluster Abell 3667 has recently become a focus of debate in the literature following a putative halo detection at 2.4 GHz despite a lack of detection at a range of lower frequencies between 120 MHz and 1.8 GHz. Here we develop a new method to place limits on radio haloes via generation of a realistic synthetic halo based on the brightness distribution of real haloes. The model generated extends on previous methods in the literature producing a single elliptical halo model, capable of being injected into mosaic as well as single observations. Applying this model to the deepest data available 1.4 GHz data for A3667 we derive an upper limit halo power of P$_{1.4} \leq 5.55 \times 10^{23}$ W Hz$^{-1}$. We discuss the result in the context of current scaling relation between the X-ray and radio properties of galaxy clusters and find that the lack of a halo in A3667 places the cluster on the border of the so-called `off-state' region in which clusters are expected not to host any diffuse emission.
The nature of dark matter remains one of the biggest open questions in physics. Intriguingly, it has been suggested that dark matter may be explained by another recently observed phenomenon: the detection of gravitational waves by LIGO. LIGO's detection of gravitational waves from merging stellar mass black holes renewed attention toward the possibility that dark matter consists solely of black holes created in the very early universe and that these primordial black holes are what LIGO is presently observing. Subsequent work on this topic has ruled out the possibility that dark matter could consist solely of black holes similar to those that LIGO has detected with masses above 10 solar masses. However, LIGO's connection to dark matter remains an open question and in this work we consider a distribution of primordial black holes that accounts for all of the dark matter, is consistent with LIGO's observations arising from primordial black hole binaries, and resolves tension in previous surveys of microlensing events in the Milky Way halo. The primordial black hole mass distribution that we consider offers an important prediction--LIGO may detect black holes smaller than have ever been observed with ~1% of the black holes it detects having a mass less than the mass of our Sun. Approximately one year of operating advanced LIGO at design sensitivity should be adequate to begin to see a hint of a primordial black hole mass distribution. Detecting primordial black hole binaries below a solar mass will be readily distinguishable from other known compact binary systems, thereby providing an unambiguous observational window for advanced LIGO to pin down the nature of dark matter.
We study large-scale inhomogeneous perturbations and instabilities of interacting dark energy models. Past analysis of large-scale perturbative instabilities, has shown that we can only test interacting dark-energy models with observational data when its parameter ranges are either $w_{x}\geq -1~$and$~\xi \geq 0,$ or $w_{x}\leq -1~$ and $~\xi \leq 0$, where $w_{x}$ is the dark energy equation of state, and $\xi $ is a coupling parameter governing the strength and direction of the energy transfer. We show that by adding a factor $(1+w_{x})$ to the background energy transfer, the whole parameter space can be tested against all the data. We test three classes of interaction model using the latest astronomical data from the CMB, supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift space distortions, weak lensing, cosmic chronometers, and the local Hubble constant. Precise constraints are found. We find in all interaction models that, as the value of Hubble constant decreases, the behavior of the dark energy equation of state shifts from phantom to quintessence type with its equation of state very close to that of a simple cosmological constant at the present time.
Weak lensing three-point statistics are powerful probes of the structure of dark matter halos. We propose to use the correlation of the positions of galaxies with the shapes of background galaxy pairs, known as the halo-shear-shear correlation (HSSC), to measure the mean halo ellipticity and the abundance of subhalos in a statistical manner. We run high-resolution cosmological $N$-body simulations and use the outputs to measure the HSSC for galaxy halos and cluster halos. Non-spherical halos cause a characteristic azimuthal variation of the HSSC, and massive subhalos in the outer region near the virial radius contribute to $\sim10\%$ of the HSSC amplitude. We develop an analytic model of the three-point statistics and test its accuracy using the simulation results. We then make forecast for constraining the internal structure of dark matter halos with future galaxy surveys. With 1000 galaxy groups with mass greater than $10^{13.5}\, h^{-1}M_{\odot}$, the average halo ellipticity can be measured with an accuracy of ten percent. A spherical, smooth mass distribution can be ruled out at a $\sim5\sigma$ significance level. The existence of subhalos whose masses are in 1-10 percent of the main halo mass can be detected with $\sim10^4$ galaxies/clusters. We conclude that the HSSC provides valuable information on the structure of dark halos and hence on the nature of dark matter.
The earliest galaxies are expected to emerge in the first billion years of the Universe during the Epoch of Reionization. However, both the spectroscopic confirmation of photometrically-selected galaxies at this epoch and the characterization of their early dynamical state has been hindered by the lack of bright, accessible lines to probe the velocity structure of their interstellar medium. We present the first ALMA spectroscopic confirmation of such sources at z > 6 using the far-infrared [C II]{\lambda}157.74{\mu}m emission line, and, for the first time, measurement of the velocity structure, for two galaxies at z = 6.8540+/-0.0003 and z = 6.8076+/-0.0002. Remarkably, the [C II] line luminosity from these galaxies is higher than previously found in `normal' star-forming galaxies at z > 6.5. This suggests that we are sampling a part of the galaxy population different from the galaxies found through detection of the Ly{\alpha} line. The luminous and extended [C II] detections reveal clear velocity gradients that, if interpreted as rotation, would suggest these galaxies have turbulent, yet rotation-dominated disks, with similar stellar-to-dynamical mass fractions as observed for H{\alpha} emitting galaxies 2 Gyr later at cosmic noon. Our novel approach for confirming galaxies during Reionization paves the way for larger studies of distant galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts from ALMA. Particularly important, this opens up opportunities for high angular-resolution [C II] dynamics in galaxies less than one billion years after the Big Bang.
Recent work has studied the interplay between a galaxy's history and its observable properties using "genetically modified" cosmological zoom simulations. The approach systematically generates alternative histories for a halo, while keeping its cosmological environment fixed. Applications to date altered linear properties of the initial conditions such as the mean overdensity of specified regions; we extend the formulation to include quadratic features such as local variance, which determines the overall importance of smooth accretion relative to mergers in a galaxy's history. We introduce an efficient algorithm for this new class of modification and demonstrate its ability to control the variance of a region in a one-dimensional toy model. Outcomes of this work are two-fold: (i) a clarification of the formulation of genetic modifications and (ii) a proof of concept for quadratic modifications leading the way to a forthcoming implementation in cosmological simulations.
Understanding how QSO's UV radiation affects galaxy formation is vital to our understanding of reionization era. Using a custom made narrow-band filter, $NB906$, on Subaru/Suprime-Cam, we investigated the number density of Ly$\alpha$ emitters (LAE) around a QSO at z=6.4. To date, this is the highest redshift narrow-band observation, where LAEs around a luminous QSO are investigated. Due to the large field-of-view of Suprime-Cam, our survey area is $\sim$5400~cMpc$^2$, much larger than previously studies at z=5.7 ($\sim$200 cMpc$^2$). In this field, we previously found a factor of 7 overdensity of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs). Based on this, we expected to detect $\sim$100 LAEs down to $NB906$=25 ABmag. However, our 6.4 hour exposure found none. The obtained upper limit on the number density of LAEs is more than an order lower than the blank fields. Furthermore, this lower density of LAEs spans a large scale of 10 $p$Mpc across. A simple argument suggests a strong UV radiation from the QSO can suppress star-formation in halos with $M_{vir}<10^{10}M_{\odot}$ within a $p$Mpc from the QSO, but the deficit at the edge of the field (5 $p$Mpc) remains to be explained.
Minimal scalar Higgs portal dark matter model is increasingly in tension with recent results form direct detection experiments like LUX and XENON. In this paper we make a systematic study of minimal extension of the $ \mathbb{Z}_2$ stabilised singlet scalar Higgs portal scenario in terms of their prospects at direct detection experiments. We consider both enlarging the stabilising symmetry to $\mathbb{Z}_3$ and incorporating multipartite features in the dark sector. We demonstrate that in these non-minimal models the interplay of annihilation, co-annihilation and semi-annihilation processes considerably relax constraints from present and proposed direct detection experiments while simultaneously saturating observed dark matter relic density. We explore in particular the resonant semi-annihilation channel within the multipartite $\mathbb{Z}_3$ framework which results in new unexplored regions of parameter space that would be difficult to constrain by direct detection experiments in the near future. The role of dark matter exchange processes within multi-component $\mathbb{Z}_3 \times \mathbb{Z}_3'$ framework is illustrated. We make quantitative estimates to elucidate the role of the various annihilation processes in the different allowed regions of parameter space of these models.
We present a study of AGN feedback at higher redshifts ($0.3<z<1.2$) using Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) selected samples of clusters from the South-Pole Telescope and Atacama Cosmology Telescope surveys. In contrast to studies of nearby systems, we do not find a separation between cooling flow clusters and non-cooling flow clusters based on the radio luminosity of the central radio source. This lack may be due to the increased incidence of galaxy-galaxy mergers at higher redshift that triggers AGN activity. In support of this scenario, we find evidence for evolution in the radio luminosity function of the central radio source: while the lower-luminosity sources do not evolve much, the higher-luminosity sources show a strong increase in the frequency of their occurrence at higher redshifts. We interpret this evolution as an increase in high-excitation radio galaxies (HERGs) in massive clusters at $z>0.6$, implying a transition from HERG-mode accretion to lower-power low-excitation radio galaxy (LERG)-mode accretion at intermediate redshifts. Additionally, we use local radio-to-jet power scaling relations to estimate feedback power and find that half of the cooling flow systems in our sample probably have enough heating to balance cooling. However, we postulate that the local relations are likely not well suited to predict feedback power in high-luminosity HERGs, as they are derived from samples composed mainly of lower-luminosity LERGs.
Gravitational models of self-tuning are those in which vacuum energy has no observable effect on spacetime curvature, even though it is a priori unsuppressed below the cut-off. We complement Weinberg's no go theorem by studying field theoretic completions of self-adjustment allowing for broken translations as well as other generalisations, and identify new obstructions. Our analysis uses a very general Kallen-Lehmann spectral representation of the exchange amplitude for conserved sources of energy-momentum and exploits unitarity and Lorentz invariance to show that a transition from self-tuning of long wavelength sources to near General Relativity on shorter scales is generically not possible. We search for novel ways around our obstructions and highlight two interesting possibilities. The first is an example of a unitary field configuration on anti-de Sitter space with the desired transition from self-tuning to GR. A second example is motivated by vacuum energy sequestering.
New classes of modified teleparallel theories of gravity are introduced. The action of this theory is constructed to be a function of the irreducible parts of torsion $f(T_{\rm ax},T_{\rm ten},T_{\rm vec})$, where $T_{\rm ax},T_{\rm ten}$ and $T_{\rm vec}$ are squares of the axial, tensor and vector components of torsion, respectively. This is the most general (well-motivated) second order teleparallel theory of gravity that can be constructed from the torsion tensor. Different particular second order theories can be recovered from this theory such as new general relativity, conformal teleparallel gravity or $f(T)$ gravity. Additionally, the boundary term $B$ which connects the Ricci scalar with the torsion scalar via $R=-T+B$ can also be incorporated into the action. By performing a conformal transformation, it is shown that the two unique theories which have an Einstein frame are either the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity or $f(-T+B)=f(R)$ gravity, as expected. We adopt a fully covariant approach by choosing the spin connection being pure gauge and different to zero.
New Experiments With Spheres-Gas (NEWS-G) is a direct dark matter detection experiment using Spherical Proportional Counters (SPCs) with light noble gases to search for low-mass Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). We report the results from the first physics run taken at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM) with SEDINE, a 60 cm diameter prototype SPC operated with a mixture of $\mathrm{Ne}+\mathrm{CH}_{4}$ (0.7 %) at 3.1 bars for a total exposure of $9.7\;\mathrm{kg\cdot days}$. New constraints are set on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross-section in the sub-$\mathrm{GeV/c^2}$ mass region. We exclude cross-sections above $4.4 \times \mathrm{10^{-37}\;cm^2}$ at 90 % confidence level (C.L.) for a 0.5 $\mathrm{GeV/c^2}$ WIMP. The competitive results obtained with SEDINE are promising for the next phase of the NEWS-G experiment: a 140 cm diameter SPC to be installed at SNOLAB by summer 2018.
We perform the first quantitative study of the sensitivity of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis to variations in isospin breaking with precise input from lattice QCD calculations. The predicted light nuclear abundances are most sensitive to the neutron-proton mass splitting as both the initial relative abundance of neutrons to protons and the $n \rightleftharpoons p$ weak reaction rates are very sensitive to this quantity. Lattice QCD has been used to determine this mass splitting to greater than 5-sigma, including contributions from both the down-quark up-quark mass splitting, $2\delta = m_d-m_u$ and from electromagnetic coupling of the quarks to the photons with a strength governed by the fine structure constant, $\alpha_{fs}$. At leading order in isospin breaking, the contribution of $\delta$ and $\alpha_{fs}$ to $M_n-M_p$ and the nuclear reaction rates can be varied independently. We use this knowledge and input from lattice QCD to quantitatively study variations of the predicted light nuclear abundances as $\delta$ and $\alpha_{fs}$ are varied. The change in the D and ${}^4$He abundances individually allow for potentially large simultaneous variations in $\delta$ and $\alpha_{fs}$ while maintaining consistency with the observed abundances, however the combined comparison restricts variations in these sources of isospin breaking to less than $\lesssim1.25\%$ at the 3-sigma confidence level. This sensitivity can be used to place tight constraints on prospective beyond the Standard Model theories that would modify these isospin breaking effects in the primordial Universe.
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