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A detection of the predicted anticorrelation between 21cm and either Ly-alpha or H-alpha from the Epoch of Reionization (EOR) would be a powerful probe of the first galaxies. While 3D intensity maps isolate foregrounds in low k_\parallel modes, infrared surveys cannot yet match the field of view and redshift resolution of radio intensity mapping experiments. In contrast, 2D (i.e., broad band) infrared intensity maps can be measured with current experiments and are limited by foregrounds instead of photon or thermal noise. We show 2D experiments can measure most of the 3D fluctuation power at k<0.2 Mpc^-1 while preserving its correlation properties. However, we show foregrounds pose two challenges: (1) simple geometric effects produce percent-level correlations between radio and infrared fluxes, even if their luminosities are uncorrelated; and (2) radio and infrared foreground residuals contribute sample variance noise to the cross spectrum. The first challenge demands better foreground masking and subtraction, while the second demands large fields of view to average away uncorrelated radio and infrared power. Using radio observations from the Murchison Widefield Array and near-infrared observations from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, we set an upper limit on residual foregrounds of the 21cm--Ly-alpha cross power spectrum at z\sim7 of \Delta^2<181 kJy/sr * mK (95\%) at \ell\sim800. We predict levels of foreground correlation and sample variance noise in future experiments, showing that higher resolution surveys such as LOFAR, SKA-LOW, and the Dark Energy Survey can start to probe models of the 21cm--Ly\alpha EOR cross spectrum.
We estimate total mass ($M_{500}$), intracluster medium (ICM) mass ($M_{\mathrm{ICM}}$) and stellar mass ($M_{\star}$) in a Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) selected sample of 91 galaxy clusters with masses $M_{500}\gtrsim2.5\times10^{14}M_{\odot}$ and redshift $0.2 < z < 1.25$ from the 2500 deg$^2$ South Pole Telescope SPT-SZ survey. The total masses $M_{500}$ are estimated from the SZE observable, the ICM masses $M_{\mathrm{ICM}}$ are obtained from the analysis of $Chandra$ X-ray observations, and the stellar masses $M_{\star}$ are derived by fitting spectral energy distribution templates to Dark Energy Survey (DES) $griz$ optical photometry and $WISE$ or $Spitzer$ near-infrared photometry. We study trends in the stellar mass, the ICM mass, the total baryonic mass and the cold baryonic fraction with cluster mass and redshift. We find significant departures from self-similarity in the mass scaling for all quantities, while the redshift trends are all statistically consistent with zero, indicating that the baryon content of clusters at fixed mass has changed remarkably little over the past $\approx9$ Gyr. We compare our results to the mean baryon fraction (and the stellar mass fraction) in the field, finding that these values lie above (below) those in cluster virial regions in all but the most massive clusters at low redshift. Using a simple model of the matter assembly of clusters from infalling groups with lower masses and from infalling material from the low density environment or field surrounding the parent halos, we show that the strong mass and weak redshift trends in the stellar mass scaling relation suggest a mass and redshift dependent fractional contribution from field material. Similar analyses of the ICM and baryon mass scaling relations provide evidence for the so-called 'missing baryons' outside cluster virial regions.
We present two measurements of the temperature-density relationship (TDR) of the intergalactic medium (IGM) in the redshift range $2.55 < z < 2.95$ using a sample of 13 high-quality quasar spectra and high resolution numerical simulations of the IGM. Our approach is based on fitting the neutral hydrogen column density $N_{HI}$ and the Doppler parameter $b$ of the absorption lines in the \mlya\ forest. The first measurement is obtained using a novel Bayesian scheme which takes into account the statistical correlations between the parameters characterising the lower cut-off of the $b-N_{HI}$ distribution and the power-law parameters $T_0$ and $\gamma$ describing the TDR. This approach yields $T_0/ 10^3\, {\rm K}=15.6 \pm 4.4 $ and $\gamma=1.45 \pm 0.17$ independent of the assumed pressure smoothing of the small scale density field. In order to explore the information contained in the overall $b-N_{HI}$ distribution rather than only the lower cut-off, we obtain a second measurement based on a similar Bayesian analysis of the median Doppler parameter for separate column-density ranges of the absorbers. In this case we obtain $T_0/ 10^3\, {\rm K}=14.6 \pm 3.7$ and $\gamma=1.37 \pm 0.17$ in good agreement with the first measurement. Our Bayesian analysis reveals strong anti-correlations between the inferred $T_0$ and $\gamma$ for both methods as well as an anti-correlation of the inferred $T_0$ and the pressure smoothing length for the second method, suggesting that the measurement accuracy can in the latter case be substantially increased if independent constraints on the smoothing are obtained. Our results are in good agreement with other recent measurements of the thermal state of the IGM probing similar (over-)density ranges.
In this letter, we propose a novel scenario which simultaneously explains $\mathcal{O}(10)M_\odot$ primordial black holes (PBHs) and dark matter in the minimally supersymmetric standard model. Gravitational waves (GWs) events detected by LIGO-Virgo collaboration suggest an existence of black holes as heavy as $\sim 30M_\odot$. In our scenario, as seeds of the PBHs, we make use of the baryon number perturbations which are induced by the special type of Affleck-Dine mechanism. Furthermore, the scenario does not suffer from the stringent constraints from CMB $\mu$-distortion due to the Silk damping and pulsar timing. We find the scenario can explain not only the current GWs events consistently, but also dark matter abundance by the non-topological solitons formed after Affleck-Dine mechanism, called Q-balls.
The observations and research on the neutrinos provide a kind of indirect way of revealing the properties of dark matter particles. For the detection of muon neutrinos, the main issue is the large atmospheric background, which is caused by the interactions between the cosmic rays and atoms within the atmosphere. Compared with muon neutrinos, tau neutrinos have a smaller atmospheric background especially for the downward-going direction. Except for the classical neutrino sources, dark matter particles can also annihilate into the neutrinos and are the potential high energy astrophysical sources. The annihilation rate of dark matter particles is proportional to the square of number density; therefore, the annihilation rate is large near the center of dark matter halos especially for the new kind of dark matter structures named ultracompact dark matter minihalos (UCMHs). In previous works, we have investigated the potential muon neutrino flux from UCMHs due to dark matter annihilation. Moreover, since the formation of UCMHs is related to the primordial density perturbations of small scales, we get the constraints on the amplitude of the primordial curvature perturbations of small scales, $1 \lesssim k \lesssim 10^{7} ~\rm Mpc^{-1}$. In this work, we focus on the downward-going tau neutrinos from UCMHs due to dark matter annihilation. Compared with the background of tau neutrino flux we get the constraints on the mass fraction of UCMHs. Then using the limits on the mass fraction of UCMHs we got the constraints on the amplitude of the primordial curvature perturbations which are extended to the scale $k \sim 10^{8} ~ \rm Mpc^{-1}$ compared with previous results.
An anisotropic measurement of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature fixes the product of the Hubble constant and the acoustic scale $H_0 r_d$. Therefore, regardless of the dark energy dynamics, to accommodate a higher value of $H_0$ one needs a lower $r_d$ and so necessarily a modification of early time cosmology. One must either reduce the age of the Universe at the drag epoch or else the speed of sound in the primordial plasma. The first can be achieved, for example, with dark radiation or very early dark energy, automatically preserving the angular size of the acoustic scale in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) with no modifications to post-recombination dark energy. However it is known that the simplest such modifications fall afoul of CMB constraints at higher multipoles. As an example, we combine anisotropic BAO with geometric measurements from strong lensing time delays from H0LiCOW and megamasers from the Megamaser Cosmology Project to measure $r_d$, with and without the local distance ladder measurement of $H_0$. We find that the best fit value of $r_d$ is indeed quite insensitive to the dark energy model, and is also hardly affected by the inclusion of the local distance ladder data.
According to the hierarchical model of galaxy formation underlying our current understanding of cosmology, the Milky Way (MW) has continued to accrete smaller-sized dwarf galaxies since its formation. Remnants of this process surround the MW as debris streams and satellite galaxies, and provide information that is complementary to studies of the Galaxy itself. The satellite system thus has the potential to teach us about the formation and evolution of the MW. Can the existence of a narrow, co-rotating plane of satellite galaxies (the Vast Polar Structure, VPOS) put constraints on our Galaxy's properties? Are such satellite galaxy planes more narrow around less massive hosts, more abundant around more concentrated hosts, more kinematically coherent around more early-forming halos? To address such questions, we have looked for correlations between properties of satellite galaxy planes fitted to cosmological simulations in the ELVIS suite and properties of their host dark matter halos, while accounting for realistic observational biases such as the obscuration by the disk of the MW. We find no evidence for strong correlations that would allow conclusions on the host halo properties from the mere existence of the VPOS around our Galaxy.
We suggest that two-to-two dark matter fusion may be the relaxation process that resolves the small-scale structure problems of the cold collisionless dark matter paradigm. In order for the fusion cross section to scale correctly across many decades of astrophysical masses from dwarf galaxies to galaxy clusters, we require the fractional binding energy released to be greater than v^n ~ [10^{-(2-3)}]^n, where n=1,2 depends on local dark sector chemistry. The size of the dark-sector interaction cross sections must be sigma ~ 0.1-1 barn, moderately larger than for Standard Model deuteron fusion, indicating a dark nuclear scale Lambda ~ O(100 MeV). Dark fusion firmly predicts constant sigma v below the characteristic velocities of galaxy clusters. Observations of the inner structure of galaxy groups with velocity dispersion of several hundred kilometer per second, of which a handful have been identified, could differentiate dark fusion from a dark photon model.
We discuss an alternative approach for future systematic searches of low mass dwarf galaxies, $\lesssim 10^6 \textrm{ M}_{\odot}$. By exploring the limiting surface brightness-spatial resolution ($\mu_{\textrm{eff,lim}}-\theta$) parameter space, we suggest that dwarfs in the Local Volume, between $3$ and $10 \textrm{ Mpc}$, are expected to be detected very effectively and in large numbers using integrated light photometric surveys, complementary to the classical star counts method. We use a sample of dwarf galaxies in the Local Group to construct relations between their photometric and structural parameters, $\textrm{M}_{*}$-$\mu_{\textrm{eff,V}}$ and $\textrm{M}_{*}$-$\textrm{R}_{\textrm{eff}}$. We use these relations, along with assumed functional forms for the halo mass function and the stellar mass-halo mass relation, to calculate the lowest detectable stellar masses in the Local Volume and the expected number of galaxies as a function of the limiting surface brightness and spatial resolution. The number of detected galaxies depends mostly on the limiting surface brightness for distances $>3 \textrm{ Mpc}$ while spatial resolution starts to play a role for galaxies at distances $>8 \textrm{ Mpc}$. Surveys with $\mu_{\textrm{eff,lim}} \sim 30 \textrm{ mag arcsec}^{-2}$ should be able to detect galaxies with stellar masses down to $ \sim 10^4 \textrm{ M}_*$ in the Local Volume. Depending on the form of the SMHM relation, the expected number of dwarf galaxies with distances between $3$ and $10 \textrm{ Mpc}$ is $0.04-0.35$ per square degree, assuming a limiting surface brightness of $\sim 29-30 \textrm{ mag arcsec}^{-2}$ and a spatial resolution $< 4''$. We plan to search for a population of low mass dwarfs by performing a blank photometric survey with the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, an imaging system optimized for the detection of extended ultra-low surface brightness structures.
A classical model based on a power law assumption for the radius-time relationship in the expansion of a Supernova (SN) allows to derive an analytical expression for the flow of mechanical kinetic energy and the time duration of Gamma-ray burst (GRB). A random process based on the ratio of two truncated lognormal distributions for luminosity and luminosity distance allows to derive the statistical distribution for time duration of GRBs. The high velocities involved in the first phase of expansion of a SN requires a relativistic treatment. The circumstellar medium is assumed to follow a density profile of Plummer type with eta=6. A series solution for the relativistic flow of kinetic energy allows to derive in a numerical way the duration time for GRBs. Here we analyse two cosmologies: the standard cosmology and the plasma cosmology.
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We present a gravitational lensing and X-ray analysis of a massive galaxy cluster and its surroundings. The core of MACS\,J0717.5+3745 ($M(R<1\,{\rm Mpc})\sim$\,$2$$\times$$10^{15}\,\msun$, $z$=$0.54$) is already known to contain four merging components. We show that this is surrounded by at least seven additional substructures with masses ranging from $3.8-6.5\times10^{13}\,\msun$, at projected radii $1.6$ to $4.9$\,Mpc. We compare MACS\,J0717 to mock lensing and X-ray observations of similarly rich clusters in cosmological simulations. The low gas fraction of substructures predicted by simulations turns out to match our observed values of $1$--$4\%$. The typical growth rate and substructure infall velocity of simulated clusters suggests that MACS\,J0717 will evolve into a system similar to, but more massive than, Abell~2744 by $z=0.31$, and into a $\sim$\,$10^{16}\,\msun$ supercluster by $z=0$. The radial distribution of infalling substructure suggests that merger events are strongly episodic; however we find that the smooth accretion of surrounding material remains the main source of mass growth even for such massive clusters.
Multi-band photometric and multi-object spectroscopic surveys of merging galaxy clusters allow for the characterization of the distributions of constituent dark matter and galaxy populations, constraints on the dynamics of the merging subclusters, and an understanding of galaxy evolution of member galaxies. We present deep photometric observations from Subaru/SuprimeCam and a catalog of $\sim$5400 spectroscopic cluster members from Keck/DEIMOS across 29 merging galaxy clusters ranging in redshift from $z=0.07$ to $0.55$. The ensemble is compiled based on the presence of radio relics, which highlight cluster scale collisionless shocks in the intra-cluster medium. Together with the spectroscopic and photometric information, the velocities, timescales, and geometries of the respective merging events may be tightly constrained. In this preliminary analysis, the velocity distributions of 28 of the 29 clusters are shown to be well fit by single Gaussians. This indicates that radio relic mergers largely occur transverse to the line of sight and/or near apocenter. In this paper, we present our optical and spectroscopic surveys, preliminary results, and a discussion of the value of radio relic mergers for developing accurate dynamical models of each system.
Using cosmological $N$-body simulation which coevolves cold dark matter (CDM) and neutrino particles, we discover the local effect of massive neutrinos on the spatial distribution of CDM halos, reflected on properties of the Delaunay Triangulation (DT) voids. Smaller voids are generally in regions with higher neutrino abundance and so their surrounding halos are impacted by a stronger neutrino free streaming. This makes the voids larger (surrounding halos being washed outward the void center). On the contrary, larger voids are generally in regions with lower neutrino abundance and so their surrounding halos are less impacted by neutrino free streaming, making the voids smaller (surrounding halos being squeezed toward the void center). This characteristic change of the spatial distribution of the halos suppresses the 2-point correlation function of halos on scales $\sim$ 1 Mpc$/h$ and significantly skews the number function of the DT voids, which serve as measurable neutrino effects in current or future galaxy surveys.
Numerical simulations play a key important role in modern cosmology. Examples are plenty including the cosmic web - large scale structure of the distribution of galaxies in space - which was first observed in N-body simulations and later discovered in observations. The cuspy dark matter halo profiles, the overabundance of satellites, the Too-Big-Too-Fail problem are other examples of theoretical predictions that have a dramatic impact on recent developments in cosmology and galaxy formation. Large observational surveys such as e.g. SDSS, Euclid, and LSST are intimately connected with extensive cosmological simulations that provide statistical errors and tests for systematics. Accurate predictions for baryonic acoustic oscillations and redshift space distortions from high-resolution and large-volume cosmological simulations are required for interpretation of these large-scale galaxy/qso surveys. However, most of the results from extensive computer simulations, that would be greatly beneficial if publicly available, are still in hands of few research groups. Even when the simulation data is available, sharing vast amounts of data can be overwhelming. We argue that there is an effective and simple path to expand the data access and dissemination of numerous results from different cosmological models. Here we demonstrate that public access can be effectively provided with relatively modest resources. Among different results, we release for the astronomical community terabytes of raw data of th popular Bolshoi and MultiDark simulations. We also provide numerous results that are focused on mimicking observational data and galaxy surveys for major projects. Skies and Universes is a community effort: data are produced and shared by many research groups. We offer to other cosmologists and astronomers to host their data products in the skiesanduniverses.org space.
The galaxy bispectrum is affected on super-equality scales by relativistic observational effects, at linear and nonlinear order. These lightcone effects include local contributions from Doppler and gravitational potential terms, as well as integrated contributions like lensing, together with all the couplings at nonlinear order. We recently presented the correction to the galaxy bispectrum from all local lightcone effects up to second order in perturbations. Here we update our previous result by including the impact on the nonlinear lightcone effects from relativistic dynamical evolution.
A grand challenge of the 21st century cosmology is to accurately estimate the cosmological parameters of our Universe. A major approach to estimating the cosmological parameters is to use the large-scale matter distribution of the Universe. Galaxy surveys provide the means to map out cosmic large-scale structure in three dimensions. Information about galaxy locations is typically summarized in a "single" function of scale, such as the galaxy correlation function or power-spectrum. We show that it is possible to estimate these cosmological parameters directly from the distribution of matter. This paper presents the application of deep 3D convolutional networks to volumetric representation of dark-matter simulations as well as the results obtained using a recently proposed distribution regression framework, showing that machine learning techniques are comparable to, and can sometimes outperform, maximum-likelihood point estimates using "cosmological models". This opens the way to estimating the parameters of our Universe with higher accuracy.
Self-interacting dark matter models constitute an attractive solution to problems in structure formation on small scales. A simple realization of these models considers the dark force mediated by a light particle which can couple to the Standard Model through mixings with the photon or the $Z$ boson. Within this scenario we investigate the sensitivity of the IceCube-DeepCore and PINGU neutrino telescopes to the associated muon neutrino flux produced by dark matter annihilations in the Sun. Despite the model's simplicity, several effects naturally appear: momentum suppressed capture by nuclei, velocity dependent dark matter self-capture, Sommerfeld enhanced annihilation, as well as the enhancement on the neutrino flux due to mediator late decays. Taking all these effects into account, we find that most of the model relevant parameter space can be tested by the three years of data already collected by the IceCube-DeepCore. We show that indirect detection through neutrinos can compete with the strong existing limits from direct detection experiments, specially in the case of isospin violation.
Chameleon scalar fields can screen their associated fifth forces from detection by changing their mass with the local density. These models are an archetypal example of a screening mechanism, and have become an important target for both cosmological surveys and terrestrial experiments. In particular there has been much recent interest in searching for chameleon fifth forces in the laboratory. It is known that the chameleon force is less screened around non-spherical sources, but only the field profiles around a few simple shapes are known analytically. In this work we introduce a numerical code that solves for the chameleon field around arbitrary shapes with azimuthal symmetry placed in a spherical vacuum chamber. We find that deviations from spherical symmetry can increase the chameleon acceleration experienced by a test particle by up to a factor of $\sim 3$, and that the least screened objects are those which minimize some internal dimension.
In this work we re-investigate pros and cons of mutated hilltop inflation. Applying Hamilton-Jacobi formalism we solve inflationary dynamics and find that inflation goes on along the ${\cal W}_{-1}$ branch of the Lambert function. Depending on the model parameter mutated hilltop model renders two types of inflationary solution: one corresponds to small inflaton excursion during observable inflation and the other describes large field inflation. The inflationary observables from curvature perturbation are in tune with the current data for a wide range of the model parameter, $0<\alpha{\rm M_P} \leq \sqrt{11+5\sqrt{5}}$. The small field branch predicts negligible amount of tensor to scalar ratio $r\sim \mathcal{O}(10^{-4})$, while the large field sector is capable of generating high amplitude for tensor perturbations, $r\sim \mathcal{O}(10^{-1})$. Further we see that the spectral index is almost independent of the model parameter along with a very small negative amount of scalar running.
The late-time light curves of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), observed $>900$ days after explosion, present the possibility of a new diagnostic for SN Ia progenitor and explosion models. First, however, we must discover what physical process (or combination of processes) leads to the slow-down of the late-time light curve relative to a pure $^{56}$Co decay, as observed in SNe 2011fe, 2012cg, and 2014J. We present Hubble Space Telescope observations of SN 2015F, taken $\approx 600-920$ days past maximum light. Unlike those of the three other SNe Ia, the light curve of SN 2015F remains consistent with being powered solely by the radioactive decay of $^{56}$Co. We fit the light curves of these four SNe Ia in a consistent manner and measure possible correlations between the light curve stretch - a proxy for the intrinsic luminosity of the SN - and the parameters of the physical model used in the fit (e.g., the mass ratio of $^{56}$Co and $^{57}$Co produced in the explosion, or the time at which freeze-out sets in). We propose a new, late-time Phillips-like correlation between the stretch of the SNe and the shape of their late-time light curves, which we parametrize as the difference between their pseudo-bolometric luminosities at 600 and 900 days: $\Delta L_{900} = {\rm log}(L_{600}/L_{900})$. This model-independent correlation provides a new way to test which physical process lies behind the slow-down of SN Ia light curves $>900$ days after explosion, and, ultimately, fresh constraints on the various SN Ia progenitor and explosion models.
In this paper we consider the Dvali and G\'omez assumption that the end state
of a gravitational collapse is a Bose-Einstein condensate of gravitons. We then
construct the two Gross-Pitaevskii equations of a static and spherically
symmetric configuration of the condensate.
These two equations correspond to the constrained minimisation of the
gravitational Hamiltonian with respect to the redshift and the Newtonian
potential, per given number of gravitons. We find that the effective geometry
of the condensate is the one of a gravastar (a DeSitter star) with a
sub-Planckian cosmological constant. Thus, the condensate is always quantum and
weakly coupled, no matter its size.
Finally, applying our findings to the current observable Universe, we find
that the emergent cosmological constant of the condensate, inversely
proportional to the square of the visible mass, matches unexpectedly well the
observational value.
In this paper, we search for correlations between the intrinsic properties of galaxies and the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) under a scalar field dark matter (SFDM) at temperature of condensation greater than zero. According to this paradigm the BEC is distributed in several states. Based on the galactic rotation curves collected in SPARC dataset, we observe that SFDM parameters present a weak correlation with most of the galaxy properties, having only a correlation with those related to neutral hydrogen emissions. In addition, we found evidence to support of self-interaction between the different BEC states, proposing that in future studies must be considered crossed terms in SFDM equations. Finally, we find a null correlation with galaxy distances giving support to non-hierarchy of SFDM formation.
The relativistic generalization of the Newtonian Lagrangian perturbation theory is investigated. In previous works, the perturbation and solution schemes that are generated by the spatially projected gravitoelectric part of the Weyl tensor were given to any order of the perturbations, together with extensions and applications for accessing the nonperturbative regime. We here discuss more in detail the general first-order scheme within the Cartan formalism including and concentrating on the gravitational wave propagation in matter. We provide master equations for all parts of Lagrangian-linearized perturbations propagating in the perturbed spacetime, and we outline the solution procedure that allows to find general solutions. Particular emphasis is given to global properties of the Lagrangian perturbation fields by employing results of Hodge-de Rham theory. We here discuss how the Hodge decomposition relates to the standard scalar-vector-tensor decomposition. Finally, we demonstrate that we obtain the known linear perturbation solutions of the standard relativistic perturbation scheme by performing two steps: first, by restricting our solutions to perturbations that propagate on a flat unperturbed background spacetime and, second, by transforming to Eulerian background coordinates with truncation of nonlinear terms.
We consider the prospects for multiple dark matter direct detection experiments to determine if the interactions of a dark matter candidate are isospin-violating. We focus on theoretically well-motivated examples of isospin-violating dark matter (IVDM), including models in which dark matter interactions with nuclei are mediated by a dark photon, a Z, or a squark. We determine that the best prospects for distinguishing IVDM from the isospin-invariant scenario arise in the cases of dark photon- or Z-mediated interactions, and that the ideal experimental scenario would consist of large exposure xenon- and neon-based detectors. If such models currently just evade current direct detection limits, then one could distinguish such models from the standard isospin-invariant case with two detectors with of order 100 ton-year exposure.
We study a universe filled with cold dark matter in the form of discrete inhomogeneities (e.g., galaxies) and dark energy in the form of a continuous perfect fluid. We develop a first-order scalar perturbation theory in the weak gravity limit around a spatially flat Friedmann universe. Our approach works at all cosmic scales and incorporates linear and nonlinear effects with respect to energy density fluctuations. The gravitational potential can be split into individual contributions from each matter source. Each potential is characterized by a Yukawa interaction with the same range, which is of the order of 3700 Mpc at the present time. The derived equations can form the theoretical basis for numerical simulations for a wide class of modern cosmological models.
We consider a toy model including 3 scalar fields with different masses to study formation of a light axion-like condensate presumed to be responsible for inflation and/or late accelerating expansion of the Universe. The investigation is performed in the framework of non-equilibrium quantum field theory in a consistently evolved FLRW geometry. We discuss in details how the initial conditions for such a model must be defined in a fully quantum setup and show that in a multi-component model coupling between fields highly reduce the number of independent initial degrees of freedom. Numerical simulation of this model shows that it can be fully consistent with present cosmological observations. Moreover, we find that quantum effects rather than effective potential of a condensate is the dominate contributor in energy density and in triggering inflation and late accelerating expansion. The light scalar field, both in condensate and perturbatively free particles has a crucial role in controlling the trend of heavier fields. Up to precision of our simulations we do not find any IR singularity during inflation. These findings highlight uncertainties of attempts to extract information about physics of early Universe by naively comparing predictions of local effective classical models with cosmological observations, neglecting inherently non-local nature of quantum processes.
Perfect fluids are modeled by using an effective field theory approach which naturally gives a self-consistent and unambiguous description of the intrinsic non-adiabatic contribution to pressure variations. We study the impact of intrinsic entropy perturbation on the superhorizon dynamics of the curvature perturbation ${\cal R}$ in the dark sector. The dark sector, made of dark matter and dark energy is described as a single perfect fluid. The non-perturbative vorticity's dynamics and the Weinberg theorem violation for perfect fluids are also studied.
I give a brief review of some of the implications of Fermi data for theories of the identity of dark matter, and their combination with data from other complementary probes. I also preview some of the prospects for probing such models with future data.
We use the covariant formulation proposed in Tattersall et al (2017) to analyse the structure of linear perturbations about a spherically symmetric background in different families of gravity theories, and hence study how quasi-normal modes of perturbed black holes may be affected by modifications to General Relativity. We restrict ourselves to single-tensor, scalar-tensor and vector-tensor diffeomorphism-invariant gravity models in a Schwarzschild black hole background. We show explicitly the full covariant form of the quadratic actions in such cases, which allow us to then analyse odd parity (axial) and even parity (polar) perturbations simultaneously in a straightforward manner.
We identify a class of scalar-tensor theories with coupling between the scalar and the Gauss--Bonnet invariant that exhibit spontaneous scalarization for both black holes and compact stars. In particular, these theories formally admit all of the stationary solutions of general relativity but these are not dynamically preferred if certain conditions are satisfied. Remarkably, black holes exhibit scalarization if their mass lies within one of many narrow bands. We also find evidence that scalarization can occur in neutron stars as well.
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We present a high resolution dissection of the two-dimensional total mass distribution in the core of the Hubble Frontier Fields galaxy cluster MACS J0416.1-2403, at z ~ 0.396. We exploit HST/WFC3 near-IR (F160W) imaging, VLT/MUSE spectroscopy, and Chandra data to separate the stellar, hot gas, and dark-matter mass components in the inner 300 kpc of the cluster. We combine the recent results of our refined strong lensing analysis, which includes the contribution of the intracluster gas, with the modeling of the surface brightness and stellar mass distributions of 193 cluster members, of which 144 are spectroscopically confirmed. We find that moving from 10 to 300 kpc from the cluster center the stellar to total mass fraction decreases from 12% to 1% and the hot gas to total mass fraction increases from 3% to 9%, resulting in a baryon fraction of approximately 10% at the outermost radius. We measure that the stellar component represents ~ 30%, near the cluster center, and 15%, at larger clustercentric distances, of the total mass in the cluster substructures. We subtract the baryonic mass component from the total mass distribution and conclude that within 30 kpc (~ 3 times the effective radius of the BCG) from the cluster center the surface mass density profile of the total mass and global (cluster plus substructures) dark-matter are steeper and that of the diffuse (cluster) dark-matter is shallower than a NFW profile. Our current analysis does not point to a significant offset between the cluster stellar and dark-matter components. This detailed and robust reconstruction of the inner dark-matter distribution in a larger sample of galaxy clusters will set a new benchmark for different structure formation scenarios.
Recent precision cosmological parameter constraints imply that the spatial curvature of the Universe is essentially dynamically negligible - but only if relatively strong assumptions are made about the equation of state of dark energy (DE). When these assumptions are relaxed, strong degeneracies arise that make it hard to disentangle DE and curvature, degrading the constraints. We show that forthcoming 21cm intensity mapping experiments such as HIRAX are ideally designed to carry out model-independent curvature measurements, as they can measure the clustering signal at high redshift with sufficient precision to break many of the degeneracies. We consider two different model-independent methods, based on `avoiding' the DE-dominated regime and non-parametric modelling of the DE equation of state respectively. Our forecasts show that HIRAX will be able to improve upon current model-independent constraints by around an order of magnitude, reaching percent-level accuracy even when an arbitrary DE equation of state is assumed. In the same model-independent analysis, the sample variance limit for a similar survey is another order of magnitude better.
Strong gravitational lensing is an important tool to probe the universe. In the theoretical analysis of gravitational lensing, it is assumed that continuous density profile can correctly describe the lens galaxy. But in fact this assumption has never been rigorously tested. In this paper, we discuss this issue, and point out that if we use discrete density profile to model the lens galaxy, then the position of the images does not change, but the magnification will be increased. Strongly lensed gravitational waves could test this conclusion in the future.
We introduce a new test to study the Cosmological Principle with galaxy clusters. Galaxy clusters exhibit a tight correlation between the luminosity and temperature of the X-ray-emitting intracluster medium. While the luminosity measurement depends on cosmological parameters through the luminosity distance, the temperature determination is cosmology-independent. We exploit this property to test the isotropy of the luminosity distance over the full extragalactic sky, through the normalization $a$ of the $L_X-T$ scaling relation and the cosmological parameters $\Omega_m$ and $H_0$. We use two almost independent galaxy cluster samples: the ASCA Cluster Catalog (ACC) and the XMM Cluster Survey (XCS-DR1). Interestingly enough, these two samples appear to have the same pattern for $a$ with respect to the Galactic longitude. We also identify one sky region within $l\sim (-15^o,90^o)$ (Group A) that shares very different best-fit values for $a$ for both samples. We find the deviation of Group A to be $2.7\sigma$ for ACC and $3.1\sigma$ for XCS-DR1. This tension is not relieved after excluding possible outliers or after a redshift conversion to the CMB frame is applied. Using also the HIFLUGCS sample, we show that a possible excess of cool-core clusters in this region, cannot explain the obtained deviations. Moreover, we tested for a dependence of the $L_X-T$ relation on supercluster environment. We indeed find a trend for supercluster members to be underluminous compared to field clusters. However, the fraction of supercluster members is similar in the different sky regions. Constraining $\Omega_m$ and $H_0$ via the redshift evolution of $L_X-T$ and the luminosity distance, we obtain approximately the same deviation amplitudes as for $a$. The observed behavior of $\Omega_m$ for the sky regions that coincide with the CMB dipole is similar to what was found with other cosmological probes as well.
We develop a scenario of inflation with spontaneously broken time and space diffeomorphisms, with distinctive features for the primordial tensor modes. Inflationary tensor fluctuations are non adiabatic, and can acquire a mass during the inflationary epoch. They can evade the Higuchi bound around de Sitter space, thanks to interactions with the fields driving expansion. Correspondingly, the primordial stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) is characterised by a tuneable scale dependence, and can be detectable at interferometer scales. In this set-up, tensor non-Gaussianity can be parametrically enhanced in the squeezed limit. This induces a coupling between long and short tensor modes, leading to a specific quadrupolar anisotropy in the primordial SGWB spectrum, which can be used to build estimators for tensor non-Gaussianity. We analyse how our inflationary system can be tested with interferometers, also discussing how an interferometer can be sensitive to a primordial anisotropic SGWB.
The role of galaxy mergers in fueling active galactic nuclei (AGN) is still debated, owing partly to selection effects inherent to studies of the merger/AGN connection. In particular, luminous AGN are often heavily obscured in late-stage mergers. Mid-infrared (IR) color selection of dust-enshrouded AGN with, e.g., the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has uncovered large new populations of obscured AGN. However, this method is sensitive mainly to AGN that dominate emission from the host. To understand how these selection biases affect mid-IR studies of the merger/AGN connection, we simulate the evolution of obscured AGN throughout galaxy mergers. Although mid-IR colors closely trace luminous, obscured AGN, we show that nearly half of merger-triggered AGN are missed with common mid-IR selection criteria, even in late-stage, gas-rich major mergers. At z < 0.5, we find that a more lenient W1-W2 > 0.5 cut greatly improves completeness without significantly decreasing reliability. Extreme nuclear starbursts are briefly able to mimic this AGN signature, but this is largely irrelevant in mergers, where such starbursts are accompanied by AGN. We propose a two-color cut that yields high completeness and reliability even in starbursting systems. Further, we show that mid-IR color selection very effectively identifies dual AGN hosts, with the highest fraction at the smallest separations (< 3 kpc). Thus, many merger hosts of mid-IR AGN should contain unresolved dual AGN; these are ideal targets for high-resolution follow-up, particularly with the James Webb Space Telescope.
In this work we shall investigate the cosmological dynamical system of $f(R)$ gravity, by constructing it in such a way so that it is rendered autonomous. We shall study the vacuum $f(R)$ gravity case, but also the case that matter and radiation perfect fluids are present along with the $f(R)$ gravity. The dynamical system is constructed in such a way so that the time-dependence of the system is contained in a single parameter which depends on the Hubble rate and it's second derivative. The autonomous structure of the dynamical system is achieved when this parameter is constant, therefore we focus on these cases. For the vacuum $f(R)$ case, we investigate two cases with the first leading to a stable de Sitter attractor fixed point but also to an unstable de Sitter fixed point, and the second is related to a matter dominated era. The stable de Sitter attractor is also found for the $f(R)$ gravity in the presence of matter and radiation perfect fluids. In all the cases we performed a detailed numerical analysis of the dynamical system and we also investigate in detail the stability of the resulting fixed points. Also, we present an exceptional feature of the $R^2$ gravity model, in the absence of perfect fluids. Finally, we investigate what is the approximate form of the $f(R)$ gravities near the stable and the unstable de Sitter fixed points.
The hierarchical galaxy formation scenario in the Cold Dark Matter cosmogony with a non-vanishing cosmological constant and geometrically flat space has been very successful in explaining the large-scale distribution of galaxies. However, there have been claims that the scenario predicts too many satellite galaxies associated with massive galaxies compared to observations, called the missing satellite galaxy problem. Isolated groups of galaxies hosted by passively evolving massive early-type galaxies are ideal laboratories for finding the missing physics in the current theory. Here we report from a deep spectroscopic survey of such satellite systems that isolated massive early-type galaxies with no recent star formation through wet mergers or accretion have almost no satellite galaxies fainter than the r-band absolute magnitude of about Mr =-14. If only early-type satellites are used, the cutoff is at somewhat brighter magnitude of about Mr =-15. Such a cutoff has not been found in other nearby satellite galaxy systems hosted by late-type galaxies or those with merger features. Various physical properties of satellites depend strongly on the host-centric distance. Our observation indicates that the satellite galaxy luminosity function is largely determined by the interaction of satellites with the environment provided by their host, which sheds light on the missing satellite galaxy problem.
The complementarity of direct, indirect and collider searches for dark matter has improved our understanding concerning the properties of the dark matter particle. In this short review, we present a step toward the fundamental nature of dark matter with direct detection experiments only, go through some of the potential dark matter signals in gamma-rays, x-rays, and anti-matter, and lastly discuss the prospects of WIMPs in the next decade.
The Foundation Supernova Survey aims to provide a large, high-fidelity, homogeneous, and precisely-calibrated low-redshift Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) sample for cosmology. The calibration of the current low-redshift SN sample is the largest component of systematic uncertainties for SN cosmology, and new data are necessary to make progress. We present the motivation, survey design, observation strategy, implementation, and first results for the Foundation Supernova Survey. We are using the Pan-STARRS telescope to obtain photometry for up to 800 SNe Ia at z < 0.1. This strategy has several unique advantages: (1) the Pan-STARRS system is a superbly calibrated telescopic system, (2) Pan-STARRS has observed 3/4 of the sky in grizy making future template observations unnecessary, (3) we have a well-tested data-reduction pipeline, and (4) we have observed ~3000 high-redshift SNe Ia on this system. Here we present our initial sample of 225 SN Ia griz light curves, of which 180 pass all criteria for inclusion in a cosmological sample. The Foundation Supernova Survey already contains more cosmologically useful SNe Ia than all other published low-redshift SN Ia samples combined. We expect that the systematic uncertainties for the Foundation Supernova Sample will be 2-3 times smaller than other low-redshift samples. We find that our cosmologically useful sample has an intrinsic scatter of 0.111 mag, smaller than other low-redshift samples. We perform detailed simulations showing that simply replacing the current low-redshift SN Ia sample with an equally sized Foundation sample will improve the precision on the dark energy equation-of-state parameter by 35%, and the dark energy figure-of-merit by 72%.
We present a model that unifies the cosmic star formation rate (CSFR), obtained through the hierarchical structure formation scenario, with the (Galactic) local star formation rate (SFR). It is possible to use the SFR to generate a CSFR mapping through the density probability distribution functions (PDFs) commonly used to study the role of turbulence in the star-forming regions of the Galaxy. We obtain a consistent mapping from redshift $z\sim 20$ up to the present ($z = 0$). Our results show that the turbulence exhibits a dual character, providing high values for the star formation efficiency ($\langle\varepsilon\rangle \sim 0.32$) in the redshift interval $z\sim 3.5-20$ and reducing its value to $\langle\varepsilon\rangle = 0.021$ at $z = 0$. The value of the Mach number ($\mathcal{M}_{\rm crit}$), from which $\langle\varepsilon\rangle$ rapidly decreases, is dependent on both the polytropic index ($\Gamma$) and the minimum density contrast of the gas. We also derive Larson's first law associated with the velocity dispersion ($\langle V_{\rm rms}\rangle$) in the local star formation regions. Our model shows good agreement with Larson's law in the $\sim 10-50\,{\rm pc}$ range, providing typical temperatures $T_{0} \sim 10-80\,{\rm K}$ for the gas associated with star formation. As a consequence, dark matter halos of great mass could contain a number of halos of much smaller mass, and be able to form structures similar to globular clusters. Thus, Larson's law emerges as a result of the very formation of large-scale structures, which in turn would allow the formation of galactic systems, including our Galaxy.
The absence of any confirmative signals from extensive DM searching motivates us to go beyond the conventional WIMPs scenario. The feebly interacting massive particles (FIMPs) paradigm provides a good alternative which, despite of its feebly interaction with the thermal particles, still could correctly produce relic abundance without conventional DM signals. The Infrared-FIMP based on the renormalizable operators is usually suffering the very tiny coupling drawback, which can be overcome in the UltraViolet-FIMP scenario based on high dimensional effective operators. However, it is sensitive to the history of the very early Universe. The previous works terminates this sensitivity at the reheating temperature $T_{RH}$. We, motivated by its UV-sensitivity, investigate the effects from the even earlier Universe, reheating era. We find that in the usual case with $T_{RH}\gg m_{\rm DM}$, the production rate during reheating is very small as long as the effective operators dimension $d \leq 8$. Besides, we consider the contribution from the mediator, which may be produced during reheating. Moreover, we study the situation when $T_{RH}$ is even lower than $m_{\rm DM}$ and DM can be directly produced during reheating if its mass does not exceed $T_{MAX}$.
A quasi-Gaussian quantum superposition of Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz (HL) stationary states is built in order to describe the transition of the quantum cosmological problem to the related classical dynamics. The obtained HL phase-space superposed Wigner function and its associated Wigner currents describe the conditions for the matching between classical and quantum phase-space trajectories. The matching quantum superposition parameter is associated to the total energy of the classical trajectory which, at the same time, drives the engendered Wigner function to the classical stationary regime. Through the analysis of the Wigner flows, the quantum fluctuations that distort the classical regime can be quantified as a measure of (non)classicality. Finally, the modifications to the Wigner currents due to the inclusion of perturbative potentials are computed in the HL quantum cosmological context. In particular, the inclusion of a cosmological constant provides complementary information that allows for connecting the age of the Universe with the overall stiff matter density profile.
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The origin of extragalactic magnetic fields is still poorly understood. Based on a dedicated suite of cosmological magneto-hydrodynamical simulations with the ENZO code we have performed a survey of different models that may have caused present-day magnetic fields in galaxies and galaxy clusters. The outcomes of these models differ in cluster outskirts, filaments, sheets and voids and we use these simulations to find observational signatures of magnetogenesis. With these simulations, we predict the signal of extragalactic magnetic fields in radio observations of synchrotron emission from the cosmic web, in Faraday Rotation, in the propagation of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays, in the polarized signal from Fast Radio Bursts at cosmological distance and in spectra of distant blazars. In general, primordial scenarios in which present-day magnetic fields originate from the amplification of weak (<nG) uniform seed fields result more homogeneous and relatively easier to observe magnetic fields than than astrophysical scenarios, in which present-day fields are the product of feedback processes triggered by stars and active galaxies. In the near future the best evidence for the origin of cosmic magnetic fields will most likely come from a combination of synchrotron emission and Faraday Rotation observed at the periphery of large-scale structures.
Faraday rotation and synchrotron emission from extragalactic radio sources give evidence for the presence of magnetic fields extending over ~Mpc scales. However, the origin of these fields remains elusive. With new high-resolution grid simulations we studied the growth of magnetic fields in a massive galaxy cluster that in several aspects is similar to the Coma cluster. We investigated models in which magnetic fields originate from primordial seed fields with comoving strengths of 0.1 nG at redshift z=30. The simulations show evidence of significant magnetic field amplification. At the best spatial resolution (3.95 kpc), we are able to resolve the scale where magnetic tension balances the bending of magnetic lines by turbulence. This allows us to observe the final growth stage of the small-scale dynamo. To our knowledge this is the first time that this is seen in cosmological simulations of the intracluster medium. Our mock observations of Faraday Rotation provide a good match to observations of the Coma cluster. However, the distribution of magnetic fields shows strong departures from a simple Maxwellian distribution, suggesting that the three-dimensional structure of magnetic fields in real clusters may be significantly different than what is usually assumed when inferring magnetic field values from rotation measure observations.
Galaxies are biased tracers of the matter density on cosmological scales. For future tests of galaxy models, we refine and assess a method to measure galaxy biasing as function of physical scale $k$ with weak gravitational lensing. This method enables us to reconstruct the galaxy bias factor $b(k)$ as well as the galaxy-matter correlation $r(k)$ on physical scales between $0.01\,h\,{\rm Mpc^{-1}}\lesssim k\lesssim10\,h\,{\rm Mpc^{-1}}$ for redshift-binned lens galaxies below redshift $z\lesssim0.6$. In the refinement, we account for an intrinsic alignment of source ellipticities, and we correct for the lensing magnification of the angular number density of the lens galaxies to improve the accuracy of the reconstructed $r(k)$. For simulated data, the reconstructions achieve an accuracy of $3-7\%$ (68\% confidence level) over the above $k$-range for a survey area and a typical depth of contemporary ground-based surveys. Realistically the accuracy is, however, probably reduced to about $10-15\%$, mainly by systematic errors in the assumed intrinsic source alignments, the fiducial cosmology, and the redshift distributions of lens and source galaxies (in that order). Furthermore, our reconstruction technique employs physical templates for $b(k)$ and $r(k)$ that elucidate the impact of central galaxies and the halo-occupation statistics of satellite galaxies on the scale-dependence of galaxy bias, which we discuss in the paper. In a first demonstration, we apply this method to previous measurements in the Garching-Bonn-Deep Survey and give a physical interpretation of the lens population.
We show that a perturbed inflationary spacetime, driven by a canonical single scalar field, is invariant under a special class of coordinate transformations together with a field reparametrization of the curvature perturbation in co-moving gauge. This transformation may be used to derive the squeezed limit of the 3-point correlation function of the co-moving curvature perturbations valid in the case that these do not freeze after horizon crossing. This leads to a generalized version of Maldacena's non-Gaussian consistency relation in the sense that the bispectrum squeezed limit is completely determined by spacetime diffeomorphisms. Just as in the case of the standard consistency relation, this result may be understood as the consequence of how long-wavelength modes modulate those of shorter wavelengths. This relation allows one to derive the well known violation to the consistency relation encountered in ultra slow-roll, where curvature perturbations grow exponentially after horizon crossing.
The super-horizon second-order density perturbations corresponding to cosmological random fluctuations are considered, and it is shown that their non-vanishing spatial average may be useful to solve the serious problem on the cosmological tension between measured Hubble constants at present and those at the early stage.
We analyze how the Megneto-Rotational Instability affects the gravitational collapse, ie its influence on the value of the Jeans length. In particular, we study an axisymmetric non stratified differentially rotating cloud, embedded in a small magnetic field, and we perform a local linear stability analysis, including the self gravity of the system. We demonstrate that the linear evolution of the perturbations is characterized by the emergence of an anisotropy degree of the perturbed mass densities. Starting with spherical growing overdensities, we see that they naturally acquire an anisotropy of order unity in its shape. Despite the linear character of our analysis, we infer that such a seed of anisotropy can rapidly growths in a non linear regime, leading to the formation of filament-like structures in the Universe large scales.
Galaxy clusters can potentially induce sub-$\mu$K polarization signals in the CMB with characteristic scales of a few arcminutes in nearby clusters. We explore four such polarization signals induced in a rich nearby cluster and calculate the likelihood for their detection by the currently operational SPTpol, advanced ACTpol, and the upcoming Simons Array. In our feasibility analysis we include instrumental noise, primordial CMB anisotropy, statistical thermal SZ cluster signal, and point source confusion, assuming a few percent of the nominal telescope observation time of each of the three projects. Our analysis indicates that the thermal SZ intensity can be easily mapped in rich nearby clusters, and that the kinematic SZ intensity can be measured with high statistical significance toward a fast moving nearby cluster. The detection of polarized SZ signals will be quite challenging, but could still be feasible towards several very rich nearby clusters with exceptionally high SZ intensity. The polarized SZ signal from a sample of $\sim 20$ clusters can be statistically detected at $S/N \sim 3$, if observed for several months.
A stationary and spherically symmetric black hole (For example, Reissner-Nordstr$\ddot{\textrm{o}}$m black hole or Kerr-Newman black hole) has at most one singularity and two horizons. One horizon is the outer event horizon and the other is the inner Cauchy horizon. Can we construct static and spherically symmetric black hole solutions with $N$ horizons and $M$ singularities? De Sitter cosmos has only one apparent horizon. Can we construct cosmos solutions with $N$ horizons? In this article, we present the static and spherically symmetric black hole and cosmos solutions with $N$ horizons and $M$ singularities in the vector-tensor theories. Following these motivations, we also construct the black hole solutions with a firewall. The deviation of these black hole solutions from the usual ones can be potentially tested by future measurements of gravitational waves.
We study the interference and diffraction of light when it propagates through a metamaterial medium mimicking the spacetime of a cosmic string, -- a topological defect with curvature singularity. The phenomenon may look like a gravitational analogue of the Aharonov-Bohm effect, since the light propagates in a region where the Riemann tensor vanishes being nonetheless affected by the non-zero curvature confined to the string core. We carry out the full-wave numerical simulation of the metamaterial medium and give the analytical interpretation of the results by use of the asymptotic theory of diffraction, which turns out to be in excellent agreement. In particular we show that the main features of wave propagation in a medium with conical singularity can be explained by four-wave interference involving two geometrical-optics and two diffracted waves.
We consider a quasi-single field inflation model in which the inflaton interacts with a massive scalar field called the isocurvaton. Due to the breaking of time translational invariance by the inflaton background, these interactions induce kinetic mixing between the inflaton and isocurvaton, which is parameterized by a constant $\mu$. We derive analytic formulae for the curvature perturbation two-, three-, four-, five-, and six-point functions explicitly in terms of the external wave-vectors in the limit where $\mu$ and the mass of the isocurvaton $m$ are both much smaller than $H$. In previous work, it has been noted that when $m/H$ and $\mu/H$ are small, the non-Gaussianities predicted by quasi-single field inflation give rise to long wavelength enhancements of the power spectrum for biased objects (e.g., galactic halos). We review this calculation, and calculate the analogous enhanced contribution to the bispectrum of biased objects. We determine the scale at which these enhanced terms are larger than the Gaussian piece. We also identify the scaling of these enhanced parts to the $n$-point function of biased objects.
Inspired by the Contino-Pomarol-Rattazzi mechanism we explore scenarios with a very light (100 keV to 10 GeV) radion which could be associated with the suppression of the electroweak contribution to vacuum energy. We construct explicit, realistic models that realize this mechanism and explore the phenomenological constraints on this class of models. Compared with axion-like particles in this mass range, the bounds from SN 1987a and from cosmology can be much weaker, depending on the the mass of the radion and its coupling to other particles. With couplings suppressed by a scale lower than 100 TeV much of the mass window from 100 keV to 10 GeV is still open.
The model of Physics resulting from a Kaluza-Klein dimensional reduction procedure offers very good dark matter candidates in the form of Light Kaluza-Klein Particles, and thus becomes relevant to Cosmology. In this work we recover a late-time cosmological picture, similar to that of the $\Lambda$CDM, in a multidimensional scenario, in the general framework of Universal Extra Dimensions. This is achieved by utilizing a special, Kasner-type solution that is analytically known, and acts as an attractor for a plethora of pairs of initial conditions of the usual and extra spatial Hubble parameters. The phenomenology of fundamental interactions dictates the stabilization of the extra dimensional evolution from a very early epoch in these scenarios. Without an explicit mechanism, this is achieved through particular behaviors of the usual and extra spatial fluids, which have to be motivated by a more fundamental theory.
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We present the deepest study to date of the Lya luminosity function (LF) in a blank field using blind integral field spectroscopy from MUSE. We constructed a sample of 604 Lya emitters (LAEs) across the redshift range 2.91 < z < 6.64 using automatic detection software in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. We calculate accurate total Lya fluxes capturing low surface brightness extended Lya emission now known to be a generic property of high-redshift star-forming galaxies. We simulated realistic extended LAEs to characterise the selection function of our samples, and performed flux-recovery experiments to test and correct for bias in our determination of total Lya fluxes. We find an accurate completeness correction accounting for extended emission reveals a very steep faint-end slope of the LF, alpha, down to luminosities of log10 L erg s^-1< 41.5, applying both the 1/Vmax and maximum likelihood estimators. Splitting the sample into three broad redshift bins, we see the faint-end slope increasing from -2.03+1.42-inf at z ~ 3.44 to -2.86+0.76-inf at z ~ 5.48, however no strong evolution is seen between the 68% confidence regions in L*-alpha parameter space. Using the Lya line flux as a proxy for star formation activity, and integrating the observed LFs, we find that LAEs' contribution to the cosmic SFRD rises with redshift until it is comparable to that from continuum-selected samples by z ~ 6. This implies that LAEs may contribute more to the star-formation activity of the early Universe than previously thought - any additional interglactic medium correction would act to further boost the Lya luminosities. Finally, assuming fiducial values for the escape of Lya and LyC radiation, and the clumpiness of the IGM, we integrated the maximum likelihood LF at 5.00 < z < 6.64 and find we require only a small extrapolation beyond the data (< 1 dex in L) for LAEs alone to maintain an ionised IGM at z ~ 6.
Calculations of the Cosmic Microwave Background lensing power implemented
into the standard cosmological codes such as CAMB and CLASS usually treat the
surface of last scatter as an infinitely thin screen. However, since the CMB
anisotropies are smoothed out on scales smaller than the diffusion length due
to the effect of Silk damping, the photons which carry information about the
small-scale density distribution come from slightly earlier times than the
standard recombination time. The dominant effect is the scale dependence of the
mean redshift associated with the fluctuations during recombination. We find
that fluctuations at $k = 0.01 {\rm \ Mpc^{-1}}$ come from a characteristic
redshift of $z \approx 1090$, while fluctuations at $k = 1 {\rm \ Mpc^{-1}}$
come from a characteristic redshift of $z \approx 1200$. We then estimate the
corrections to the lensing kernel due to the finite size of the thickness of
the surface of last scatter.
We conclude that neglecting it would result in a deviation from the true
value of the lensing kernel at the half percent level at small scales. For
future high signal-to-noise CMB experiments (e.g., CMB-S4), this corresponds to
a $\sim 0.3 \sigma$ shift on scales $k \sim 1 {\rm \ Mpc^{-1}}$.
We apply nonlinear reconstruction to the dark matter density field in redshift space and solve for the nonlinear mapping from the initial Lagrangian positions to the final redshift space positions. The reconstructed anisotropic field inferred from the nonlinear displacement correlates with the linear initial conditions to much smaller scales than the redshift space density field. The number of linear modes in the density field is improved by a factor of $30\sim40$ after reconstruction. We thus expect this reconstruction approach to substantially expand the cosmological information including BAO and RSD for dense low-redshift large scale structure surveys including for example SDSS main sample, DESI BGS, and 21 cm intensity mapping surveys.
We analyse the role, on large cosmological scales and laboratory experiments, of the leading curvature squared contributions to the low energy effective action of gravity. We argue for a natural relationship $c_0\lambda^2\simeq 1$ at low-energy between the ${\cal R}^2$ coefficients $c_0$ of the Ricci scalar squared term in this expansion and the dark energy scale $\Lambda=(\lambda M_{\rm Pl})^4$ in four dimensional Planck mass units. We show how the compatibility between the acceleration of the expansion rate of the Universe, local tests of gravity and the quantum stability of the model all converge to select such a relationship up to a coefficient which should be determined experimentally. When embedding this low energy theory of gravity into candidates for its ultraviolet completion, we find that the proposed relationship is guaranteed in string-inspired supergravity models with modulus stabilisation and supersymmetry breaking leading to de Sitter compactifications. In this case, the scalar degree of freedom of ${\cal R}^2$ gravity is associated to a volume modulus. Once written in terms of a scalar-tensor theory, the effective theory corresponds to a massive scalar field coupled with the universal strength $\beta=1/\sqrt{6}$ to the matter stress-energy tensor. When the relationship $c_0\lambda^2\simeq 1$ is realised we find that on astrophysical scales and in cosmology the scalar field is ultralocal and therefore no effect arises on such large scales. On the other hand, the scalar field mass is tightly constrained by the non-observation of fifth forces in torsion pendulum experiments such as E\"ot-Wash. It turns out that the observation of the dark energy scale in cosmology implies that the scalar field could be detectable by fifth force experiments in the near future.
We compile a complete collection of currently available, reliable Hubble parameter $H(z)$ data to a redshift $z \leq 2.36$ and use them with the Gaussian Process method to determine continuous $H(z)$ functions for various data subsets. From these continuous $H(z)$'s, summarizing across the data subsets we consider, we find $H_0\sim 67 \pm 4\,\rm km/s/Mpc$, more consistent with the recent lower values determined using a variety of techniques. In most data subsets we see a cosmological deceleration-acceleration transition at 2$\sigma$ significance, with the data subsets transition redshifts varying over $0.33<z_{\rm da}<1.0$ at 1$\sigma$ significance. We find that the flat-$\Lambda$CDM model is consistent with the $H(z)$ data to a $z$ of 1.5 to 2.0 depending on the data subset considered, with 2$\sigma$ deviations from flat-$\Lambda$CDM above this redshift range. Using the continuous $H(z)$ with baryon acoustic oscillation distance-redshift observations, we constrain the current spatial curvature density parameter to be $\Omega_{K0}=-0.03\pm0.21$, consistent with a flat Universe, but the large error bar does not rule out small values of spatial curvature that are now under debate elsewhere.
The Hubble diagram constructed using HII galaxies (HIIGx) and Giant extragalactic HII regions (GEHR) as standard candles already extends beyond the current reach of Type Ia SNe. A sample of 156 HIIGx and GEHR sources has been used previously to compare the predictions of LCDM and R_h=ct, the results of which suggested that the HIIGx and GEHR sources strongly favour the latter over the former. But this analysis was based on the application of parametric fits to the data and the use of information criteria, which disfavour the less parsimonious models. In this paper, we advance the use of HII sources as standard candles by utilizing Gaussian processes (GP) to reconstruct the distance modulus representing these data without the need to pre-assume any particular model, none of which may in the end actually be the correct cosmology. In addition, this approach tightly constrains the 1 sigma confidence region of the reconstructed function, thus providing a better tool with which to differentiate between competing cosmologies. With this approach, we show that the Planck concordance model is in tension with the HII data at more than 2.5 sigma, while R_h=ct agrees with the GP reconstruction very well, particularly at redshifts > 10^{-3}.
Cosmological $N$-body simulations play a vital role in studying how the Universe evolves. To compare to observations and make scientific inference, statistic analysis on large simulation datasets, e.g., finding halos, obtaining multi-point correlation functions, is crucial. However, traditional in-memory methods for these tasks do not scale to the datasets that are forbiddingly large in modern simulations. Our prior paper proposes memory-efficient streaming algorithms that can find the largest halos in a simulation with up to $10^9$ particles on a small server or desktop. However, this approach fails when directly scaling to larger datasets. This paper presents a robust streaming tool that leverages state-of-the-art techniques on GPU boosting, sampling, and parallel I/O, to significantly improve the performance and scalability. Our rigorous analysis on the sketch parameters improves the previous results from finding the $10^3$ largest halos to $10^6$, and reveals the trade-offs between memory, running time and number of halos, $k$. Our experiments show that our tool can scale to datasets with up to $10^{12}$ particles, while using less than an hour of running time on a single Nvidia GTX GPU.
Cosmic strings are generic cosmological predictions of many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, such as a $U(1)^\prime$ symmetry breaking phase transition in the early universe or remnants of superstring theory. Unlike other topological defects, cosmic strings can reach a scaling regime that maintains a small fixed fraction of the total energy density of the universe from a very early epoch until today. If present, they will oscillate and generate gravitational waves with a frequency spectrum that imprints the dominant sources of total cosmic energy density throughout the history of the universe. We demonstrate that current and future gravitational wave detectors, such as LIGO and LISA, could be capable of measuring the frequency spectrum of gravitational waves from cosmic strings and discerning the energy composition of the universe at times well before primordial nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background where standard cosmology has yet to be tested. This work establishes a benchmark case that gravitational waves may provide an unprecedented, powerful tool for probing the evolutionary history of the very early universe.
Recent Planck observations have revealed some of the important statistical properties of synchrotron and dust polarizations, namely, the $B$ to $E$ mode power and temperature-$E$ (TE) mode cross-correlation. In this paper, we extend our analysis in Kandel et al. (2017) to analytically study $B$ to $E$ mode power as well as TE cross-correlation for dust and synchrotron polarizations, using a realistic model of magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) turbulence. Our results suggest that the Planck results for both synchrotron and dust polarizations can be understood if the turbulence in the Galaxy is sufficiently sub-Alfv\'enic. We also show how $B$ to $E$ ratio as well as the TE cross-correlation can be used to study media magnetization, compressibility, and level of density-magnetic field correlation.
The sky-averaged (global) highly redshifted 21-cm spectrum from neutral hydrogen is expected to appear in the VHF range of $\sim20-200$ MHz and its spectral shape and strength are determined by the heating properties of the first stars and black holes, by the nature and duration of reionization, and by the presence or absence of exotic physics. Measurements of the global signal would therefore provide us with a wealth of astrophysical and cosmological knowledge. However, the signal has not yet been detected because it must be seen through strong foregrounds weighted by a large beam, instrumental calibration errors, and ionospheric, ground and radio-frequency-interference effects, which we collectively refer to as "systematics". Here, we present a signal extraction method for global signal experiments which uses Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) of "training sets" to produce systematics basis functions specifically suited to each observation. Instead of requiring precise absolute knowledge of the systematics, our method effectively requires precise knowledge of how the systematics can vary. After calculating eigenmodes for the signal and systematics, we perform a weighted least square fit of the corresponding coefficients and select the number of modes to include by minimizing an information criterion. We compare the performance of the signal extraction when minimizing various information criteria and find that minimizing the Deviance Information Criterion (DIC) most consistently yields unbiased fits. The methods used here are built into our widely applicable, publicly available Python package, $\texttt{pylinex}$, which analytically calculates constraints on signals and systematics from given data, errors, and training sets.
Advances in radio spectro-polarimetry offer the possibility to disentangle complex regions where relativistic and thermal plasmas mix in the interstellar and intergalactic media. Recent work has shown that apparently simple Faraday Rotation Measure (RM) spectra can be generated by complex sources. This is true even when the distribution of RMs in the complex source greatly exceeds the errors associated with a single component fit to the peak of the Faraday spectrum. We present a convolutional neural network (CNN) that can differentiate between simple Faraday thin spectra and those that contain multiple or Faraday thick sources. We demonstrate that this CNN, trained for the upcoming Polarisation Sky Survey of the Universe's Magnetism (POSSUM) early science observations, can identify two component sources 99% of the time, provided that the sources are separated in Faraday depth by $>$10% of the FWHM of the Faraday Point Spread Function, the polarized flux ratio of the sources is $>$0.1, and that the Signal-to-Noise radio (S/N) of the primary component is $>$5. With this S/N cut-off, the false positive rate (simple sources mis-classified as complex) is $<$0.3%. Work is ongoing to include Faraday thick sources in the training and testing of the CNN.
In this paper we shall analyze the $f(\mathcal{G})$ gravity phase space, in the case that the corresponding dynamical system is autonomous. In order to make the dynamical system autonomous, we shall appropriately choose the independent variables, and we shall analyze the evolution of the variables numerically, emphasizing on the inflationary attractors. As we demonstrate, the dynamical system has only one de Sitter fixed point, which is unstable, with the instability being traced in one of the independent variables. This result holds true both in the presence and in the absence of matter and radiation perfect fluids. We argue that this instability could loosely be viewed as an indication of graceful exit in the $f(\mathcal{G})$ theory of gravity.
In this article we perform a detailed theoretical analysis for a class of new exact solutions with anisotropic fluid distribution of matter for compact objects in hydrostatic equilibrium. To achieve this we call the relation between the metric functions, namely, embedding class one condition. The investigation is carried out by generalising the properties of a spherical star with an emphasis on hydrostatic equilibrium equation, i.e., the generalised Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation, in our understanding of these compact objects. We match the interior solution to an exterior Reissner-Nordstrom solution, and study some physical features of this models, such as the energy conditions, speeds of sound, and mass - radius relation of the star. We also show that obtained solution is compatible with observational data for compact object Her X-1.
Using the dataset of stellar kinematics for the brightest Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies, we underpin the goodness of the self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) proposal as a solution to the "too-big-to-fail" problem through a detailed fit of the stellar velocity dispersion profiles. The kinematic data are consistent with SIDM if we allow for spatially varying stellar orbital anisotropies. We provide the first data-driven estimate for the SIDM cross-section per unit mass probed by these galaxies, pointing to $\sigma/m \sim$ 0.5 - 3 cm$^{2}$g$^{-1}$, in good agreement with recent estimates from the study of the dynamics in spiral galaxies. Our results well match the trends previously observed in pure SIDM N-body simulations. The analysis in this work outlines a complementary approach to simulations in testing SIDM with astrophysical observations.
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