Comparison of dark energy models: A perspective from the latest observational data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Miao; Li, Xiaodong; Zhang, Xin

2010-09-01

We compare some popular dark energy models under the assumption of a flat universe by using the latest observational data including the type Ia supernovae Constitution compilation, the baryon acoustic oscillation measurement from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the cosmic microwave background measurement given by the seven-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe observations and the determination of H 0 from the Hubble Space Telescope. Model comparison statistics such as the Bayesian and Akaike information criteria are applied to assess the worth of the models. These statistics favor models that give a good fit with fewer parameters. Based on this analysis, we find that the simplest cosmological constant model that has only one free parameter is still preferred by the current data. For other dynamical dark energy models, we find that some of them, such as the α dark energy, constant w, generalized Chaplygin gas, Chevalliear-Polarski-Linder parametrization, and holographic dark energy models, can provide good fits to the current data, and three of them, namely, the Ricci dark energy, agegraphic dark energy, and Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati models, are clearly disfavored by the data.

Entropy corrected holographic dark energy models in modified gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jawad, Abdul; Azhar, Nadeem; Rani, Shamaila

We consider the power law and the entropy corrected holographic dark energy (HDE) models with Hubble horizon in the dynamical Chern-Simons modified gravity. We explore various cosmological parameters and planes in this framework. The Hubble parameter lies within the consistent range at the present and later epoch for both entropy corrected models. The deceleration parameter explains the accelerated expansion of the universe. The equation of state (EoS) parameter corresponds to quintessence and cold dark matter (ΛCDM) limit. The ωΛ-ωΛ‧ approaches to ΛCDM limit and freezing region in both entropy corrected models. The statefinder parameters are consistent with ΛCDM limit and dark energy (DE) models. The generalized second law of thermodynamics remain valid in all cases of interacting parameter. It is interesting to mention here that our results of Hubble, EoS parameter and ωΛ-ωΛ‧ plane show consistency with the present observations like Planck, WP, BAO, H0, SNLS and nine-year WMAP.

Weakly dynamic dark energy via metric-scalar couplings with torsion

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sur, Sourav; Bhatia, Arshdeep Singh, E-mail: sourav.sur@gmail.com, E-mail: arshdeepsb@gmail.com

We study the dynamical aspects of dark energy in the context of a non-minimally coupled scalar field with curvature and torsion. Whereas the scalar field acts as the source of the trace mode of torsion, a suitable constraint on the torsion pseudo-trace provides a mass term for the scalar field in the effective action. In the equivalent scalar-tensor framework, we find explicit cosmological solutions representing dark energy in both Einstein and Jordan frames. We demand the dynamical evolution of the dark energy to be weak enough, so that the present-day values of the cosmological parameters could be estimated keeping themmore » within the confidence limits set for the standard LCDM model from recent observations. For such estimates, we examine the variations of the effective matter density and the dark energy equation of state parameters over different redshift ranges. In spite of being weakly dynamic, the dark energy component differs significantly from the cosmological constant, both in characteristics and features, for e.g. it interacts with the cosmological (dust) fluid in the Einstein frame, and crosses the phantom barrier in the Jordan frame. We also obtain the upper bounds on the torsion mode parameters and the lower bound on the effective Brans-Dicke parameter. The latter turns out to be fairly large, and in agreement with the local gravity constraints, which therefore come in support of our analysis.« less

Weakly dynamic dark energy via metric-scalar couplings with torsion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sur, Sourav; Singh Bhatia, Arshdeep

2017-07-01

We study the dynamical aspects of dark energy in the context of a non-minimally coupled scalar field with curvature and torsion. Whereas the scalar field acts as the source of the trace mode of torsion, a suitable constraint on the torsion pseudo-trace provides a mass term for the scalar field in the effective action. In the equivalent scalar-tensor framework, we find explicit cosmological solutions representing dark energy in both Einstein and Jordan frames. We demand the dynamical evolution of the dark energy to be weak enough, so that the present-day values of the cosmological parameters could be estimated keeping them within the confidence limits set for the standard LCDM model from recent observations. For such estimates, we examine the variations of the effective matter density and the dark energy equation of state parameters over different redshift ranges. In spite of being weakly dynamic, the dark energy component differs significantly from the cosmological constant, both in characteristics and features, for e.g. it interacts with the cosmological (dust) fluid in the Einstein frame, and crosses the phantom barrier in the Jordan frame. We also obtain the upper bounds on the torsion mode parameters and the lower bound on the effective Brans-Dicke parameter. The latter turns out to be fairly large, and in agreement with the local gravity constraints, which therefore come in support of our analysis.

Model selection as a science driver for dark energy surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukherjee, Pia; Parkinson, David; Corasaniti, Pier Stefano; Liddle, Andrew R.; Kunz, Martin

2006-07-01

A key science goal of upcoming dark energy surveys is to seek time-evolution of the dark energy. This problem is one of model selection, where the aim is to differentiate between cosmological models with different numbers of parameters. However, the power of these surveys is traditionally assessed by estimating their ability to constrain parameters, which is a different statistical problem. In this paper, we use Bayesian model selection techniques, specifically forecasting of the Bayes factors, to compare the abilities of different proposed surveys in discovering dark energy evolution. We consider six experiments - supernova luminosity measurements by the Supernova Legacy Survey, SNAP, JEDI and ALPACA, and baryon acoustic oscillation measurements by WFMOS and JEDI - and use Bayes factor plots to compare their statistical constraining power. The concept of Bayes factor forecasting has much broader applicability than dark energy surveys.

New limits on coupled dark energy model after Planck 2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hang; Yang, Weiqiang; Wu, Yabo; Jiang, Ying

2018-06-01

We used the Planck 2015 cosmic microwave background anisotropy, baryon acoustic oscillation, type-Ia supernovae, redshift-space distortions, and weak gravitational lensing to test the model parameter space of coupled dark energy. We assumed the constant and time-varying equation of state parameter for dark energy, and treated dark matter and dark energy as the fluids whose energy transfer was proportional to the combined term of the energy densities and equation of state, such as Q = 3 Hξ(1 +wx) ρx and Q = 3 Hξ [ 1 +w0 +w1(1 - a) ] ρx, the full space of equation of state could be measured when we considered the term (1 +wx) in the energy exchange. According to the joint observational constraint, the results showed that wx = - 1.006-0.027+0.047 and ξ = 0.098-0.098>+0.026 for coupled dark energy with a constant equation of state, w0 = -1.076-0.076+0.085, w1 = - 0.069-0.319+0.361, and ξ = 0.210-0.210+0.048 for a variable equation of state. We did not get any clear evidence for the coupling in the dark fluids at 1 σ region.

Dark Energy and Key Physical Parameters of Clusters of Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernin, A. D.; Bisnovatyi-Kogan, G. S.

We discuss the physics of clusters of galaxies embedded in the cosmic dark energy background and show that 1) the halo cut-off radius of a cluster like the Virgo cluster is practically, if not exactly, equal to the zero-gravity radius at which the dark matter gravity is balanced by the dark energy antigravity; 2) the halo averaged density is equal to two densities of dark energy; 3) the halo edge (cut-off) density is the dark energy density with a numerical factor of the unity order slightly depending on the halo profile.

Ghost Dark Energy with Non-Linear Interaction Term

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ebrahimi, E.

2016-06-01

Here we investigate ghost dark energy (GDE) in the presence of a non-linear interaction term between dark matter and dark energy. To this end we take into account a general form for the interaction term. Then we discuss about different features of three choices of the non-linear interacting GDE. In all cases we obtain equation of state parameter, w D = p/ ρ, the deceleration parameter and evolution equation of the dark energy density parameter (Ω D ). We find that in one case, w D cross the phantom line ( w D < -1). However in two other classes w D can not cross the phantom divide. The coincidence problem can be solved in these models completely and there exist good agreement between the models and observational values of w D , q. We study squared sound speed {vs2}, and find that for one case of non-linear interaction term {vs2} can achieves positive values at late time of evolution.

Simple cosmological model with inflation and late times acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szydłowski, Marek; Stachowski, Aleksander

2018-03-01

In the framework of polynomial Palatini cosmology, we investigate a simple cosmological homogeneous and isotropic model with matter in the Einstein frame. We show that in this model during cosmic evolution, early inflation appears and the accelerating phase of the expansion for the late times. In this frame we obtain the Friedmann equation with matter and dark energy in the form of a scalar field with a potential whose form is determined in a covariant way by the Ricci scalar of the FRW metric. The energy density of matter and dark energy are also parameterized through the Ricci scalar. Early inflation is obtained only for an infinitesimally small fraction of energy density of matter. Between the matter and dark energy, there exists an interaction because the dark energy is decaying. For the characterization of inflation we calculate the slow roll parameters and the constant roll parameter in terms of the Ricci scalar. We have found a characteristic behavior of the time dependence of density of dark energy on the cosmic time following the logistic-like curve which interpolates two almost constant value phases. From the required numbers of N-folds we have found a bound on the model parameter.

Observational constraints on holographic tachyonic dark energy in interaction with dark matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Micheletti, Sandro M. R., E-mail: smrm@fma.if.usp.br

2010-05-01

We discuss an interacting tachyonic dark energy model in the context of the holographic principle. The potential of the holographic tachyon field in interaction with dark matter is constructed. The model results are compared with CMB shift parameter, baryonic acoustic oscilations, lookback time and the Constitution supernovae sample. The coupling constant of the model is compatible with zero, but dark energy is not given by a cosmological constant.

Pixel pitch and particle energy influence on the dark current distribution of neutron irradiated CMOS image sensors.

PubMed

Belloir, Jean-Marc; Goiffon, Vincent; Virmontois, Cédric; Raine, Mélanie; Paillet, Philippe; Duhamel, Olivier; Gaillardin, Marc; Molina, Romain; Magnan, Pierre; Gilard, Olivier

2016-02-22

The dark current produced by neutron irradiation in CMOS Image Sensors (CIS) is investigated. Several CIS with different photodiode types and pixel pitches are irradiated with various neutron energies and fluences to study the influence of each of these optical detector and irradiation parameters on the dark current distribution. An empirical model is tested on the experimental data and validated on all the irradiated optical imagers. This model is able to describe all the presented dark current distributions with no parameter variation for neutron energies of 14 MeV or higher, regardless of the optical detector and irradiation characteristics. For energies below 1 MeV, it is shown that a single parameter has to be adjusted because of the lower mean damage energy per nuclear interaction. This model and these conclusions can be transposed to any silicon based solid-state optical imagers such as CIS or Charged Coupled Devices (CCD). This work can also be used when designing an optical imager instrument, to anticipate the dark current increase or to choose a mitigation technique.

Holographic dark energy with varying gravitational constant in Hořava-Lifshitz cosmology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Setare, M.R.; Jamil, Mubasher, E-mail: rezakord@ipm.ir, E-mail: mjamil@camp.nust.edu.pk

2010-02-01

We investigate the holographic dark energy scenario with a varying gravitational constant in a flat background in the context of Hořava-Lifshitz gravity. We extract the exact differential equation determining the evolution of the dark energy density parameter, which includes G variation term. Also we discuss a cosmological implication of our work by evaluating the dark energy equation of state for low redshifts containing varying G corrections.

Constraints on the dark matter and dark energy interactions from weak lensing bispectrum tomography

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

An, Rui; Feng, Chang; Wang, Bin, E-mail: an_rui@sjtu.edu.cn, E-mail: chang.feng@uci.edu, E-mail: wang_b@sjtu.edu.cn

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 well the weak lensing bispectrum with tomography can constrain the interactions between dark sectors, as well as other cosmological parameters. Employing the Fisher matrix analysis, we forecast parameter uncertainties derived from weak lensing bispectra with a two-bin tomography and place upper bounds on strength of the interactions between the dark sectors. The cosmic shear will be measured from upcoming weak lensing surveys with high sensitivity, thus it enables us to usemore » 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.« less

Variable sound speed in interacting dark energy models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linton, Mark S.; Pourtsidou, Alkistis; Crittenden, Robert; Maartens, Roy

2018-04-01

We consider a self-consistent and physical approach to interacting dark energy models described by a Lagrangian, and identify a new class of models with variable dark energy sound speed. We show that if the interaction between dark energy in the form of quintessence and cold dark matter is purely momentum exchange this generally leads to a dark energy sound speed that deviates from unity. Choosing a specific sub-case, we study its phenomenology by investigating the effects of the interaction on the cosmic microwave background and linear matter power spectrum. We also perform a global fitting of cosmological parameters using CMB data, and compare our findings to ΛCDM.

How CMB and large-scale structure constrain chameleon interacting dark energy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boriero, Daniel; Das, Subinoy; Wong, Yvonne Y.Y., E-mail: boriero@physik.uni-bielefeld.de, E-mail: subinoy@iiap.res.in, E-mail: yvonne.y.wong@unsw.edu.au

2015-07-01

We explore a chameleon type of interacting dark matter-dark energy scenario in which a scalar field adiabatically traces the minimum of an effective potential sourced by the dark matter density. We discuss extensively the effect of this coupling on cosmological observables, especially the parameter degeneracies expected to arise between the model parameters and other cosmological parameters, and then test the model against observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies and other cosmological probes. We find that the chameleon parameters α and β, which determine respectively the slope of the scalar field potential and the dark matter-dark energy coupling strength,more » can be constrained to α < 0.17 and β < 0.19 using CMB data and measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations. The latter parameter in particular is constrained only by the late Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect. Adding measurements of the local Hubble expansion rate H{sub 0} tightens the bound on α by a factor of two, although this apparent improvement is arguably an artefact of the tension between the local measurement and the H{sub 0} value inferred from Planck data in the minimal ΛCDM model. The same argument also precludes chameleon models from mimicking a dark radiation component, despite a passing similarity between the two scenarios in that they both delay the epoch of matter-radiation equality. Based on the derived parameter constraints, we discuss possible signatures of the model for ongoing and future large-scale structure surveys.« less

Covariant generalized holographic dark energy and accelerating universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nojiri, Shin'ichi; Odintsov, S. D.

2017-08-01

We propose the generalized holographic dark energy model where the infrared cutoff is identified with the combination of the FRW universe parameters: the Hubble rate, particle and future horizons, cosmological constant, the universe lifetime (if finite) and their derivatives. It is demonstrated that with the corresponding choice of the cutoff one can map such holographic dark energy to modified gravity or gravity with a general fluid. Explicitly, F( R) gravity and the general perfect fluid are worked out in detail and the corresponding infrared cutoff is found. Using this correspondence, we get realistic inflation or viable dark energy or a unified inflationary-dark energy universe in terms of covariant holographic dark energy.

The viability of phantom dark energy: A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ludwick, Kevin J.

2017-09-01

In this brief review, we examine the theoretical consistency and viability of phantom dark energy. Almost all data sets from cosmological probes are compatible with the dark energy of the phantom variety (i.e. equation-of-state parameter w < -1) and may even favor evolving dark energy, and since we expect every physical entity to have some kind of field description, we set out to examine the case for phantom dark energy as a field theory. We discuss the many attempts at frameworks that may mitigate and eliminate theoretical pathologies associated with phantom dark energy. We also examine frameworks that provide an apparent measurement w < -1 while avoiding the need for a phantom field theory.

ISW-galaxy cross correlation: a probe of dark energy clustering and distribution of dark matter tracers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Khosravi, Shahram; Mollazadeh, Amir; Baghram, Shant, E-mail: khosravi_sh@khu.ac.ir, E-mail: amirmollazadeh@khu.ac.ir, E-mail: baghram@sharif.edu

2016-09-01

Cross correlation of the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe signal (ISW) with the galaxy distribution in late time is a promising tool for constraining the dark energy properties. Here, we study the effect of dark energy clustering on the ISW-galaxy cross correlation and demonstrate the fact that the bias parameter between the distribution of the galaxies and the underlying dark matter introduces a degeneracy and complications. We argue that as the galaxy's host halo formation time is different from the observation time, we have to consider the evolution of the halo bias parameter. It will be shown that any deviation from ΛCDM modelmore » will change the evolution of the bias as well. Therefore, it is deduced that the halo bias depends strongly on the sub-sample of galaxies which is chosen for cross correlation and that the joint kernel of ISW effect and the galaxy distribution has a dominant effect on the observed signal. In this work, comparison is made specifically between the clustered dark energy models using two samples of galaxies. The first one is a sub-sample of galaxies from Sloan Digital Sky Survey, chosen with the r-band magnitude 18 < r < 21 and the dark matter halo host of mass M ∼10{sup 12} M {sub ⊙} and formation redshift of z {sub f} ∼ 2.5. The second one is the sub-sample of Luminous Red galaxies with the dark matter halo hosts of mass M ∼ 10{sup 13} M {sub ⊙} and formation redshift of z {sub f} ∼ 2.0. Using the evolved bias we improve the χ{sup 2} for the ΛCDM which reconciles the ∼1σ-2σ tension of the ISW-galaxy signal with ΛCDM prediction. Finally, we study the parameter estimation of a dark energy model with free parameters w {sub 0} and w {sub a} in the equation of state w {sub de} = w {sub 0} + w {sub az} /(1+ z ) with the constant bias parameter and also with an evolved bias model with free parameters of galaxy's host halo mass and the halo formation redshift.« less

Evolution of density and velocity profiles of dark matter and dark energy in spherical voids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Novosyadlyj, Bohdan; Tsizh, Maksym; Kulinich, Yurij

2017-02-01

We analyse the evolution of cosmological perturbations which leads to the formation of large isolated voids in the Universe. We assume that initial perturbations are spherical and all components of the Universe (radiation, matter and dark energy) are continuous media with ideal fluid energy-momentum tensors, which interact only gravitationally. Equations of the evolution of perturbations for every component in the comoving to cosmological background reference frame are obtained from equations of energy and momentum conservation and Einstein's ones and are integrated numerically. Initial conditions are set at the early stage of evolution in the radiation-dominated epoch, when the scale of perturbation is much larger than the particle horizon. Results show how the profiles of density and velocity of matter and dark energy are formed and how they depend on parameters of dark energy and initial conditions. In particular, it is shown that final matter density and velocity amplitudes change within range ˜4-7 per cent when the value of equation-of-state parameter of dark energy w vary in the range from -0.8 to -1.2, and change within ˜1 per cent only when the value of effective sound speed of dark energy vary over all allowable range of its values.

Dynamics of viscous cosmologies in the full Israel-Stewart formalism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lepe, Samuel; Otalora, Giovanni; Saavedra, Joel

2017-07-01

A detailed dynamical analysis for a bulk viscosity model in the full Israel-Stewart formalism for a spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe is performed. In our study we have considered the total cosmic fluid constituted by radiation, dark matter, and dark energy. The dark matter fluid is treated as an imperfect fluid which has a bulk viscosity that depends on its energy density in the usual form ξ (ρm)=ξ0ρm1 /2, whereas the other components are assumed to behave as perfect fluids with constant equation of state parameter. We show that the thermal history of the Universe is reproduced provided that the viscous coefficient satisfies the condition ξ0≪1 , either for a zero or a suitable nonzero coupling between dark energy and viscous dark matter. In this case, the final attractor is a dark-energy-dominated, accelerating universe, with an effective equation of state parameter in the quintessence-like, cosmological constant-like, or phantom-like regime, in agreement with observations. As our main result, we show that in order to obtain a viable cosmological evolution and at the same time alleviating the cosmological coincidence problem via the mechanism of scaling solution, an explicit interaction between dark energy and viscous dark matter seems inevitable. This result is consistent with the well-known fact that models where dark matter and dark energy interact with each other have been proposed to solve the coincidence problem. Furthermore, by insisting on above, we show that in the present context a phantom nature of this interacting dark energy fluid is also favored.

Reconstructing f(R) modified gravity with dark energy parametrization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morita, Masaaki; Takahashi, Hirotaka

2014-03-01

We demonstrate the reconstruction of f(R) modified gravity theory with late-time accelerated cosmic expansion. A second-order differential equation for Lagrangian density is obtained from the field equation, and is solved as a function of the cosmic scale factor in two cases. First we begin with the case of a wCDM cosmological model, in which a dark-energy equation-of-state parameter w is constant, for simplicity. Next we extend the method to a case in which the parameter w is epoch-dependent and is expressed as the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametrization. Thus we can represent Lagrangian density of f(R) modified gravity theory in terms of dark energy parameters.

Analytic study of the effect of dark energy-dark matter interaction on the growth of structures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marcondes, Rafael J.F.; Landim, Ricardo C.G.; Costa, André A.

2016-12-01

Large-scale structure has been shown as a promising cosmic probe for distinguishing and constraining dark energy models. Using the growth index parametrization, we obtain an analytic formula for the growth rate of structures in a coupled dark energy model in which the exchange of energy-momentum is proportional to the dark energy density. We find that the evolution of f σ{sub 8} can be determined analytically once we know the coupling, the dark energy equation of state, the present value of the dark energy density parameter and the current mean amplitude of dark matter fluctuations. After correcting the growth function formore » the correspondence with the velocity field through the continuity equation in the interacting model, we use our analytic result to compare the model's predictions with large-scale structure observations.« less

Growth index and statefinder diagnostic of oscillating dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panotopoulos, Grigoris; Rincón, Ángel

2018-05-01

We study in some detail the cosmology of oscillating dark energy described by concrete equations-of-state introduced recently in the literature. In particular, we compute the statefinder parameters, the growth index, as well as the combination parameter A =f σ8, and a comparison with the concordance Λ CDM is made.

Transient and late time attractor tachyon dark energy: Can we distinguish it from quintessence?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ali, Amna; Sami, M.; Sen, A. A.

2009-06-15

The string inspired tachyon field can serve as a candidate of dark energy. Its equation of state parameter w varies from 0 to -1. In the case of tachyon field potential V({phi}){yields}0 slower (faster) than 1/{phi}{sup 2} at infinity, dark energy (dark matter) is a late time attractor. We investigate the tachyon dark energy models under the assumption that w is close to -1. We find that all the models exhibit unique behavior around the present epoch which is exactly the same as that of the thawing quintessence.

Searching for dark matter-dark energy interactions: Going beyond the conformal case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van de Bruck, Carsten; Mifsud, Jurgen

2018-01-01

We consider several cosmological models which allow for nongravitational direct couplings between dark matter and dark energy. The distinguishing cosmological features of these couplings can be probed by current cosmological observations, thus enabling us to place constraints on these specific interactions which are composed of the conformal and disformal coupling functions. We perform a global analysis in order to independently constrain the conformal, disformal, and mixed interactions between dark matter and dark energy by combining current data from: Planck observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropies, a combination of measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations, a supernova type Ia sample, a compilation of Hubble parameter measurements estimated from the cosmic chronometers approach, direct measurements of the expansion rate of the Universe today, and a compilation of growth of structure measurements. We find that in these coupled dark-energy models, the influence of the local value of the Hubble constant does not significantly alter the inferred constraints when we consider joint analyses that include all cosmological probes. Moreover, the parameter constraints are remarkably improved with the inclusion of the growth of structure data set measurements. We find no compelling evidence for an interaction within the dark sector of the Universe.

USING A PHENOMENOLOGICAL MODEL TO TEST THE COINCIDENCE PROBLEM OF DARK ENERGY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen Yun; Zhu Zonghong; Alcaniz, J. S.

2010-03-01

By assuming a phenomenological form for the ratio of the dark energy and matter densities rho{sub X} {proportional_to} rho{sub m} a {sup x}i, we discuss the cosmic coincidence problem in light of current observational data. Here, xi is a key parameter to denote the severity of the coincidence problem. In this scenario, xi = 3 and xi = 0 correspond to LAMBDACDM and the self-similar solution without the coincidence problem, respectively. Hence, any solution with a scaling parameter 0 < xi < 3 makes the coincidence problem less severe. In addition, the standard cosmology without interaction between dark energy andmore » dark matter is characterized by xi + 3omega{sub X} = 0, where omega{sub X} is the equation of state of the dark energy component, whereas the inequality xi + 3omega{sub X} {ne} 0 represents non-standard cosmology. We place observational constraints on the parameters (OMEGA{sub X,0}, omega{sub X}, xi) of this model, where OMEGA{sub X,0} is the present value of density parameter of dark energy OMEGA{sub X}, by using the Constitution Set (397 supernovae of type Ia data, hereafter SNeIa), the cosmic microwave background shift parameter from the five-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey baryon acoustic peak. Combining the three samples, we get OMEGA{sub X,0} = 0.72 +- 0.02, omega{sub X} = -0.98 +- 0.07, and xi = 3.06 +- 0.35 at 68.3% confidence level. The result shows that the LAMBDACDM model still remains a good fit to the recent observational data, and the coincidence problem indeed exists and is quite severe, in the framework of this simple phenomenological model. We further constrain the model with the transition redshift (deceleration/acceleration). It shows that if the transition from deceleration to acceleration happens at the redshift z > 0.73, within the framework of this model, we can conclude that the interaction between dark energy and dark matter is necessary.« less

Ghost Dark Energy with Sign-changeable Interaction Term

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zadeh, M. Abdollahi; Sheykhi, A.; Moradpour, H.

2017-11-01

Regarding the Veneziano ghost of QCD and its generalized form, we consider a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe filled by a pressureless matter and a dark energy component interacting with each other through a mutual sign-changeable interaction of positive coupling constant. Our study shows that, at the late time, for the deceleration parameter we have q → -1, while the equation of state parameter of the interacting ghost dark energy (GDE) does not cross the phantom line, namely ω D ≥ -1. We also extend our study to the generalized ghost dark energy (GGDE) model and show that, at late time, the equation of state parameter of the interacting GGDE also respects the phantom line in both flat and non-flat universes. Moreover, we find out that, unlike the non-flat universe, we have q → -1 at late time for flat FRW universe. In order to make the behavior of the underlying models more clear, the deceleration parameter q as well as the equation of state parameter w D for flat and closed universes have been plotted against the redshift parameter, z. All of the studied cases admit a transition in the expansion history of universe from a deceleration phase to an accelerated one around z ≈ 0.6.

Dark matter and dark energy from the solution of the strong CP problem.

PubMed

Mainini, Roberto; Bonometto, Silvio A

2004-09-17

The Peccei-Quinn (PQ) solution of the strong CP problem requires the existence of axions, which are viable candidates for dark matter. If the Nambu-Goldstone potential of the PQ model is replaced by a potential V(|Phi|) admitting a tracker solution, the scalar field |Phi| can account for dark energy, while the phase of Phi yields axion dark matter. If V is a supergravity (SUGRA) potential, the model essentially depends on a single parameter, the energy scale Lambda. Once we set Lambda approximately equal to 10(10) GeV at the quark-hadron transition, |Phi| naturally passes through values suitable to solve the strong CP problem, later growing to values providing fair amounts of dark matter and dark energy.

Studies of dark energy with X-ray observatories.

PubMed

Vikhlinin, Alexey

2010-04-20

I review the contribution of Chandra X-ray Observatory to studies of dark energy. There are two broad classes of observable effects of dark energy: evolution of the expansion rate of the Universe, and slow down in the rate of growth of cosmic structures. Chandra has detected and measured both of these effects through observations of galaxy clusters. A combination of the Chandra results with other cosmological datasets leads to 5% constraints on the dark energy equation-of-state parameter, and limits possible deviations of gravity on large scales from general relativity.

Dark energy properties from large future galaxy surveys

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Basse, Tobias; Bjælde, Ole Eggers; Hannestad, Steen

2014-05-01

We perform a detailed forecast on how well a Euclid-like survey will be able to constrain dark energy and neutrino parameters from a combination of its cosmic shear power spectrum, galaxy power spectrum, and cluster mass function measurements. We find that the combination of these three probes vastly improves the survey's potential to measure the time evolution of dark energy. In terms of a dark energy figure-of-merit defined as (σ(w{sub p})σ(w{sub a})){sup −1}, we find a value of 690 for Euclid-like data combined with Planck-like measurements of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies in a 10-dimensional cosmological parameter space, assuming amore » ΛCDM fiducial cosmology. For the more commonly used 7-parameter model, we find a figure-of-merit of 1900 for the same data combination. We consider also the survey's potential to measure dark energy perturbations in models wherein the dark energy is parameterised as a fluid with a nonstandard non-adiabatic sound speed, and find that in an optimistic scenario in which w{sub 0} deviates from -1 by as much as is currently observationally allowed, models with c-circumflex {sub s}{sup 2} = 10{sup −6} and c-circumflex {sub s}{sup 2} = 1 can be distinguished from one another at more than 2σ significance. We emphasise that constraints on the dark energy sound speed from cluster measurements are strongly dependent on the modelling of the cluster mass function; significantly weaker sensitivities ensue if we modify our model to include fewer features of nonlinear dark energy clustering. Finally, we find that the sum of neutrino masses can be measured with a 1σ precision of 0.015 eV, even in complex cosmological models in which the dark energy equation of state varies with time. The 1σ sensitivity to the effective number of relativistic species N{sub eff}{sup ml} is approximately 0.03, meaning that the small deviation of 0.046 from 3 in the standard value of N{sub eff}{sup ml} due to non-instantaneous decoupling and finite temperature effects can be probed with 1σ precision for the first time.« less

Dark energy properties from large future galaxy surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basse, Tobias; Eggers Bjælde, Ole; Hamann, Jan; Hannestad, Steen; Wong, Yvonne Y. Y.

2014-05-01

We perform a detailed forecast on how well a Euclid-like survey will be able to constrain dark energy and neutrino parameters from a combination of its cosmic shear power spectrum, galaxy power spectrum, and cluster mass function measurements. We find that the combination of these three probes vastly improves the survey's potential to measure the time evolution of dark energy. In terms of a dark energy figure-of-merit defined as (σ(wp)σ(wa))-1, we find a value of 690 for Euclid-like data combined with Planck-like measurements of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies in a 10-dimensional cosmological parameter space, assuming a ΛCDM fiducial cosmology. For the more commonly used 7-parameter model, we find a figure-of-merit of 1900 for the same data combination. We consider also the survey's potential to measure dark energy perturbations in models wherein the dark energy is parameterised as a fluid with a nonstandard non-adiabatic sound speed, and find that in an optimistic scenario in which w0 deviates from -1 by as much as is currently observationally allowed, models with hat cs2 = 10-6 and hat cs2 = 1 can be distinguished from one another at more than 2σ significance. We emphasise that constraints on the dark energy sound speed from cluster measurements are strongly dependent on the modelling of the cluster mass function; significantly weaker sensitivities ensue if we modify our model to include fewer features of nonlinear dark energy clustering. Finally, we find that the sum of neutrino masses can be measured with a 1σ precision of 0.015 eV, even in complex cosmological models in which the dark energy equation of state varies with time. The 1σ sensitivity to the effective number of relativistic species Neffml is approximately 0.03, meaning that the small deviation of 0.046 from 3 in the standard value of Neffml due to non-instantaneous decoupling and finite temperature effects can be probed with 1σ precision for the first time.

The dark side of cosmology: dark matter and dark energy.

PubMed

Spergel, David N

2015-03-06

A simple model with only six parameters (the age of the universe, the density of atoms, the density of matter, the amplitude of the initial fluctuations, the scale dependence of this amplitude, and the epoch of first star formation) fits all of our cosmological data . Although simple, this standard model is strange. The model implies that most of the matter in our Galaxy is in the form of "dark matter," a new type of particle not yet detected in the laboratory, and most of the energy in the universe is in the form of "dark energy," energy associated with empty space. Both dark matter and dark energy require extensions to our current understanding of particle physics or point toward a breakdown of general relativity on cosmological scales. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Echo of interactions in the dark sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Suresh; Nunes, Rafael C.

2017-11-01

We investigate the observational constraints on an interacting vacuum energy scenario with two different neutrino schemes (with and without a sterile neutrino) using the most recent data from cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropy, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), type Ia supernovae from JLA sample and structure growth inferred from cluster counts. We find that inclusion of the galaxy clusters data with the minimal data combination CMB +BAO +JLA suggests an interaction in the dark sector, implying the decay of dark matter particles into dark energy, since the constraints obtained by including the galaxy clusters data yield a non-null and negative coupling parameter between the dark components at 99% confidence level. We deduce that the current tensions on the parameters H0 and σ8 can be alleviated within the framework of the interacting as well as noninteracting vacuum energy models with sterile neutrinos.

Bianchi Type-I Anisotropic Dark Energy Model with Constant Deceleration Parameter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pradhan, Anirudh; Amirhashchi, H.; Saha, Bijan

2011-09-01

A new dark energy model in anisotropic Bianchi type-I (B-I) space-time with time dependent equation of state (EoS) parameter and constant deceleration parameter has been investigated in the present paper. The Einstein's field equations have been solved by applying a variation law for generalized Hubble's parameter (Berman in Il Nuovo Cimento B 74:182, 1983) which generates two types of solutions, one is of power-law type and other is of the exponential form. The existing range of the dark energy EoS parameter ω for derived model is found to be in good agreement with the three recent observations (i) SNe Ia data (Knop et al. in Astrophys. J. 598:102, 2003), (ii) SNe Ia data collaborated with CMBR anisotropy and galaxy clustering statistics (Tegmark et al. in Astrophys. J. 606:702, 2004) and (iii) a combination of cosmological datasets coming from CMB anisotropies, luminosity distances of high redshift type Ia supernovae and galaxy clustering (Hinshaw et al. in Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 180:225, 2009 and Komatsu et al. in Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 180:330, 2009). The cosmological constant Λ is found to be a decreasing function of time and it approaches a small positive value at the present epoch which is corroborated by results from recent supernovae Ia observations. It has also been suggested that the dark energy that explains the observed accelerating universe may arise due to the contribution to the vacuum energy of the EoS in a time dependent background. Geometric and kinematic properties of the model and the behaviour of the anisotropy of the dark energy have been carried out.

Holographic dark energy with linearly varying deceleration parameter and escaping big rip singularity of the Bianchi type-V universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarkar, Sanjay

2014-08-01

The present work deals with the accretion of two minimally interacting fluids: dark matter and a hypothetical isotropic fluid as the holographic dark energy components onto black hole and wormhole in a spatially homogeneous and anisotropic Bianchi type-V universe. To obtain an exact solution of the Einstein's field equations, we use the assumption of linearly varying deceleration parameter. Solution describes effectively the actual acceleration and indicates a big rip type future singularity of the universe. We have studied the evolution of the mass of black hole and the wormhole embedded in this anisotropic universe in order to reproduce a stable universe protected against future-time singularity. It is observed that the accretion of these dark components leads to a gradual decrease and increase of black hole and wormhole mass respectively. Finally, we have found that contrary to our previous case (Sarkar in Astrophys. Space. Sci. 341:651, 2014a), the big rip singularity of the universe with a divergent Hubble parameter of this dark energy model may be avoided by a big trip.

Cosmology with interaction in the dark sector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Costa, F. E. M.; Barboza, E. M. Jr.; Alcaniz, J. S.

2009-06-15

Unless some unknown symmetry in nature prevents or suppresses a nonminimal coupling in the dark sector, the dark energy field may interact with the pressureless component of dark matter. In this paper, we investigate some cosmological consequences of a general model of interacting dark matter-dark energy characterized by a dimensionless parameter {epsilon}. We derive a coupled scalar field version for this general class of scenarios and carry out a joint statistical analysis involving type Ia supernovae data (Legacy and Constitution sets), measurements of baryon acoustic oscillation peaks at z=0.20 (2dFGRS) and z=0.35 (SDSS), and measurements of the Hubble evolution H(z).more » For the specific case of vacuum decay (w=-1), we find that, although physically forbidden, a transfer of energy from dark matter to dark energy is favored by the data.« less

Probing interaction and spatial curvature in the holographic dark energy model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Miao; Li, Xiao-Dong; Wang, Shuang

2009-12-01

In this paper we place observational constraints on the interaction and spatial curvature in the holographic dark energy model. We consider three kinds of phenomenological interactions between holographic dark energy and matter, i.e., the interaction term Q is proportional to the energy densities of dark energy (ρ{sub Λ}), matter (ρ{sub m}), and matter plus dark energy (ρ{sub m}+ρ{sub Λ}). For probing the interaction and spatial curvature in the holographic dark energy model, we use the latest observational data including the type Ia supernovae (SNIa) Constitution data, the shift parameter of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) given by the five-year Wilkinsonmore » Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP5) observations, and the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurement from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Our results show that the interaction and spatial curvature in the holographic dark energy model are both rather small. Besides, it is interesting to find that there exists significant degeneracy between the phenomenological interaction and the spatial curvature in the holographic dark energy model.« less

Revisiting Supernova 1987A constraints on dark photons

DOE PAGES

Chang, Jae Hyeok; Essig, Rouven; McDermott, Samuel D.

2017-01-25

We revisit constraints on dark photons with masses below ~ 100 MeV from the observations of Supernova 1987A. If dark photons are produced in sufficient quantity, they reduce the amount of energy emitted in the form of neutrinos, in conflict with observations. For the first time, we include the effects of finite temperature and density on the kinetic-mixing parameter,ϵ, in this environment. This causes the constraints on ϵ to weaken with the dark-photon mass below ~ 15 MeV. For large-enough values of ϵ, it is well known that dark photons can be reabsorbed within the supernova. Since the rates ofmore » reabsorption processes decrease as the dark-photon energy increases, we point out that dark photons with energies above the Wien peak can escape without scattering, contributing more to energy loss than is possible assuming a blackbody spectrum. Furthermore, we estimate the systematic uncertainties on the cooling bounds by deriving constraints assuming one analytic and four different simulated temperature and density profiles of the proto-neutron star. Finally, we estimate also the systematic uncertainty on the bound by varying the distance across which dark photons must propagate from their point of production to be able to affect the star. Finally, this work clarifies the bounds from SN1987A on the dark-photon parameter space.« less

Cosmological implications of the transition from the false vacuum to the true vacuum state

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stachowski, Aleksander; Szydłowski, Marek; Urbanowski, Krzysztof

2017-06-01

We study cosmology with running dark energy. The energy density of dark energy is obtained from the quantum process of transition from the false vacuum state to the true vacuum state. We use the Breit-Wigner energy distribution function to model the quantum unstable systems and obtain the energy density of the dark energy parametrization ρ _ {de}(t). We also use Krauss and Dent's idea linking properties of the quantum mechanical decay of unstable states with the properties of the observed Universe. In the cosmological model with this parametrization there is an energy transfer between dark matter and dark energy. The intensity of this process, measured by a parameter α , distinguishes two scenarios. As the Universe starts from the false vacuum state, for the small value of α (0<α <0.4) it goes through an intermediate oscillatory (quantum) regime of the density of dark energy, while for α > 0.4 the density of the dark energy jumps down. In both cases the present value of the density of dark energy is reached. From a statistical analysis we find this model to be in good agreement with the astronomical data and practically indistinguishable from the Λ CDM model.

Cosmic selection rule for the glueball dark matter relic density

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soni, Amarjit; Xiao, Huangyu; Zhang, Yue

2017-10-01

We point out a unique mechanism to produce the relic abundance for the glueball dark matter from a gauged SU (N )d hidden sector which is bridged to the standard model sector through heavy vectorlike quarks colored under gauge interactions from both sides. A necessary ingredient of our assumption is that the vectorlike quarks, produced either thermally or nonthermally, are abundant enough to dominate the universe for some time in the early universe. They later undergo dark color confinement and form unstable vectorlike-quarkonium states which annihilate decay and reheat the visible and dark sectors. The ratio of entropy dumped into two sectors and the final energy budget in the dark glueballs is only determined by low energy parameters, including the intrinsic scale of the dark SU (N )d , Λd, and number of dark colors, Nd, but depend weakly on parameters in the ultraviolet such as the vectorlike quark mass or the initial condition. We call this a cosmic selection rule for the glueball dark matter relic density.

Distinguishing interacting dark energy from wCDM with CMB, lensing, and baryon acoustic oscillation data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Väliviita, Jussi; Palmgren, Elina, E-mail: jussi.valiviita@helsinki.fi, E-mail: elina.palmgren@helsinki.fi

2015-07-01

We employ the Planck 2013 CMB temperature anisotropy and lensing data, and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data to constrain a phenomenological wCDM model, where dark matter and dark energy interact. We assume time-dependent equation of state parameter for dark energy, and treat dark matter and dark energy as fluids whose energy-exchange rate is proportional to the dark-matter density. The CMB data alone leave a strong degeneracy between the interaction rate and the physical CDM density parameter today, ω{sub c}, allowing a large interaction rate |Γ| ∼ H{sub 0}. However, as has been known for a while, the BAO data break this degeneracy.more » Moreover, we exploit the CMB lensing potential likelihood, which probes the matter perturbations at redshift z ∼ 2 and is very sensitive to the growth of structure, and hence one of the tools for discerning between the ΛCDM model and its alternatives. However, we find that in the non-phantom models (w{sub de}>−1), the constraints remain unchanged by the inclusion of the lensing data and consistent with zero interaction, −0.14 < Γ/H{sub 0} < 0.02 at 95% CL. On the contrary, in the phantom models (w{sub de}<−1), energy transfer from dark energy to dark matter is moderately favoured over the non-interacting model; 0−0.57 < Γ/H{sub 0} < −0.1 at 95% CL with CMB+BAO, while addition of the lensing data shifts this to −0.46 < Γ/H{sub 0} < −0.01.« less

Interacting holographic dark energy models: a general approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Som, S.; Sil, A.

2014-08-01

Dark energy models inspired by the cosmological holographic principle are studied in homogeneous isotropic spacetime with a general choice for the dark energy density . Special choices of the parameters enable us to obtain three different holographic models, including the holographic Ricci dark energy (RDE) model. Effect of interaction between dark matter and dark energy on the dynamics of those models are investigated for different popular forms of interaction. It is found that crossing of phantom divide can be avoided in RDE models for β>0.5 irrespective of the presence of interaction. A choice of α=1 and β=2/3 leads to a varying Λ-like model introducing an IR cutoff length Λ -1/2. It is concluded that among the popular choices an interaction of the form Q∝ Hρ m suits the best in avoiding the coincidence problem in this model.

Cold dark energy constraints from the abundance of galaxy clusters

DOE PAGES

Heneka, Caroline; Rapetti, David; Cataneo, Matteo; ...

2017-10-05

We constrain cold dark energy of negligible sound speed using galaxy cluster abundance observations. In contrast to standard quasi-homogeneous dark energy, negligible sound speed implies clustering of the dark energy fluid at all scales, allowing us to measure the effects of dark energy perturbations at cluster scales. We compare those models and set the stage for using non-linear information from semi-analytical modelling in cluster growth data analyses. For this, we recalibrate the halo mass function with non-linear characteristic quantities, the spherical collapse threshold and virial overdensity, that account for model and redshift-dependent behaviours, as well as an additional mass contributionmore » for cold dark energy. Here in this paper, we present the first constraints from this cold dark matter plus cold dark energy mass function using our cluster abundance likelihood, which self-consistently accounts for selection effects, covariances and systematic uncertainties. We combine cluster growth data with cosmic microwave background, supernovae Ia and baryon acoustic oscillation data, and find a shift between cold versus quasi-homogeneous dark energy of up to 1σ. We make a Fisher matrix forecast of constraints attainable with cluster growth data from the ongoing Dark Energy Survey (DES). For DES, we predict ~ 50 percent tighter constraints on (Ωm, w) for cold dark energy versus wCDM models, with the same free parameters. Overall, we show that cluster abundance analyses are sensitive to cold dark energy, an alternative, viable model that should be routinely investigated alongside the standard dark energy scenario.« less

Cold dark energy constraints from the abundance of galaxy clusters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heneka, Caroline; Rapetti, David; Cataneo, Matteo

We constrain cold dark energy of negligible sound speed using galaxy cluster abundance observations. In contrast to standard quasi-homogeneous dark energy, negligible sound speed implies clustering of the dark energy fluid at all scales, allowing us to measure the effects of dark energy perturbations at cluster scales. We compare those models and set the stage for using non-linear information from semi-analytical modelling in cluster growth data analyses. For this, we recalibrate the halo mass function with non-linear characteristic quantities, the spherical collapse threshold and virial overdensity, that account for model and redshift-dependent behaviours, as well as an additional mass contributionmore » for cold dark energy. Here in this paper, we present the first constraints from this cold dark matter plus cold dark energy mass function using our cluster abundance likelihood, which self-consistently accounts for selection effects, covariances and systematic uncertainties. We combine cluster growth data with cosmic microwave background, supernovae Ia and baryon acoustic oscillation data, and find a shift between cold versus quasi-homogeneous dark energy of up to 1σ. We make a Fisher matrix forecast of constraints attainable with cluster growth data from the ongoing Dark Energy Survey (DES). For DES, we predict ~ 50 percent tighter constraints on (Ωm, w) for cold dark energy versus wCDM models, with the same free parameters. Overall, we show that cluster abundance analyses are sensitive to cold dark energy, an alternative, viable model that should be routinely investigated alongside the standard dark energy scenario.« less

Fitting and forecasting coupled dark energy in the non-linear regime

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Casas, Santiago; Amendola, Luca; Pettorino, Valeria

2016-01-01

We consider cosmological models in which dark matter feels a fifth force mediated by the dark energy scalar field, also known as coupled dark energy. Our interest resides in estimating forecasts for future surveys like Euclid when we take into account non-linear effects, relying on new fitting functions that reproduce the non-linear matter power spectrum obtained from N-body simulations. We obtain fitting functions for models in which the dark matter-dark energy coupling is constant. Their validity is demonstrated for all available simulations in the redshift range 0z=–1.6 and wave modes below 0k=1 h/Mpc. These fitting formulas can be used tomore » test the predictions of the model in the non-linear regime without the need for additional computing-intensive N-body simulations. We then use these fitting functions to perform forecasts on the constraining power that future galaxy-redshift surveys like Euclid will have on the coupling parameter, using the Fisher matrix method for galaxy clustering (GC) and weak lensing (WL). We find that by using information in the non-linear power spectrum, and combining the GC and WL probes, we can constrain the dark matter-dark energy coupling constant squared, β{sup 2}, with precision smaller than 4% and all other cosmological parameters better than 1%, which is a considerable improvement of more than an order of magnitude compared to corresponding linear power spectrum forecasts with the same survey specifications.« less

Holographic Dark Energy in Brans-Dicke Theory with Logarithmic Form of Scalar Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, C. P.; Kumar, Pankaj

2017-10-01

In this paper, an interacting holographic dark energy model with Hubble horizon as an infra-red cut-off is considered in the framework of Brans-Dicke theory. We assume the Brans-Dicke scalar field as a logarithmic form ϕ = ϕ 0 l n( α + β a), where a is the scale factor, α and β are arbitrary constants, to interpret the physical phenomena of the Universe. The equation of state parameter w h and deceleration parameter q are obtained to discuss the dynamics of the evolution of the Universe. We present a unified model of holographic dark energy which explains the early time acceleration (inflation), medieval time deceleration and late time acceleration. It is also observed that w h may cross the phantom divide line in the late time evolution. We also discuss the cosmic coincidence problem. We obtain a time-varying density ratio of holographic dark energy to dark matter which is a constant of order one (r˜ O(1)) during early and late time evolution, and may evolve sufficiently slow at present time. Thus, the model successfully resolves the cosmic coincidence problem.

Time-varying q-deformed dark energy interacts with dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dil, Emre; Kolay, Erdinç

We propose a new model for studying the dark constituents of the universe by regarding the dark energy as a q-deformed scalar field interacting with the dark matter, in the framework of standard general relativity. Here we assume that the number of particles in each mode of the q-deformed scalar field varies in time by the particle creation and annihilation. We first describe the q-deformed scalar field dark energy quantum-field theoretically, then construct the action and the dynamical structure of these interacting dark sectors, in order to study the dynamics of the model. We perform the phase space analysis of the model to confirm and interpret our proposal by searching the stable attractor solutions implying the late-time accelerating phase of the universe. We then obtain the result that when interaction and equation-of-state parameter of the dark matter evolve from the present day values into a particular value, the dark energy turns out to be a q-deformed scalar field.

Effects of Low Anisotropy on Generalized Ghost Dark Energy in Galileon Gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hossienkhani, H.; Fayaz, V.; Jafari, A.; Yousefi, H.

2018-04-01

The definition of the Galileon gravity form is extended to the Brans-Dicke theory. Given, the framework of the Galileon theory, the generalized ghost dark energy model in an anisotropic universe is investigated. We study the cosmological implications of this model. In particular, we obtain the equation of state and the deceleration parameters and a differential equation governing the evolution of this dark energy in Bianchi type I model. We also probe observational constraints by using the latest observational data on the generalized ghost dark energy models as the unification of dark matter and dark energy. In order to do so, we focus on observational determinations of the Hubble expansion rate (namely, the expansion history) H(z). As a result, we show the influence of the anisotropy (although low) on the evolution of the universe in the statefinder diagrams for Galileon gravity.

Maximally Rotating Supermassive Stars at the Onset of Collapse: The Perturbative Effects of Gas Pressure, Magnetic Fields, Dark Matter and Dark Energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butler, Satya P.; Lima, Alicia R.; Baumgarte, Thomas W.; Shapiro, Stuart L.

2018-04-01

The discovery of quasars at increasingly large cosmological redshifts may favor "direct collapse" as the most promising evolutionary route to the formation of supermassive black holes. In this scenario, supermassive black holes form when their progenitors - supermassive stars - become unstable to gravitational collapse. For uniformly rotating stars supported by pure radiation pressure and spinning at the mass-shedding limit, the critical configuration at the onset of collapse is characterized by universal values of the dimensionless spin and radius parameters J/M2 and R/M, independent of mass M. We consider perturbative effects of gas pressure, magnetic fields, dark matter and dark energy on these parameters, and thereby determine the domain of validity of this universality. We obtain leading-order corrections for the critical parameters and establish their scaling with the relevant physical parameters. We compare two different approaches to approximate the effects of gas pressure, which plays the most important role, find identical results for the above dimensionless parameters, and also find good agreement with recent numerical results.

Maximally rotating supermassive stars at the onset of collapse: the perturbative effects of gas pressure, magnetic fields, dark matter, and dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butler, Satya P.; Lima, Alicia R.; Baumgarte, Thomas W.; Shapiro, Stuart L.

2018-07-01

The discovery of quasars at increasingly large cosmological redshifts may favour `direct collapse' as the most promising evolutionary route to the formation of supermassive black holes. In this scenario, supermassive black holes form when their progenitors - supermassive stars - become unstable to gravitational collapse. For uniformly rotating stars supported by pure radiation pressure and spinning at the mass-shedding limit, the critical configuration at the onset of collapse is characterized by universal values of the dimensionless spin and radius parameters J/M2 and R/M, independent of mass M. We consider perturbative effects of gas pressure, magnetic fields, dark matter, and dark energy on these parameters, and thereby determine the domain of validity of this universality. We obtain leading-order corrections for the critical parameters and establish their scaling with the relevant physical parameters. We compare two different approaches to approximate the effects of gas pressure, which plays the most important role, find identical results for the above dimensionless parameters, and also find good agreement with recent numerical results.

Observational tests of non-adiabatic Chaplygin gas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carneiro, S.; Pigozzo, C.

2014-10-01

In a previous paper [1] it was shown that any dark sector model can be mapped into a non-adiabatic fluid formed by two interacting components, one with zero pressure and the other with equation-of-state parameter ω = -1. It was also shown that the latter does not cluster and, hence, the former is identified as the observed clustering matter. This guarantees that the dark matter power spectrum does not suffer from oscillations or instabilities. It applies in particular to the generalised Chaplygin gas, which was shown to be equivalent to interacting models at both background and perturbation levels. In the present paper we test the non-adiabatic Chaplygin gas against the Hubble diagram of type Ia supernovae, the position of the first acoustic peak in the anisotropy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background and the linear power spectrum of large scale structures. We consider two different compilations of SNe Ia, namely the Constitution and SDSS samples, both calibrated with the MLCS2k2 fitter, and for the power spectrum we use the 2dFGRS catalogue. The model parameters to be adjusted are the present Hubble parameter, the present matter density and the Chaplygin gas parameter α. The joint analysis best fit gives α ≈ - 0.5, which corresponds to a constant-rate energy flux from dark energy to dark matter, with the dark energy density decaying linearly with the Hubble parameter. The ΛCDM model, equivalent to α = 0, stands outside the 3σ confidence interval.

Observational constraint on dynamical evolution of dark energy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gong, Yungui; Cai, Rong-Gen; Chen, Yun

2010-01-01

We use the Constitution supernova, the baryon acoustic oscillation, the cosmic microwave background, and the Hubble parameter data to analyze the evolution property of dark energy. We obtain different results when we fit different baryon acoustic oscillation data combined with the Constitution supernova data to the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder model. We find that the difference stems from the different values of Ω{sub m0}. We also fit the observational data to the model independent piecewise constant parametrization. Four redshift bins with boundaries at z = 0.22, 0.53, 0.85 and 1.8 were chosen for the piecewise constant parametrization of the equation of state parametermore » w(z) of dark energy. We find no significant evidence for evolving w(z). With the addition of the Hubble parameter, the constraint on the equation of state parameter at high redshift is improved by 70%. The marginalization of the nuisance parameter connected to the supernova distance modulus is discussed.« less

Evolution of non-interacting entropic dark energy and its phantom nature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mathew, Titus K.; Murali, Chinthak; Shejeelammal, J.

2016-04-01

Assuming the form of the entropic dark energy (EDE) as it arises from the surface term in the Einstein-Hilbert’s action, its evolution was analyzed in an expanding flat universe. The model parameters were evaluated by constraining the model using the Union data on Type Ia supernovae. We found that in the non-interacting case, the model predicts an early decelerated phase and a later accelerated phase at the background level. The evolutions of the Hubble parameter, dark energy (DE) density, equation of state parameter and deceleration parameter were obtained. The model hardly seems to be supporting the linear perturbation growth for the structure formation. We also found that the EDE shows phantom nature for redshifts z < 0.257. During the phantom epoch, the model predicts big rip effect at which both the scale factor of expansion and the DE density become infinitely large and the big rip time is found to be around 36 Giga years from now.

Constraining the evolution of the Hubble Parameter using cosmic chronometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scarlata, Claudia; Dickinson, Hugh

2018-01-01

The Lambda-CDM model of Big Bang cosmology relies heavily on the assumption that two components - dark energy and dark matter - encompass 95% of the energy density of the Universe. Despite the dominant influence of these components, their nature is still entirely unknown.We present the initial results from a project that aims to provide new insights regarding the Dark Energy component. We do this by deriving independent constraints on the time-evolution of the Hubble parameter (H_0) using the “cosmic chronometer” method.By analyzing the HST NIR spectra from a large archival sample of passively evolving galaxies in distinct redshift bins between 1.3 and 2 we measure the typical stellar population ages (A) for the galaxies in each bin. The differential evolution of stellar population age with redshift (dA/dz) can be used to infer the corresponding evolution of H_0 which will provide important constraints on the nature of Dark Energy and its equation of state.

The ΩDE-ΩM Plane in Dark Energy Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiang, Yuan; Zhang, Tong-Jie

The dark energy cosmology with the equation of state w=const. is considered in this paper. The ΩDE-ΩM plane has been used to study the present state and expansion history of the universe. Through the mathematical analysis, we give the theoretical constraint of cosmological parameters. Together with some observations such as the transition redshift from deceleration to acceleration, more precise constraint on cosmological parameters can be acquired.

Interacting dark energy models as an approach for solving Cosmic Coincidence Problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shojaei, Hamed

Understanding the dark side of the Universe is one of the main tasks of physicists. As there is no thorough understanding of nature of the dark energy, this area is full of new ideas and there may be several discoveries, theoretical or experimental, in the near future. We know that dark energy, though not detected directly, exists and it is not just an exotic idea. The presence of dark energy is required by the observation of the acceleration of the universe. There are several questions regarding dark energy. What is the nature of dark energy? How does it interact with matter, baryonic or dark? Why is the density of dark energy so tiny, i.e. why rhoΛ ≈ 10--120 M4Pl ? And finally why does its density have the same order of magnitude as the density of matter does at the present time? The last question is one form of what is known as the "Cosmic Coincidence Problem" and in this work, I have been investigating one way to resolve this issue. Observations of Type Ia supernovae indicate that we are in an accelerating universe. A matter-dominated universe cannot be accelerating. A good fit is obtained if we assume that energy density parameters are O Λ = 0.7 and Om = 0.3. Here O Λ is related to dark energy, or cosmological constant in ΛCDM model. At the same time data from Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite and supernova surveys have placed a constraint on w, the equation of state for dark energy, which is actually the ratio of pressure and energy density. Any good theory needs to explain this coincidence problem and yields a value for w between -1.1 and -0.9. I have employed an interesting approach to solve this problem by assuming that there exists an interaction between dark energy and matter in the context of holographic dark energy. This interaction converts dark energy to matter or vice versa without violating the local conservation of energy in the universe. Holographic dark energy by itself indicates that the value of dark energy is related to the surface of a horizon. In this work, interacting dark energy models are considered in flat and curved spacetime, and their properties have been explored. Adding interaction to the equations of motion, creates new equilibrium solutions for the evolution of the universe. Adjusting parameters in the theory yields equilibrium solutions which are very close to the universe at the present time. In this sense, being in a universe where dark energy density and matter density are comparable is not a coincidence anymore. We don't just happen to be in this era. This situation is the equilibrium situation which the universe had been driven toward and there is no coincidence at all. I believe these models are not just for resolving the cosmic coincidence problem. They are capable of explaining the universe in all of its evolutionary stages. Upon finding the correct interaction, a task which is still under investigation, one is able to have a whole picture for the universe from the beginning, before inflation, until now. Finding that interaction also will help to discover the fundamental theory which explains the nature of dark energy.

The cosmological dark sector as a scalar σ -meson field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carneiro, Saulo

2018-03-01

Previous quantum field estimations of the QCD vacuum in the expanding space-time lead to a dark energy component scaling linearly with the Hubble parameter, which gives the correct figure for the observed cosmological term. Here we show that this behaviour also appears at the classical level, as a result of the chiral symmetry breaking in a low energy, effective σ -model. The dark sector is described in a unified way by the σ condensate and its fluctuations, giving rise to a decaying dark energy and a homogeneous creation of non-relativistic dark particles. The creation rate and the future asymptotic de Sitter horizon are both determined by the σ mass scale.

Cosmic selection rule for the glueball dark matter relic density

DOE PAGES

Soni, Amarjit; Xiao, Huangyu; Zhang, Yue

2017-10-16

Here, we point out a unique mechanism to produce the relic abundance for the glueball dark matter from a gauged SU(N) d hidden sector which is bridged to the standard model sector through heavy vectorlike quarks colored under gauge interactions from both sides. A necessary ingredient of our assumption is that the vectorlike quarks, produced either thermally or nonthermally, are abundant enough to dominate the universe for some time in the early universe. They later undergo dark color confinement and form unstable vectorlike-quarkonium states which annihilate decay and reheat the visible and dark sectors. The ratio of entropy dumped intomore » two sectors and the final energy budget in the dark glueballs is only determined by low energy parameters, including the intrinsic scale of the dark SU(N) d, Λ d, and number of dark colors, N d, but depend weakly on parameters in the ultraviolet such as the vectorlike quark mass or the initial condition. We call this a cosmic selection rule for the glueball dark matter relic density.« less

Cosmic selection rule for the glueball dark matter relic density

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Soni, Amarjit; Xiao, Huangyu; Zhang, Yue

Here, we point out a unique mechanism to produce the relic abundance for the glueball dark matter from a gauged SU(N) d hidden sector which is bridged to the standard model sector through heavy vectorlike quarks colored under gauge interactions from both sides. A necessary ingredient of our assumption is that the vectorlike quarks, produced either thermally or nonthermally, are abundant enough to dominate the universe for some time in the early universe. They later undergo dark color confinement and form unstable vectorlike-quarkonium states which annihilate decay and reheat the visible and dark sectors. The ratio of entropy dumped intomore » two sectors and the final energy budget in the dark glueballs is only determined by low energy parameters, including the intrinsic scale of the dark SU(N) d, Λ d, and number of dark colors, N d, but depend weakly on parameters in the ultraviolet such as the vectorlike quark mass or the initial condition. We call this a cosmic selection rule for the glueball dark matter relic density.« less

Dynamics of a spherically symmetric inhomogeneous coupled dark energy model with coupling term proportional to non relatvistic matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izquierdo, Germán; Blanquet-Jaramillo, Roberto C.; Sussman, Roberto A.

2018-01-01

The quasi-local scalar variables approach is applied to a spherically symmetric inhomogeneous Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi metric containing a mixture of non-relativistic cold dark matter and coupled dark energy with constant equation of state. The quasi-local coupling term considered is proportional to the quasi-local cold dark matter energy density and a quasi-local Hubble factor-like scalar via a coupling constant α . The autonomous numerical system obtained from the evolution equations is classified for different choices of the free parameters: the adiabatic constant of the dark energy w and α . The presence of a past attractor in a non-physical region of the energy densities phase-space of the system makes the coupling term non physical when the energy flows from the matter to the dark energy in order to avoid negative values of the dark energy density in the past. On the other hand, if the energy flux goes from dark energy to dark matter, the past attractor lies in a physical region. The system is also numerically solved for some interesting initial profiles leading to different configurations: an ever expanding mixture, a scenario where the dark energy is completely consumed by the non-relativistic matter by means of the coupling term, a scenario where the dark energy disappears in the inner layers while the outer layers expand as a mixture of both sources, and, finally, a structure formation toy model scenario, where the inner shells containing the mixture collapse while the outer shells expand.

What do we really know about dark energy?

PubMed

Durrer, Ruth

2011-12-28

In this paper, we discuss what we truly know about dark energy. I shall argue that, to date, our single indication for the existence of dark energy comes from distance measurements and their relation to redshift. Supernovae, cosmic microwave background anisotropies and observations of baryon acoustic oscillations simply tell us that the observed distance to a given redshift z is larger than the one expected from a Friedmann-Lemaître universe with matter only and the locally measured Hubble parameter.

Power Law and Logarithmic Ricci Dark Energy Models in Hořava-Lifshitz Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasqua, Antonio; Chattopadhyay, Surajit; Khurshudyan, Martiros; Myrzakulov, Ratbay; Hakobyan, Margarit; Movsisyan, Artashes

2015-03-01

In this work, we studied the Power Law and the Logarithmic Entropy Corrected versions of the Ricci Dark Energy (RDE) model in a spatially non-flat universe and in the framework of Hořava-Lifshitz cosmology. For the two cases containing non-interacting and interacting RDE and Dark Matter (DM), we obtained the exact differential equation that determines the evolutionary form of the RDE energy density. Moreover, we obtained the expressions of the deceleration parameter q and, using a parametrization of the equation of state (EoS) parameter ω D given by the relation ω D ( z) = ω 0+ ω 1 z, we derived the expressions of both ω 0 and ω 1. We interestingly found that the expression of ω 0 is the same for both non-interacting and interacting case. The expression of ω 1 for the interacting case has strong dependence from the interacting parameter b 2. The parameters derived in this work are done in small redshift approximation and for low redshift expansion of the EoS parameter.

Analysis of dark energy models in DGP braneworld

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jawad, Abdul

2015-12-01

In this paper, we reconsider the accelerated expansion phenomenon in the DGP braneworld scenario which leads to an accelerated universe without cosmological constant or other form of dark energy for the positive branch (ɛ= +1) which is not more attractive model. Thus, we assume the DGP braneworld scenario with (ɛ= -1) and also interacting Hubble and event horizons pilgrim dark energy models. We extract various cosmological parameters in this scenario and displayed our results with respect to redshift parameter. It is found that the ranges of Hubble parameter are coincided with observational results. The equation of state parameter lies within the suggested ranges of different observational schemes. The squared speed of sound shows stability for all present models in DGP braneworld scenario. The ω_{\\vartheta}-ω'_{\\vartheta} planes lie in the range (ω_{\\vartheta}=-1.13^{+0.24}_{-0.25},ω'_{\\vartheta}<1.32) which has been obtained through different observational schemes. It is remarked that our results of various cosmological parameters shows consistency with different observational data like Planck, WP, BAO, H0 and SNLS.

Density perturbation in the models reconstructed from jerk parameter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinha, Srijita; Banerjee, Narayan

2018-06-01

The present work deals with the late time evolution of the linear density contrast in the dark energy models reconstructed from the jerk parameter. It is found that the non-interacting models are favoured compared to the models where an interaction is allowed in the dark sector.

Model selection and constraints from holographic dark energy scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akhlaghi, I. A.; Malekjani, M.; Basilakos, S.; Haghi, H.

2018-07-01

In this study, we combine the expansion and the growth data in order to investigate the ability of the three most popular holographic dark energy models, namely event future horizon, Ricci scale, and Granda-Oliveros IR cutoffs, to fit the data. Using a standard χ2 minimization method, we place tight constraints on the free parameters of the models. Based on the values of the Akaike and Bayesian information criteria, we find that two out of three holographic dark energy models are disfavoured by the data, because they predict a non-negligible amount of fractional dark energy density at early enough times. Although the growth rate data are relatively consistent with the holographic dark energy models which are based on Ricci scale and Granda-Oliveros IR cutoffs, the combined analysis provides strong indications against these models. Finally, we find that the model for which the holographic dark energy is related with the future horizon is consistent with the combined observational data.

New holographic dark energy model inspired by the DGP braneworld

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheykhi, A.; Dehghani, M. H.; Ghaffari, S.

2016-11-01

The energy density of the holographic dark energy (HDE) is based on the area law of entropy, and thus any modification of the area law leads to a modified holographic energy density. Inspired by the entropy expression associated with the apparent horizon of a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe in DGP braneworld, we propose a new model for the HDE in the framework of DGP brane cosmology. We investigate the cosmological consequences of this new model and calculate the equation of state (EoS) parameter by choosing the Hubble radius, L = H-1, as the system’s IR cutoff. Our study show that, due to the effects of the extra dimension (bulk), the identification of IR cutoff with Hubble radius, can reproduce the present acceleration of the universe expansion. This is in contrast to the ordinary HDE in standard cosmology which leads to the zero EoS parameter in the case of choosing the Hubble radius as system’s IR cutoff in the absence of interaction between dark matter (DM) and dark energy (DE).

Modelling non-linear effects of dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bose, Benjamin; Baldi, Marco; Pourtsidou, Alkistis

2018-04-01

We investigate the capabilities of perturbation theory in capturing non-linear effects of dark energy. We test constant and evolving w models, as well as models involving momentum exchange between dark energy and dark matter. Specifically, we compare perturbative predictions at 1-loop level against N-body results for four non-standard equations of state as well as varying degrees of momentum exchange between dark energy and dark matter. The interaction is modelled phenomenologically using a time dependent drag term in the Euler equation. We make comparisons at the level of the matter power spectrum and the redshift space monopole and quadrupole. The multipoles are modelled using the Taruya, Nishimichi and Saito (TNS) redshift space spectrum. We find perturbation theory does very well in capturing non-linear effects coming from dark sector interaction. We isolate and quantify the 1-loop contribution coming from the interaction and from the non-standard equation of state. We find the interaction parameter ξ amplifies scale dependent signatures in the range of scales considered. Non-standard equations of state also give scale dependent signatures within this same regime. In redshift space the match with N-body is improved at smaller scales by the addition of the TNS free parameter σv. To quantify the importance of modelling the interaction, we create mock data sets for varying values of ξ using perturbation theory. This data is given errors typical of Stage IV surveys. We then perform a likelihood analysis using the first two multipoles on these sets and a ξ=0 modelling, ignoring the interaction. We find the fiducial growth parameter f is generally recovered even for very large values of ξ both at z=0.5 and z=1. The ξ=0 modelling is most biased in its estimation of f for the phantom w=‑1.1 case.

Beta function quintessence cosmological parameters and fundamental constants - I. Power and inverse power law dark energy potentials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, Rodger I.

2018-07-01

This investigation explores using the beta function formalism to calculate analytic solutions for the observable parameters in rolling scalar field cosmologies. The beta function in this case is the derivative of the scalar φ with respect to the natural log of the scale factor a, β (φ)=d φ/d ln (a). Once the beta function is specified, modulo a boundary condition, the evolution of the scalar φ as a function of the scale factor is completely determined. A rolling scalar field cosmology is defined by its action which can contain a range of physically motivated dark energy potentials. The beta function is chosen so that the associated `beta potential' is an accurate, but not exact, representation of the appropriate dark energy model potential. The basic concept is that the action with the beta potential is so similar to the action with the model potential that solutions using the beta action are accurate representations of solutions using the model action. The beta function provides an extra equation to calculate analytic functions of the cosmologies parameters as a function of the scale factor that are not calculable using only the model action. As an example, this investigation uses a quintessence cosmology to demonstrate the method for power and inverse power law dark energy potentials. An interesting result of the investigation is that the Hubble parameter H is almost completely insensitive to the power of the potentials and that Λ cold dark matter is part of the family of quintessence cosmology power-law potentials with a power of zero.

Unparticle dark energy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dai, D.-C.; Stojkovic, Dejan; Dutta, Sourish

2009-09-15

We examine a dark energy model where a scalar unparticle degree of freedom plays the role of quintessence. In particular, we study a model where the unparticle degree of freedom has a standard kinetic term and a simple mass potential, the evolution is slowly rolling and the field value is of the order of the unparticle energy scale ({lambda}{sub u}). We study how the evolution of w depends on the parameters B (a function of unparticle scaling dimension d{sub u}), the initial value of the field {phi}{sub i} (or equivalently, {lambda}{sub u}) and the present matter density {omega}{sub m0}. Wemore » use observational data from type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations and the cosmic microwave background to constrain the model parameters and find that these models are not ruled out by the observational data. From a theoretical point of view, unparticle dark energy model is very attractive, since unparticles (being bound states of fundamental fermions) are protected from radiative corrections. Further, coupling of unparticles to the standard model fields can be arbitrarily suppressed by raising the fundamental energy scale M{sub F}, making the unparticle dark energy model free of most of the problems that plague conventional scalar field quintessence models.« less

Observational tests of non-adiabatic Chaplygin gas

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carneiro, S.; Pigozzo, C., E-mail: saulo.carneiro@pq.cnpq.br, E-mail: cpigozzo@ufba.br

2014-10-01

In a previous paper [1] it was shown that any dark sector model can be mapped into a non-adiabatic fluid formed by two interacting components, one with zero pressure and the other with equation-of-state parameter ω = -1. It was also shown that the latter does not cluster and, hence, the former is identified as the observed clustering matter. This guarantees that the dark matter power spectrum does not suffer from oscillations or instabilities. It applies in particular to the generalised Chaplygin gas, which was shown to be equivalent to interacting models at both background and perturbation levels. In the present papermore » we test the non-adiabatic Chaplygin gas against the Hubble diagram of type Ia supernovae, the position of the first acoustic peak in the anisotropy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background and the linear power spectrum of large scale structures. We consider two different compilations of SNe Ia, namely the Constitution and SDSS samples, both calibrated with the MLCS2k2 fitter, and for the power spectrum we use the 2dFGRS catalogue. The model parameters to be adjusted are the present Hubble parameter, the present matter density and the Chaplygin gas parameter α. The joint analysis best fit gives α ≈ - 0.5, which corresponds to a constant-rate energy flux from dark energy to dark matter, with the dark energy density decaying linearly with the Hubble parameter. The ΛCDM model, equivalent to α = 0, stands outside the 3σ confidence interval.« less

CMB and matter power spectra with non-linear dark-sector interactions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marttens, R.F. vom; Casarini, L.; Zimdahl, W.

2017-01-01

An interaction between dark matter and dark energy, proportional to the product of their energy densities, results in a scaling behavior of the ratio of these densities with respect to the scale factor of the Robertson-Walker metric. This gives rise to a class of cosmological models which deviate from the standard model in an analytically tractable way. In particular, it becomes possible to quantify the role of potential dark-energy perturbations. We investigate the impact of this interaction on the structure formation process. Using the (modified) CAMB code we obtain the CMB spectrum as well as the linear matter power spectrum.more » It is shown that the strong degeneracy in the parameter space present in the background analysis is considerably reduced by considering Planck data. Our analysis is compatible with the ΛCDM model at the 2σ confidence level with a slightly preferred direction of the energy flow from dark matter to dark energy.« less

Comparison of dark energy models after Planck 2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Yue-Yao; Zhang, Xin

2016-11-01

We make a comparison for ten typical, popular dark energy models according to their capabilities of fitting the current observational data. The observational data we use in this work include the JLA sample of type Ia supernovae observation, the Planck 2015 distance priors of cosmic microwave background observation, the baryon acoustic oscillations measurements, and the direct measurement of the Hubble constant. Since the models have different numbers of parameters, in order to make a fair comparison, we employ the Akaike and Bayesian information criteria to assess the worth of the models. The analysis results show that, according to the capability of explaining observations, the cosmological constant model is still the best one among all the dark energy models. The generalized Chaplygin gas model, the constant w model, and the α dark energy model are worse than the cosmological constant model, but still are good models compared to others. The holographic dark energy model, the new generalized Chaplygin gas model, and the Chevalliear-Polarski-Linder model can still fit the current observations well, but from an economically feasible perspective, they are not so good. The new agegraphic dark energy model, the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati model, and the Ricci dark energy model are excluded by the current observations.

Cosmological implications of quantum mechanics parametrization of dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szydłowski, Marek; Stachowski, Aleksander; Urbanowski, Krzysztof

2017-08-01

We consider the cosmology with the running dark energy. The parametrization of dark energy is derived from the quantum process of transition from the false vacuum state to the true vacuum state. This model is the generalized interacting CDM model. We consider the energy density of dark energy parametrization, which is given by the Breit-Wigner energy distribution function. The idea of the process of the quantum mechanical decay of unstable states was formulated by Krauss and Dent. We used this idea in our considerations. In this model is an energy transfer in the dark sector. In this evolutional scenario the universe starts from the false vacuum state and goes to the true vacuum state of the present day universe. The intermediate regime during the passage from false to true vacuum states takes place. In this way the cosmological constant problem can be tried to solve. We estimate the cosmological parameters for this model. This model is in a good agreement with the astronomical data and is practically indistinguishable from CDM model.

Dynamics of the diffusive DM-DE interaction – Dynamical system approach

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Haba, Zbigniew; Stachowski, Aleksander; Szydłowski, Marek, E-mail: zhab@ift.uni.wroc.pl, E-mail: aleksander.stachowski@uj.edu.pl, E-mail: marek.szydlowski@uj.edu.pl

We discuss dynamics of a model of an energy transfer between dark energy (DE) and dark matter (DM) . The energy transfer is determined by a non-conservation law resulting from a diffusion of dark matter in an environment of dark energy. The relativistic invariance defines the diffusion in a unique way. The system can contain baryonic matter and radiation which do not interact with the dark sector. We treat the Friedman equation and the conservation laws as a closed dynamical system. The dynamics of the model is examined using the dynamical systems methods for demonstration how solutions depend on initialmore » conditions. We also fit the model parameters using astronomical observation: SNIa, H ( z ), BAO and Alcock-Paczynski test. We show that the model with diffuse DM-DE is consistent with the data.« less

Probing dark energy with atom interferometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burrage, Clare; Copeland, Edmund J.; Hinds, E. A.

2015-03-01

Theories of dark energy require a screening mechanism to explain why the associated scalar fields do not mediate observable long range fifth forces. The archetype of this is the chameleon field. Here we show that individual atoms are too small to screen the chameleon field inside a large high-vacuum chamber, and therefore can detect the field with high sensitivity. We derive new limits on the chameleon parameters from existing experiments, and show that most of the remaining chameleon parameter space is readily accessible using atom interferometry.

Viscous cosmology in new holographic dark energy model and the cosmic acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, C. P.; Srivastava, Milan

2018-03-01

In this work, we study a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe filled with dark matter and viscous new holographic dark energy. We present four possible solutions of the model depending on the choice of the viscous term. We obtain the evolution of the cosmological quantities such as scale factor, deceleration parameter and transition redshift to observe the effect of viscosity in the evolution. We also emphasis upon the two independent geometrical diagnostics for our model, namely the statefinder and the Om diagnostics. In the first case we study new holographic dark energy model without viscous and obtain power-law expansion of the universe which gives constant deceleration parameter and statefinder parameters. In the limit of the parameter, the model approaches to Λ CDM model. In new holographic dark energy model with viscous, the bulk viscous coefficient is assumed as ζ =ζ 0+ζ 1H, where ζ 0 and ζ 1 are constants, and H is the Hubble parameter. In this model, we obtain all possible solutions with viscous term and analyze the expansion history of the universe. We draw the evolution graphs of the scale factor and deceleration parameter. It is observed that the universe transits from deceleration to acceleration for small values of ζ in late time. However, it accelerates very fast from the beginning for large values of ζ . By illustrating the evolutionary trajectories in r-s and r-q planes, we find that our model behaves as an quintessence like for small values of viscous coefficient and a Chaplygin gas like for large values of bulk viscous coefficient at early stage. However, model has close resemblance to that of the Λ CDM cosmology in late time. The Om has positive and negative curvatures for phantom and quintessence models, respectively depending on ζ . Our study shows that the bulk viscosity plays very important role in the expansion history of the universe.

Gamma-ray Burst Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, F. Y.

2011-07-01

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are brief flashes of gamma-rays occurring at cosmological distances. GRB was discovered by Vela satellite in 1967. The discovery of afterglows in 1997 made it possible to measure the GRBs' redshifts and confirmed the cosmological origin. GRB cosmology includes utilizing long GRBs as standard candles to constrain the dark energy and cosmological parameters, measuring the high-redshift star formation rate (SFR), probing the metal enrichment history of the universe, dust, quantum gravity, etc. The correlations between GRB observables in the prompt emission and afterglow phases were discovered, so we can use these correlations as standard candles to constrain the cosmological parameters and dark energy, especially at high redshifts. Observations show that long GRBs may be associated with supernovae. So long GRBs are promising tools to measure the high-redshift SFR. GRB afterglows have a smooth continuum, so the extraction of IGM absorption features from the spectrum is very easy. The information of metal enrichment history and reionization can be obtained from the absorption lines. In this thesis, we investigate the high-redshift cosmology using GRBs, called GRB cosmology. This is a new and fast developing field. The structure of this thesis is as follows. In the first chapter, we introduce the progress of GRB studies. First we introduce the progress of GRB studies in various satellite eras, mainly in the Swift and Fermi eras. The fireball model and standard afterglow model are also presented. In chapter 2, we introduce the standard cosmology model, astronomical observations and dark energy models. Then progress on the GRB cosmology studies is introduced. Some of my works including what to be submitted are also introduced in this chapter. In chapter 3, we present our studies on constraining the cosmological parameters and dark energy using latest observations. We use SNe Ia, GRBs, CMB, BAO, the X-ray gas mass fraction in clusters and the linear growth rate of perturbations, and find that the ΛCDM is the best fitted model. The transition redshift z_{T} is from 0.40_{-0.08}^{+0.14} to 0.65_{-0.05}^{+0.10}. This is the first time to combine GRBs with other observations to constrain the cosmological parameters, dark energy and transition redshift. In chapter 4, we investigate the early dark energy model using GRBs, SNe Ia, CMB and BAO. The negligible dark energy at high redshift will influence the growth of cosmic structures and leave observable signatures that are different from the standard cosmology. We propose that GRBs are promising tools to study the early dark energy. We find that the fractional dark energy density is less than 0.03 and the linear growth index of perturbations is 0.66. In chapter 5, we use a model-independent method to constrain the dark energy equation of state (EOS) w(z). Among the parameters describing the properties of dark energy, EOS is the most important. Whether and how it evolves with time are crucial in distinguishing different cosmological models. In our analysis, we include high-redshift GRBs. We find that w(z)<0 at z>1.7, and EOS deviates from the cosmological constant at z>0.5 at 95.4% confidence level. In chapter 6, we probe the cosmographic parameters to distinguish between the dark energy and modified gravity models. These two families of models can drive the universe to acclerate. We first derive the expressions of deceleration, jerk and snap parameters in the dark energy and modified gravity models. The snap parameters in these models are different, so they can be used to distinguish between the models. In chapter 7, we measure the high-redshift SFR using long GRBs. Swift observations reveal that the number of high-redshift GRBs is larger than the predication from SFR. We find that the evolving initial mass function can interpret this discrepancy. We study the high-redshift SFR up to z˜ 8.2 considering the Swift GRBs tracing the star formation history and the cosmic metallicity evolution in different background cosmological models. In chapter 8, we present the observational signatures of Pop III GRBs and study the pre-galactic metal enrichment with the metal absorption lines in the GRB spectrum from first galaxy. We focus on the unusual circumburst environment inside the systems that hosted Pop III stars. The metals in the first galaxies produced by the first supernova explosion are likely to reside in the low-ionization states (C II, O I, Si II and Fe II). When GRB afterglow goes through the metal polluted region, the metal absorption lines may appear. The topology of metal enrichment could be highly inhomogeneous, so along different lines of sight, the metal absorption lines may show distinct signatures. A summary of the open questions in GRB cosmology filed is presented in chapter 9.

What We Know About Dark Energy From Supernovae

ScienceCinema

Filippenko, Alex

2018-01-24

The measured distances of type Ia (white dwarf) supernovae as a function of redshift (z) have shown that the expansion of the Universe is currently accelerating, probably due to the presence of dark energy (X) having a negative pressure. Combining all of the data with existing results from large-scale structure surveys, we find a best fit for Omega M and Omega X of 0.28 and 0.72 (respectively), in excellent agreement with the values derived independently from WMAP measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Thus far, the best-fit value for the dark energy equation-of-state parameter is -1, and its first derivative is consistent with zero, suggesting that the dark energy may indeed be Einstein's cosmological constant.

k-essence model of inflation, dark matter, and dark energy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bose, Nilok; Majumdar, A. S.

We investigate the possibility for k-essence dynamics to reproduce the primary features of inflation in the early universe, generate dark matter subsequently, and finally account for the presently observed acceleration. We first show that for a purely kinetic k-essence model the late-time energy density of the universe when expressed simply as a sum of a cosmological constant and a dark matter term leads to a static universe. We then study another k-essence model in which the Lagrangian contains a potential for the scalar field as well as a noncanonical kinetic term. We show that such a model generates the basicmore » features of inflation in the early universe, and also gives rise to dark matter and dark energy at appropriate subsequent stages. Observational constraints on the parameters of this model are obtained.« less

Superconducting dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Shi-Dong; Harko, Tiberiu

2015-04-01

Based on the analogy with superconductor physics we consider a scalar-vector-tensor gravitational model, in which the dark energy action is described by a gauge invariant electromagnetic type functional. By assuming that the ground state of the dark energy is in a form of a condensate with the U(1) symmetry spontaneously broken, the gauge invariant electromagnetic dark energy can be described in terms of the combination of a vector and of a scalar field (corresponding to the Goldstone boson), respectively. The gravitational field equations are obtained by also assuming the possibility of a nonminimal coupling between the cosmological mass current and the superconducting dark energy. The cosmological implications of the dark energy model are investigated for a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker homogeneous and isotropic geometry for two particular choices of the electromagnetic type potential, corresponding to a pure electric type field, and to a pure magnetic field, respectively. The time evolutions of the scale factor, matter energy density and deceleration parameter are obtained for both cases, and it is shown that in the presence of the superconducting dark energy the Universe ends its evolution in an exponentially accelerating vacuum de Sitter state. By using the formalism of the irreversible thermodynamic processes for open systems we interpret the generalized conservation equations in the superconducting dark energy model as describing matter creation. The particle production rates, the creation pressure and the entropy evolution are explicitly obtained.

Parameter constraints from weak-lensing tomography of galaxy shapes and cosmic microwave background fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merkel, Philipp M.; Schäfer, Björn Malte

2017-08-01

Recently, it has been shown that cross-correlating cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing and three-dimensional (3D) cosmic shear allows to considerably tighten cosmological parameter constraints. We investigate whether similar improvement can be achieved in a conventional tomographic setup. We present Fisher parameter forecasts for a Euclid-like galaxy survey in combination with different ongoing and forthcoming CMB experiments. In contrast to a fully 3D analysis, we find only marginal improvement. Assuming Planck-like CMB data, we show that including the full covariance of the combined CMB and cosmic shear data improves the dark energy figure of merit (FOM) by only 3 per cent. The marginalized error on the sum of neutrino masses is reduced at the same level. For a next generation CMB satellite mission such as Prism, the predicted improvement of the dark energy FOM amounts to approximately 25 per cent. Furthermore, we show that the small improvement is contrasted by an increased bias in the dark energy parameters when the intrinsic alignment of galaxies is not correctly accounted for in the full covariance matrix.

Optimizing cosmological surveys in a crowded market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bassett, Bruce A.

2005-04-01

Optimizing the major next-generation cosmological surveys (such as SNAP, KAOS, etc.) is a key problem given our ignorance of the physics underlying cosmic acceleration and the plethora of surveys planned. We propose a Bayesian design framework which (1) maximizes the discrimination power of a survey without assuming any underlying dark-energy model, (2) finds the best niche survey geometry given current data and future competing experiments, (3) maximizes the cross section for serendipitous discoveries and (4) can be adapted to answer specific questions (such as “is dark energy dynamical?”). Integrated parameter-space optimization (IPSO) is a design framework that integrates projected parameter errors over an entire dark energy parameter space and then extremizes a figure of merit (such as Shannon entropy gain which we show is stable to off-diagonal covariance matrix perturbations) as a function of survey parameters using analytical, grid or MCMC techniques. We discuss examples where the optimization can be performed analytically. IPSO is thus a general, model-independent and scalable framework that allows us to appropriately use prior information to design the best possible surveys.

Holographic dark energy with cosmological constant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Yazhou; Li, Miao; Li, Nan; Zhang, Zhenhui

2015-08-01

Inspired by the multiverse scenario, we study a heterotic dark energy model in which there are two parts, the first being the cosmological constant and the second being the holographic dark energy, thus this model is named the ΛHDE model. By studying the ΛHDE model theoretically, we find that the parameters d and Ωhde are divided into a few domains in which the fate of the universe is quite different. We investigate dynamical behaviors of this model, and especially the future evolution of the universe. We perform fitting analysis on the cosmological parameters in the ΛHDE model by using the recent observational data. We find the model yields χ2min=426.27 when constrained by Planck+SNLS3+BAO+HST, comparable to the results of the HDE model (428.20) and the concordant ΛCDM model (431.35). At 68.3% CL, we obtain -0.07<ΩΛ0<0.68 and correspondingly 0.04<Ωhde0<0.79, implying at present there is considerable degeneracy between the holographic dark energy and cosmological constant components in the ΛHDE model.

Dark energy and equivalence principle constraints from astrophysical tests of the stability of the fine-structure constant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Martins, C.J.A.P.; Pinho, A.M.M.; Alves, R.F.C.

2015-08-01

Astrophysical tests of the stability of fundamental couplings, such as the fine-structure constant α, are becoming an increasingly powerful probe of new physics. Here we discuss how these measurements, combined with local atomic clock tests and Type Ia supernova and Hubble parameter data, constrain the simplest class of dynamical dark energy models where the same degree of freedom is assumed to provide both the dark energy and (through a dimensionless coupling, ζ, to the electromagnetic sector) the α variation. Specifically, current data tightly constrains a combination of ζ and the present dark energy equation of state w{sub 0}. Moreover, inmore » these models the new degree of freedom inevitably couples to nucleons (through the α dependence of their masses) and leads to violations of the Weak Equivalence Principle. We obtain indirect bounds on the Eötvös parameter η that are typically stronger than the current direct ones. We discuss the model-dependence of our results and briefly comment on how the forthcoming generation of high-resolution ultra-stable spectrographs will enable significantly tighter constraints.« less

Constraining Dark Matter Interactions with Pseudoscalar and Scalar Mediators Using Collider Searches for Multijets plus Missing Transverse Energy.

PubMed

Buchmueller, Oliver; Malik, Sarah A; McCabe, Christopher; Penning, Bjoern

2015-10-30

The monojet search, looking for events involving missing transverse energy (E_{T}) plus one or two jets, is the most prominent collider dark matter search. We show that multijet searches, which look for E_{T} plus two or more jets, are significantly more sensitive than the monojet search for pseudoscalar- and scalar-mediated interactions. We demonstrate this in the context of a simplified model with a pseudoscalar interaction that explains the excess in GeV energy gamma rays observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope. We show that multijet searches already constrain a pseudoscalar interpretation of the excess in much of the parameter space where the mass of the mediator M_{A} is more than twice the dark matter mass m_{DM}. With the forthcoming run of the Large Hadron Collider at higher energies, the remaining regions of the parameter space where M_{A}>2m_{DM} will be fully explored. Furthermore, we highlight the importance of complementing the monojet final state with multijet final states to maximize the sensitivity of the search for the production of dark matter at colliders.

Testing Dark Energy with the Advanced Liquid-Mirror Probe of Asteroids, Cosmology and Astrophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LoVerde, M.; Corasaniti, P. S.; Crotts, A.; Blake, C.

2006-06-01

The Advanced Liquid-Mirror Probe of Asteroids, Cosmology and Astrophysics (ALPACA) is a proposed 8-meter liquid mirror telescope surveying ˜ 1000 deg2 of the southern-hemisphere sky. It will be a remarkably simple and inexpensive telescope that will nonetheless deliver a powerful sample of optical data for studying dark energy. The bulk of the cosmological data consists of nightly, high signal-to-noise, multiband light curves of SN Ia. At the end of the three-year run ALPACA is expected to collect ˜ 100,000 SN Ia up to z ˜ 1. This will allow accurate calibration of the standard-candle relation and reduce the systematic uncertainties. The survey will also provide several other datasets such as the detection of baryon acoustic oscillations in the matter power spectrum and shear weak lensing measurements. In this preliminary analysis we forecast constraints on dark energy parameters from SN Ia and baryon acoustic oscillations. The combination of these two datasets will provide competitive constraints on the dark energy parameters with minimal prior assumptions. Further studies are needed to address the accuracy of weak lensing measurements.

Constraining the interaction between dark sectors with future HI intensity mapping observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Xiaodong; Ma, Yin-Zhe; Weltman, Amanda

2018-04-01

We study a model of interacting dark matter and dark energy, in which the two components are coupled. We calculate the predictions for the 21-cm intensity mapping power spectra, and forecast the detectability with future single-dish intensity mapping surveys (BINGO, FAST and SKA-I). Since dark energy is turned on at z ˜1 , which falls into the sensitivity range of these radio surveys, the HI intensity mapping technique is an efficient tool to constrain the interaction. By comparing with current constraints on dark sector interactions, we find that future radio surveys will produce tight and reliable constraints on the coupling parameters.

Cosmological models with running cosmological term and decaying dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szydłowski, Marek; Stachowski, Aleksander

2017-03-01

We investigate the dynamics of the generalized ΛCDM model, which the Λ term is running with the cosmological time. On the example of the model Λ(t) =Λbare + α2/t2 we show the existence of a mechanism of the modification of the scaling law for energy density of dark matter: ρdm ∝a - 3 + λ(t). We use an approach developed by Urbanowski in which properties of unstable vacuum states are analyzed from the point of view of the quantum theory of unstable states. We discuss the evolution of Λ(t) term and pointed out that during the cosmic evolution there is a long phase in which this term is approximately constant. We also present the statistical analysis of both the Λ(t) CDM model with dark energy and decaying dark matter and the ΛCDM standard cosmological model. We use data such as Planck, SNIa, BAO, H(z) and AP test. While for the former we find the best fit value of the parameter Ωα2,0 is negative (energy transfer is from the dark matter to dark energy sector) and the parameter Ωα2,0 belongs to the interval (- 0 . 000040 , - 0 . 000383) at 2- σ level. The decaying dark matter causes to lowering a mass of dark matter particles which are lighter than CDM particles and remain relativistic. The rate of the process of decaying matter is estimated. Our model is consistent with the decaying mechanism producing unstable particles (e.g. sterile neutrinos) for which α2 is negative.

A viable dark fluid model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elkhateeb, Esraa

2018-01-01

We consider a cosmological model based on a generalization of the equation of state proposed by Nojiri and Odintsov (2004) and Štefančić (2005, 2006). We argue that this model works as a dark fluid model which can interpolate between dust equation of state and the dark energy equation of state. We show how the asymptotic behavior of the equation of state constrained the parameters of the model. The causality condition for the model is also studied to constrain the parameters and the fixed points are tested to determine different solution classes. Observations of Hubble diagram of SNe Ia supernovae are used to further constrain the model. We present an exact solution of the model and calculate the luminosity distance and the energy density evolution. We also calculate the deceleration parameter to test the state of the universe expansion.

Growth of perturbations in dark energy parametrization scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehrabi, Ahmad

2018-04-01

In this paper, we study the evolution of dark matter perturbations in the linear regime by considering the possibility of dark energy perturbations. To do this, two popular parametrizations, Chevallier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) and Barboza-Alcaniz (BA), with the same number of free parameters and different redshift dependency have been considered. We integrate the full relativistic equations to obtain the growth of matter fluctuations for both clustering and smooth versions of CPL and BA dark energy. The growth rate is larger (smaller) than the Λ CDM in the smooth cases when w <-1 (w >-1 ), but the dark energy clustering gives a larger (smaller) growth index when w >-1 (w <-1 ). We measure the relative difference of the growth rate with respect to concordance Λ CDM and study how it changes depending on the free parameters. Furthermore, it is found that the difference of growth rates between smooth CPL and BA is negligible, less than 0.5%, while for the clustering case, the difference is considerable and might be as large as 2%. Eventually, using the latest geometrical and growth rate observational data, we perform an overall likelihood analysis and show that both smooth and clustering cases of CPL and BA parametrizations are consistent with observations. In particular, we find the dark energy figure of merit is approximately 70 for the BA and approximately 30 for the CPL, which indicates the BA model constrains relatively better than the CPL one.

Constraints on modified gravity from Planck 2015: when the health of your theory makes the difference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salvatelli, Valentina; Piazza, Federico; Marinoni, Christian

2016-09-01

We use the effective field theory of dark energy (EFT of DE) formalism to constrain dark energy models belonging to the Horndeski class with the recent Planck 2015 CMB data. The space of theories is spanned by a certain number of parameters determining the linear cosmological perturbations, while the expansion history is set to that of a standard ΛCDM model. We always demand that the theories be free of fatal instabilities. Additionally, we consider two optional conditions, namely that scalar and tensor perturbations propagate with subliminal speed. Such criteria severely restrict the allowed parameter space and are thus very effective in shaping the posteriors. As a result, we confirm that no theory performs better than ΛCDM when CMB data alone are analysed. Indeed, the healthy dark energy models considered here are not able to reproduce those phenomenological behaviours of the effective Newton constant and gravitational slip parameters that, according to previous studies, best fit the data.

Constraints on modified gravity from Planck 2015: when the health of your theory makes the difference

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Salvatelli, Valentina; Piazza, Federico; Marinoni, Christian, E-mail: Valentina.Salvatelli@cpt.univ-mrs.fr, E-mail: Federico.Piazza@cpt.univ-mrs.fr, E-mail: Christian.Marinoni@cpt.univ-mrs.fr

We use the effective field theory of dark energy (EFT of DE) formalism to constrain dark energy models belonging to the Horndeski class with the recent Planck 2015 CMB data. The space of theories is spanned by a certain number of parameters determining the linear cosmological perturbations, while the expansion history is set to that of a standard ΛCDM model. We always demand that the theories be free of fatal instabilities. Additionally, we consider two optional conditions, namely that scalar and tensor perturbations propagate with subliminal speed. Such criteria severely restrict the allowed parameter space and are thus very effectivemore » in shaping the posteriors. As a result, we confirm that no theory performs better than ΛCDM when CMB data alone are analysed. Indeed, the healthy dark energy models considered here are not able to reproduce those phenomenological behaviours of the effective Newton constant and gravitational slip parameters that, according to previous studies, best fit the data.« less

Traversable geometric dark energy wormholes constrained by astrophysical observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Deng; Meng, Xin-he

2016-09-01

In this paper, we introduce the astrophysical observations into the wormhole research. We investigate the evolution behavior of the dark energy equation of state parameter ω by constraining the dark energy model, so that we can determine in which stage of the universe wormholes can exist by using the condition ω <-1. As a concrete instance, we study the Ricci dark energy (RDE) traversable wormholes constrained by astrophysical observations. Particularly, we find from Fig. 5 of this work, when the effective equation of state parameter ω _X<-1 (or z<0.109), i.e., the null energy condition (NEC) is violated clearly, the wormholes will exist (open). Subsequently, six specific solutions of statically and spherically symmetric traversable wormhole supported by the RDE fluids are obtained. Except for the case of a constant redshift function, where the solution is not only asymptotically flat but also traversable, the five remaining solutions are all non-asymptotically flat, therefore, the exotic matter from the RDE fluids is spatially distributed in the vicinity of the throat. Furthermore, we analyze the physical characteristics and properties of the RDE traversable wormholes. It is worth noting that, using the astrophysical observations, we obtain the constraints on the parameters of the RDE model, explore the types of exotic RDE fluids in different stages of the universe, limit the number of available models for wormhole research, reduce theoretically the number of the wormholes corresponding to different parameters for the RDE model, and provide a clearer picture for wormhole investigations from the new perspective of observational cosmology.

Effects of neutrino mass hierarchies on dynamical dark energy models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Weiqiang; Nunes, Rafael C.; Pan, Supriya; Mota, David F.

2017-05-01

We investigate how three different possibilities of neutrino mass hierarchies, namely normal, inverted, and degenerate, can affect the observational constraints on three well-known dynamical dark energy models, namely the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder, logarithmic, and the Jassal-Bagla-Padmanabhan parametrizations. In order to impose the observational constraints on the models, we performed a robust analysis using Planck 2015 temperature and polarization data, supernovae type Ia from the joint light curve analysis, baryon acoustic oscillation distance measurements, redshift space distortion characterized by f (z )σ8(z ) data, weak gravitational lensing data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey, and cosmic chronometer data plus the local value of the Hubble parameter. We find that different neutrino mass hierarchies return similar fits on almost all model parameters and mildly change the dynamical dark energy properties.

Plane Symmetric Dark Energy Models in the Form of Wet Dark Fluid in f ( R, T) Gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chirde, V. R.; Shekh, S. H.

2016-06-01

In this paper, we have investigated the plane symmetric space-time with wet dark fluid (WDF), which is a candidate for dark energy, in the framework of f ( R, T) gravity Harko et al. 2011, Phys. Rev. D, 84, 024020), where R and T denote the Ricci scalar and the trace of the energy-momentum tensor respectively. We have used the equation of state in the form of WDF for the dark energy component of the Universe. It is modeled on the equation of state p = ω( ρ - ρ ∗). The exact solutions to the corresponding field equations are obtained for power-law and exponential volumetric expansion. The geometrical and physical parameters for both the models are studied. Also, we have discussed the well-known astrophysical phenomena, namely the look-back time, proper distance, the luminosity distance and angular diameter distance with red shift.

Interacting dark sector and the coincidence problem within the scope of LRS Bianchi type I model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muharlyamov, Ruslan K.; Pankratyeva, Tatiana N.

2018-05-01

It is shown that a suitable interaction between dark energy and dark matter in locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) Bianchi-I space-time can solve the coincidence problem and not contradict the accelerated expansion of present Universe. The interaction parameters are estimated from observational data.

Searching for sterile neutrinos in dynamical dark energy cosmologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Lu; Zhang, Jing-Fei; Zhang, Xin

2018-05-01

We investigate how the dark energy properties change the cosmological limits on sterile neutrino parameters by using recent cosmological observations. We consider the simplest dynamical dark energy models, the wCDM model and the holographic dark energy (HDE) model, to make an analysis. The cosmological observations used in this work include the Planck 2015 CMB temperature and polarization data, the baryon acoustic oscillation data, the type Ia supernova data, the Hubble constant direct measurement data, and the Planck CMB lensing data. We find that, m v,terile ff < 0.2675 eV and Ne f f < 3.5718 for ACDM cosmology, m v,terile ff < 0.5313 eV and Ne f f < 3.5008 for wCDM cosmology, and raffterile < 0.1989 eV and Ne f f < 3.6701 for HDE cosmology, from the constraints of the combination of these data. Thus, without the addition of measurements of growth of structure, only upper limits on both m v,terile ff and Ne f f can be derived, indicating that no evidence of the existence of a sterile neutrino species with eV-scale mass is found in this analysis. Moreover, compared to the ACDM model, in the wCDM model the limit on m v,terile ff becomes much looser, but in the HDE model the limit becomes much tighter. Therefore, the dark energy properties could significantly influence the constraint limits of sterile neutrino parameters.

Uncorrelated measurements of the cosmic expansion history and dark energy from supernovae

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang Yun; Tegmark, Max; Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

We present a method for measuring the cosmic expansion history H(z) in uncorrelated redshift bins, and apply it to current and simulated type Ia supernova data assuming spatial flatness. If the matter density parameter {omega}{sub m} can be accurately measured from other data, then the dark-energy density history X(z)={rho}{sub X}(z)/{rho}{sub X}(0) can trivially be derived from this expansion history H(z). In contrast to customary 'black box' parameter fitting, our method is transparent and easy to interpret: the measurement of H(z){sup -1} in a redshift bin is simply a linear combination of the measured comoving distances for supernovae in that bin,more » making it obvious how systematic errors propagate from input to output. We find the Riess et al. (2004) gold sample to be consistent with the vanilla concordance model where the dark energy is a cosmological constant. We compare two mission concepts for the NASA/DOE Joint Dark-Energy Mission (JDEM), the Joint Efficient Dark-energy Investigation (JEDI), and the Supernova Accelaration Probe (SNAP), using simulated data including the effect of weak lensing (based on numerical simulations) and a systematic bias from K corrections. Estimating H(z) in seven uncorrelated redshift bins, we find that both provide dramatic improvements over current data: JEDI can measure H(z) to about 10% accuracy and SNAP to 30%-40% accuracy.« less

Diagnostic of Horndeski theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perenon, Louis; Marinoni, Christian; Piazza, Federico

2017-01-01

We study the effects of Horndeski models of dark energy on the observables of the large-scale structure in the late time universe. A novel classification into Late dark energy, Early dark energy and Early modified gravity scenarios is proposed, according to whether such models predict deviations from the standard paradigm persistent at early time in the matter domination epoch. We discuss the physical imprints left by each specific class of models on the effective Newton constant μ, the gravitational slip parameter η, the light deflection parameter Σ and the growth function fσ8 and demonstrate that a convenient way to dress a complete portrait of the viability of the Horndeski accelerating mechanism is via two, redshift-dependent, diagnostics: the μ(z) - Σ(z) and the fσ8(z) - Σ(z) planes. If future, model-independent, measurements point to either Σ - 1 < 0 at redshift zero or μ - 1 < 0 with Σ - 1 > 0 at high redshifts or μ - 1 > 0 with Σ - 1 < 0 at high redshifts, Horndeski theories are effectively ruled out. If fσ8 is measured to be larger than expected in a ΛCDM model at z > 1.5 then Early dark energy models are definitely ruled out. On the opposite case, Late dark energy models are rejected by data if Σ < 1, while, if Σ > 1, only Early modifications of gravity provide a viable framework to interpret data.

Dark energy with fine redshift sampling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linder, Eric V.

2007-03-01

The cosmological constant and many other possible origins for acceleration of the cosmic expansion possess variations in the dark energy properties slow on the Hubble time scale. Given that models with more rapid variation, or even phase transitions, are possible though, we examine the fineness in redshift with which cosmological probes can realistically be employed, and what constraints this could impose on dark energy behavior. In particular, we discuss various aspects of baryon acoustic oscillations, and their use to measure the Hubble parameter H(z). We find that currently considered cosmological probes have an innate resolution no finer than Δz≈0.2 0.3.

Holographic dark energy from fluid/gravity duality constraint by cosmological observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pourhassan, Behnam; Bonilla, Alexander; Faizal, Mir; Abreu, Everton M. C.

2018-06-01

In this paper, we obtain a holographic model of dark energy using the fluid/gravity duality. This model will be dual to a higher dimensional Schwarzschild black hole, and we would use fluid/gravity duality to relate to the parameters of this black hole to such a cosmological model. We will also analyze the thermodynamics of such a solution, and discuss the stability model. Finally, we use cosmological data to constraint the parametric space of this dark energy model. Thus, we will use observational data to perform cosmography for this holographic model based on fluid/gravity duality.

Astronomical bounds on a cosmological model allowing a general interaction in the dark sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Supriya; Mukherjee, Ankan; Banerjee, Narayan

2018-06-01

Non-gravitational interaction between two barotropic dark fluids, namely the pressureless dust and the dark energy in a spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker model, has been discussed. It is shown that for the interactions that are linear in terms the energy densities of the dark components and their first order derivatives, the net energy density is governed by a second-order differential equation with constant coefficients. Taking a generalized interaction, which includes a number of already known interactions as special cases, the dynamics of the universe is described for three types of the dark energy equation of state, namely that of interacting quintessence, interacting vacuum energy density, and interacting phantom. The models have been constrained using the standard cosmological probes, Supernovae Type Ia data from joint light curve analysis and the observational Hubble parameter data. Two geometric tests, the cosmographic studies, and the Om diagnostic have been invoked so as to ascertain the behaviour of the present model vis-a-vis the Λ-cold dark matter model. We further discussed the interacting scenarios taking into account the thermodynamic considerations.

Effects of anisotropy on interacting ghost dark energy in Brans-Dicke theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hossienkhani, H.; Fayaz, V.; Azimi, N.

2017-03-01

In this work we concentrate on the ghost dark energy model within the framework of the Brans-Dicke theory in an anisotropic Universe. Within this framework we discuss the behavior of equation of state, deceleration and dark energy density parameters of the model. We consider the squared sound speed and quest for signs of stability of the model. We also probe observational constraints by using the latest observational data on the ghost dark energy models as the unification of dark matter and dark energy. In order to do so, we focus on observational determinations of the Hubble expansion rate (namely, the expansion history) H(z). Then we evaluate the evolution of the growth of perturbations in the linear regime for both ghost DE and Brans-Dicke theory and compare the results with standard FRW and ΛCDM models. We display the effects of the anisotropy on the evolutionary behavior the ghost DE models where the growth rate is higher in this models. Eventually the growth factor for the ΛCDM Universe will always fall behind the ghost DE models in an anisotropic Universe.

A Low Nuclear Recoil Energy Threshold for Dark Matter Search with CRESST-III Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mancuso, M.; Angloher, G.; Bauer, P.; Bento, A.; Bucci, C.; Canonica, L.; D'Addabbo, A.; Defay, X.; Erb, A.; von Feilitzsch, Franz; Ferreiro Iachellini, N.; Gorla, P.; Gütlein, A.; Hauff, D.; Jochum, J.; Kiefer, M.; Kluck, H.; Kraus, H.; Lanfranchi, J. C.; Langenkämper, A.; Loebell, J.; Mondragon, E.; Münster, A.; Pagliarone, C.; Petricca, F.; Potzel, W.; Pröbst, F.; Puig, R.; Reindl, F.; Rothe, J.; Schäffner, K.; Schieck, J.; Schipperges, V.; Schönert, S.; Seidel, W.; Stahlberg, M.; Stodolsky, L.; Strandhagen, C.; Strauss, R.; Tanzke, A.; Thi, H. H. Trinh; Türkoglu, C.; Uffinger, M.; Ulrich, A.; Usherov, I.; Wawoczny, S.; Willers, M.; Wüstrich, M.

2018-05-01

The CRESST-III experiment (Cryogenic Rare Events Search with Superconducting Thermometers), located at the underground facility Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy, uses scintillating CaWO_4 crystals as cryogenic calorimeters to search for direct dark matter interactions in detectors. A large part of the parameter space for spin-independent scattering off nuclei remains untested for dark matter particles with masses below a few GeV/c^2 , despite many naturally motivated theoretical models for light dark matter particles. The CRESST-III detectors are designed to achieve the performance required to probe the low-mass region of the parameter space with a sensitivity never reached before. In this paper, new results on the performance and an overview of the CRESST-III detectors will be presented, emphasizing the results about the low-energy threshold for nuclear recoil of CRESST-III Phase 1 which started collecting data in August 2016.

Disentangling dark energy and cosmic tests of gravity from weak lensing systematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laszlo, Istvan; Bean, Rachel; Kirk, Donnacha; Bridle, Sarah

2012-06-01

We consider the impact of key astrophysical and measurement systematics on constraints on dark energy and modifications to gravity on cosmic scales. We focus on upcoming photometric ‘stage III’ and ‘stage IV’ large-scale structure surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey (DES), the Subaru Measurement of Images and Redshifts survey, the Euclid survey, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and Wide Field Infra-Red Space Telescope (WFIRST). We illustrate the different redshift dependencies of gravity modifications compared to intrinsic alignments, the main astrophysical systematic. The way in which systematic uncertainties, such as galaxy bias and intrinsic alignments, are modelled can change dark energy equation-of-state parameter and modified gravity figures of merit by a factor of 4. The inclusion of cross-correlations of cosmic shear and galaxy position measurements helps reduce the loss of constraining power from the lensing shear surveys. When forecasts for Planck cosmic microwave background and stage IV surveys are combined, constraints on the dark energy equation-of-state parameter and modified gravity model are recovered, relative to those from shear data with no systematic uncertainties, provided fewer than 36 free parameters in total are used to describe the galaxy bias and intrinsic alignment models as a function of scale and redshift. While some uncertainty in the intrinsic alignment (IA) model can be tolerated, it is going to be important to be able to parametrize IAs well in order to realize the full potential of upcoming surveys. To facilitate future investigations, we also provide a fitting function for the matter power spectrum arising from the phenomenological modified gravity model we consider.

Interacting 3-form dark energy models: Distinguishing interactions and avoiding the Little Sibling of the Big Rip

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morais, João; Bouhmadi-López, Mariam; Kumar, K. Sravan; Marto, João; Tavakoli, Yaser

2017-03-01

In this paper we consider 3-form dark energy (DE) models with interactions in the dark sector. We aim to distinguish the phenomenological interactions that are defined through the dark matter (DM) and the DE energy densities. We do our analysis mainly in two stages. In the first stage, we identify the non-interacting 3-form DE model which generically leads to an abrupt late-time cosmological event which is known as the little sibling of the Big Rip (LSBR). We classify the interactions which can possibly avoid this late-time abrupt event. We also study the parameter space of the model that is consistent with the interaction between DM and DE energy densities at present as indicated by recent studies based on BAO and SDSS data. In the later stage, we observationally distinguish those interactions using the statefinder hierarchy parameters S3(1), S4(1), S3(1), S5(1). We also compute the growth factor parameter ɛ(z) for the various interactions we consider herein and use the composite null diagnostic (CND) S3(1), ɛ(z) } as a tool to characterise those interactions by measuring their departures from the concordance model. In addition, we make a preliminary analysis of our model in light of the recently released data by SDSS III on the measurement of the linear growth rate of structure.

Darkness without dark matter and energy - generalized unimodular gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barvinsky, A. O.; Kamenshchik, A. Yu.

2017-11-01

We suggest a Lorentz non-invariant generalization of the unimodular gravity theory, which is classically equivalent to general relativity with a locally inert (devoid of local degrees of freedom) perfect fluid having an equation of state with a constant parameter w. For the range of w near -1 this dark fluid can play the role of dark energy, while for w = 0 this dark dust admits spatial inhomogeneities and can be interpreted as dark matter. We discuss possible implications of this model in the cosmological initial conditions problem. In particular, this is the extension of known microcanonical density matrix predictions for the initial quantum state of the closed cosmology to the case of spatially open Universe, based on the imitation of the spatial curvature by the dark fluid density. We also briefly discuss quantization of this model necessarily involving the method of gauge systems with reducible constraints and the effect of this method on the treatment of recently! suggested mechanism of vacuum energy sequestering.

Numerical Convergence in the Dark Matter Halos Properties Using Cosmological Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mosquera-Escobar, X. E.; Muñoz-Cuartas, J. C.

2017-07-01

Nowadays, the accepted cosmological model is the so called -Cold Dark Matter (CDM). In such model, the universe is considered to be homogeneous and isotropic, composed of diverse components as the dark matter and dark energy, where the latter is the most abundant one. Dark matter plays an important role because it is responsible for the generation of gravitational potential wells, commonly called dark matter halos. At the end, dark matter halos are characterized by a set of parameters (mass, radius, concentration, spin parameter), these parameters provide valuable information for different studies, such as galaxy formation, gravitational lensing, etc. In this work we use the publicly available code Gadget2 to perform cosmological simulations to find to what extent the numerical parameters of the simu- lations, such as gravitational softening, integration time step and force calculation accuracy affect the physical properties of the dark matter halos. We ran a suite of simulations where these parameters were varied in a systematic way in order to explore accurately their impact on the structural parameters of dark matter halos. We show that the variations on the numerical parameters affect the structural pa- rameters of dark matter halos, such as concentration, virial radius, and concentration. We show that these modifications emerged when structures become non- linear (at redshift 2) for the scale of our simulations, such that these variations affected the formation and evolution structure of halos mainly at later cosmic times. As a quantitative result, we propose which would be the most appropriate values for the numerical parameters of the simulations, such that they do not affect the halo properties that are formed. For force calculation accuracy we suggest values smaller or equal to 0.0001, integration time step smaller o equal to 0.005 and for gravitational softening we propose equal to 1/60th of the mean interparticle distance, these values, correspond to the smaller values in the numerical parameters variations. This is an important numerical exercise, since for instance, it is believed that galaxy structural parameters are strongly dependent on dark matter halo structural parameters.

Holographic dark energy with cosmological constant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hu, Yazhou; Li, Nan; Zhang, Zhenhui

2015-08-01

Inspired by the multiverse scenario, we study a heterotic dark energy model in which there are two parts, the first being the cosmological constant and the second being the holographic dark energy, thus this model is named the ΛHDE model. By studying the ΛHDE model theoretically, we find that the parameters d and Ω{sub hde} are divided into a few domains in which the fate of the universe is quite different. We investigate dynamical behaviors of this model, and especially the future evolution of the universe. We perform fitting analysis on the cosmological parameters in the ΛHDE model by usingmore » the recent observational data. We find the model yields χ{sup 2}{sub min}=426.27 when constrained by Planck+SNLS3+BAO+HST, comparable to the results of the HDE model (428.20) and the concordant ΛCDM model (431.35). At 68.3% CL, we obtain −0.07« less

Latest astronomical constraints on some non-linear parametric dark energy models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Weiqiang; Pan, Supriya; Paliathanasis, Andronikos

2018-04-01

We consider non-linear redshift-dependent equation of state parameters as dark energy models in a spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker universe. To depict the expansion history of the universe in such cosmological scenarios, we take into account the large-scale behaviour of such parametric models and fit them using a set of latest observational data with distinct origin that includes cosmic microwave background radiation, Supernove Type Ia, baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift space distortion, weak gravitational lensing, Hubble parameter measurements from cosmic chronometers, and finally the local Hubble constant from Hubble space telescope. The fitting technique avails the publicly available code Cosmological Monte Carlo (COSMOMC), to extract the cosmological information out of these parametric dark energy models. From our analysis, it follows that those models could describe the late time accelerating phase of the universe, while they are distinguished from the Λ-cosmology.

Constraints on Dark Energy from Baryon Acoustic Peak and Galaxy Cluster Gas Mass Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samushia, Lado; Ratra, Bharat

2009-10-01

We use baryon acoustic peak measurements by Eisenstein et al. and Percival et al., together with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) measurement of the apparent acoustic horizon angle, and galaxy cluster gas mass fraction measurements of Allen et al., to constrain a slowly rolling scalar field dark energy model, phiCDM, in which dark energy's energy density changes in time. We also compare our phiCDM results with those derived for two more common dark energy models: the time-independent cosmological constant model, ΛCDM, and the XCDM parameterization of dark energy's equation of state. For time-independent dark energy, the Percival et al. measurements effectively constrain spatial curvature and favor a close to the spatially flat model, mostly due to the WMAP cosmic microwave background prior used in the analysis. In a spatially flat model the Percival et al. data less effectively constrain time-varying dark energy. The joint baryon acoustic peak and galaxy cluster gas mass constraints on the phiCDM model are consistent with but tighter than those derived from other data. A time-independent cosmological constant in a spatially flat model provides a good fit to the joint data, while the α parameter in the inverse power-law potential phiCDM model is constrained to be less than about 4 at 3σ confidence level.

Cosmological effects of scalar-photon couplings: dark energy and varying-α Models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Avgoustidis, A.; Martins, C.J.A.P.; Monteiro, A.M.R.V.L.

2014-06-01

We study cosmological models involving scalar fields coupled to radiation and discuss their effect on the redshift evolution of the cosmic microwave background temperature, focusing on links with varying fundamental constants and dynamical dark energy. We quantify how allowing for the coupling of scalar fields to photons, and its important effect on luminosity distances, weakens current and future constraints on cosmological parameters. In particular, for evolving dark energy models, joint constraints on the dark energy equation of state combining BAO radial distance and SN luminosity distance determinations, will be strongly dominated by BAO. Thus, to fully exploit future SN datamore » one must also independently constrain photon number non-conservation arising from the possible coupling of SN photons to the dark energy scalar field. We discuss how observational determinations of the background temperature at different redshifts can, in combination with distance measures data, set tight constraints on interactions between scalar fields and photons, thus breaking this degeneracy. We also discuss prospects for future improvements, particularly in the context of Euclid and the E-ELT and show that Euclid can, even on its own, provide useful dark energy constraints while allowing for photon number non-conservation.« less

Redshift drift constraints on holographic dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Dong-Ze; Zhang, Jing-Fei; Zhang, Xin

2017-03-01

The Sandage-Loeb (SL) test is a promising method for probing dark energy because it measures the redshift drift in the spectra of Lyman- α forest of distant quasars, covering the "redshift desert" of 2 ≲ z ≲ 5, which is not covered by existing cosmological observations. Therefore, it could provide an important supplement to current cosmological observations. In this paper, we explore the impact of SL test on the precision of cosmological constraints for two typical holographic dark energy models, i.e., the original holographic dark energy (HDE) model and the Ricci holographic dark energy (RDE) model. To avoid data inconsistency, we use the best-fit models based on current combined observational data as the fiducial models to simulate 30 mock SL test data. The results show that SL test can effectively break the existing strong degeneracy between the present-day matter density Ωm0 and the Hubble constant H 0 in other cosmological observations. For the considered two typical dark energy models, not only can a 30-year observation of SL test improve the constraint precision of Ωm0 and h dramatically, but can also enhance the constraint precision of the model parameters c and α significantly.

Interactive mixture of inhomogeneous dark fluids driven by dark energy: a dynamical system analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izquierdo, Germán; Blanquet-Jaramillo, Roberto C.; Sussman, Roberto A.

2018-03-01

We examine the evolution of an inhomogeneous mixture of non-relativistic pressureless cold dark matter (CDM), coupled to dark energy (DE) characterised by the equation of state parameter w<-1/3, with the interaction term proportional to the DE density. This coupled mixture is the source of a spherically symmetric Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) metric admitting an asymptotic Friedman-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) background. Einstein's equations reduce to a 5-dimensional autonomous dynamical system involving quasi-local variables related to suitable averages of covariant scalars and their fluctuations. The phase space evolution around the critical points (past/future attractors and five saddles) is examined in detail. For all parameter values and both directions of energy flow (CDM to DE and DE to CDM) the phase space trajectories are compatible with a physically plausible early cosmic times behaviour near the past attractor. This result compares favourably with mixtures with interaction driven by the CDM density, whose past evolution is unphysical for DE to CDM energy flow. Numerical examples are provided describing the evolution of an initial profile that can be associated with idealised structure formation scenarios.

Testing dark energy with the Advanced Liquid-mirror Probe of Asteroids, Cosmology and Astrophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corasaniti, Pier Stefano; LoVerde, Marilena; Crotts, Arlin; Blake, Chris

2006-06-01

The Advanced Liquid-mirror Probe of Asteroids, Cosmology and Astrophysics (ALPACA) is a proposed 8-m liquid-mirror telescope surveying ~1000deg2 of the Southern hemisphere sky. It will be a remarkably simple and inexpensive telescope that none the less will deliver a powerful sample of optical data for studying dark energy. The bulk of the cosmological data consist of nightly, high signal-to-noise ratio, multiband light curves of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). At the end of the 3-yr run, ALPACA is expected to collect >~100000 SNe Ia up to z ~ 1. This will allow us to reduce present systematic uncertainties affecting the standard-candle relation. The survey will also provide several other data sets such as the detection of baryon acoustic oscillations in the matter power spectrum and shear weak-lensing measurements. In this preliminary analysis, we forecast constraints on dark energy parameters from SNe Ia and baryon acoustic oscillations. The combination of these two data sets will provide competitive constraints on the dark energy parameters under minimal prior assumptions. Further studies are needed to address the accuracy of weak-lensing measurements.

On the effect of the degeneracy among dark energy parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Yungui; Gao, Qing

2014-01-01

The dynamics of scalar fields as dark energy is well approximated by some general relations between the equation of state parameter and the fractional energy density . Based on the approximation, for slowly rolling scalar fields, we derived the analytical expressions of which reduce to the popular Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametrization with an explicit degeneracy relation between and . The models approximate the dynamics of scalar fields well and help eliminate the degeneracies among , , and . With the explicit degeneracy relations, we test their effects on the constraints of the cosmological parameters. We find that: (1) The analytical relations between and for the two models are consistent with observational data. (2) The degeneracies have little effect on . (3) The error of was reduced about 30 % with the degeneracy relations.

Does the diffusion dark matter-dark energy interaction model solve cosmological puzzles?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szydłowski, Marek; Stachowski, Aleksander

2016-08-01

We study dynamics of cosmological models with diffusion effects modeling dark matter and dark energy interactions. We show the simple model with diffusion between the cosmological constant sector and dark matter, where the canonical scaling law of dark matter (ρd m ,0a-3(t )) is modified by an additive ɛ (t )=γ t a-3(t ) to the form ρd m=ρd m ,0a-3(t )+ɛ (t ). We reduced this model to the autonomous dynamical system and investigate it using dynamical system methods. This system possesses a two-dimensional invariant submanifold on which the dark matter-dark energy (DM-DE) interaction can be analyzed on the phase plane. The state variables are density parameter for matter (dark and visible) and parameter δ characterizing the rate of growth of energy transfer between the dark sectors. A corresponding dynamical system belongs to a general class of jungle type of cosmologies represented by coupled cosmological models in a Lotka-Volterra framework. We demonstrate that the de Sitter solution is a global attractor for all trajectories in the phase space and there are two repellers: the Einstein-de Sitter universe and the de Sitter universe state dominating by the diffusion effects. We distinguish in the phase space trajectories, which become in good agreement with the data. They should intersect a rectangle with sides of Ωm ,0∈[0.2724 ,0.3624 ] , δ ∈[0.0000 ,0.0364 ] at the 95% CL. Our model could solve some of the puzzles of the Λ CDM model, such as the coincidence and fine-tuning problems. In the context of the coincidence problem, our model can explain the present ratio of ρm to ρd e, which is equal 0.457 6-0.0831+0.1109 at a 2 σ confidence level.

Magnetised Strings in Λ-Dominated Anisotropic Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goswami, G. K.; Yadav, Anil Kumar; Dewangan, R. N.

2016-11-01

In this paper, we have searched the existence of Λ-dominated anisotropic universe filled with magnetized strings. The observed acceleration of universe has been explained by introducing a positive cosmological constant Λ in the Einstein's field equation which is mathematically equivalent to dark energy with equation of state (EOS) parameter set equal to -1. The present values of the matter and the dark energy parameters (Ω m )0 & (ΩΛ)0 are estimated for high red shift (.3 ≤ z ≤ 1.4) SN Ia supernova data's of observed apparent magnitude along with their possible error taken from Union 2.1 compilation. It is found that the best fit value for (Ω m )0 & (ΩΛ)0 are 0.2920 & 0.7076 respectively which are in good agreement with recent astrophysical observations in the latest surveys like WMAP and Plank. Various physical parameters such as the matter and dark energy densities, the present age of the universe and the present value of deceleration parameter have been obtained on the basis of the values of (Ω m )0 & (ΩΛ)0.Also, we have estimated that the acceleration would have begun in the past at z = 0.6845 i. e. 6.2341 Gyrs before from now.

Constraints on the holographic dark energy model via type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillation, and WMAP7

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Lixin

2012-06-01

In this paper, the holographic dark energy model, where the future event horizon is taken as an IR cutoff, is confronted by using currently available cosmic observational data sets which include type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillation, and cosmic microwave background radiation from full information of WMAP 7-yr data. Via the Markov chain Monte Carlo method, we obtain the values of model parameter c=0.696-0.0737-0.132-0.190+0.0736+0.159+0.264 with 1, 2, 3σ regions. Therefore, one can conclude that at at least 3σ level the future Universe will be dominated by phantom-like dark energy. It is not consistent with positive energy condition, however this condition must be satisfied to derive the holographic bound. It implies that the current cosmic observational data points disfavor the holographic dark energy model.

Are dark energy models with variable EoS parameter w compatible with the late inhomogeneous Universe?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Akarsu, Özgür; Bouhmadi-López, Mariam; Brilenkov, Maxim

We study the late-time evolution of the Universe where dark energy (DE) is presented by a barotropic fluid on top of cold dark matter (CDM) . We also take into account the radiation content of the Universe. Here by the late stage of the evolution we refer to the epoch where CDM is already clustered into inhomogeneously distributed discrete structures (galaxies, groups and clusters of galaxies). Under this condition the mechanical approach is an adequate tool to study the Universe deep inside the cell of uniformity. More precisely, we study scalar perturbations of the FLRW metric due to inhomogeneities ofmore » CDM as well as fluctuations of radiation and DE. For an arbitrary equation of state for DE we obtain a system of equations for the scalar perturbations within the mechanical approach. First, in the case of a constant DE equation of state parameter w, we demonstrate that our method singles out the cosmological constant as the only viable dark energy candidate. Then, we apply our approach to variable equation of state parameters in the form of three different linear parametrizations of w, e.g., the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder perfect fluid model. We conclude that all these models are incompatible with the theory of scalar perturbations in the late Universe.« less

Beta Function Quintessence Cosmological Parameters and Fundamental Constants I: Power and Inverse Power Law Dark Energy Potentials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, Rodger I.

2018-04-01

This investigation explores using the beta function formalism to calculate analytic solutions for the observable parameters in rolling scalar field cosmologies. The beta function in this case is the derivative of the scalar ϕ with respect to the natural log of the scale factor a, β (φ )=d φ /d ln (a). Once the beta function is specified, modulo a boundary condition, the evolution of the scalar ϕ as a function of the scale factor is completely determined. A rolling scalar field cosmology is defined by its action which can contain a range of physically motivated dark energy potentials. The beta function is chosen so that the associated "beta potential" is an accurate, but not exact, representation of the appropriate dark energy model potential. The basic concept is that the action with the beta potential is so similar to the action with the model potential that solutions using the beta action are accurate representations of solutions using the model action. The beta function provides an extra equation to calculate analytic functions of the cosmologies parameters as a function of the scale factor that are that are not calculable using only the model action. As an example this investigation uses a quintessence cosmology to demonstrate the method for power and inverse power law dark energy potentials. An interesting result of the investigation is that the Hubble parameter H is almost completely insensitive to the power of the potentials and that ΛCDM is part of the family of quintessence cosmology power law potentials with a power of zero.

Symmetron dark energy in laboratory experiments.

PubMed

Upadhye, Amol

2013-01-18

The symmetron scalar field is a matter-coupled dark energy candidate which effectively decouples from matter in high-density regions through a symmetry restoration. We consider a previously unexplored regime, in which the vacuum mass μ~2.4×10(-3) eV of the symmetron is near the dark energy scale, and the matter coupling parameter M~1 TeV is just beyond standard model energies. Such a field will give rise to a fifth force at submillimeter distances which can be probed by short-range gravity experiments. We show that a torsion pendulum experiment such as Eöt-Wash can exclude symmetrons in this regime for all self-couplings λ is < or approximately equal to 7.5.

Do stochastic inhomogeneities affect dark-energy precision measurements?

PubMed

Ben-Dayan, I; Gasperini, M; Marozzi, G; Nugier, F; Veneziano, G

2013-01-11

The effect of a stochastic background of cosmological perturbations on the luminosity-redshift relation is computed to second order through a recently proposed covariant and gauge-invariant light-cone averaging procedure. The resulting expressions are free from both ultraviolet and infrared divergences, implying that such perturbations cannot mimic a sizable fraction of dark energy. Different averages are estimated and depend on the particular function of the luminosity distance being averaged. The energy flux being minimally affected by perturbations at large z is proposed as the best choice for precision estimates of dark-energy parameters. Nonetheless, its irreducible (stochastic) variance induces statistical errors on Ω(Λ)(z) typically lying in the few-percent range.

Mapping the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametrization onto physical dark energy Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scherrer, Robert J.

2015-08-01

We examine the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) parametrization, in the context of quintessence and barotropic dark energy models, to determine the subset of such models to which it can provide a good fit. The CPL parametrization gives the equation of state parameter w for the dark energy as a linear function of the scale factor a , namely w =w0+wa(1 -a ). In the case of quintessence models, we find that over most of the w0, wa parameter space the CPL parametrization maps onto a fairly narrow form of behavior for the potential V (ϕ ), while a one-dimensional subset of parameter space, for which wa=κ (1 +w0) , with κ constant, corresponds to a wide range of functional forms for V (ϕ ). For barotropic models, we show that the functional dependence of the pressure on the density, up to a multiplicative constant, depends only on wi=wa+w0 and not on w0 and wa separately. Our results suggest that the CPL parametrization may not be optimal for testing either type of model.

SKA weak lensing - I. Cosmological forecasts and the power of radio-optical cross-correlations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harrison, Ian; Camera, Stefano; Zuntz, Joe; Brown, Michael L.

2016-12-01

We construct forecasts for cosmological parameter constraints from weak gravitational lensing surveys involving the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Considering matter content, dark energy and modified gravity parameters, we show that the first phase of the SKA (SKA1) can be competitive with other Stage III experiments such as the Dark Energy Survey and that the full SKA (SKA2) can potentially form tighter constraints than Stage IV optical weak lensing experiments, such as those that will be conducted with LSST, WFIRST-AFTA or Euclid-like facilities. Using weak lensing alone, going from SKA1 to SKA2 represents improvements by factors of ˜10 in matter, ˜10 in dark energy and ˜5 in modified gravity parameters. We also show, for the first time, the powerful result that comparably tight constraints (within ˜5 per cent) for both Stage III and Stage IV experiments, can be gained from cross-correlating shear maps between the optical and radio wavebands, a process which can also eliminate a number of potential sources of systematic errors which can otherwise limit the utility of weak lensing cosmology.

Dark energy and the structure of the Coma cluster of galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernin, A. D.; Bisnovatyi-Kogan, G. S.; Teerikorpi, P.; Valtonen, M. J.; Byrd, G. G.; Merafina, M.

2013-05-01

Context. We consider the Coma cluster of galaxies as a gravitationally bound physical system embedded in the perfectly uniform static dark energy background as implied by ΛCDM cosmology. Aims: We ask if the density of dark energy is high enough to affect the structure of a large and rich cluster of galaxies. Methods: We base our work on recent observational data on the Coma cluster, and apply our theory of local dynamical effects of dark energy, including the zero-gravity radius RZG of the local force field as the key parameter. Results: 1) Three masses are defined that characterize the structure of a regular cluster: the matter mass MM, the dark-energy effective mass MDE (<0), and the gravitating mass MG (=MM + MDE). 2) A new matter-density profile is suggested that reproduces the observational data well for the Coma cluster in the radius range from 1.4 Mpc to 14 Mpc and takes the dark energy background into account. 3) Using this profile, we calculate upper limits for the total size of the Coma cluster, R ≤ RZG ≈ 20 Mpc, and its total matter mass, MM ≲ MM(RZG) = 6.2 × 1015 M⊙. Conclusions: The dark energy antigravity affects the structure of the Coma cluster strongly at large radii R ≳ 14 Mpc and should be considered when its total mass is derived.

Energy-exchange collisions of dark-bright-bright vector solitons.

PubMed

Radhakrishnan, R; Manikandan, N; Aravinthan, K

2015-12-01

We find a dark component guiding the practically interesting bright-bright vector one-soliton to two different parametric domains giving rise to different physical situations by constructing a more general form of three-component dark-bright-bright mixed vector one-soliton solution of the generalized Manakov model with nine free real parameters. Moreover our main investigation of the collision dynamics of such mixed vector solitons by constructing the multisoliton solution of the generalized Manakov model with the help of Hirota technique reveals that the dark-bright-bright vector two-soliton supports energy-exchange collision dynamics. In particular the dark component preserves its initial form and the energy-exchange collision property of the bright-bright vector two-soliton solution of the Manakov model during collision. In addition the interactions between bound state dark-bright-bright vector solitons reveal oscillations in their amplitudes. A similar kind of breathing effect was also experimentally observed in the Bose-Einstein condensates. Some possible ways are theoretically suggested not only to control this breathing effect but also to manage the beating, bouncing, jumping, and attraction effects in the collision dynamics of dark-bright-bright vector solitons. The role of multiple free parameters in our solution is examined to define polarization vector, envelope speed, envelope width, envelope amplitude, grayness, and complex modulation of our solution. It is interesting to note that the polarization vector of our mixed vector one-soliton evolves in sphere or hyperboloid depending upon the initial parametric choices.

Bi-scalar modified gravity and cosmology with conformal invariance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Saridakis, Emmanuel N.; Tsoukalas, Minas, E-mail: Emmanuel_Saridakis@baylor.edu, E-mail: minasts@central.ntua.gr

2016-04-01

We investigate the cosmological applications of a bi-scalar modified gravity that exhibits partial conformal invariance, which could become full conformal invariance in the absence of the usual Einstein-Hilbert term and introducing additionally either the Weyl derivative or properly rescaled fields. Such a theory is constructed by considering the action of a non-minimally conformally-coupled scalar field, and adding a second scalar allowing for a nonminimal derivative coupling with the Einstein tensor and the energy-momentum tensor of the first field. At a cosmological framework we obtain an effective dark-energy sector constituted from both scalars. In the absence of an explicit matter sectormore » we extract analytical solutions, which for some parameter regions correspond to an effective matter era and/or to an effective radiation era, thus the two scalars give rise to 'mimetic dark matter' or to 'dark radiation' respectively. In the case where an explicit matter sector is included we obtain a cosmological evolution in agreement with observations, that is a transition from matter to dark energy era, with the onset of cosmic acceleration. Furthermore, for particular parameter regions, the effective dark-energy equation of state can transit to the phantom regime at late times. These behaviors reveal the capabilities of the theory, since they arise purely from the novel, bi-scalar construction and the involved couplings between the two fields.« less

Dark energy and the BOOMERANG data.

PubMed

Amendola, L

2001-01-08

The recent high-quality BOOMERANG data allow the testing of many competing cosmological models. Here I present a seven-parameter likelihood analysis of dark energy models with exponential potential and explicit coupling to dark matter. The BOOMERANG data constrain the dimensionless coupling beta to be smaller than 0.1, an order of magnitude better than previous limits. In terms of the constant xi of nonminimally coupled theories, this amounts to xi<0.01. On the other hand, BOOMERANG does not have enough sensitivity to put constraints on the potential slope.

Anthropic versus cosmological solutions to the coincidence problem

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barreira, A.; Avelino, P. P.; Departamento de Fisica da Faculdade de Ciencias da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, 4169-007 Porto

2011-05-15

In this paper, we investigate possible solutions to the coincidence problem in flat phantom dark-energy models with a constant dark-energy equation of state and quintessence models with a linear scalar field potential. These models are representative of a broader class of cosmological scenarios in which the universe has a finite lifetime. We show that, in the absence of anthropic constraints, including a prior probability for the models inversely proportional to the total lifetime of the universe excludes models very close to the {Lambda} cold dark matter model. This relates a cosmological solution to the coincidence problem with a dynamical dark-energymore » component having an equation-of-state parameter not too close to -1 at the present time. We further show that anthropic constraints, if they are sufficiently stringent, may solve the coincidence problem without the need for dynamical dark energy.« less

Holographic reconstruction of scalar fields in extended Kaluza-Klein cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korunur, Murat

2018-01-01

In recent years, many studies have been conducted to reconstruct the physical properties of scalar fields by establishing a connection between some energy densities and a scalar field of dark energies. In this paper, using the extended five-dimensional (5D) Kaluza-Klein model, we establish a correspondence among modified holographic dark energy and the tachyon, K-essence and dilaton scalar-field models. We also graphically illustrate the evolution of the equation-of-state parameter versus time.

New Agegraphic Pilgrim Dark Energy in f(T, TG) Gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jawad, Abdul; Debnath, Ujjal

2015-08-01

In this work, we briefly discuss a novel class of modified gravity like f(T, TG) gravity. In this background, we assume the new agegraphic version of pilgrim dark energy and reconstruct f(T, TG) models for two specific values of s. We also discuss the equation of state parameter, squared speed of sound and wDE-w‧DE plane for these reconstructed f(T, TG) models. The equation of state parameter provides phantom-like behavior of the universe. The wDE-w‧DE plane also corresponds to ΛCDM limit, thawing and freezing regions for both models.

Systematic effects on dark energy from 3D weak shear

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kitching, T. D.; Taylor, A. N.; Heavens, A. F.

2008-09-01

We present an investigation into the potential effect of systematics inherent in multiband wide-field surveys on the dark energy equation-of-state determination for two 3D weak lensing methods. The weak lensing methods are a geometric shear-ratio method and 3D cosmic shear. The analysis here uses an extension of the Fisher matrix framework to include jointly photometric redshift systematics, shear distortion systematics and intrinsic alignments. Using analytic parametrizations of these three primary systematic effects allows an isolation of systematic parameters of particular importance. We show that assuming systematic parameters are fixed, but possibly biased, results in potentially large biases in dark energy parameters. We quantify any potential bias by defining a Bias Figure of Merit. By marginalizing over extra systematic parameters, such biases are negated at the expense of an increase in the cosmological parameter errors. We show the effect on the dark energy Figure of Merit of marginalizing over each systematic parameter individually. We also show the overall reduction in the Figure of Merit due to all three types of systematic effects. Based on some assumption of the likely level of systematic errors, we find that the largest effect on the Figure of Merit comes from uncertainty in the photometric redshift systematic parameters. These can reduce the Figure of Merit by up to a factor of 2 to 4 in both 3D weak lensing methods, if no informative prior on the systematic parameters is applied. Shear distortion systematics have a smaller overall effect. Intrinsic alignment effects can reduce the Figure of Merit by up to a further factor of 2. This, however, is a worst-case scenario, within the assumptions of the parametrizations used. By including prior information on systematic parameters, the Figure of Merit can be recovered to a large extent, and combined constraints from 3D cosmic shear and shear ratio are robust to systematics. We conclude that, as a rule of thumb, given a realistic current understanding of intrinsic alignments and photometric redshifts, then including all three primary systematic effects reduces the Figure of Merit by at most a factor of 2.

Particle creation and non-equilibrium thermodynamical prescription of dark fluids for universe bounded by an event horizon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saha, Subhajit; Biswas, Atreyee; Chakraborty, Subenoy

2015-03-01

In the present work, flat FRW model of the universe is considered to be an isolated open thermodynamical system where non-equilibrium prescription has been studied using the mechanism of particle creation. In the perspective of recent observational evidences, the matter distribution in the universe is assumed to be dominated by dark matter and dark energy. The dark matter is chosen as dust while for dark energy, the following choices are considered: (i) Perfect fluid with constant equation of state and (ii) Holographic dark energy. In both the cases, the validity of generalized second law of thermodynamics (GSLT) which states that the total entropy of the fluid as well as that of the horizon should not decrease with the evolution of the universe, has been examined graphically for universe bounded by the event horizon. It is found that GSLT holds in both the cases with some restrictions on the interacting coupling parameter.

Test of the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametrization for rapid dark energy equation of state transitions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linden, Sebastian; Virey, Jean-Marc

2008-07-01

We test the robustness and flexibility of the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) parametrization of the dark energy equation of state w(z)=w0+wa(z)/(1+z) in recovering a four-parameter steplike fiducial model. We constrain the parameter space region of the underlying fiducial model where the CPL parametrization offers a reliable reconstruction. It turns out that non-negligible biases leak into the results for recent (z<2.5) rapid transitions, but that CPL yields a good reconstruction in all other cases. The presented analysis is performed with supernova Ia data as forecasted for a space mission like SNAP/JDEM, combined with future expectations for the cosmic microwave background shift parameter R and the baryonic acoustic oscillation parameter A.

Direct probe of dark energy through gravitational lensing effect

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

He, Hong-Jian; Zhang, Zhen, E-mail: hjhe@tsinghua.edu.cn, E-mail: zh.zhang@pku.edu.cn

We show that gravitational lensing can provide a direct method to probe the nature of dark energy at astrophysical scales. For lensing system as an isolated astrophysical object, we derive the dark energy contribution to gravitational potential as a repulsive power-law term, containing a generic equation of state parameter w . We find that it generates w -dependent and position-dependent modification to the conventional light orbital equation of w =−1. With post-Newtonian approximation, we compute its direct effect for an isolated lensing system at astrophysical scales and find that the dark energy force can deflect the path of incident lightmore » rays. We demonstrate that the dark-energy-induced deflection angle Δα{sub DE}∝ M {sup (1+1/3} {sup w} {sup )} (with 1+1/3 w > 0), which increases with the lensing mass M and consistently approaches zero in the limit M → 0. This effect is distinctive because dark energy tends to diffuse the rays and generates concave lensing effect . This is in contrast to the conventional convex lensing effect caused by both visible and dark matter. Measuring such concave lensing effect can directly probe the existence and nature of dark energy. We estimate this effect and show that the current gravitational lensing experiments are sensitive to the direct probe of dark energy at astrophysical scales. For the special case w =−1, our independent study favors the previous works that the cosmological constant can affect light bending, but our prediction qualitatively and quantitatively differ from the literature, including our consistent realization of Δα{sub DE} → 0 (under 0 M → ) at the leading order.« less

Singlet fermionic dark matter with Veltman conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Yeong Gyun; Lee, Kang Young; Nam, Soo-hyeon

2018-07-01

We reexamine a renormalizable model of a fermionic dark matter with a gauge singlet Dirac fermion and a real singlet scalar which can ameliorate the scalar mass hierarchy problem of the Standard Model (SM). Our model setup is the minimal extension of the SM for which a realistic dark matter (DM) candidate is provided and the cancellation of one-loop quadratic divergence to the scalar masses can be achieved by the Veltman condition (VC) simultaneously. This model extension, although renormalizable, can be considered as an effective low-energy theory valid up to cut-off energies about 10 TeV. We calculate the one-loop quadratic divergence contributions of the new scalar and fermionic DM singlets, and constrain the model parameters using the VC and the perturbative unitarity conditions. Taking into account the invisible Higgs decay measurement, we show the allowed region of new physics parameters satisfying the recent measurement of relic abundance. With the obtained parameter set, we predict the elastic scattering cross section of the new singlet fermion into target nuclei for a direct detection of the dark matter. We also perform the full analysis with arbitrary set of parameters without the VC as a comparison, and discuss the implication of the constraints by the VC in detail.

Bayesian evidences for dark energy models in light of current observational data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lonappan, Anto. I.; Kumar, Sumit; Ruchika; Dinda, Bikash R.; Sen, Anjan A.

2018-02-01

We do a comprehensive study of the Bayesian evidences for a large number of dark energy models using a combination of latest cosmological data from SNIa, CMB, BAO, strong lensing time delay, growth measurements, measurements of Hubble parameter at different redshifts and measurements of angular diameter distance by Megamaser Cosmology Project. We consider a variety of scalar field models with different potentials as well as different parametrizations for the dark energy equation of state. Among 21 models that we consider in our study, we do not find strong evidences in favor of any evolving dark energy model compared to Λ CDM . For the evolving dark energy models, we show that purely nonphantom models have much better evidences compared to those models that allow both phantom and nonphantom behaviors. Canonical scalar field with exponential and tachyon field with square potential have highest evidences among all the models considered in this work. We also show that a combination of low redshift measurements decisively favors an accelerating Λ CDM model compared to a nonaccelerating power law model.

Age of high redshift objects—a litmus test for the dark energy models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jain, Deepak; Dev, Abha

2006-02-01

The discovery of the quasar, the APM 08279+5255 at z=3.91 whose age is 2 3 Gyr has once again led to “age crisis”. The noticeable fact about this object is that it cannot be accommodated in a universe with Ω=0.27, currently accepted value of matter density parameter and ω=const. In this work, we explore the concordance of various dark energy parameterizations (w(z) models) with the age estimates of the old high redshift objects. It is alarming to note that the quasar cannot be accommodated in any dark energy model even for Ω=0.23, which corresponds to 1σ deviation below the best fit value provided by WMAP. There is a need to look for alternative cosmologies or some other dark energy parameterizations which allow the existence of the high redshift objects.

Anisotropic universe with magnetized dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goswami, G. K.; Dewangan, R. N.; Yadav, Anil Kumar

2016-04-01

In the present work we have searched the existence of the late time acceleration of the Universe filled with cosmic fluid and uniform magnetic field as source of matter in anisotropic Heckmann-Schucking space-time. The observed acceleration of universe has been explained by introducing a positive cosmological constant Λ in the Einstein's field equation which is mathematically equivalent to vacuum energy with equation of state (EOS) parameter set equal to -1. The present values of the matter and the dark energy parameters (Ωm)0 & (Ω_{Λ})0 are estimated in view of the latest 287 high red shift (0.3 ≤ z ≤1.4) SN Ia supernova data's of observed apparent magnitude along with their possible error taken from Union 2.1 compilation. It is found that the best fit value for (Ωm)0 & (Ω_{Λ})0 are 0.2820 & 0.7177 respectively which are in good agreement with recent astrophysical observations in the latest surveys like WMAP [2001-2013], Planck [latest 2015] & BOSS. Various physical parameters such as the matter and dark energy densities, the present age of the universe and deceleration parameter have been obtained on the basis of the values of (Ωm)0 & (Ω_{Λ})0. Also we have estimated that the acceleration would have begun in the past at z = 0.71131 ˜6.2334 Gyrs before from present.

Binary Mixture of Perfect Fluid and Dark Energy in Modified Theory of Gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaikh, A. Y.

2016-07-01

A self consistent system of Plane Symmetric gravitational field and a binary mixture of perfect fluid and dark energy in a modified theory of gravity are considered. The gravitational field plays crucial role in the formation of soliton-like solutions, i.e., solutions with limited total energy, spin, and charge. The perfect fluid is taken to be the one obeying the usual equation of state, i.e., p = γρ with γ∈ [0, 1] whereas, the dark energy is considered to be either the quintessence like equation of state or Chaplygin gas. The exact solutions to the corresponding field equations are obtained for power-law and exponential volumetric expansion. The geometrical and physical parameters for both the models are studied.

Thermalizing Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, Rasmus S. L.; Vogl, Stefan

2017-12-01

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 nonresonant 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.

Thermalizing Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter.

PubMed

Hansen, Rasmus S L; Vogl, Stefan

2017-12-22

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 nonresonant 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.

Dark energy and the cosmic microwave background radiation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dodelson, S.; Knox, L.

2000-01-01

We find that current cosmic microwave background anisotropy data strongly constrain the mean spatial curvature of the Universe to be near zero, or, equivalently, the total energy density to be near critical-as predicted by inflation. This result is robust to editing of data sets, and variation of other cosmological parameters (totaling seven, including a cosmological constant). Other lines of argument indicate that the energy density of nonrelativistic matter is much less than critical. Together, these results are evidence, independent of supernovae data, for dark energy in the Universe.

Dark energy and the cosmic microwave background radiation.

PubMed

Dodelson, S; Knox, L

2000-04-17

We find that current cosmic microwave background anisotropy data strongly constrain the mean spatial curvature of the Universe to be near zero, or, equivalently, the total energy density to be near critical-as predicted by inflation. This result is robust to editing of data sets, and variation of other cosmological parameters (totaling seven, including a cosmological constant). Other lines of argument indicate that the energy density of nonrelativistic matter is much less than critical. Together, these results are evidence, independent of supernovae data, for dark energy in the Universe.

Dark sector impact on gravitational collapse of an electrically charged scalar field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakonieczna, Anna; Rogatko, Marek; Nakonieczny, Łukasz

2015-11-01

Dark matter and dark energy are dominating components of the Universe. Their presence affects the course and results of processes, which are driven by the gravitational interaction. The objective of the paper was to examine the influence of the dark sector on the gravitational collapse of an electrically charged scalar field. A phantom scalar field was used as a model of dark energy in the system. Dark matter was modeled by a complex scalar field with a quartic potential, charged under a U(1)-gauge field. The dark components were coupled to the electrically charged scalar field via the exponential coupling and the gauge field-Maxwell field kinetic mixing, respectively. Complete non-linear simulations of the investigated process were performed. They were conducted from regular initial data to the end state, which was the matter dispersal or a singularity formation in a spacetime. During the collapse in the presence of dark energy dynamical wormholes and naked singularities were formed in emerging spacetimes. The wormhole throats were stabilized by the violation of the null energy condition, which occurred due to a significant increase of a value of the phantom scalar field function in its vicinity. The square of mass parameter of the dark matter scalar field potential controlled the formation of a Cauchy horizon or wormhole throats in the spacetime. The joint impact of dark energy and dark matter on the examined process indicated that the former decides what type of an object forms, while the latter controls the amount of time needed for the object to form. Additionally, the dark sector suppresses the natural tendency of an electrically charged scalar field to form a dynamical Reissner-Nordström spacetime during the gravitational collapse.

Updated constraints on self-interacting dark matter from Supernova 1987A

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahoney, Cameron; Leibovich, Adam K.; Zentner, Andrew R.

2017-08-01

We revisit SN1987A constraints on light, hidden sector gauge bosons ("dark photons") that are coupled to the standard model through kinetic mixing with the photon. These constraints are realized because excessive bremsstrahlung radiation of the dark photon can lead to rapid cooling of the SN1987A progenitor core, in contradiction to the observed neutrinos from that event. The models we consider are of interest as phenomenological models of strongly self-interacting dark matter. We clarify several possible ambiguities in the literature and identify errors in prior analyses. We find constraints on the dark photon mixing parameter that are in rough agreement with the early estimates of Dent et al. [arXiv:1201.2683.], but only because significant errors in their analyses fortuitously canceled. Our constraints are in good agreement with subsequent analyses by Rrapaj & Reddy [Phys. Rev. C 94, 045805 (2016)., 10.1103/PhysRevC.94.045805] and Hardy & Lasenby [J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2017) 33., 10.1007/JHEP02(2017)033]. We estimate the dark photon bremsstrahlung rate using one-pion exchange (OPE), while Rrapaj & Reddy use a soft radiation approximation (SRA) to exploit measured nuclear scattering cross sections. We find that the differences between mixing parameter constraints obtained through the OPE approximation or the SRA approximation are roughly a factor of ˜2 - 3 . Hardy & Laseby [J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2017) 33., 10.1007/JHEP02(2017)033] include plasma effects in their calculations finding significantly weaker constraints on dark photon mixing for dark photon masses below ˜10 MeV . We do not consider plasma effects. Lastly, we point out that the properties of the SN1987A progenitor core remain somewhat uncertain and that this uncertainty alone causes uncertainty of at least a factor of ˜2 - 3 in the excluded values of the dark photon mixing parameter. Further refinement of these estimates is unwarranted until either the interior of the SN1987A progenitor is more well understood or additional, large, and heretofore neglected effects, such as the plasma interactions studied by Hardy & Lasenby [J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2017) 33. 10.1007/JHEP02(2017)033], are identified.

Updated observational constraints on quintessence dark energy models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Durrive, Jean-Baptiste; Ooba, Junpei; Ichiki, Kiyotomo; Sugiyama, Naoshi

2018-02-01

The recent GW170817 measurement favors the simplest dark energy models, such as a single scalar field. Quintessence models can be classified in two classes, freezing and thawing, depending on whether the equation of state decreases towards -1 or departs from it. In this paper, we put observational constraints on the parameters governing the equations of state of tracking freezing, scaling freezing, and thawing models using updated data, from the Planck 2015 release, joint light-curve analysis, and baryonic acoustic oscillations. Because of the current tensions on the value of the Hubble parameter H0, unlike previous authors, we let this parameter vary, which modifies significantly the results. Finally, we also derive constraints on neutrino masses in each of these scenarios.

Comment on ''Interacting holographic dark energy model and generalized second law of thermodynamics in a non-flat universe{sup ,} by M.R. Setare (JCAP 01 (2007) 023)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Karami, K., E-mail: kkarami@uok.ac.ir

2010-01-01

Author of ref. 1, M.R. Setare (JCAP 01 (2007) 023), by redefining the event horizon measured from the sphere of the horizon as the system's IR cut-off for an interacting holographic dark energy model in a non-flat universe, showed that the generalized second law of thermodynamics is satisfied for the special range of the deceleration parameter. His paper includes an erroneous calculation of the entropy of the cold dark matter. Also there are some missing terms and some misprints in the equations of his paper. Here we present that his conclusion is not true and the generalized second law ismore » violated for the present time independently of the deceleration parameter.« less

Diagnosing ΛHDE model with statefinder hierarchy and fractional growth parameter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, LanJun; Wang, Shuang

2016-07-01

Recently, a new dark energy model called ΛHDE was proposed. In this model, dark energy consists of two parts: cosmological constant Λ and holographic dark energy (HDE). Two key parameters of this model are the fractional density of cosmological constant ΩΛ0, and the dimensionless HDE parameter c. Since these two parameters determine the dynamical properties of DE and the destiny of universe, it is important to study the impacts of different values of ΩΛ0 and c on the ΛHDE model. In this paper, we apply various DE diagnostic tools to diagnose ΛHDE models with different values of ΩΛ0 and c; these tools include statefinder hierarchy {S 3 (1) , S 4 (1) }, fractional growth parameter ɛ, and composite null diagnostic (CND), which is a combination of {S 3 (1) , S 4 (1) } and ɛ. We find that: (1) adopting different values of ΩΛ0 only has quantitative impacts on the evolution of the ΛHDE model, while adopting different c has qualitative impacts; (2) compared with S 3 (1) , S 4 (1) can give larger differences among the cosmic evolutions of the ΛHDE model associated with different ΩΛ0 or different c; (3) compared with the case of using a single diagnostic, adopting a CND pair has much stronger ability to diagnose the ΛHDE model.

Strong constraints on sub-GeV dark sectors from SLAC beam dump E137.

PubMed

Batell, Brian; Essig, Rouven; Surujon, Ze'ev

2014-10-24

We present new constraints on sub-GeV dark matter and dark photons from the electron beam-dump experiment E137 conducted at SLAC in 1980-1982. Dark matter interacting with electrons (e.g., via a dark photon) could have been produced in the electron-target collisions and scattered off electrons in the E137 detector, producing the striking, zero-background signature of a high-energy electromagnetic shower that points back to the beam dump. E137 probes new and significant ranges of parameter space and constrains the well-motivated possibility that dark photons that decay to light dark-sector particles can explain the ∼3.6σ discrepancy between the measured and standard model value of the muon anomalous magnetic moment. It also restricts the parameter space in which the relic density of dark matter in these models is obtained from thermal freeze-out. E137 also convincingly demonstrates that (cosmic) backgrounds can be controlled and thus serves as a powerful proof of principle for future beam-dump searches for sub-GeV dark-sector particles scattering off electrons in the detector.

Observational constraints on holographic dark energy with varying gravitational constant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lu, Jianbo; Xu, Lixin; Saridakis, Emmanuel N.

2010-03-01

We use observational data from Type Ia Supernovae (SN), Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO), Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and observational Hubble data (OHD), and the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method, to constrain the cosmological scenario of holographic dark energy with varying gravitational constant. We consider both flat and non-flat background geometry, and we present the corresponding constraints and contour-plots of the model parameters. We conclude that the scenario is compatible with observations. In 1σ we find Ω{sub Λ0} = 0.72{sup +0.03}{sub −0.03}, Ω{sub k0} = −0.0013{sup +0.0130}{sub −0.0040}, c = 0.80{sup +0.19}{sub −0.14} and Δ{sub G}≡G'/G = −0.0025{sup +0.0080}{sub −0.0050},more » while for the present value of the dark energy equation-of-state parameter we obtain w{sub 0} = −1.04{sup +0.15}{sub −0.20}.« less

Transient photoresponse in amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O thin films under stretched exponential analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Jiajun; Adler, Alexander U.; Mason, Thomas O.; Bruce Buchholz, D.; Chang, R. P. H.; Grayson, M.

2013-04-01

We investigated transient photoresponse and Hall effect in amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O thin films and observed a stretched exponential response which allows characterization of the activation energy spectrum with only three fit parameters. Measurements of as-grown films and 350 K annealed films were conducted at room temperature by recording conductivity, carrier density, and mobility over day-long time scales, both under illumination and in the dark. Hall measurements verify approximately constant mobility, even as the photoinduced carrier density changes by orders of magnitude. The transient photoconductivity data fit well to a stretched exponential during both illumination and dark relaxation, but with slower response in the dark. The inverse Laplace transforms of these stretched exponentials yield the density of activation energies responsible for transient photoconductivity. An empirical equation is introduced, which determines the linewidth of the activation energy band from the stretched exponential parameter β. Dry annealing at 350 K is observed to slow the transient photoresponse.

Search for dark Higgsstrahlung in e+e- → μ+μ- and missing energy events with the KLOE experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anastasi, A.; Babusci, D.; Bencivenni, G.; Berlowski, M.; Bloise, C.; Bossi, F.; Branchini, P.; Budano, A.; Caldeira Balkeståhl, L.; Cao, B.; Ceradini, F.; Ciambrone, P.; Curciarello, F.; Czerwiński, E.; D'Agostini, G.; Danè, E.; De Leo, V.; De Lucia, E.; De Santis, A.; De Simone, P.; Di Cicco, A.; Di Domenico, A.; Di Salvo, R.; Domenici, D.; D'Uffizi, A.; Fantini, A.; Felici, G.; Fiore, S.; Gajos, A.; Gauzzi, P.; Giardina, G.; Giovannella, S.; Graziani, E.; Happacher, F.; Heijkenskjöld, L.; Ikegami Andersson, W.; Johansson, T.; Kamińska, D.; Krzemien, W.; Kupsc, A.; Loffredo, S.; Mandaglio, G.; Martini, M.; Mascolo, M.; Messi, R.; Miscetti, S.; Morello, G.; Moricciani, D.; Moskal, P.; Nguyen, F.; Palladino, A.; Passeri, A.; Patera, V.; Perez del Rio, E.; Ranieri, A.; Santangelo, P.; Sarra, I.; Schioppa, M.; Silarski, M.; Sirghi, F.; Tortora, L.; Venanzoni, G.; Wiślicki, W.; Wolke, M.

2015-07-01

We searched for evidence of a Higgsstrahlung process in a secluded sector, leading to a final state with a dark photon U and a dark Higgs boson h‧, with the KLOE detector at DAΦNE. We investigated the case of h‧ lighter than U, with U decaying into a muon pair and h‧ producing a missing energy signature. We found no evidence of the process and set upper limits to its parameters in the range 2mμ

Studies into the nature of cosmic acceleration: Dark energy or a modification to gravity on cosmological scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dossett, Jason Nicholas

Since its discovery more than a decade ago, the problem of cosmic acceleration has become one of the largest in cosmology and physics as a whole. An unknown dark energy component of the universe is often invoked to explain this observation. Mathematically, this works because inserting a cosmic fluid with a negative equation of state into Einstein's equations provides an accelerated expansion. There are, however, alternative explanations for the observed cosmic acceleration. Perhaps the most promising of the alternatives is that, on the very largest cosmological scales, general relativity needs to be extended or a new, modified gravity theory must be used. Indeed, many modified gravity models are not only able to replicate the observed accelerated expansion without dark energy, but are also more compatible with a unified theory of physics. Thus it is the goal of this dissertation to develop and study robust tests that will be able to distinguish between these alternative theories of gravity and the need for a dark energy component of the universe. We will study multiple approaches using the growth history of large-scale structure in the universe as a way to accomplish this task. These approaches include studying what is known as the growth index parameter, a parameter that describes the logarithmic growth rate of structure in the universe, which describes the rate of formation of clusters and superclusters of galaxies over the entire age of the universe. We will explore the effectiveness of this parameter to distinguish between general relativity and modifications to gravity physics given realistic expectations of results from future experiments. Next, we will explore the modified growth formalism wherein deviations from the growth expected in general relativity are parameterized via changes to the growth equations, i.e. the perturbed Einstein's equations. We will also explore the impact of spatial curvature on these tests. Finally, we will study how dark energy with some unusual properties will affect the conclusiveness of these tests.

Non-standard interactions and neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Sun

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demidov, S. V.

2018-02-01

We perform an analysis of the influence of non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) on neutrino signal from dark matter annihilations in the Sun. Taking experimentally allowed benchmark values for the matter NSI parameters we show that the evolution of such neutrinos with energies at GeV scale can be considerably modified. We simulate propagation of neutrinos from the Sun to the Earth for realistic dark matter annihilation channels and find that the matter NSI can result in at most 30% correction to the signal rate of muon track events at neutrino telescopes. Still present experimental bounds on dark matter from these searches are robust in the presence of NSI within considerable part of their allowed parameter space. At the same time electron neutrino flux from dark matter annihilation in the Sun can be changed by a factor of few.

THE MIRA–TITAN UNIVERSE: PRECISION PREDICTIONS FOR DARK ENERGY SURVEYS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heitmann, Katrin; Habib, Salman; Biswas, Rahul

2016-04-01

Large-scale simulations of cosmic structure formation play an important role in interpreting cosmological observations at high precision. The simulations must cover a parameter range beyond the standard six cosmological parameters and need to be run at high mass and force resolution. A key simulation-based task is the generation of accurate theoretical predictions for observables using a finite number of simulation runs, via the method of emulation. Using a new sampling technique, we explore an eight-dimensional parameter space including massive neutrinos and a variable equation of state of dark energy. We construct trial emulators using two surrogate models (the linear powermore » spectrum and an approximate halo mass function). The new sampling method allows us to build precision emulators from just 26 cosmological models and to systematically increase the emulator accuracy by adding new sets of simulations in a prescribed way. Emulator fidelity can now be continuously improved as new observational data sets become available and higher accuracy is required. Finally, using one ΛCDM cosmology as an example, we study the demands imposed on a simulation campaign to achieve the required statistics and accuracy when building emulators for investigations of dark energy.« less

The mira-titan universe. Precision predictions for dark energy surveys

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heitmann, Katrin; Bingham, Derek; Lawrence, Earl

2016-03-28

Large-scale simulations of cosmic structure formation play an important role in interpreting cosmological observations at high precision. The simulations must cover a parameter range beyond the standard six cosmological parameters and need to be run at high mass and force resolution. A key simulation-based task is the generation of accurate theoretical predictions for observables using a finite number of simulation runs, via the method of emulation. Using a new sampling technique, we explore an eight-dimensional parameter space including massive neutrinos and a variable equation of state of dark energy. We construct trial emulators using two surrogate models (the linear powermore » spectrum and an approximate halo mass function). The new sampling method allows us to build precision emulators from just 26 cosmological models and to systematically increase the emulator accuracy by adding new sets of simulations in a prescribed way. Emulator fidelity can now be continuously improved as new observational data sets become available and higher accuracy is required. Finally, using one ΛCDM cosmology as an example, we study the demands imposed on a simulation campaign to achieve the required statistics and accuracy when building emulators for investigations of dark energy.« less

Interaction of anisotropic dark energy fluid with perfect fluid in the presence of cosmological term Λ

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, S. Surendra

2018-05-01

Considering the locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) Bianchi type-I metric with cosmological constant Λ, Einstein’s field equations are discussed based on the background of anisotropic fluid. We assumed the condition A = B 1 m for the metric potentials A and B, where m is a positive constant to obtain the viable model of the Universe. It is found that Λ(t) is positive and inversely proportional to time. The values of matter-energy density Ωm, dark energy density ΩΛ and deceleration parameter q are found to be consistent with the values of WMAP observations. State finder parameters and anisotropic deviation parameter are also investigated. It is also observed that the derived model is an accelerating, shearing and non-rotating Universe. Some of the asymptotic and geometrical behaviors of the derived models are investigated with the age of the Universe.

Theoretical Comparison Between Candidates for Dark Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKeough, James; Hira, Ajit; Valdez, Alexandra

2017-01-01

Since the generally-accepted view among astrophysicists is that the matter component of the universe is mostly dark matter, the search for dark matter particles continues unabated. The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) improvements, aided by advanced computer simulations at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's (Berkeley Lab) National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) and Brown University's Center for Computation and Visualization (CCV), can potentially eliminate some particle models of dark matter. Generally, the proposed candidates can be put in three categories: baryonic dark matter, hot dark matter, and cold dark matter. The Lightest Supersymmetric Particle(LSP) of supersymmetric models is a dark matter candidate, and is classified as a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP). Similar to the cosmic microwave background radiation left over from the Big Bang, there is a background of low-energy neutrinos in our Universe. According to some researchers, these may be the explanation for the dark matter. One advantage of the Neutrino Model is that they are known to exist. Dark matter made from neutrinos is termed ``hot dark matter''. We formulate a novel empirical function for the average density profile of cosmic voids, identified via the watershed technique in ΛCDM N-body simulations. This function adequately treats both void size and redshift, and describes the scale radius and the central density of voids. We started with a five-parameter model. Our research is mainly on LSP and Neutrino models.

Indirect dark matter signatures in the cosmic dark ages. I. Generalizing the bound on s -wave dark matter annihilation from Planck results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slatyer, Tracy R.

2016-01-01

Recent measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies by Planck provide a sensitive probe of dark matter annihilation during the cosmic dark ages, and specifically constrain the annihilation parameter feff⟨σ v ⟩/mχ. Using new results (paper II) for the ionization produced by particles injected at arbitrary energies, we calculate and provide feff values for photons and e+e- pairs injected at keV-TeV energies; the feff value for any dark matter model can be obtained straightforwardly by weighting these results by the spectrum of annihilation products. This result allows the sensitive and robust constraints on dark matter annihilation presented by the Planck collaboration to be applied to arbitrary dark matter models with s -wave annihilation. We demonstrate the validity of this approach using principal component analysis. As an example, we integrate over the spectrum of annihilation products for a range of Standard Model final states to determine the CMB bounds on these models as a function of dark matter mass, and demonstrate that the new limits generically exclude models proposed to explain the observed high-energy rise in the cosmic ray positron fraction. We make our results publicly available at http://nebel.rc.fas.harvard.edu/epsilon.

Dynamical behavior in f (T, TG) cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kofinas, Georgios; Leon, Genly; Saridakis, Emmanuel N.

2014-09-01

The f(T,{{T}_{G}}) class of gravitational modification, based on the quadratic torsion scalar T as well as on the new quartic torsion scalar TG, which is the teleparallel equivalent of the Gauss-Bonnet term, is a novel theory, different from both f (T) and f(R,G) ones. We perform a detailed dynamical analysis of a spatially flat universe governed by the simplest non-trivial model of f(T,{{T}_{G}}) gravity which does not introduce a new mass scale. We find that the universe can result in dark-energy dominated, quintessence-like, cosmological-constant-like, or phantom-like solutions, according to the parameter choices. Additionally, it may result in a dark energy-dark matter scaling solution; thus it can alleviate the coincidence problem. Finally, the analysis ‘at infinity’ reveals that the universe may exhibit future, past, or intermediate singularities, depending on the parameters.

Dark sequential Z ' portal: Collider and direct detection experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arcadi, Giorgio; Campos, Miguel D.; Lindner, Manfred; Masiero, Antonio; Queiroz, Farinaldo S.

2018-02-01

We revisit the status of a Majorana fermion as a dark matter candidate when a sequential Z' gauge boson dictates the dark matter phenomenology. Direct dark matter detection signatures rise from dark matter-nucleus scatterings at bubble chamber and liquid xenon detectors, and from the flux of neutrinos from the Sun measured by the IceCube experiment, which is governed by the spin-dependent dark matter-nucleus scattering. On the collider side, LHC searches for dilepton and monojet + missing energy signals play an important role. The relic density and perturbativity requirements are also addressed. By exploiting the dark matter complementarity we outline the region of parameter space where one can successfully have a Majorana dark matter particle in light of current and planned experimental sensitivities.

An analytic cosmology solution of Poincaré gauge gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Jianbo; Chee, Guoying

2016-06-01

A cosmology of Poincaré gauge theory is developed. An analytic solution is obtained. The calculation results agree with observation data and can be compared with the ΛCDM model. The cosmological constant puzzle is the coincidence and fine tuning problem are solved naturally at the same time. The cosmological constant turns out to be the intrinsic torsion and curvature of the vacuum universe, and is derived from the theory naturally rather than added artificially. The dark energy originates from geometry, includes the cosmological constant but differs from it. The analytic expression of the state equations of the dark energy and the density parameters of the matter and the geometric dark energy are derived. The full equations of linear cosmological perturbations and the solutions are obtained.

The Hubble IR cutoff in holographic ellipsoidal cosmologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cataldo, Mauricio; Cruz, Norman

2018-01-01

It is well known that for spatially flat FRW cosmologies, the holographic dark energy disfavors the Hubble parameter as a candidate for the IR cutoff. For overcoming this problem, we explore the use of this cutoff in holographic ellipsoidal cosmological models, and derive the general ellipsoidal metric induced by a such holographic energy density. Despite the drawbacks that this cutoff presents in homogeneous and isotropic universes, based on this general metric, we developed a suitable ellipsoidal holographic cosmological model, filled with a dark matter and a dark energy components. At late time stages, the cosmic evolution is dominated by a holographic anisotropic dark energy with barotropic equations of state. The cosmologies expand in all directions in accelerated manner. Since the ellipsoidal cosmologies given here are not asymptotically FRW, the deviation from homogeneity and isotropy of the universe on large cosmological scales remains constant during all cosmic evolution. This feature allows the studied holographic ellipsoidal cosmologies to be ruled by an equation of state ω =p/ρ , whose range belongs to quintessence or even phantom matter.

Generalized ghost pilgrim dark energy in F(T,TG) cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharif, M.; Nazir, Kanwal

2016-07-01

This paper is devoted to study the generalized ghost pilgrim dark energy (PDE) model in F(T,TG) gravity with flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe. In this scenario, we reconstruct F(T,TG) models and evaluate the corresponding equation of state (EoS) parameter for different choices of the scale factors. We assume power-law scale factor, scale factor for unification of two phases, intermediate and bouncing scale factor. We study the behavior of reconstructed models and EoS parameters graphically. It is found that all the reconstructed models show decreasing behavior for PDE parameter u = -2. On the other hand, the EoS parameter indicates transition from dust-like matter to phantom era for all choices of the scale factor except intermediate for which this is less than - 1. We conclude that all the results are in agreement with PDE phenomenon.

Growth rate in the dynamical dark energy models.

PubMed

Avsajanishvili, Olga; Arkhipova, Natalia A; Samushia, Lado; Kahniashvili, Tina

Dark energy models with a slowly rolling cosmological scalar field provide a popular alternative to the standard, time-independent cosmological constant model. We study the simultaneous evolution of background expansion and growth in the scalar field model with the Ratra-Peebles self-interaction potential. We use recent measurements of the linear growth rate and the baryon acoustic oscillation peak positions to constrain the model parameter [Formula: see text] that describes the steepness of the scalar field potential.

Cosmology with galaxy cluster phase spaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stark, Alejo; Miller, Christopher J.; Huterer, Dragan

2017-07-01

We present a novel approach to constrain accelerating cosmologies with galaxy cluster phase spaces. With the Fisher matrix formalism we forecast constraints on the cosmological parameters that describe the cosmological expansion history. We find that our probe has the potential of providing constraints comparable to, or even stronger than, those from other cosmological probes. More specifically, with 1000 (100) clusters uniformly distributed in the redshift range 0 ≤z ≤0.8 , after applying a conservative 80% mass scatter prior on each cluster and marginalizing over all other parameters, we forecast 1 σ constraints on the dark energy equation of state w and matter density parameter ΩM of σw=0.138 (0.431 ) and σΩM=0.007(0.025 ) in a flat universe. Assuming 40% mass scatter and adding a prior on the Hubble constant we can achieve a constraint on the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametrization of the dark energy equation of state parameters w0 and wa with 100 clusters in the same redshift range: σw 0=0.191 and σwa=2.712. Dropping the assumption of flatness and assuming w =-1 we also attain competitive constraints on the matter and dark energy density parameters: σΩ M=0.101 and σΩ Λ=0.197 for 100 clusters uniformly distributed in the range 0 ≤z ≤0.8 after applying a prior on the Hubble constant. We also discuss various observational strategies for tightening constraints in both the near and far future.

Cosmology with Strong-lensing Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Shuo; Biesiada, Marek; Gavazzi, Raphaël; Piórkowska, Aleksandra; Zhu, Zong-Hong

2015-06-01

In this paper, we assemble a catalog of 118 strong gravitational lensing systems from the Sloan Lens ACS Survey, BOSS emission-line lens survey, Lens Structure and Dynamics, and Strong Lensing Legacy Survey and use them to constrain the cosmic equation of state. In particular, we consider two cases of dark energy phenomenology: the XCDM model, where dark energy is modeled by a fluid with constant w equation-of-state parameter, and in the Chevalier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) parameterization, where w is allowed to evolve with redshift, w(z)={{w}0}+{{w}1}\\frac{z}{1 + z} . We assume spherically symmetric mass distribution in lensing galaxies, but we relax the rigid assumption of the SIS model in favor of a more general power-law index γ, also allowing it to evolve with redshifts γ (z). Our results for the XCDM cosmology show agreement with values (concerning both w and γ parameters) obtained by other authors. We go further and constrain the CPL parameters jointly with γ (z). The resulting confidence regions for the parameters are much better than those obtained with a similar method in the past. They are also showing a trend of being complementary to the Type Ia supernova data. Our analysis demonstrates that strong gravitational lensing systems can be used to probe cosmological parameters like the cosmic equation of state for dark energy. Moreover, they have a potential to judge whether the cosmic equation of state evolved with time or not.

Instability in interacting dark sector: an appropriate holographic Ricci dark energy model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Herrera, Ramón; Hipólito-Ricaldi, W.S.; Videla, Nelson, E-mail: ramon.herrera@pucv.cl, E-mail: wiliam.ricaldi@ufes.br, E-mail: nelson.videla@ing.uchile.cl

In this paper we investigate the consequences of phantom crossing considering the perturbative dynamics in models with interaction in their dark sector. By mean of a general study of gauge-invariant variables in comoving gauge, we relate the sources of instabilities in the structure formation process with the phantom crossing. In order to illustrate these relations and its consequences in more detail, we consider a specific case of an holographic dark energy interacting with dark matter. We find that in spite of the model is in excellent agreement with observational data at background level, however it is plagued of instabilities inmore » its perturbative dynamics. We reconstruct the model in order to avoid these undesirable instabilities, and we show that this implies a modification of the concordance model at background. Also we find drastic changes on the parameters space in our model when instabilities are avoided.« less

Dark energy in systems of galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernin, A. D.

2013-11-01

The precise observational data of the Hubble Space Telescope have been used to study nearby galaxy systems. The main result is the detection of dark energy in groups, clusters, and flows of galaxies on a spatial scale of about 1-10 Mpc. The local density of dark energy in these systems, which is determined by various methods, is close to the global value or even coincides with it. A theoretical model of the nearby Universe has been constructed, which describes the Local Group of galaxies with the flow of dwarf galaxies receding from this system. The key physical parameter of the group-flow system is zero gravity radius, which is the distance at which the gravity of dark matter is compensated by dark-energy antigravity. The model predicts the existence of local regions of space where Einstein antigravity is stronger than Newton gravity. Six such regions have been revealed in the data of the Hubble space telescope. The nearest of these regions is at a distance of 1-3 Mpc from the center of the Milky Way. Antigravity in this region is several times stronger than gravity. Quasiregular flows of receding galaxies, which are accelerated by the dark-energy antigravity, exist in these regions. The model of the nearby Universe at the scale of groups of galaxies (˜1 Mpc) can be extended to the scale of clusters (˜10 Mpc). The systems of galaxies with accelerated receding flows constitute a new and probably widespread class of metagalactic populations. Strong dynamic effects of local dark energy constitute the main characteristic feature of these systems.

Phantom stars and topology change

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

DeBenedictis, Andrew; Garattini, Remo; Lobo, Francisco S. N.

2008-11-15

In this work, we consider time-dependent dark-energy star models, with an evolving parameter {omega} crossing the phantom divide {omega}=-1. Once in the phantom regime, the null energy condition is violated, which physically implies that the negative radial pressure exceeds the energy density. Therefore, an enormous negative pressure in the center may, in principle, imply a topology change, consequently opening up a tunnel and converting the dark-energy star into a wormhole. The criteria for this topology change are discussed and, in particular, we consider a Casimir energy approach involving quasilocal energy difference calculations that may reflect or measure the occurrence ofmore » a topology change. We denote these exotic geometries consisting of dark-energy stars (in the phantom regime) and phantom wormholes as phantom stars. The final product of this topological change, namely, phantom wormholes, have far-reaching physical and cosmological implications, as in addition to being used for interstellar shortcuts, an absurdly advanced civilization may manipulate these geometries to induce closed timelike curves, consequently violating causality.« less

Cross-correlation cosmography with intensity mapping of the neutral hydrogen 21 cm emission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pourtsidou, A.; Bacon, D.; Crittenden, R.

2015-11-01

The cross-correlation of a foreground density field with two different background convergence fields can be used to measure cosmographic distance ratios and constrain dark energy parameters. We investigate the possibility of performing such measurements using a combination of optical galaxy surveys and neutral hydrogen (HI) intensity mapping surveys, with emphasis on the performance of the planned Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Using HI intensity mapping to probe the foreground density tracer field and/or the background source fields has the advantage of excellent redshift resolution and a longer lever arm achieved by using the lensing signal from high redshift background sources. Our results show that, for our best SKA-optical configuration of surveys, a constant equation of state for dark energy can be constrained to ≃8 % for a sky coverage fsky=0.5 and assuming a σ (ΩDE)=0.03 prior for the dark energy density parameter. We also show that using the cosmic microwave background as the second source plane is not competitive, even when considering a COrE-like satellite.

Running of the spectral index in deformed matter bounce scenarios with Hubble-rate-dependent dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arab, M.; Khodam-Mohammadi, A.

2018-03-01

As a deformed matter bounce scenario with a dark energy component, we propose a deformed one with running vacuum model (RVM) in which the dark energy density ρ _{Λ } is written as a power series of H^2 and \\dot{H} with a constant equation of state parameter, same as the cosmological constant, w=-1. Our results in analytical and numerical point of views show that in some cases same as Λ CDM bounce scenario, although the spectral index may achieve a good consistency with observations, a positive value of running of spectral index (α _s) is obtained which is not compatible with inflationary paradigm where it predicts a small negative value for α _s. However, by extending the power series up to H^4, ρ _{Λ }=n_0+n_2 H^2+n_4 H^4, and estimating a set of consistent parameters, we obtain the spectral index n_s, a small negative value of running α _s and tensor to scalar ratio r, which these reveal a degeneracy between deformed matter bounce scenario with RVM-DE and inflationary cosmology.

Inflationary generalized Chaplygin gas and dark energy in light of the Planck and BICEP2 experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dinda, Bikash R.; Kumar, Sumit; Sen, Anjan A.

2014-10-01

In this work, we study an inflationary scenario in the presence of generalized Chaplygin gas (GCG). We show that in Einstein gravity, GCG is not a suitable candidate for inflation; but in a five-dimensional brane-world scenario, it can work as a viable inflationary model. We calculate the relevant quantities such as ns, r, and As related to the primordial scalar and tensor fluctuations, and using their recent bounds from Planck and BICEP2, we constrain the model parameters as well as the five-dimensional Planck mass. But as a slow-roll inflationary model with a power-law type scalar primordial power spectrum, GCG as an inflationary model cannot resolve the tension between results from BICEP2 and Planck with a concordance ΛCDM Universe. We show that by going beyond the concordance ΛCDM model and incorporating more general dark energy behavior, we may ease this tension. We also obtain the constraints on the ns and r and the GCG model parameters using Planck+WP +BICEP2 data considering the CPL dark energy behavior.

Tilted Bianchi type-I wet dark fluid model in Saez and Ballester theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahu, S. K.; Tole, T. T.; Balcha, M.

2018-06-01

Tilted Bianchi-I wet dark fluid cosmological model is investigated in Saez and Ballester scalar theory of gravitation. Background cosmologies are obtained for a constant deceleration parameter. We consider a linear relationship between the shear scalar and the expansion scalar. We have discussed some physical and geometrical properties of the models. In our models, equation of state of the dark energy is observed to behave like a cosmological constant at late times.

Multiple kinetic k-essence, phantom barrier crossing and stability

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sur, Sourav; Das, Saurya, E-mail: sourav.sur@uleth.ca

We investigate models of dark energy with purely kinetic multiple k-essence sources that allow for the crossing of the phantom divide line, without violating the conditions of stability. It is known that with more than one kinetic k-field one can possibly construct dark energy models whose equation of state parameter w{sub X} crosses -1 (the phantom barrier) at recent red-shifts, as indicated by the Supernova Ia and other observational probes. However, such models may suffer from cosmological instabilities, as the effective speed of propagation c{sub X} of the dark energy density perturbations may become imaginary while the w{sub X} =more » -1 barrier is crossed. Working out the expression for c{sub X} we show that multiple kinetic k-essence fields do indeed lead to a w{sub X} = -1 crossing dark energy model, satisfying the stability criterion c{sub X}{sup 2} {>=} 0 as well as the condition c{sub X} {<=} 1 (in natural units), which implies that the dark energy is not super-luminal. As a specific example, we construct a phantom barrier crossing model involving three k-fields for which c{sub X} is a constant, lying between 0 and 1. The model fits well with the latest Supernova Ia Union data, and the best fit shows that w{sub X} crosses -1 at red-shift z {approx} 0.2, whereas the dark energy density nearly tracks the matter density at higher red-shifts.« less

Light bending, static dark energy, and related uniqueness of Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ali, Md Sabir; Bhattacharya, Sourav

2018-01-01

Since the Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime is static inside the cosmological event horizon, if the dark energy state parameter is sufficiently close to -1 , apparently one could still expect an effectively static geometry, in the attraction dominated region inside the maximum turnaround radius, RTA ,max, of a cosmic structure. We take the first order metric derived recently assuming a static and ideal dark energy fluid with equation of state P (r )=α ρ (r ) as a source in Bhattacharya and Tomaras [Eur. Phys. J. C 77, 526 (2017), 10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-5102-4], which reproduced the expression for RTA ,max found earlier in the cosmological McVittie spacetime. Here we show that the equality originates from the equivalence of geodesic motion in these two backgrounds, in the nonrelativistic regime. We extend this metric up to the third order and compute the bending of light using the Rindler-Ishak method. For α ≠-1 , a dark energy dependent term appears in the bending equation, unlike the case of the cosmological constant, α =-1 . Because of this new term in particular, existing data for the light bending at galactic scales yields (1 +α )≲O (10-14), thereby practically ruling out any such static and inhomogeneous dark energy fluid we started with. Implication of this result pertaining to the uniqueness of the Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime in such an inhomogeneous dark energy background is discussed.

Holographic dark energy in braneworld models with moving branes and the w = -1 crossing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saridakis, E. N.

2008-04-01

We apply the bulk holographic dark energy in general 5D two-brane models. We extract the Friedmann equation on the physical brane and we show that in the general moving-brane case the effective 4D holographic dark energy behaves as a quintom for a large parameter-space area of a simple solution subclass. We find that wΛ was larger than -1 in the past while its present value is wΛ0≈-1.05, and the phantom bound wΛ = -1 was crossed at zp≈0.41, a result in agreement with observations. Such a behavior arises naturally, without the inclusion of special fields or potential terms, but a fine-tuning between the 4D Planck mass and the brane tension has to be imposed.

Stochastic dark energy from inflationary quantum fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glavan, Dražen; Prokopec, Tomislav; Starobinsky, Alexei A.

2018-05-01

We study the quantum backreaction from inflationary fluctuations of a very light, non-minimally coupled spectator scalar and show that it is a viable candidate for dark energy. The problem is solved by suitably adapting the formalism of stochastic inflation. This allows us to self-consistently account for the backreaction on the background expansion rate of the Universe where its effects are large. This framework is equivalent to that of semiclassical gravity in which matter vacuum fluctuations are included at the one loop level, but purely quantum gravitational fluctuations are neglected. Our results show that dark energy in our model can be characterized by a distinct effective equation of state parameter (as a function of redshift) which allows for testing of the model at the level of the background.

Quantum foam, gravitational thermodynamics, and the dark sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ng, Y. Jack

2017-05-01

Is it possible that the dark sector (dark energy in the form of an effective dynamical cosmological constant, and dark matter) has its origin in quantum gravity? This talk sketches a positive response. Here specifically quantum gravity refers to the combined effect of quantum foam (or spacetime foam due to quantum fluctuations of spacetime) and gravitational thermodynamics. We use two simple independent gedankan experiments to show that the holographic principle can be understood intuitively as having its origin in the quantum fluctuations of spacetime. Applied to cosmology, this consideration leads to a dynamical cosmological constant of the observed magnitude, a result that can also be obtained for the present and recent cosmic eras by using unimodular gravity and causal set theory. Next we generalize the concept of gravitational thermodynamics to a spacetime with positive cosmological constant (like ours) to reveal the natural emergence, in galactic dynamics, of a critical acceleration parameter related to the cosmological constant. We are then led to construct a phenomenological model of dark matter which we call “modified dark matter” (MDM) in which the dark matter density profile depends on both the cosmological constant and ordinary matter. We provide observational tests of MDM by fitting the rotation curves to a sample of 30 local spiral galaxies with a single free parameter and by showing that the dynamical and observed masses agree in a sample of 93 galactic clusters. We also give a brief discussion of the possibility that quanta of both dark energy and dark matter are non-local, obeying quantum Boltzmann statistics (also called infinite statistics) as described by a curious average of the bosonic and fermionic algebras. If such a scenario is correct, we can expect some novel particle phenomenology involving dark matter interactions. This may explain why so far no dark matter detection experiments have been able to claim convincingly to have detected dark matter.

The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: towards a computationally efficient analysis without informative priors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pellejero-Ibanez, Marcos; Chuang, Chia-Hsun; Rubiño-Martín, J. A.; Cuesta, Antonio J.; Wang, Yuting; Zhao, Gongbo; Ross, Ashley J.; Rodríguez-Torres, Sergio; Prada, Francisco; Slosar, Anže; Vazquez, Jose A.; Alam, Shadab; Beutler, Florian; Eisenstein, Daniel J.; Gil-Marín, Héctor; Grieb, Jan Niklas; Ho, Shirley; Kitaura, Francisco-Shu; Percival, Will J.; Rossi, Graziano; Salazar-Albornoz, Salvador; Samushia, Lado; Sánchez, Ariel G.; Satpathy, Siddharth; Seo, Hee-Jong; Tinker, Jeremy L.; Tojeiro, Rita; Vargas-Magaña, Mariana; Brownstein, Joel R.; Nichol, Robert C.; Olmstead, Matthew D.

2017-07-01

We develop a new computationally efficient methodology called double-probe analysis with the aim of minimizing informative priors (those coming from extra probes) in the estimation of cosmological parameters. Using our new methodology, we extract the dark energy model-independent cosmological constraints from the joint data sets of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) galaxy sample and Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements. We measure the mean values and covariance matrix of {R, la, Ωbh2, ns, log(As), Ωk, H(z), DA(z), f(z)σ8(z)}, which give an efficient summary of the Planck data and two-point statistics from the BOSS galaxy sample. The CMB shift parameters are R=√{Ω _m H_0^2} r(z_*) and la = πr(z*)/rs(z*), where z* is the redshift at the last scattering surface, and r(z*) and rs(z*) denote our comoving distance to the z* and sound horizon at z*, respectively; Ωb is the baryon fraction at z = 0. This approximate methodology guarantees that we will not need to put informative priors on the cosmological parameters that galaxy clustering is unable to constrain, I.e. Ωbh2 and ns. The main advantage is that the computational time required for extracting these parameters is decreased by a factor of 60 with respect to exact full-likelihood analyses. The results obtained show no tension with the flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological paradigm. By comparing with the full-likelihood exact analysis with fixed dark energy models, on one hand we demonstrate that the double-probe method provides robust cosmological parameter constraints that can be conveniently used to study dark energy models, and on the other hand we provide a reliable set of measurements assuming dark energy models to be used, for example, in distance estimations. We extend our study to measure the sum of the neutrino mass using different methodologies, including double-probe analysis (introduced in this study), full-likelihood analysis and single-probe analysis. From full-likelihood analysis, we obtain Σmν < 0.12 (68 per cent), assuming ΛCDM and Σmν < 0.20 (68 per cent) assuming owCDM. We also find that there is degeneracy between observational systematics and neutrino masses, which suggests that one should take great care when estimating these parameters in the case of not having control over the systematics of a given sample.

DarkSide search for dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexander, T.; Alton, D.; Arisaka, K.; Back, H. O.; Beltrame, P.; Benziger, J.; Bonfini, G.; Brigatti, A.; Brodsky, J.; Bussino, S.; Cadonati, L.; Calaprice, F.; Candela, A.; Cao, H.; Cavalcante, P.; Chepurnov, A.; Chidzik, S.; Cocco, A. G.; Condon, C.; D'Angelo, D.; Davini, S.; De Vincenzi, M.; De Haas, E.; Derbin, A.; Di Pietro, G.; Dratchnev, I.; Durben, D.; Empl, A.; Etenko, A.; Fan, A.; Fiorillo, G.; Franco, D.; Fomenko, K.; Forster, G.; Gabriele, F.; Galbiati, C.; Gazzana, S.; Ghiano, C.; Goretti, A.; Grandi, L.; Gromov, M.; Guan, M.; Guo, C.; Guray, G.; Hungerford, E. V.; Ianni, Al; Ianni, An; Joliet, C.; Kayunov, A.; Keeter, K.; Kendziora, C.; Kidner, S.; Klemmer, R.; Kobychev, V.; Koh, G.; Komor, M.; Korablev, D.; Korga, G.; Li, P.; Loer, B.; Lombardi, P.; Love, C.; Ludhova, L.; Luitz, S.; Lukyanchenko, L.; Lund, A.; Lung, K.; Ma, Y.; Machulin, I.; Mari, S.; Maricic, J.; Martoff, C. J.; Meregaglia, A.; Meroni, E.; Meyers, P.; Mohayai, T.; Montanari, D.; Montuschi, M.; Monzani, M. E.; Mosteiro, P.; Mount, B.; Muratova, V.; Nelson, A.; Nemtzow, A.; Nurakhov, N.; Orsini, M.; Ortica, F.; Pallavicini, M.; Pantic, E.; Parmeggiano, S.; Parsells, R.; Pelliccia, N.; Perasso, L.; Perasso, S.; Perfetto, F.; Pinsky, L.; Pocar, A.; Pordes, S.; Randle, K.; Ranucci, G.; Razeto, A.; Romani, A.; Rossi, B.; Rossi, N.; Rountree, S. D.; Saggese, P.; Saldanha, R.; Salvo, C.; Sands, W.; Seigar, M.; Semenov, D.; Shields, E.; Skorokhvatov, M.; Smirnov, O.; Sotnikov, A.; Sukhotin, S.; Suvarov, Y.; Tartaglia, R.; Tatarowicz, J.; Testera, G.; Thompson, J.; Tonazzo, A.; Unzhakov, E.; Vogelaar, R. B.; Wang, H.; Westerdale, S.; Wojcik, M.; Wright, A.; Xu, J.; Yang, C.; Zavatarelli, S.; Zehfus, M.; Zhong, W.; Zuzel, G.

2013-11-01

The DarkSide staged program utilizes a two-phase time projection chamber (TPC) with liquid argon as the target material for the scattering of dark matter particles. Efficient background reduction is achieved using low radioactivity underground argon as well as several experimental handles such as pulse shape, ratio of ionization over scintillation signal, 3D event reconstruction, and active neutron and muon vetos. The DarkSide-10 prototype detector has proven high scintillation light yield, which is a particularly important parameter as it sets the energy threshold for the pulse shape discrimination technique. The DarkSide-50 detector system, currently in commissioning phase at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory, will reach a sensitivity to dark matter spin-independent scattering cross section of 10-45 cm2 within 3 years of operation.

Constraints from the CMB temperature and other common observational data sets on variable dark energy density models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jetzer, Philippe; Tortora, Crescenzo

2011-08-01

The thermodynamic and dynamical properties of a variable dark energy model with density scaling as ρx∝(1+z)m, z being the redshift, are discussed following the outline of Jetzer et al. [P. Jetzer, D. Puy, M. Signore, and C. Tortora, Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 43, 1083 (2011).GRGVA80001-770110.1007/s10714-010-1091-4]. These kinds of models are proven to lead to the creation/disruption of matter and radiation, which affect the cosmic evolution of both matter and radiation components in the Universe. In particular, we have concentrated on the temperature-redshift relation of radiation, which has been constrained using a very recent collection of cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature measurements up to z˜3. For the first time, we have combined this observational probe with a set of independent measurements (Supernovae Ia distance moduli, CMB anisotropy, large-scale structure and observational data for the Hubble parameter), which are commonly adopted to constrain dark energy models. We find that, within the uncertainties, the model is indistinguishable from a cosmological constant which does not exchange any particles with other components. Anyway, while temperature measurements and Supernovae Ia tend to predict slightly decaying models, the contrary happens if CMB data are included. Future observations, in particular, measurements of CMB temperature at large redshift, will allow to give firmer bounds on the effective equation of state parameter weff of this kind of dark energy model.

Optimizing future imaging survey of galaxies to confront dark energy and modified gravity models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamamoto, Kazuhiro; Parkinson, David; Hamana, Takashi; Nichol, Robert C.; Suto, Yasushi

2007-07-01

We consider the extent to which future imaging surveys of galaxies can distinguish between dark energy and modified gravity models for the origin of the cosmic acceleration. Dynamical dark energy models may have similar expansion rates as models of modified gravity, yet predict different growth of structure histories. We parametrize the cosmic expansion by the two parameters, w0 and wa, and the linear growth rate of density fluctuations by Linder’s γ, independently. Dark energy models generically predict γ≈0.55, while the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) model γ≈0.68. To determine if future imaging surveys can constrain γ within 20% (or Δγ<0.1), we perform the Fisher matrix analysis for a weak-lensing survey such as the ongoing Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) project. Under the condition that the total observation time is fixed, we compute the figure of merit (FoM) as a function of the exposure time texp. We find that the tomography technique effectively improves the FoM, which has a broad peak around texp≃several˜10min; a shallow and wide survey is preferred to constrain the γ parameter. While Δγ<0.1 cannot be achieved by the HSC weak-lensing survey alone, one can improve the constraints by combining with a follow-up spectroscopic survey like Wide-field Fiber-fed Multi-Object Spectrograph (WFMOS) and/or future cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations.

Observational constraint on the interacting dark energy models including the Sandage-Loeb test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ming-Jian; Liu, Wen-Biao

2014-05-01

Two types of interacting dark energy models are investigated using the type Ia supernova (SNIa), observational data (OHD), cosmic microwave background shift parameter, and the secular Sandage-Loeb (SL) test. In the investigation, we have used two sets of parameter priors including WMAP-9 and Planck 2013. They have shown some interesting differences. We find that the inclusion of SL test can obviously provide a more stringent constraint on the parameters in both models. For the constant coupling model, the interaction term has been improved to be only a half of the original scale on corresponding errors. Comparing with only SNIa and OHD, we find that the inclusion of the SL test almost reduces the best-fit interaction to zero, which indicates that the higher-redshift observation including the SL test is necessary to track the evolution of the interaction. For the varying coupling model, data with the inclusion of the SL test show that the parameter at C.L. in Planck priors is , where the constant is characteristic for the severity of the coincidence problem. This indicates that the coincidence problem will be less severe. We then reconstruct the interaction , and we find that the best-fit interaction is also negative, similar to the constant coupling model. However, for a high redshift, the interaction generally vanishes at infinity. We also find that the phantom-like dark energy with is favored over the CDM model.

Late time cosmological dynamics with a nonminimal extension of the mimetic matter scenario

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hosseinkhan, N.; Nozari, K.

2018-02-01

We investigate an extension of mimetic gravity in which mimetic matter is nonminimally coupled to the Ricci scalar. We derive the background field equations and show that, as the minimal case, the nonminimal mimetic matter can behave as dark matter or dark energy. By adopting some well-known potentials, we study the dynamics of the scale factor and the equation of state parameter in detail. As the effective mimetic dark energy, this model explains the late time cosmic acceleration and its equation of state parameter crosses the phantom divide. We extend our analysis to the dynamical system approach and the phase space trajectories of the model. We obtain an attractor line which corresponds to the late time cosmic acceleration. By comparing this nonminimal mimetic matter scenario with observational data for the LCDM, we show that the confidence levels of this model overlap with those of Planck 2015 TT, TE, EE + Low P + Lensing + BAO data in the LCDM model.

Chameleon dark energy models with characteristic signatures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gannouji, Radouane; Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Tokyo University of Science, 1-3, Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8601; Moraes, Bruno

2010-12-15

In chameleon dark energy models, local gravity constraints tend to rule out parameters in which observable cosmological signatures can be found. We study viable chameleon potentials consistent with a number of recent observational and experimental bounds. A novel chameleon field potential, motivated by f(R) gravity, is constructed where observable cosmological signatures are present both at the background evolution and in the growth rate of the perturbations. We study the evolution of matter density perturbations on low redshifts for this potential and show that the growth index today {gamma}{sub 0} can have significant dispersion on scales relevant for large scale structures.more » The values of {gamma}{sub 0} can be even smaller than 0.2 with large variations of {gamma} on very low redshifts for the model parameters constrained by local gravity tests. This gives a possibility to clearly distinguish these chameleon models from the {Lambda}-cold-dark-matter ({Lambda}CDM) model in future high-precision observations.« less

Preliminary constraints on variable w dark energy cosmologies from the SNLS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlberg, R. G.; Conley, A.; Howell, D. A.; Neill, J. D.; Perrett, K.; Pritchet, C. J.; Sullivan, M.

2005-12-01

The first 71 confirmed Ia supernovae from the Supernova Legacy Survey being conducted with CFHT imaging and Gemini, VLT and Keck spectroscopy set limits on variable dark energy cosmological models. For a generalized Chaplygin gas, in which the dark energy content is (1-Ω M)/ρ a, we find that a is statistically consistent with zero, with a best fit a=-0.2±-0.3 (68 systematic errors requires a further refinement of the photometric calibration and the potential model biases. A variable dark energy equation of state with w=w0+w_1 z shows the expected degeneracy between increasingly positive w0 and negative w1. The existing data rule out the parameters of the Weller & Linder (2002) Super-gravity inspired model cosmology (w0,w_1)=(-0.81,0.31). The full 700 Ia of the completed survey will provide a statistical error limit of w1 of about 0.2 and significant constraints on variable w models. The Canadian NSERC provided funding for the scientific analysis. These results are based on observations obtained at the CFHT, Gemini, VLT and Keck observatories.

Probing the matter and dark energy sources in a viable Big Rip model of the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Suresh

2014-08-01

Chevallier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) parametrization for the equation of state (EoS) of dark energy in terms of cosmic redshift or scale factor have been frequently studied in the literature. In this study, we consider cosmic time-based CPL parametrization for the EoS parameter of the effective cosmic fluid that fills the fabric of spatially flat and homogeneous Robertson-Walker (RW) spacetime in General Relativity. The model exhibits two worthy features: (i) It fits the observational data from the latest H(z) and Union 2.1 SN Ia compilations matching the success of ΛCDM model. (ii) It describes the evolution of the Universe from the matter-dominated phase to the recent accelerating phase similar to the ΛCDM model but leads to Big Rip end of the Universe contrary to the everlasting de Sitter expansion in the ΛCDM model. We investigate the matter and dark energy sources in the model, in particular, behavior of the dynamical dark energy responsible for the Big Rip end of Universe.

A geometric measure of dark energy with pairs of galaxies.

PubMed

Marinoni, Christian; Buzzi, Adeline

2010-11-25

Observations indicate that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, which is attributed to a ‘dark energy’ component that opposes gravity. There is a purely geometric test of the expansion of the Universe (the Alcock–Paczynski test), which would provide an independent way of investigating the abundance (Ω(X)) and equation of state (W(X)) of dark energy. It is based on an analysis of the geometrical distortions expected from comparing the real-space and redshift-space shape of distant cosmic structures, but it has proved difficult to implement. Here we report an analysis of the symmetry properties of distant pairs of galaxies from archival data. This allows us to determine that the Universe is flat. By alternately fixing its spatial geometry at Ω(k)≡0 and the dark energy equation-of-state parameter at W(X)≡-1, and using the results of baryon acoustic oscillations, we can establish at the 68.3% confidence level that and -0.85>W(X)>-1.12 and 0.60<Ω(X)<0.80.

Observational Constraints on Models of the Universe with Time Variable Gravitational and Cosmological Constants Along MOG

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khurshudyan, M.; Mazhari, N. S.; Momeni, D.; Myrzakulov, R.; Raza, M.

2015-02-01

The subject of this paper is to investigate the weak regime covariant scalar-tensor-vector gravity (STVG) theory, known as the MOdified gravity (MOG) theory of gravity. First, we show that the MOG in the absence of scalar fields is converted into Λ( t), G( t) models. Time evolution of the cosmological parameters for a family of viable models have been investigated. Numerical results with the cosmological data have been adjusted. We've introduced a model for dark energy (DE) density and cosmological constant which involves first order derivatives of Hubble parameter. To extend this model, correction terms including the gravitational constant are added. In our scenario, the cosmological constant is a function of time. To complete the model, interaction terms between dark energy and dark matter (DM) manually entered in phenomenological form. Instead of using the dust model for DM, we have proposed DM equivalent to a barotropic fluid. Time evolution of DM is a function of other cosmological parameters. Using sophisticated algorithms, the behavior of various quantities including the densities, Hubble parameter, etc. have been investigated graphically. The statefinder parameters have been used for the classification of DE models. Consistency of the numerical results with experimental data of S n e I a + B A O + C M B are studied by numerical analysis with high accuracy.

Dissipative hidden sector dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foot, R.; Vagnozzi, S.

2015-01-01

A simple way of explaining dark matter without modifying known Standard Model physics is to require the existence of a hidden (dark) sector, which interacts with the visible one predominantly via gravity. We consider a hidden sector containing two stable particles charged under an unbroken U (1 )' gauge symmetry, hence featuring dissipative interactions. The massless gauge field associated with this symmetry, the dark photon, can interact via kinetic mixing with the ordinary photon. In fact, such an interaction of strength ε ˜10-9 appears to be necessary in order to explain galactic structure. We calculate the effect of this new physics on big bang nucleosynthesis and its contribution to the relativistic energy density at hydrogen recombination. We then examine the process of dark recombination, during which neutral dark states are formed, which is important for large-scale structure formation. Galactic structure is considered next, focusing on spiral and irregular galaxies. For these galaxies we modeled the dark matter halo (at the current epoch) as a dissipative plasma of dark matter particles, where the energy lost due to dissipation is compensated by the energy produced from ordinary supernovae (the core-collapse energy is transferred to the hidden sector via kinetic mixing induced processes in the supernova core). We find that such a dynamical halo model can reproduce several observed features of disk galaxies, including the cored density profile and the Tully-Fisher relation. We also discuss how elliptical and dwarf spheroidal galaxies could fit into this picture. Finally, these analyses are combined to set bounds on the parameter space of our model, which can serve as a guideline for future experimental searches.

Local expansion flows of galaxies: quantifying acceleration effect of dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernin, A. D.; Teerikorpi, P.

2013-08-01

The nearest expansion flow of galaxies observed around the Local group is studied as an archetypical example of the newly discovered local expansion flows around groups and clusters of galaxies in the nearby Universe. The flow is accelerating due to the antigravity produced by the universal dark energy background. We introduce a new acceleration measure of the flow which is the dimensionless ``acceleration parameter" Q (x) = x - x-2 depending on the normalized distance x only. The parameter is zero at the zero-gravity distance x = 1, and Q(x) ∝ x, when x ≫ 1. At the distance x = 3, the parameter Q = 2.9. Since the expansion flows have a self-similar structure in normalized variables, we expect that the result is valid as well for all the other expansion flows around groups and clusters of galaxies on the spatial scales from ˜ 1 to ˜ 10 Mpc everywhere in the Universe.

Figure of merit and different combinations of observational data sets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Qiping; Tuo, Zhong-Liang; Cai, Rong-Gen

2011-11-01

To constrain cosmological parameters, one often makes a joint analysis with different combinations of observational data sets. In this paper we take the figure of merit (FoM) for Dark Energy Task Force fiducial model (Chevallier-Polarski-Linder model) to estimate goodness of different combinations of data sets, which include 11 widely used observational data sets (type Ia supernovae, observational hubble parameter, baryon acoustic oscillation, cosmic microwave background, x-ray cluster baryon mass fraction, and gamma-ray bursts). We analyze different combinations and make a comparison for two types of combinations based on two types of basic combinations, which are often adopted in the literature. We find two sets of combinations, which have a strong ability to constrain the dark energy parameters: one has the largest FoM, and the other contains less observational data with a relatively large FoM and a simple fitting procedure.

Probing dark energy in the scope of a Bianchi type I spacetime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amirhashchi, Hassan

2018-03-01

It is well known that the flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric is a special case of Bianchi type I spacetime. In this paper, we use 38 Hubble parameter, H (z ), measurements at intermediate redshifts 0.07 ≤z ≤2.36 and its joint combination with the latest "joint light curves" (JLA) sample, comprising 740 type Ia supernovae in the redshift range of z ɛ [0.01 ,1.30 ] to constrain the parameters of the Bianchi type I dark energy model. We also use the same datasets to constrain flat a Λ CDM model. In both cases, we specifically address the expansion rate H0 as well as the transition redshift zt determinations out of these measurements. In both models, we found that using joint combination of datasets gives rise to lower values for model parameters. Also to compare the considered cosmologies, we have made Akaike information criterion and Bayes factor (Ψ ) tests.

DaMaSCUS: the impact of underground scatterings on direct detection of light dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emken, Timon; Kouvaris, Chris

2017-10-01

Conventional dark matter direct detection experiments set stringent constraints on dark matter by looking for elastic scattering events between dark matter particles and nuclei in underground detectors. However these constraints weaken significantly in the sub-GeV mass region, simply because light dark matter does not have enough energy to trigger detectors regardless of the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section. Even if future experiments lower their energy thresholds, they will still be blind to parameter space where dark matter particles interact with nuclei strongly enough that they lose enough energy and become unable to cause a signal above the experimental threshold by the time they reach the underground detector. Therefore in case dark matter is in the sub-GeV region and strongly interacting, possible underground scatterings of dark matter with terrestrial nuclei must be taken into account because they affect significantly the recoil spectra and event rates, regardless of whether the experiment probes DM via DM-nucleus or DM-electron interaction. To quantify this effect we present the publicly available Dark Matter Simulation Code for Underground Scatterings (DaMaSCUS), a Monte Carlo simulator of DM trajectories through the Earth taking underground scatterings into account. Our simulation allows the precise calculation of the density and velocity distribution of dark matter at any detector of given depth and location on Earth. The simulation can also provide the accurate recoil spectrum in underground detectors as well as the phase and amplitude of the diurnal modulation caused by this shadowing effect of the Earth, ultimately relating the modulations expected in different detectors, which is important to decisively conclude if a diurnal modulation is due to dark matter or an irrelevant background.

DaMaSCUS: the impact of underground scatterings on direct detection of light dark matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Emken, Timon; Kouvaris, Chris, E-mail: emken@cp3.sdu.dk, E-mail: kouvaris@cp3.sdu.dk

Conventional dark matter direct detection experiments set stringent constraints on dark matter by looking for elastic scattering events between dark matter particles and nuclei in underground detectors. However these constraints weaken significantly in the sub-GeV mass region, simply because light dark matter does not have enough energy to trigger detectors regardless of the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section. Even if future experiments lower their energy thresholds, they will still be blind to parameter space where dark matter particles interact with nuclei strongly enough that they lose enough energy and become unable to cause a signal above the experimental threshold bymore » the time they reach the underground detector. Therefore in case dark matter is in the sub-GeV region and strongly interacting, possible underground scatterings of dark matter with terrestrial nuclei must be taken into account because they affect significantly the recoil spectra and event rates, regardless of whether the experiment probes DM via DM-nucleus or DM-electron interaction. To quantify this effect we present the publicly available Dark Matter Simulation Code for Underground Scatterings (DaMaSCUS), a Monte Carlo simulator of DM trajectories through the Earth taking underground scatterings into account. Our simulation allows the precise calculation of the density and velocity distribution of dark matter at any detector of given depth and location on Earth. The simulation can also provide the accurate recoil spectrum in underground detectors as well as the phase and amplitude of the diurnal modulation caused by this shadowing effect of the Earth, ultimately relating the modulations expected in different detectors, which is important to decisively conclude if a diurnal modulation is due to dark matter or an irrelevant background.« less

HI Intensity Mapping with FAST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bigot-Sazy, M.-A.; Ma, Y.-Z.; Battye, R. A.; Browne, I. W. A.; Chen, T.; Dickinson, C.; Harper, S.; Maffei, B.; Olivari, L. C.; Wilkinsondagger, P. N.

2016-02-01

We discuss the detectability of large-scale HI intensity fluctuations using the FAST telescope. We present forecasts for the accuracy of measuring the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations and constraining the properties of dark energy. The FAST 19-beam L-band receivers (1.05-1.45 GHz) can provide constraints on the matter power spectrum and dark energy equation of state parameters (w0,wa) that are comparable to the BINGO and CHIME experiments. For one year of integration time we find that the optimal survey area is 6000 deg2. However, observing with larger frequency coverage at higher redshift (0.95-1.35 GHz) improves the projected errorbars on the HI power spectrum by more than 2 σ confidence level. The combined constraints from FAST, CHIME, BINGO and Planck CMB observations can provide reliable, stringent constraints on the dark energy equation of state.

DESI and other Dark Energy experiments in the era of neutrino mass measurements

DOE PAGES

Font-Ribera, Andreu; McDonald, Patrick; Mostek, Nick; ...

2014-05-19

Here we present Fisher matrix projections for future cosmological parameter measurements, including neutrino masses, Dark Energy, curvature, modified gravity, the inflationary perturbation spectrum, non-Gaussianity, and dark radiation. We focus on DESI and generally redshift surveys (BOSS, HETDEX, eBOSS, Euclid, and WFIRST), but also include CMB (Planck) and weak gravitational lensing (DES and LSST) constraints. The goal is to present a consistent set of projections, for concrete experiments, which are otherwise scattered throughout many papers and proposals. We include neutrino mass as a free parameter in most projections, as it will inevitably be relevant $-$ DESI and other experiments can measuremore » the sum of neutrino masses to ~ 0.02 eV or better, while the minimum possible sum is 0.06 eV. We note that constraints on Dark Energy are significantly degraded by the presence of neutrino mass uncertainty, especially when using galaxy clustering only as a probe of the BAO distance scale (because this introduces additional uncertainty in the background evolution after the CMB epoch). Using broadband galaxy power becomes relatively more powerful, and bigger gains are achieved by combining lensing survey constraints with redshift survey constraints. Finally, we do not try to be especially innovative, e.g., with complex treatments of potential systematic errors $-$ these projections are intended as a straightforward baseline for comparison to more detailed analyses.« less

Strongly coupled dark energy with warm dark matter vs. LCDM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonometto, S. A.; Mezzetti, M.; Mainini, R.

2017-10-01

Cosmologies including strongly Coupled (SC) Dark Energy (DE) and Warm dark matter (SCDEW) are based on a conformally invariant (CI) attractor solution modifying the early radiative expansion. Then, aside of radiation, a kinetic field Φ and a DM component account for a stationary fraction, ~ 1 %, of the total energy. Most SCDEW predictions are hardly distinguishable from LCDM, while SCDEW alleviates quite a few LCDM conceptual problems, as well as its difficulties to meet data below the average galaxy scale. The CI expansion begins at the end of inflation, when Φ (future DE) possibly plays a role in reheating, and ends at the Higgs scale. Afterwards, a number of viable options is open, allowing for the transition from the CI expansion to the present Universe. In this paper: (i) We show how the attractor is recovered when the spin degrees of freedom decreases. (ii) We perform a detailed comparison of CMB anisotropy and polarization spectra for SCDEW and LCDM, including tensor components, finding negligible discrepancies. (iii) Linear spectra exhibit a greater parameter dependence at large k's, but are still consistent with data for suitable parameter choices. (iv) We also compare previous simulation results with fresh data on galaxy concentration. Finally, (v) we outline numerical difficulties at high k. This motivates a second related paper [1], where such problems are treated in a quantitative way.

Strongly coupled dark energy with warm dark matter vs. LCDM

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bonometto, S.A.; Mezzetti, M.; Mainini, R., E-mail: bonometto@oats.inaf.it, E-mail: mezzetti@oats.inaf.it, E-mail: roberto.mainini@mib.infn.it

Cosmologies including strongly Coupled (SC) Dark Energy (DE) and Warm dark matter (SCDEW) are based on a conformally invariant (CI) attractor solution modifying the early radiative expansion. Then, aside of radiation, a kinetic field Φ and a DM component account for a stationary fraction, ∼ 1 %, of the total energy. Most SCDEW predictions are hardly distinguishable from LCDM, while SCDEW alleviates quite a few LCDM conceptual problems, as well as its difficulties to meet data below the average galaxy scale. The CI expansion begins at the end of inflation, when Φ (future DE) possibly plays a role in reheating,more » and ends at the Higgs scale. Afterwards, a number of viable options is open, allowing for the transition from the CI expansion to the present Universe. In this paper: (i) We show how the attractor is recovered when the spin degrees of freedom decreases. (ii) We perform a detailed comparison of CMB anisotropy and polarization spectra for SCDEW and LCDM, including tensor components, finding negligible discrepancies. (iii) Linear spectra exhibit a greater parameter dependence at large k 's, but are still consistent with data for suitable parameter choices. (iv) We also compare previous simulation results with fresh data on galaxy concentration. Finally, (v) we outline numerical difficulties at high k . This motivates a second related paper [1], where such problems are treated in a quantitative way.« less

Vacuum fluctuations in an ancestor vacuum: A possible dark energy candidate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aoki, Hajime; Iso, Satoshi; Lee, Da-Shin; Sekino, Yasuhiro; Yeh, Chen-Pin

2018-02-01

We consider an open universe created by bubble nucleation, and study possible effects of our "ancestor vacuum," a de Sitter space in which bubble nucleation occurred, on the present universe. We compute vacuum expectation values of the energy-momentum tensor for a minimally coupled scalar field, carefully taking into account the effect of the ancestor vacuum by the Euclidean prescription. We pay particular attention to the so-called supercurvature mode, a non-normalizable mode on a spatial slice of the open universe, which has been known to exist for sufficiently light fields. This mode decays in time most slowly, and may leave residual effects of the ancestor vacuum, potentially observable in the present universe. We point out that the vacuum energy of the quantum field can be regarded as dark energy if mass of the field is of order the present Hubble parameter or smaller. We obtain preliminary results for the dark energy equation of state w (z ) as a function of the redshift.

Dark forces in the sky: signals from Z{sup ′} and the dark Higgs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bell, Nicole F.; Cai, Yi; Leane, Rebecca K.

2016-08-01

We consider the indirect detection signals for a self-consistent hidden U(1) model containing a Majorana dark matter candidate, χ, a dark gauge boson, Z{sup ′}, and a dark Higgs, s. Compared with a model containing only a dark matter candidate and Z{sup ′} mediator, the addition of the scalar provides a mass generation mechanism for the dark sector particles and is required in order to avoid unitarity violation at high energies. We find that the inclusion of the two mediators opens up a new two-body s-wave annihilation channel, χχ→sZ{sup ′}. This new process, which is missed in the usual single-mediatormore » simplified model approach, can be the dominant annihilation channel. This provides rich phenomenology for indirect detection searches, allows indirect searches to explore regions of parameter space not accessible with other commonly considered s-wave annihilation processes, and enables both the Z{sup ′} and scalar couplings to be probed. We examine the phenomenology of the sector with a focus on this new process, and determine the limits on the model parameter space from Fermi data on dwarf spheriodal galaxies and other relevant experiments.« less

Dark energy from primordial inflationary quantum fluctuations.

PubMed

Ringeval, Christophe; Suyama, Teruaki; Takahashi, Tomo; Yamaguchi, Masahide; Yokoyama, Shuichiro

2010-09-17

We show that current cosmic acceleration can be explained by an almost massless scalar field experiencing quantum fluctuations during primordial inflation. Provided its mass does not exceed the Hubble parameter today, this field has been frozen during the cosmological ages to start dominating the Universe only recently. By using supernovae data, completed with baryonic acoustic oscillations from galaxy surveys and cosmic microwave background anisotropies, we infer the energy scale of primordial inflation to be around a few TeV, which implies a negligible tensor-to-scalar ratio of the primordial fluctuations. Moreover, our model suggests that inflation lasted for an extremely long period. Dark energy could therefore be a natural consequence of cosmic inflation close to the electroweak energy scale.

On the formalism of dark energy accretion onto black- and worm-holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martín-Moruno, Prado

2008-01-01

In this work a general formalism for the accretion of dark energy onto astronomical objects, black holes and wormholes, is considered. It is shown that in models with four dimensions or more, any singularity with a divergence in the Hubble parameter may be avoided by a big trip, if it is assumed that there is no coupling between the bulk and this accreting object. If this is not the case in more than four dimensions, the evolution of the cosmological object depends on the particular model.

Can tonne-scale direct detection experiments discover nuclear dark matter?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butcher, Alistair; Kirk, Russell; Monroe, Jocelyn; West, Stephen M.

2017-10-01

Models of nuclear dark matter propose that the dark sector contains large composite states consisting of dark nucleons in analogy to Standard Model nuclei. We examine the direct detection phenomenology of a particular class of nuclear dark matter model at the current generation of tonne-scale liquid noble experiments, in particular DEAP-3600 and XENON1T. In our chosen nuclear dark matter scenario distinctive features arise in the recoil energy spectra due to the non-point-like nature of the composite dark matter state. We calculate the number of events required to distinguish these spectra from those of a standard point-like WIMP state with a decaying exponential recoil spectrum. In the most favourable regions of nuclear dark matter parameter space, we find that a few tens of events are needed to distinguish nuclear dark matter from WIMPs at the 3 σ level in a single experiment. Given the total exposure time of DEAP-3600 and XENON1T we find that at best a 2 σ distinction is possible by these experiments individually, while 3 σ sensitivity is reached for a range of parameters by the combination of the two experiments. We show that future upgrades of these experiments have potential to distinguish a large range of nuclear dark matter models from that of a WIMP at greater than 3 σ.

Can tonne-scale direct detection experiments discover nuclear dark matter?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Butcher, Alistair; Kirk, Russell; Monroe, Jocelyn

Models of nuclear dark matter propose that the dark sector contains large composite states consisting of dark nucleons in analogy to Standard Model nuclei. We examine the direct detection phenomenology of a particular class of nuclear dark matter model at the current generation of tonne-scale liquid noble experiments, in particular DEAP-3600 and XENON1T. In our chosen nuclear dark matter scenario distinctive features arise in the recoil energy spectra due to the non-point-like nature of the composite dark matter state. We calculate the number of events required to distinguish these spectra from those of a standard point-like WIMP state with amore » decaying exponential recoil spectrum. In the most favourable regions of nuclear dark matter parameter space, we find that a few tens of events are needed to distinguish nuclear dark matter from WIMPs at the 3 σ level in a single experiment. Given the total exposure time of DEAP-3600 and XENON1T we find that at best a 2 σ distinction is possible by these experiments individually, while 3 σ sensitivity is reached for a range of parameters by the combination of the two experiments. We show that future upgrades of these experiments have potential to distinguish a large range of nuclear dark matter models from that of a WIMP at greater than 3 σ .« less

Search for Invisible Decays of a Dark Photon Produced in e^{+}e^{-} Collisions at BaBar.

PubMed

Lees, J P; Poireau, V; Tisserand, V; Grauges, E; Palano, A; Eigen, G; Brown, D N; Derdzinski, M; Giuffrida, A; Kolomensky, Yu G; Fritsch, M; Koch, H; Schroeder, T; Hearty, C; Mattison, T S; McKenna, J A; So, R Y; Blinov, V E; Buzykaev, A R; Druzhinin, V P; Golubev, V B; Kravchenko, E A; Onuchin, A P; Serednyakov, S I; Skovpen, Yu I; Solodov, E P; Todyshev, K Yu; Lankford, A J; Gary, J W; Long, O; Eisner, A M; Lockman, W S; Panduro Vazquez, W; Chao, D S; Cheng, C H; Echenard, B; Flood, K T; Hitlin, D G; Kim, J; Miyashita, T S; Ongmongkolkul, P; Porter, F C; Röhrken, M; Huard, Z; Meadows, B T; Pushpawela, B G; Sokoloff, M D; Sun, L; Smith, J G; Wagner, S R; Bernard, D; Verderi, M; Bettoni, D; Bozzi, C; Calabrese, R; Cibinetto, G; Fioravanti, E; Garzia, I; Luppi, E; Santoro, V; Calcaterra, A; de Sangro, R; Finocchiaro, G; Martellotti, S; Patteri, P; Peruzzi, I M; Piccolo, M; Rotondo, M; Zallo, A; Passaggio, S; Patrignani, C; Lacker, H M; Bhuyan, B; Mallik, U; Chen, C; Cochran, J; Prell, S; Ahmed, H; Gritsan, A V; Arnaud, N; Davier, M; Le Diberder, F; Lutz, A M; Wormser, G; Lange, D J; Wright, D M; Coleman, J P; Gabathuler, E; Hutchcroft, D E; Payne, D J; Touramanis, C; Bevan, A J; Di Lodovico, F; Sacco, R; Cowan, G; Banerjee, Sw; Brown, D N; Davis, C L; Denig, A G; Gradl, W; Griessinger, K; Hafner, A; Schubert, K R; Barlow, R J; Lafferty, G D; Cenci, R; Jawahery, A; Roberts, D A; Cowan, R; Robertson, S H; Dey, B; Neri, N; Palombo, F; Cheaib, R; Cremaldi, L; Godang, R; Summers, D J; Taras, P; De Nardo, G; Sciacca, C; Raven, G; Jessop, C P; LoSecco, J M; Honscheid, K; Kass, R; Gaz, A; Margoni, M; Posocco, M; Simi, G; Simonetto, F; Stroili, R; Akar, S; Ben-Haim, E; Bomben, M; Bonneaud, G R; Calderini, G; Chauveau, J; Marchiori, G; Ocariz, J; Biasini, M; Manoni, E; Rossi, A; Batignani, G; Bettarini, S; Carpinelli, M; Casarosa, G; Chrzaszcz, M; Forti, F; Giorgi, M A; Lusiani, A; Oberhof, B; Paoloni, E; Rama, M; Rizzo, G; Walsh, J J; Smith, A J S; Anulli, F; Faccini, R; Ferrarotto, F; Ferroni, F; Pilloni, A; Piredda, G; Bünger, C; Dittrich, S; Grünberg, O; Heß, M; Leddig, T; Voß, C; Waldi, R; Adye, T; Wilson, F F; Emery, S; Vasseur, G; Aston, D; Cartaro, C; Convery, M R; Dorfan, J; Dunwoodie, W; Ebert, M; Field, R C; Fulsom, B G; Graham, M T; Hast, C; Innes, W R; Kim, P; Leith, D W G S; Luitz, S; MacFarlane, D B; Muller, D R; Neal, H; Ratcliff, B N; Roodman, A; Sullivan, M K; Va'vra, J; Wisniewski, W J; Purohit, M V; Wilson, J R; Randle-Conde, A; Sekula, S J; Bellis, M; Burchat, P R; Puccio, E M T; Alam, M S; Ernst, J A; Gorodeisky, R; Guttman, N; Peimer, D R; Soffer, A; Spanier, S M; Ritchie, J L; Schwitters, R F; Izen, J M; Lou, X C; Bianchi, F; De Mori, F; Filippi, A; Gamba, D; Lanceri, L; Vitale, L; Martinez-Vidal, F; Oyanguren, A; Albert, J; Beaulieu, A; Bernlochner, F U; King, G J; Kowalewski, R; Lueck, T; Nugent, I M; Roney, J M; Sobie, R J; Tasneem, N; Gershon, T J; Harrison, P F; Latham, T E; Prepost, R; Wu, S L

2017-09-29

We search for single-photon events in 53  fb^{-1} of e^{+}e^{-} collision data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B-Factory. We look for events with a single high-energy photon and a large missing momentum and energy, consistent with production of a spin-1 particle A^{'} through the process e^{+}e^{-}→γA^{'}; A^{'}→invisible. Such particles, referred to as "dark photons," are motivated by theories applying a U(1) gauge symmetry to dark matter. We find no evidence for such processes and set 90% confidence level upper limits on the coupling strength of A^{'} to e^{+}e^{-} in the mass range m_{A^{'}}≤8  GeV. In particular, our limits exclude the values of the A^{'} coupling suggested by the dark-photon interpretation of the muon (g-2)_{μ} anomaly, as well as a broad range of parameters for the dark-sector models.

Multiloop atom interferometer measurements of chameleon dark energy in microgravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiow, Sheng-wey; Yu, Nan

2018-02-01

Chameleon field is one of the promising candidates of dark energy scalar fields. As in all viable candidate field theories, a screening mechanism is implemented to be consistent with all existing tests of general relativity. The screening effect in the chameleon theory manifests its influence limited only to the thin outer layer of a bulk object, thus producing extra forces orders of magnitude weaker than that of the gravitational force of the bulk. For pointlike particles such as atoms, the depth of screening is larger than the size of the particle, such that the screening mechanism is ineffective and the chameleon force is fully expressed on the atomic test particles. Extra force measurements using atom interferometry are thus much more sensitive than bulk mass based measurements, and indeed have placed the most stringent constraints on the parameters characterizing chameleon field. In this paper, we present a conceptual measurement approach for chameleon force detection using atom interferometry in microgravity, in which multiloop atom interferometers exploit specially designed periodic modulation of chameleon fields. We show that major systematics of the dark energy force measurements, i.e., effects of gravitational forces and their gradients, can be suppressed below all hypothetical chameleon signals in the parameter space of interest.

Constraints on CDM cosmology from galaxy power spectrum, CMB and SNIa evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferramacho, L. D.; Blanchard, A.; Zolnierowski, Y.

2009-05-01

Aims: We examine the constraints that can be obtained on standard cold dark matter models from the most currently used data set: CMB anisotropies, type Ia supernovae and the SDSS luminous red galaxies. We also examine how these constraints are widened when the equation of state parameter w and the curvature parameter Ωk are left as free parameters. Finally, we investigate the impact on these constraints of a possible form of evolution in SNIa intrinsic luminosity. Methods: We obtained our results from MCMC analysis using the full likelihood of each data set. Results: For the ΛCDM model, our “vanilla” model, cosmological parameters are tightly constrained and consistent with current estimates from various methods. When the dark energy parameter w is free we find that the constraints remain mostly unchanged, i.e. changes are smaller than the 1 sigma uncertainties. Similarly, relaxing the assumption of a flat universe leads to nearly identical constraints on the dark energy density parameter of the universe Ω_Λ , baryon density of the universe Ω_b, the optical depth τ, the index of the power spectrum of primordial fluctuations n_S, with most one sigma uncertainties better than 5%. More significant changes appear on other parameters: while preferred values are almost unchanged, uncertainties for the physical dark matter density Ω_ch^2, Hubble constant H0 and σ8 are typically twice as large. The constraint on the age of the Universe, which is very accurate for the vanilla model, is the most degraded. We found that different methodological approaches on large scale structure estimates lead to appreciable differences in preferred values and uncertainty widths. We found that possible evolution in SNIa intrinsic luminosity does not alter these constraints by much, except for w, for which the uncertainty is twice as large. At the same time, this possible evolution is severely constrained. Conclusions: We conclude that systematic uncertainties for some estimated quantities are similar or larger than statistical ones.

Cosmic shear bias and calibration in dark energy studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, A. N.; Kitching, T. D.

2018-07-01

With the advent of large-scale weak lensing surveys there is a need to understand how realistic, scale-dependent systematics bias cosmic shear and dark energy measurements, and how they can be removed. Here, we show how spatially varying image distortions are convolved with the shear field, mixing convergence E and B modes, and bias the observed shear power spectrum. In practise, many of these biases can be removed by calibration to data or simulations. The uncertainty in this calibration is marginalized over, and we calculate how this propagates into parameter estimation and degrades the dark energy Figure-of-Merit. We find that noise-like biases affect dark energy measurements the most, while spikes in the bias power have the least impact. We argue that, in order to remove systematic biases in cosmic shear surveys and maintain statistical power, effort should be put into improving the accuracy of the bias calibration rather than minimizing the size of the bias. In general, this appears to be a weaker condition for bias removal. We also investigate how to minimize the size of the calibration set for a fixed reduction in the Figure-of-Merit. Our results can be used to correctly model the effect of biases and calibration on a cosmic shear survey, assess their impact on the measurement of modified gravity and dark energy models, and to optimize survey and calibration requirements.

Inelastic frontier: Discovering dark matter at high recoil energy

DOE PAGES

Bramante, Joseph; Fox, Patrick J.; Kribs, Graham D.; ...

2016-12-27

There exist well-motivated models of particle dark matter which predominantly scatter inelastically off nuclei in direct detection experiments. This inelastic transition causes the dark matter to upscatter in terrestrial experiments into an excited state up to 550 keV heavier than the dark matter itself. An inelastic transition of this size is highly suppressed by both kinematics and nuclear form factors. In this paper, we extend previous studies of inelastic dark matter to determine the present bounds on the scattering cross section and the prospects for improvements in sensitivity. Three scenarios provide illustrative examples: nearly pure Higgsino supersymmetric dark matter, magnetic inelasticmore » dark matter, and inelastic models with dark photon exchange. We determine the elastic scattering rate (through loop diagrams involving the heavy state) as well as verify that exothermic transitions are negligible (in the parameter space we consider). Presently, the strongest bounds on the cross section are from xenon at LUX-PandaX (when the mass splitting δ≲160 keV), iodine at PICO (when 160≲δ≲300 keV), and tungsten at CRESST (when δ≳300 keV). Amusingly, once δ≳200 keV, weak scale (and larger) dark matter–nucleon scattering cross sections are allowed. The relative competitiveness of these diverse experiments is governed by the upper bound on the recoil energies employed by each experiment, as well as strong sensitivity to the mass of the heaviest element in the detector. Several implications, including sizable recoil energy-dependent annual modulation and improvements for future experiments, are discussed. We show that the xenon experiments can improve on the PICO results, if they were to analyze their existing data over a larger range of recoil energies, i.e., 20–500 keV Intriguingly, CRESST has reported several events in the recoil energy range 45–100 keV that, if interpreted as dark matter scattering, is compatible with δ~200 keV and an approximately weak scale cross section. Here, future data from PICO and CRESST can test this speculation, while xenon experiments could verify or refute this upon analyzing their higher energy recoil data.« less

Constraints on supersymmetric dark matter for heavy scalar superpartners

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huang, Peisi; Roglans, Roger A.; Spiegel, Daniel D.

2017-05-01

We study the constraints on neutralino dark matter in minimal low energy supersymmetry models and the case of heavy lepton and quark scalar superpartners. For values of the Higgsino and gaugino mass parameters of the order of the weak scale, direct detection experiments are already putting strong bounds on models in which the dominant interactions between the dark matter candidates and nuclei are governed by Higgs boson exchange processes, particularly for positive values of the Higgsino mass parameter mu. For negative values of mu, there can be destructive interference between the amplitudes associated with the exchange of the standard CP-evenmore » Higgs boson and the exchange of the nonstandard one. This leads to specific regions of parameter space which are consistent with the current experimental constraints and a thermal origin of the observed relic density. In this article, we study the current experimental constraints on these scenarios, as well as the future experimental probes, using a combination of direct and indirect dark matter detection and heavy Higgs and electroweakino searches at hadron colliders« less

Annihilation of singlet fermionic dark matter into two photons

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ettefaghi, M.M.; Moazzemi, R., E-mail: mettefaghi@qom.ac.ir, E-mail: r.moazzemi@qom.ac.ir

2013-02-01

We consider an extension of the standard model in which a singlet fermionic particle, to serve as cold dark matter, and a singlet Higgs are added. We perform a reanalysis on the free parameters. In particular, demanding a correct relic abundance of dark matter, we derive and plot the coupling of the singlet fermion with the singlet Higgs, g{sub s}, versus the dark matter mass. We analytically compute the pair annihilation cross section of singlet fermionic dark matter into two photons. The thermally averaged of this cross section is calculated for wide range of energies and plotted versus dark mattermore » mass using g{sub s} consistent with the relic abundance condition. We also compare our results with the Fermi-Lat observations.« less

Search for Non-thermal Dark Matter in Monojet Events in Proton-Proton Collisions at $$\\sqrt{s}$$ = 13 TeV

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Undleeb, Sonaina

2017-01-01

This dissertation presents a search for dark matter in events with one or more jets and large missing transverse energy using proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data was collected in 2016 by the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9more » $$fb^{-1}$$. The results are interpreted in terms of Light Non-thermal dark matter model which explains presence of dark matter as well as baryon asymmetry in the universe. Model independent limit on narrow resonance is also obtained for monojet dominant coupling parameter space. There is no evidence for an excess of events above the background processes in the signal region, therefore cross section limits are set for different mediator masses.« less

Non-Abelian S-term dark energy and inflation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodríguez, Yeinzon; Navarro, Andrés A.

2018-03-01

We study the role that a cosmic triad in the generalized SU(2) Proca theory, specifically in one of the pieces of the Lagrangian that involves the symmetric version Sμν of the gauge field strength tensor Fμν, has on dark energy and primordial inflation. Regarding dark energy, the triad behaves asymptotically as a couple of radiation perfect fluids whose energy densities are negative for the S term but positive for the Yang-Mills term. This leads to an interesting dynamical fine-tuning mechanism that gives rise to a combined equation of state parameter ω ≃ - 1 and, therefore, to an eternal period of accelerated isotropic expansion for an ample spectrum of initial conditions. Regarding primordial inflation, one of the critical points of the associated dynamical system can describe a prolonged period of isotropic slow-roll inflation sustained by the S term. This period ends up when the Yang-Mills term dominates the energy density leading to the radiation dominated epoch. Unfortunately, in contrast to the dark energy case, the primordial inflation scenario is strongly sensitive to the coupling constants and initial conditions. The whole model, including the other pieces of the Lagrangian that involve Sμν, might evade the recent strong constraints coming from the gravitational wave signal GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart GRB 170817A.

Observational tests of cosmic acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hojjati, Alireza

The accelerating expansion of the universe is considered to be a well-established fact. However, a physical explanation of its origin is still missing. While the cosmological constant, Λ, is the favorite candidate, a multitude of other theories have been proposed. Rather than testing every theory against data, one can adapt phenomenological approaches aimed at testing Λ. Adopting a model-independent approach to studying dark energy, we have investigated the utility of wavelets for constraining the redshift evolution of the dark energy equation of state, w(z), from a combination of the type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data. We have shown that sharp deviations from wΛ = -1 can be detected efficiently. Applying this method to the "Constitution" SNe Ia data, combined with the CMB data from Wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe (WMAP) and BAO data from Sloan digital sky survey, provided only weak hints of dark energy dynamics. Future weak lensing surveys will have the ability to measure the growth of large scale structure with accuracy sufficient for discriminating between different theories of dark energy and modified gravity (MG). The growth of structure can be tested, in a modelindependent way, by parametrizing the evolution equations of cosmological perturbations. At the linear level, this can be achieved by introducing two scale- and time-dependent functions (MG functions). We have consistently implemented the parametrized equations in the commonly used public codes, CAMB and CosmoMC, while preserving the covariant conservation of the energy-momentum. As a demonstration, we have obtained joint constraints on the neutrino mass and parameters of a scalar-tensor gravity model from the CMB, SNe Ia and the correlation of CMB with large scale structure. We have performed a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to find the eigenmodes and eigenvalues of the forecasted covariance matrix of the MG functions for surveys like Dark Energy Survey and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. By examining the eigenmodes, we can learn about the scales and redshifts where the surveys are most sensitive to modification of the growth. We have considered the impact of some of the systematic effects expected in weak lensing surveys. Also, we have demonstrated the utility of the PCA as an efficient way of storing information about the linear growth of perturbations. Finally, we have analyzed the degeneracy between the MG functions and other cosmological parameters, paying special attention to the effective equation of state w(z). We have taken several models with different MG parametrizations and studied their merits. We have shown how the complementarity of different observables helps break the degeneracies. Key words: dark energy, modified gravity, cosmological parameters, observational constraints, principal component analysis, massive neutrinos.

Parameter estimation with Sandage-Loeb test

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Geng, Jia-Jia; Zhang, Jing-Fei; Zhang, Xin, E-mail: gengjiajia163@163.com, E-mail: jfzhang@mail.neu.edu.cn, E-mail: zhangxin@mail.neu.edu.cn

2014-12-01

The Sandage-Loeb (SL) test directly measures the expansion rate of the universe in the redshift range of 2 ∼< z ∼< 5 by detecting redshift drift in the spectra of Lyman-α forest of distant quasars. We discuss the impact of the future SL test data on parameter estimation for the ΛCDM, the wCDM, and the w{sub 0}w{sub a}CDM models. To avoid the potential inconsistency with other observational data, we take the best-fitting dark energy model constrained by the current observations as the fiducial model to produce 30 mock SL test data. The SL test data provide an important supplement to the other dark energymore » probes, since they are extremely helpful in breaking the existing parameter degeneracies. We show that the strong degeneracy between Ω{sub m} and H{sub 0} in all the three dark energy models is well broken by the SL test. Compared to the current combined data of type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillation, cosmic microwave background, and Hubble constant, the 30-yr observation of SL test could improve the constraints on Ω{sub m} and H{sub 0} by more than 60% for all the three models. But the SL test can only moderately improve the constraint on the equation of state of dark energy. We show that a 30-yr observation of SL test could help improve the constraint on constant w by about 25%, and improve the constraints on w{sub 0} and w{sub a} by about 20% and 15%, respectively. We also quantify the constraining power of the SL test in the future high-precision joint geometric constraints on dark energy. The mock future supernova and baryon acoustic oscillation data are simulated based on the space-based project JDEM. We find that the 30-yr observation of SL test would help improve the measurement precision of Ω{sub m}, H{sub 0}, and w{sub a} by more than 70%, 20%, and 60%, respectively, for the w{sub 0}w{sub a}CDM model.« less

Testing modified gravity with Planck: The case of coupled dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pettorino, Valeria

2013-09-01

The Planck collaboration has recently published maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, in good agreement with a ΛCDM model, a fit especially valid for multipoles ℓ>40. We explore here the possibility that dark energy is dynamical and gravitational attraction between dark matter particles is effectively different from the standard one in general relativity: this is the case of coupled dark energy models, where dark matter particles feel the presence of a fifth force, larger than gravity by a factor 2β2, defining an effective gravitational constant Geff=G(1+2β2). We investigate constraints on the strength of the coupling β in view of Planck data. Interestingly, we show that a nonzero coupling is compatible with data and find a likelihood peak at β=0.036±0.016 [Planck+WMAPpolarization(WP)+baryonicacousticoscillations(BAO)] (compatible with zero at 2.2σ). The significance of the peak increases to β=0.066±0.018 [Planck+WP+HubbleSpaceTelescope(HST)] (around 3.6σ from zero coupling) when Planck is combined to HST data by . This peak comes mostly from the small difference between the Hubble parameter determined with CMB measurements and the one coming from astrophysics measurements and is already present in the combination with BAO. Future observations and further tests of current observations are needed to determine whether the discrepancy is due to systematics in any of the data sets. Our aim here is not to claim new physics but rather to show that a clear understanding of such tension has a considerable impact on dark energy models: it can be used to provide information on dynamical dark energy and modified gravity, allowing us to test the strength of an effective fifth force.

Signatures of compact halos of sterile-neutrino dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kühnel, Florian; Ohlsson, Tommy

2017-11-01

We investigate compact halos of sterile-neutrino dark matter and examine observable signatures with respect to neutrino and photon emission. Primarily, we consider two cases: primordial black-hole halos and ultracompact minihalos. In both cases, we find that there exists a broad range of possible parameter choices such that detection in the near future with x-ray and gamma-ray telescopes might be well possible. In fact, for energies above 10 TeV, the neutrino telescope IceCube would be a splendid detection machine for such macroscopic dark-matter candidates.

Super-Eddington accreting massive black holes explore high-z cosmology: Monte-Carlo simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Rong-Gen; Guo, Zong-Kuan; Huang, Qing-Guo; Yang, Tao

2018-06-01

In this paper, we simulate Super-Eddington accreting massive black holes (SEAMBHs) as the candles to probe cosmology for the first time. SEAMBHs have been demonstrated to be able to provide a new tool for estimating cosmological distance. Thus, we create a series of mock data sets of SEAMBHs, especially in the high redshift region, to check their abilities to probe the cosmology. To fulfill the potential of the SEAMBHs on the cosmology, we apply the simulated data to three projects. The first is the exploration of their abilities to constrain the cosmological parameters, in which we combine different data sets of current observations such as the cosmic microwave background from Planck and type Ia supernovae from Joint Light-curve Analysis (JLA). We find that the high redshift SEAMBHs can help to break the degeneracies of the background cosmological parameters constrained by Planck and JLA, thus giving much tighter constraints of the cosmological parameters. The second uses the high redshift SEAMBHs as the complements of the low redshift JLA to constrain the early expansion rate and the dark energy density evolution in the cold dark matter frame. Our results show that these high redshift SEAMBHs are very powerful on constraining the early Hubble rate and the evolution of the dark energy density; thus they can give us more information about the expansion history of our Universe, which is also crucial for testing the Λ CDM model in the high redshift region. Finally, we check the SEAMBH candles' abilities to reconstruct the equation of state for dark energy at high redshift. In summary, our results show that the SEAMBHs, as the rare candles in the high redshift region, can provide us a new and independent observation to probe cosmology in the future.

Constraining viscous dark energy models with the latest cosmological data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Deng; Yan, Yang-Jie; Meng, Xin-He

2017-10-01

Based on the assumption that the dark energy possessing bulk viscosity is homogeneously and isotropically permeated in the universe, we propose three new viscous dark energy (VDE) models to characterize the accelerating universe. By constraining these three models with the latest cosmological observations, we find that they just deviate very slightly from the standard cosmological model and can alleviate effectively the current H_0 tension between the local observation by the Hubble Space Telescope and the global measurement by the Planck Satellite. Interestingly, we conclude that a spatially flat universe in our VDE model with cosmic curvature is still supported by current data, and the scale invariant primordial power spectrum is strongly excluded at least at the 5.5σ confidence level in the three VDE models as the Planck result. We also give the 95% upper limits of the typical bulk viscosity parameter η in the three VDE scenarios.

Constraining the dark energy models with H (z ) data: An approach independent of H0

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anagnostopoulos, Fotios K.; Basilakos, Spyros

2018-03-01

We study the performance of the latest H (z ) data in constraining the cosmological parameters of different cosmological models, including that of Chevalier-Polarski-Linder w0w1 parametrization. First, we introduce a statistical procedure in which the chi-square estimator is not affected by the value of the Hubble constant. As a result, we find that the H (z ) data do not rule out the possibility of either nonflat models or dynamical dark energy cosmological models. However, we verify that the time varying equation-of-state parameter w (z ) is not constrained by the current expansion data. Combining the H (z ) and the Type Ia supernova data, we find that the H (z )/SNIa overall statistical analysis provides a substantial improvement of the cosmological constraints with respect to those of the H (z ) analysis. Moreover, the w0-w1 parameter space provided by the H (z )/SNIa joint analysis is in very good agreement with that of Planck 2015, which confirms that the present analysis with the H (z ) and supernova type Ia (SNIa) probes correctly reveals the expansion of the Universe as found by the team of Planck. Finally, we generate sets of Monte Carlo realizations in order to quantify the ability of the H (z ) data to provide strong constraints on the dark energy model parameters. The Monte Carlo approach shows significant improvement of the constraints, when increasing the sample to 100 H (z ) measurements. Such a goal can be achieved in the future, especially in the light of the next generation of surveys.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sharif, M., E-mail: msharif.math@pu.edu.pk; Manzoor, Rubab, E-mail: rubab.manzoor@umt.edu.pk; Department of Mathematics, University of Management and Technology, Johar Town Campus, Lahore-54782

This paper explores the influences of dark energy on the shear-free axially symmetric evolution by considering self-interacting Brans–Dicke gravity as a dark energy candidate. We describe energy source of the model and derive all the effective dynamical variables as well as effective structure scalars. It is found that scalar field is one of the sources of anisotropy and dissipation. The resulting effective structure scalars help to study the dynamics associated with dark energy in any axial configuration. In order to investigate shear-free evolution, we formulate a set of governing equations along with heat transport equation. We discuss consequences of shear-freemore » condition upon different SBD fluid models like dissipative non-geodesic and geodesic models. For dissipative non-geodesic case, the rotational distribution turns out to be the necessary and sufficient condition for radiating model. The dissipation depends upon inhomogeneous expansion. The geodesic model is found to be irrotational and non-radiating. The non-dissipative geodesic model leads to FRW model for positive values of the expansion parameter.« less

Dark energy and fate of the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, XiaoDong; Wang, Shuang; Huang, QingGuo; Zhang, Xin; Li, Miao

2012-07-01

We explore the ultimate fate of the Universe by using a divergence-free parametrization for dark energy w( z)= w 0+ w a [ln(2 + z) / (1 + z) - ln 2]. Unlike the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametrization, this parametrization has well behaved, bounded behavior for both high redshifts and negative redshifts, and thus can genuinely cover many theoretical dark energy models. After constraining the parameter space of this parametrization by using the current cosmological observations, we find that, at the 95.4% confidence level, our Universe can still exist at least 16.7 Gyr before it ends in a big rip. Moreover, for the phantom energy dominated Universe, we find that a gravitationally bound system will be destroyed at a time {{t ˜eq Psqrt {2| {1 + 3w( - 1)} |} } {/ {{t ˜eq Psqrt {2| {1 + 3w( - 1)} |} } {[ {6π | {1 + w( - 1)} |} ]}}} . } {[ {6π | {1 + w( - 1)} |} ]}}, where P is the period of a circular orbit around this system, before the big rip.

Nonparametric Determination of Redshift Evolution Index of Dark Energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ziaeepour, Houri

We propose a nonparametric method to determine the sign of γ — the redshift evolution index of dark energy. This is important for distinguishing between positive energy models, a cosmological constant, and what is generally called ghost models. Our method is based on geometrical properties and is more tolerant to uncertainties of other cosmological parameters than fitting methods in what concerns the sign of γ. The same parametrization can also be used for determining γ and its redshift dependence by fitting. We apply this method to SNLS supernovae and to gold sample of re-analyzed supernovae data from Riess et al. Both datasets show strong indication of a negative γ. If this result is confirmed by more extended and precise data, many of the dark energy models, including simple cosmological constant, standard quintessence models without interaction between quintessence scalar field(s) and matter, and scaling models are ruled out. We have also applied this method to Gurzadyan-Xue models with varying fundamental constants to demonstrate the possibility of using it to test other cosmologies.

An Evaluation of Cosmological Models from the Expansion and Growth of Structure Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhai, Zhongxu; Blanton, Michael; Slosar, Anže; Tinker, Jeremy

2017-12-01

We compare a large suite of theoretical cosmological models to observational data from the cosmic microwave background, baryon acoustic oscillation measurements of expansion, Type Ia supernova measurements of expansion, redshift space distortion measurements of the growth of structure, and the local Hubble constant. Our theoretical models include parametrizations of dark energy as well as physical models of dark energy and modified gravity. We determine the constraints on the model parameters, incorporating the redshift space distortion data directly in the analysis. To determine whether models can be ruled out, we evaluate the p-value (the probability under the model of obtaining data as bad or worse than the observed data). In our comparison, we find the well-known tension of H 0 with the other data; no model resolves this tension successfully. Among the models we consider, the large-scale growth of structure data does not affect the modified gravity models as a category particularly differently from dark energy models; it matters for some modified gravity models but not others, and the same is true for dark energy models. We compute predicted observables for each model under current observational constraints, and identify models for which future observational constraints will be particularly informative.

Using atom interferometry to detect dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burrage, Clare; Copeland, Edmund J.

2016-04-01

We review the tantalising prospect that the first evidence for the dark energy driving the observed acceleration of the universe on giga-parsec scales may be found through metre scale laboratory-based atom interferometry experiments. To do that, we first introduce the idea that scalar fields could be responsible for dark energy and show that in order to be compatible with fifth force constraints, these fields must have a screening mechanism which hides their effects from us within the solar system. Particular emphasis is placed on one such screening mechanism known as the chameleon effect where the field's mass becomes dependent on the environment. The way the field behaves in the presence of a spherical source is determined and we then go on to show how in the presence of the kind of high vacuum associated with atom interferometry experiments, and when the test particle is an atom, it is possible to use the associated interference pattern to place constraints on the acceleration due to the fifth force of the chameleon field - this has already been used to rule out large regions of the chameleon parameter space and maybe one day will be able to detect the force due to the dark energy field in the laboratory.

Modified dark matter: Relating dark energy, dark matter and baryonic matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edmonds, Douglas; Farrah, Duncan; Minic, Djordje; Ng, Y. Jack; Takeuchi, Tatsu

Modified dark matter (MDM) is a phenomenological model of dark matter, inspired by gravitational thermodynamics. For an accelerating universe with positive cosmological constant (Λ), such phenomenological considerations lead to the emergence of a critical acceleration parameter related to Λ. Such a critical acceleration is an effective phenomenological manifestation of MDM, and it is found in correlations between dark matter and baryonic matter in galaxy rotation curves. The resulting MDM mass profiles, which are sensitive to Λ, are consistent with observational data at both the galactic and cluster scales. In particular, the same critical acceleration appears both in the galactic and cluster data fits based on MDM. Furthermore, using some robust qualitative arguments, MDM appears to work well on cosmological scales, even though quantitative studies are still lacking. Finally, we comment on certain nonlocal aspects of the quanta of modified dark matter, which may lead to novel nonparticle phenomenology and which may explain why, so far, dark matter detection experiments have failed to detect dark matter particles.

Dark matter and cosmological nucleosynthesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schramm, D. N.

1986-01-01

Existing dark matter problems, i.e., dynamics, galaxy formation and inflation, are considered, along with a model which proposes dark baryons as the bulk of missing matter in a fractal universe. It is shown that no combination of dark, nonbaryonic matter can either provide a cosmological density parameter value near unity or, as in the case of high energy neutrinos, allow formation of condensed matter at epochs when quasars already existed. The possibility that correlations among galactic clusters are scale-free is discussed. Such a distribution of matter would yield a fractal of 1.2, close to a one-dimensional universe. Biasing, cosmic superstrings, and percolated explosions and hot dark matter are theoretical approaches that would satisfy the D = 1.2 fractal model of the large-scale structure of the universe and which would also allow sufficient dark matter in halos to close the universe.

Observational constraints on tachyonic chameleon dark energy model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banijamali, A.; Bellucci, S.; Fazlpour, B.; Solbi, M.

2018-03-01

It has been recently shown that tachyonic chameleon model of dark energy in which tachyon scalar field non-minimally coupled to the matter admits stable scaling attractor solution that could give rise to the late-time accelerated expansion of the universe and hence alleviate the coincidence problem. In the present work, we use data from Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) and Baryon Acoustic oscillations to place constraints on the model parameters. In our analysis we consider in general exponential and non-exponential forms for the non-minimal coupling function and tachyonic potential and show that the scenario is compatible with observations.

Cosmological implications of baryon acoustic oscillation measurements

DOE PAGES

Aubourg, Eric

2015-12-01

Here, we derive constraints on cosmological parameters and tests of dark energy models from the combination of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements with cosmic microwave background (CMB) data and a recent reanalysis of Type Ia supernova (SN) data. Particularly, we take advantage of high-precision BAO measurements from galaxy clustering and the Lyman-α forest (LyaF) in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Treating the BAO scale as an uncalibrated standard ruler, BAO data alone yield a high confidence detection of dark energy; in combination with the CMB angular acoustic scale they further imply a nearly flat universe. Adding the CMB-calibratedmore » physical scale of the sound horizon, the combination of BAO and SN data into an “inverse distance ladder” yields a measurement of H 0=67.3±1.1 km s -1 Mpc -1, with 1.7% precision. This measurement assumes standard prerecombination physics but is insensitive to assumptions about dark energy or space curvature, so agreement with CMB-based estimates that assume a flat ΛCDM cosmology is an important corroboration of this minimal cosmological model. For constant dark energy (Λ), our BAO+SN+CMB combination yields matter density Ω m=0.301±0.008 and curvature Ω k=-0.003±0.003. When we allow more general forms of evolving dark energy, the BAO+SN+CMB parameter constraints are always consistent with flat ΛCDM values at ≈1σ. And while the overall χ 2 of model fits is satisfactory, the LyaF BAO measurements are in moderate (2–2.5σ) tension with model predictions. Models with early dark energy that tracks the dominant energy component at high redshift remain consistent with our expansion history constraints, and they yield a higher H 0 and lower matter clustering amplitude, improving agreement with some low redshift observations. Expansion history alone yields an upper limit on the summed mass of neutrino species, Σm ν<0.56 eV (95% confidence), improving to Σm ν<0.25 eV if we include the lensing signal in the Planck CMB power spectrum. In a flat ΛCDM model that allows extra relativistic species, our data combination yields N eff=3.43±0.26; while the LyaF BAO data prefer higher Neff when excluding galaxy BAO, the galaxy BAO alone favor N eff≈3. Finally, when structure growth is extrapolated forward from the CMB to low redshift, standard dark energy models constrained by our data predict a level of matter clustering that is high compared to most, but not all, observational estimates.« less

Combined cosmological tests of a bivalent tachyonic dark energy scalar field model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Keresztes, Zoltán; Gergely, László Á., E-mail: zkeresztes@titan.physx.u-szeged.hu, E-mail: gergely@physx.u-szeged.hu

A recently investigated tachyonic scalar field dark energy dominated universe exhibits a bivalent future: depending on initial parameters can run either into a de Sitter exponential expansion or into a traversable future soft singularity followed by a contraction phase. We also include in the model (i) a tiny amount of radiation, (ii) baryonic matter (Ω{sub b}h{sup 2} = 0.022161, where the Hubble constant is fixed as h = 0.706) and (iii) cold dark matter (CDM). Out of a variety of six types of evolutions arising in a more subtle classification, we identify two in which in the past the scalar field effectively degenerates intomore » a dust (its pressure drops to an insignificantly low negative value). These are the evolutions of type IIb converging to de Sitter and type III hitting the future soft singularity. We confront these background evolutions with various cosmological tests, including the supernova type Ia Union 2.1 data, baryon acoustic oscillation distance ratios, Hubble parameter-redshift relation and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) acoustic scale. We determine a subset of the evolutions of both types which at 1σ confidence level are consistent with all of these cosmological tests. At perturbative level we derive the CMB temperature power spectrum to find the best agreement with the Planck data for Ω{sub CDM} = 0.22. The fit is as good as for the ΛCDM model at high multipoles, but the power remains slightly overestimated at low multipoles, for both types of evolutions. The rest of the CDM is effectively generated by the tachyonic field, which in this sense acts as a combined dark energy and dark matter model.« less

Cosmology with weak lensing surveys.

PubMed

Munshi, Dipak; Valageas, Patrick

2005-12-15

Weak gravitational lensing is responsible for the shearing and magnification of the images of high-redshift sources due to the presence of intervening mass. Since the lensing effects arise from deflections of the light rays due to fluctuations of the gravitational potential, they can be directly related to the underlying density field of the large-scale structures. Weak gravitational surveys are complementary to both galaxy surveys and cosmic microwave background observations as they probe unbiased nonlinear matter power spectra at medium redshift. Ongoing CMBR experiments such as WMAP and a future Planck satellite mission will measure the standard cosmological parameters with unprecedented accuracy. The focus of attention will then shift to understanding the nature of dark matter and vacuum energy: several recent studies suggest that lensing is the best method for constraining the dark energy equation of state. During the next 5 year period, ongoing and future weak lensing surveys such as the Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM; e.g. SNAP) or the Large-aperture Synoptic Survey Telescope will play a major role in advancing our understanding of the universe in this direction. In this review article, we describe various aspects of probing the matter power spectrum and the bi-spectrum and other related statistics with weak lensing surveys. This can be used to probe the background dynamics of the universe as well as the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

Improved cosmological constraints on the curvature and equation of state of dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Nana; Gong, Yungui; Chen, Yun; Zhu, Zong-Hong

2010-08-01

We apply the Constitution compilation of 397 supernova Ia, the baryon acoustic oscillation measurements including the A parameter, the distance ratio and the radial data, the five-year Wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe and the Hubble parameter data to study the geometry of the Universe and the property of dark energy by using the popular Chevallier-Polarski-Linder and Jassal-Bagla-Padmanabhan parameterizations. We compare the simple χ2 method of joined contour estimation and the Monte Carlo Markov chain method, and find that it is necessary to make the marginalized analysis on the error estimation. The probabilities of Ωk and wa in the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder model are skew distributions, and the marginalized 1σ errors are Ωm = 0.279+0.015- 0.008, Ωk = 0.005+0.006- 0.011, w0 = -1.05+0.23- 0.06 and wa = 0.5+0.3- 1.5. For the Jassal-Bagla-Padmanabhan model, the marginalized 1σ errors are Ωm = 0.281+0.015- 0.01, Ωk = 0.000+0.007- 0.006, w0 = -0.96+0.25- 0.18 and wa = -0.6+1.9- 1.6. The equation of state parameter w(z) of dark energy is negative in the redshift range 0 <= z <= 2 at more than 3σ level. The flat ΛCDM model is consistent with the current observational data at the 1σ level.

Neutrinos in the holographic dark energy model: constraints from latest measurements of expansion history and growth of structure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Jing-Fei; Zhao, Ming-Ming; Li, Yun-He

The model of holographic dark energy (HDE) with massive neutrinos and/or dark radiation is investigated in detail. The background and perturbation evolutions in the HDE model are calculated. We employ the PPF approach to overcome the gravity instability difficulty (perturbation divergence of dark energy) led by the equation-of-state parameter w evolving across the phantom divide w=−1 in the HDE model with c<1. We thus derive the evolutions of density perturbations of various components and metric fluctuations in the HDE model. The impacts of massive neutrino and dark radiation on the CMB anisotropy power spectrum and the matter power spectrum inmore » the HDE scenario are discussed. Furthermore, we constrain the models of HDE with massive neutrinos and/or dark radiation by using the latest measurements of expansion history and growth of structure, including the Planck CMB temperature data, the baryon acoustic oscillation data, the JLA supernova data, the Hubble constant direct measurement, the cosmic shear data of weak lensing, the Planck CMB lensing data, and the redshift space distortions data. We find that ∑ m{sub ν}<0.186 eV (95% CL) and N{sub eff}=3.75{sup +0.28}{sub −0.32} in the HDE model from the constraints of these data.« less

Testing cosmic transparency with the latest baryon acoustic oscillations and type Ia supernovae data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jun; Wu, Pu-Xun; Yu, Hong-Wei; Li, Zheng-Xiang

2013-06-01

Observations show that Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are dimmer than expected from a matter dominated Universe. It has been suggested that this observed phenomenon can also be explained using light absorption instead of dark energy. However, there is a serious degeneracy between the cosmic absorption parameter and the present matter density parameter Ωm when one tries to place constraints on the cosmic opacity using SNe Ia data. We combine the latest baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) and Union2 SNe Ia data in order to break this degeneracy. Assuming a flat ΛCDM model, we find that, although an opaque Universe is favored by SNe Ia+BAO since the best fit value of the cosmic absorption parameter is larger than zero, Ωm = 1 is ruled out at the 99.7% confidence level. Thus, cosmic opacity is not sufficient to account for the present observations and dark energy or modified gravity is still required.

Weak Gravitational Lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pires, Sandrine; Starck, Jean-Luc; Leonard, Adrienne; Réfrégier, Alexandre

2012-03-01

This chapter reviews the data mining methods recently developed to solve standard data problems in weak gravitational lensing. We detail the different steps of the weak lensing data analysis along with the different techniques dedicated to these applications. An overview of the different techniques currently used will be given along with future prospects. Until about 30 years ago, astronomers thought that the Universe was composed almost entirely of ordinary matter: protons, neutrons, electrons, and atoms. The field of weak lensing has been motivated by the observations made in the last decades showing that visible matter represents only about 4-5% of the Universe (see Figure 14.1). Currently, the majority of the Universe is thought to be dark, that is, does not emit electromagnetic radiation. The Universe is thought to be mostly composed of an invisible, pressure less matter - potentially relic from higher energy theories - called "dark matter" (20-21%) and by an even more mysterious term, described in Einstein equations as a vacuum energy density, called "dark energy" (70%). This "dark" Universe is not well described or even understood; its presence is inferred indirectly from its gravitational effects, both on the motions of astronomical objects and on light propagation. So this point could be the next breakthrough in cosmology. Today's cosmology is based on a cosmological model that contains various parameters that need to be determined precisely, such as the matter density parameter Omega_m or the dark energy density parameter Omega_lambda. Weak gravitational lensing is believed to be the most promising tool to understand the nature of dark matter and to constrain the cosmological parameters used to describe the Universe because it provides a method to directly map the distribution of dark matter (see [1,6,60,63,70]). From this dark matter distribution, the nature of dark matter can be better understood and better constraints can be placed on dark energy, which affects the evolution of structures. Gravitational lensing is the process by which light from distant galaxies is bent by the gravity of intervening mass in the Universe as it travels toward us. This bending causes the images of background galaxies to appear slightly distorted, and can be used to extract important cosmological information. In the beginning of the twentieth century, A. Einstein predicted that massive bodies could be seen as gravitational lenses that bend the path of light rays by creating a local curvature in space time. One of the first confirmations of Einstein's new theory was the observation during the 1919 solar eclipse of the deflection of light from distant stars by the sun. Since then, a wide range of lensing phenomena have been detected. The gravitational deflection of light by mass concentrations along light paths produces magnification, multiplication, and distortion of images. These lensing effects are illustrated by Figure 14.2, which shows one of the strongest lenses observed: Abell 2218, a very massive and distant cluster of galaxies in the constellation Draco. The observed gravitational arcs are actually the magnified and strongly distorted images of galaxies that are about 10 times more distant than the cluster itself. These strong gravitational lensing effects are very impressive but they are very rare. Far more prevalent are weak gravitational lensing effects, which we consider in this chapter, and in which the induced distortion in galaxy images is much weaker. These gravitational lensing effects are now widely used, but the amplitude of the weak lensing signal is so weak that its detection relies on the accuracy of the techniques used to analyze the data. Future weak lensing surveys are already planned in order to cover a large fraction of the sky with high accuracy, such as Euclid [68]. However, improving accuracy also places greater demands on the methods used to extract the available information.

Dark energy and dark matter from an additional adiabatic fluid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunsby, Peter K. S.; Luongo, Orlando; Reverberi, Lorenzo

2016-10-01

The dark sector is described by an additional barotropic fluid which evolves adiabatically during the Universe's history and whose adiabatic exponent γ is derived from the standard definitions of specific heats. Although in general γ is a function of the redshift, the Hubble parameter and its derivatives, we find that our assumptions lead necessarily to solutions with γ =constant in a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker universe. The adiabatic fluid acts effectively as the sum of two distinct components, one evolving like nonrelativistic matter and the other depending on the value of the adiabatic index. This makes the model particularly interesting as a way of simultaneously explaining the nature of both dark energy and dark matter, at least at the level of the background cosmology. The Λ CDM model is included in this family of theories when γ =0 . We fit our model to supernovae Ia, H (z ) and baryonic acoustic oscillation data, discussing the model selection criteria. The implications for the early Universe and the growth of small perturbations in this model are also discussed.

Cosmological Constraints from the Redshift Dependence of the Alcock–Paczynski Effect: Dynamical Dark Energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xiao-Dong; Sabiu, Cristiano G.; Park, Changbom; Wang, Yuting; Zhao, Gong-bo; Park, Hyunbae; Shafieloo, Arman; Kim, Juhan; Hong, Sungwook E.

2018-04-01

We perform an anisotropic clustering analysis of 1,133,326 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 12 covering the redshift range 0.15 < z < 0.69. The geometrical distortions of the galaxy positions, caused by incorrect assumptions in the cosmological model, are captured in the anisotropic two-point correlation function on scales of 6–40 h ‑1 Mpc. The redshift evolution of this anisotropic clustering is used to place constraints on the cosmological parameters. We improve the methodology of Li et al. to enable efficient exploration of high-dimensional cosmological parameter spaces, and apply it to the Chevallier–Polarski–Linder parameterization of dark energy, w = w 0 + w a z/(1 + z). In combination with data on the cosmic microwave background, baryon acoustic oscillations, Type Ia supernovae, and H 0 from Cepheids, we obtain Ω m = 0.301 ± 0.008, w 0 = ‑1.042 ± 0.067, and w a = ‑0.07 ± 0.29 (68.3% CL). Adding our new Alcock–Paczynski measurements to the aforementioned results reduces the error bars by ∼30%–40% and improves the dark-energy figure of merit by a factor of ∼2. We check the robustness of the results using realistic mock galaxy catalogs.

Using Variability to Search for Lensed Quasars in the Dark Energy Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buckley-Geer, Elizabeth J.; Dark Energy Survey Collaboration

2014-01-01

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) has just started its first season of a 5 year program using the DECam instrument on the Blanco 4m telescope at CTIO. Over the course of the 5 year survey we expect to discover about 120 lensed quasars brighter than i=21, including 20 high information-content quads (third brightest image required to be i<21). Strongly lensed quasars can be used to measure cosmological parameters. The time delays between the multiple images can be measured via dedicated monitoring campaigns, while the gravitational potential of the lensing galaxy and of structures along the line of sight can be modeled and measured using deep high resolution imaging and spectroscopy. The combination of these observables enables a distance, known as the time-delay distance (a combination of angular diameter distances) to be measured, which in turn can be converted into a measurement of cosmological parameters including those describing the Dark Energy equation of state. The first step in this measurement is to identify the lensed quasars. Traditionally, quasar candidates have been identified by their blue u-g color which allows them to be separated from the much more numerous stellar contaminants. However, the Dark Energy Survey does not take data in the u-band so other techniques must be employed. One such technique is based on the instrinsic variability of quasars (Schmidt et al, 2010, ApJ 714 1194). We have simulated what we would expect for the DES observing cadence in the first two seasons where we expect four visits to a given patch of sky spread over the two years. We will show results from the simulations as well as a first look at the data from the Science Verification phase of DES.

The impact of non-Gaussianity upon cosmological forecasts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Repp, A.; Szapudi, I.; Carron, J.; Wolk, M.

2015-12-01

The primary science driver for 3D galaxy surveys is their potential to constrain cosmological parameters. Forecasts of these surveys' effectiveness typically assume Gaussian statistics for the underlying matter density, despite the fact that the actual distribution is decidedly non-Gaussian. To quantify the effect of this assumption, we employ an analytic expression for the power spectrum covariance matrix to calculate the Fisher information for Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO)-type model surveys. We find that for typical number densities, at kmax = 0.5h Mpc-1, Gaussian assumptions significantly overestimate the information on all parameters considered, in some cases by up to an order of magnitude. However, after marginalizing over a six-parameter set, the form of the covariance matrix (dictated by N-body simulations) causes the majority of the effect to shift to the `amplitude-like' parameters, leaving the others virtually unaffected. We find that Gaussian assumptions at such wavenumbers can underestimate the dark energy parameter errors by well over 50 per cent, producing dark energy figures of merit almost three times too large. Thus, for 3D galaxy surveys probing the non-linear regime, proper consideration of non-Gaussian effects is essential.

Magnification-temperature correlation: The dark side of integrated Sachs-Wolfe measurements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

LoVerde, Marilena; Hui, Lam; Gaztanaga, Enrique

2007-02-15

Integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) measurements, which involve cross-correlating the microwave background anisotropies with the foreground large-scale structure (e.g. traced by galaxies/quasars), have proven to be an interesting probe of dark energy. We show that magnification bias, which is the inevitable modulation of the foreground number counts by gravitational lensing, alters both the scale dependence and amplitude of the observed ISW signal. This is true especially at high redshifts because (1) the intrinsic galaxy-temperature signal diminishes greatly back in the matter-dominated era, (2) the lensing efficiency increases with redshift and (3) the number count slope generally steepens with redshift in a magnitudemore » limited sample. At z > or approx. 2, the magnification-temperature correlation dominates over the intrinsic galaxy-temperature correlation and causes the observed ISW signal to increase with redshift, despite dark energy subdominance--a result of the fact that magnification probes structures all the way from the observer to the sources. Ignoring magnification bias therefore can lead to (significantly) erroneous conclusions about dark energy. While the lensing modulation opens up an interesting high z window for ISW measurements, high redshift measurements are not expected to add much new information to low redshift ones if dark energy is indeed the cosmological constant. This is because lensing introduces significant covariance across redshifts. The most compelling reasons for pursuing high redshift ISW measurements are to look for potential surprises such as early dark energy domination or signatures of modified gravity. We conclude with a discussion of existing measurements, the highest redshift of which is at the margin of being sensitive to the magnification effect. We also develop a formalism which might be of more general interest: to predict biases in estimating parameters when certain physical effects are ignored in interpreting observations.« less

The extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: a cosmological forecast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Gong-Bo; Wang, Yuting; Ross, Ashley J.; Shandera, Sarah; Percival, Will J.; Dawson, Kyle S.; Kneib, Jean-Paul; Myers, Adam D.; Brownstein, Joel R.; Comparat, Johan; Delubac, Timothée; Gao, Pengyuan; Hojjati, Alireza; Koyama, Kazuya; McBride, Cameron K.; Meza, Andrés; Newman, Jeffrey A.; Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie; Pogosian, Levon; Prada, Francisco; Rossi, Graziano; Schneider, Donald P.; Seo, Hee-Jong; Tao, Charling; Wang, Dandan; Yèche, Christophe; Zhang, Hanyu; Zhang, Yuecheng; Zhou, Xu; Zhu, Fangzhou; Zou, Hu

2016-04-01

We present a science forecast for the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) survey. Focusing on discrete tracers, we forecast the expected accuracy of the baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO), the redshift-space distortion (RSD) measurements, the fNL parameter quantifying the primordial non-Gaussianity, the dark energy and modified gravity parameters. We also use the line-of-sight clustering in the Lyman α forest to constrain the total neutrino mass. We find that eBOSS luminous red galaxies, emission line galaxies and clustering quasars can achieve a precision of 1, 2.2 and 1.6 per cent, respectively, for spherically averaged BAO distance measurements. Using the same samples, the constraint on fσ8 is expected to be 2.5, 3.3 and 2.8 per cent, respectively. For primordial non-Gaussianity, eBOSS alone can reach an accuracy of σ(fNL) ˜ 10-15. eBOSS can at most improve the dark energy figure of merit by a factor of 3 for the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametrization, and can well constrain three eigenmodes for the general equation-of-state parameter. eBOSS can also significantly improve constraints on modified gravity parameters by providing the RSD information, which is highly complementary to constraints obtained from weak lensing measurements. A principal component analysis shows that eBOSS can measure the eigenmodes of the effective Newton's constant to 2 per cent precision; this is a factor of 10 improvement over that achievable without eBOSS. Finally, we derive the eBOSS constraint (combined with Planck, Dark Energy Survey and BOSS) on the total neutrino mass, σ(Σmν) = 0.03 eV (68 per cent CL), which in principle makes it possible to distinguish between the two scenarios of neutrino mass hierarchies.

PeV-scale dark matter as a thermal relic of a decoupled sector

DOE PAGES

Berlin, Asher; Hooper, Dan; Krnjaic, Gordan

2016-06-21

We consider a class of scenarios in which the dark matter is part of a heavy hidden sector that is thermally decoupled from the Standard Model in the early universe. The dark matter freezes-out by annihilating to a lighter, metastable state, whose subsequent abundance can naturally come to dominate the energy density of the universe. Moreover, when this state decays, it reheats the visible sector and dilutes all relic abundances, thereby allowing the dark matter to be orders of magnitude heavier than the weak scale. For concreteness, we consider a simple realization with a Dirac fermion dark matter candidate coupledmore » to a massive gauge boson that decays to the Standard Model through its kinetic mixing with hypercharge. Finally, we identify viable parameter space in which the dark matter can be as heavy as ~1-100 PeV without being overproduced in the early universe.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Clark, Hamish A.; Iwanus, Nikolas; Lewis, Geraint F.

The existence of substructure in halos of annihilating dark matter would be expected to substantially boost the rate at which annihilation occurs. Ultracompact minihalos of dark matter (UCMHs) are one of the more extreme examples of this. The boosted annihilation can inject significant amounts of energy into the gas of a galaxy over its lifetime. Here we determine the impact of the boost factor from UCMH substructure on the heating of galactic gas in a Milky Way-type galaxy, by means of N-body simulation. If 1% of the dark matter exists as UCMHs, the corresponding boost factor can be of ordermore » 10{sup 5}. For reasonable values of the relevant parameters (annihilation cross section 3×10{sup −26} cm{sup 3} s{sup −1}, dark matter mass 100 GeV, 10% heating efficiency), we show that the presence of UCMHs at the 0.1% level would inject enough energy to eject significant amounts of gas from the halo, potentially preventing star formation within ∼1 kpc of the halo centre.« less

N-body simulations with a cosmic vector for dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlesi, Edoardo; Knebe, Alexander; Yepes, Gustavo; Gottlöber, Stefan; Jiménez, Jose Beltrán.; Maroto, Antonio L.

2012-07-01

We present the results of a series of cosmological N-body simulations of a vector dark energy (VDE) model, performed using a suitably modified version of the publicly available GADGET-2 code. The set-ups of our simulations were calibrated pursuing a twofold aim: (1) to analyse the large-scale distribution of massive objects and (2) to determine the properties of halo structure in this different framework. We observe that structure formation is enhanced in VDE, since the mass function at high redshift is boosted up to a factor of 10 with respect to Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM), possibly alleviating tensions with the observations of massive clusters at high redshifts and early reionization epoch. Significant differences can also be found for the value of the growth factor, which in VDE shows a completely different behaviour, and in the distribution of voids, which in this cosmology are on average smaller and less abundant. We further studied the structure of dark matter haloes more massive than 5 × 1013 h-1 M⊙, finding that no substantial difference emerges when comparing spin parameter, shape, triaxiality and profiles of structures evolved under different cosmological pictures. Nevertheless, minor differences can be found in the concentration-mass relation and the two-point correlation function, both showing different amplitudes and steeper slopes. Using an additional series of simulations of a ΛCDM scenario with the same ? and σ8 used in the VDE cosmology, we have been able to establish whether the modifications induced in the new cosmological picture were due to the particular nature of the dynamical dark energy or a straightforward consequence of the cosmological parameters. On large scales, the dynamical effects of the cosmic vector field can be seen in the peculiar evolution of the cluster number density function with redshift, in the shape of the mass function, in the distribution of voids and on the characteristic form of the growth index γ(z). On smaller scales, internal properties of haloes are almost unaffected by the change of cosmology, since no statistical difference can be observed in the characteristics of halo profiles, spin parameters, shapes and triaxialities. Only halo masses and concentrations show a substantial increase, which can, however, be attributed to the change in the cosmological parameters.

A simple testable model of baryon number violation: Baryogenesis, dark matter, neutron-antineutron oscillation and collider signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allahverdi, Rouzbeh; Dev, P. S. Bhupal; Dutta, Bhaskar

2018-04-01

We study a simple TeV-scale model of baryon number violation which explains the observed proximity of the dark matter and baryon abundances. The model has constraints arising from both low and high-energy processes, and in particular, predicts a sizable rate for the neutron-antineutron (n - n bar) oscillation at low energy and the monojet signal at the LHC. We find an interesting complementarity among the constraints arising from the observed baryon asymmetry, ratio of dark matter and baryon abundances, n - n bar oscillation lifetime and the LHC monojet signal. There are regions in the parameter space where the n - n bar oscillation lifetime is found to be more constraining than the LHC constraints, which illustrates the importance of the next-generation n - n bar oscillation experiments.

An Evaluation of Cosmological Models from the Expansion and Growth of Structure Measurements

DOE PAGES

Zhai, Zhongxu; Blanton, Michael; Slosar, Anze; ...

2017-12-01

Here, we compare a large suite of theoretical cosmological models to observational data from the cosmic microwave background, baryon acoustic oscillation measurements of expansion, Type Ia supernova measurements of expansion, redshift space distortion measurements of the growth of structure, and the local Hubble constant. Our theoretical models include parametrizations of dark energy as well as physical models of dark energy and modified gravity. We determine the constraints on the model parameters, incorporating the redshift space distortion data directly in the analysis. To determine whether models can be ruled out, we evaluate the p-value (the probability under the model of obtainingmore » data as bad or worse than the observed data). In our comparison, we find the well-known tension of H 0 with the other data; no model resolves this tension successfully. Among the models we consider, the large-scale growth of structure data does not affect the modified gravity models as a category particularly differently from dark energy models; it matters for some modified gravity models but not others, and the same is true for dark energy models. We compute predicted observables for each model under current observational constraints, and identify models for which future observational constraints will be particularly informative.« less

An Evaluation of Cosmological Models from the Expansion and Growth of Structure Measurements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhai, Zhongxu; Blanton, Michael; Slosar, Anze

Here, we compare a large suite of theoretical cosmological models to observational data from the cosmic microwave background, baryon acoustic oscillation measurements of expansion, Type Ia supernova measurements of expansion, redshift space distortion measurements of the growth of structure, and the local Hubble constant. Our theoretical models include parametrizations of dark energy as well as physical models of dark energy and modified gravity. We determine the constraints on the model parameters, incorporating the redshift space distortion data directly in the analysis. To determine whether models can be ruled out, we evaluate the p-value (the probability under the model of obtainingmore » data as bad or worse than the observed data). In our comparison, we find the well-known tension of H 0 with the other data; no model resolves this tension successfully. Among the models we consider, the large-scale growth of structure data does not affect the modified gravity models as a category particularly differently from dark energy models; it matters for some modified gravity models but not others, and the same is true for dark energy models. We compute predicted observables for each model under current observational constraints, and identify models for which future observational constraints will be particularly informative.« less

Dark Energy in Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sapone, Domenico

In this paper we review a part of the approaches that have been considered to explain the extraordinary discovery of the late time acceleration of the Universe. We discuss the arguments that have led physicists and astronomers to accept dark energy as the current preferable candidate to explain the acceleration. We highlight the problems and the attempts to overcome the difficulties related to such a component. We also consider alternative theories capable of explaining the acceleration of the Universe, such as modification of gravity. We compare the two approaches and point out the observational consequences, reaching the sad but foresightful conclusion that we will not be able to distinguish between a Universe filled by dark energy or a Universe where gravity is different from General Relativity. We review the present observations and discuss the future experiments that will help us to learn more about our Universe. This is not intended to be a complete list of all the dark energy models but this paper should be seen as a review on the phenomena responsible for the acceleration. Moreover, in a landscape of hardly compelling theories, it is an important task to build simple measurable parameters useful for future experiments that will help us to understand more about the evolution of the Universe.

Exploring the evolution of color-luminosity parameter β and its effects on parameter estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shuang; Li, Yun-He; Zhang, Xin

2014-03-01

It has been found in previous studies that, for the Supernova Legacy Survey three-year (SNLS3) data, there is strong evidence for the redshift evolution of color-luminosity parameter β. In this paper, using the three simplest dark energy models, i.e., the Λ-cold-dark-matter (ΛCDM) model, the wCDM model, and the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder model, we further explore the evolution of β and its effects on parameter estimation. In addition to the SNLS3 data, we also take into account the Planck distance priors data of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), as well as the latest galaxy clustering (GC) data extracted from SDSS DR7 and BOSS. We find that, for all the models, adding a parameter of β can reduce χmin2 by ˜36, indicating that β1=0 is ruled out at 6σ confidence levels. In other words, β deviates from a constant at 6σ confidence levels. This conclusion is insensitive to the dark energy models considered, showing the importance of considering the evolution of β in the cosmology fits. Furthermore, it is found that varying β can significantly change the fitting results of various cosmological parameters: using the SNLS3 data alone, varying β yields a larger Ωm for the ΛCDM model; using the SNLS3+CMB +GC data, varying β yields a larger Ωm and a smaller h for all the models. Moreover, we find that these results are much closer to those given by the CMB +GC data compared to the cases of treating β as a constant. This indicates that considering the evolution of β is very helpful for reducing the tension between supernova and other cosmological observations.

Explaining the DAMPE e+e- excess using the Higgs triplet model with a vector dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chuan-Hung; Chiang, Cheng-Wei; Nomura, Takaaki

2018-03-01

We explain the e+e- excess observed by the DAMPE Collaboration using a dark matter model based upon the Higgs triplet model and an additional hidden S U (2 )X gauge symmetry. Two of the S U (2 )X gauge bosons are stable due to a residual discrete symmetry and serve as the dark matter candidate. We search the parameter space for regions that can explain the observed relic abundance, and compute the flux of e+e- coming from a nearby dark matter subhalo. With the inclusion of background cosmic rays, we show that the model can render a good fit to the entire energy spectrum covering the AMS-02, Fermi-LAT, CALET and DAMPE data.

Instant preheating in quintessential inflation with α -attractors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dimopoulos, Konstantinos; Wood, Leonora Donaldson; Owen, Charlotte

2018-03-01

We investigate a compelling model of quintessential inflation in the context of α -attractors, which naturally result in a scalar potential featuring two flat regions; the inflationary plateau and the quintessential tail. The "asymptotic freedom" of α -attractors, near the kinetic poles, suppresses radiative corrections and interactions, which would otherwise threaten to lift the flatness of the quintessential tail and cause a 5th-force problem respectively. Since this is a nonoscillatory inflation model, we reheat the Universe through instant preheating. The parameter space is constrained by both inflation and dark energy requirements. We find an excellent correlation between the inflationary observables and model predictions, in agreement with the α -attractors setup. We also obtain successful quintessence for natural values of the parameters. Our model predicts potentially sizeable tensor perturbations (at the level of 1%) and a slightly varying equation of state for dark energy, to be probed in the near future.

New Constraints on Dark Energy from Chandra X-rayObservations of the Largest Relaxed Galaxy Clusters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Allen, S.W.; Rapetti, D.A.; /KIPAC, Menlo Park

2007-06-06

We present constraints on the mean matter density, {Omega}{sub m}, dark energy density, {Omega}{sub DE}, and the dark energy equation of state parameter, w, using Chandra measurements of the X-ray gas mass fraction (fgas) in 42 hot (kT > 5keV), X-ray luminous, dynamically relaxed galaxy clusters spanning the redshift range 0.05 < z < 1.1. Using only the fgas data for the 6 lowest redshift clusters at z < 0.15, for which dark energy has a negligible effect on the measurements, we measure {Omega}{sub m}=0.28{+-}0.06 (68% confidence, using standard priors on the Hubble Constant, H{sub 0}, and mean baryon density,more » {Omega}{sub b}h{sup 2}). Analyzing the data for all 42 clusters, employing only weak priors on H{sub 0} and {Omega}{sub b}h{sup 2}, we obtain a similar result on {Omega}{sub m} and detect the effects of dark energy on the distances to the clusters at {approx}99.99% confidence, with {Omega}{sub DE}=0.86{+-}0.21 for a non-flat LCDM model. The detection of dark energy is comparable in significance to recent SNIa studies and represents strong, independent evidence for cosmic acceleration. Systematic scatter remains undetected in the f{sub gas} data, despite a weighted mean statistical scatter in the distance measurements of only {approx}5%. For a flat cosmology with constant w, we measure {Omega}{sub m}=0.28{+-}0.06 and w=-1.14{+-}0.31. Combining the fgas data with independent constraints from CMB and SNIa studies removes the need for priors on {Omega}{sub b}h{sup 2} and H{sub 0} and leads to tighter constraints: {Omega}{sub m}=0.253{+-}0.021 and w=-0.98{+-}0.07 for the same constant-w model. More general analyses in which we relax the assumption of flatness and/or allow evolution in w remain consistent with the cosmological constant paradigm. Our analysis includes conservative allowances for systematic uncertainties. The small systematic scatter and tight constraints bode well for future dark energy studies using the f{sub gas} method.« less

The simplest non-minimal matter-geometry coupling in the f( R, T) cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moraes, P. H. R. S.; Sahoo, P. K.

2017-07-01

f( R, T) gravity is an extended theory of gravity in which the gravitational action contains general terms of both the Ricci scalar R and the trace of the energy-momentum tensor T. In this way, f( R, T) models are capable of describing a non-minimal coupling between geometry (through terms in R) and matter (through terms in T). In this article we construct a cosmological model from the simplest non-minimal matter-geometry coupling within the f( R, T) gravity formalism, by means of an effective energy-momentum tensor, given by the sum of the usual matter energy-momentum tensor with a dark energy contribution, with the latter coming from the matter-geometry coupling terms. We apply the energy conditions to our solutions in order to obtain a range of values for the free parameters of the model which yield a healthy and well-behaved scenario. For some values of the free parameters which are submissive to the energy conditions application, it is possible to predict a transition from a decelerated period of the expansion of the universe to a period of acceleration (dark energy era). We also propose further applications of this particular case of the f( R, T) formalism in order to check its reliability in other fields, rather than cosmology.

Imaging Galactic Dark Matter with High-Energy Cosmic Neutrinos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Argüelles, Carlos A.; Kheirandish, Ali; Vincent, Aaron C.

2017-11-01

We show that the high-energy cosmic neutrinos seen by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory can be used to probe interactions between neutrinos and the dark sector that cannot be reached by current cosmological methods. The origin of the observed neutrinos is still unknown, and their arrival directions are compatible with an isotropic distribution. This observation, together with dedicated studies of Galactic plane correlations, suggests a predominantly extragalactic origin. Interactions between this isotropic extragalactic flux and the dense dark matter (DM) bulge of the Milky Way would thus lead to an observable imprint on the distribution, which would be seen by IceCube as (i) slightly suppressed fluxes at energies below a PeV and (ii) a deficit of events in the direction of the Galactic center. We perform an extended unbinned likelihood analysis using the four-year high-energy starting event data set to constrain the strength of DM-neutrino interactions for two model classes. We find that, in spite of low statistics, IceCube can probe regions of the parameter space inaccessible to current cosmological methods.

Imaging Galactic Dark Matter with High-Energy Cosmic Neutrinos.

PubMed

Argüelles, Carlos A; Kheirandish, Ali; Vincent, Aaron C

2017-11-17

We show that the high-energy cosmic neutrinos seen by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory can be used to probe interactions between neutrinos and the dark sector that cannot be reached by current cosmological methods. The origin of the observed neutrinos is still unknown, and their arrival directions are compatible with an isotropic distribution. This observation, together with dedicated studies of Galactic plane correlations, suggests a predominantly extragalactic origin. Interactions between this isotropic extragalactic flux and the dense dark matter (DM) bulge of the Milky Way would thus lead to an observable imprint on the distribution, which would be seen by IceCube as (i) slightly suppressed fluxes at energies below a PeV and (ii) a deficit of events in the direction of the Galactic center. We perform an extended unbinned likelihood analysis using the four-year high-energy starting event data set to constrain the strength of DM-neutrino interactions for two model classes. We find that, in spite of low statistics, IceCube can probe regions of the parameter space inaccessible to current cosmological methods.

Some dynamical aspects of interacting quintessence model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choudhury, Binayak S.; Mondal, Himadri Shekhar; Chatterjee, Devosmita

2018-04-01

In this paper, we consider a particular form of coupling, namely B=σ (\\dot{ρ _m}-\\dot{ρ _φ }) in spatially flat (k=0) Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) space-time. We perform phase-space analysis for this interacting quintessence (dark energy) and dark matter model for different numerical values of parameters. We also show the phase-space analysis for the `best-fit Universe' or concordance model. In our analysis, we observe the existence of late-time scaling attractors.

Skew-flavored dark matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Agrawal, Prateek; Chacko, Zackaria; Fortes, Elaine C. F. S.

We explore a novel flavor structure in the interactions of dark matter with the Standard Model. We consider theories in which both the dark matter candidate, and the particles that mediate its interactions with the Standard Model fields, carry flavor quantum numbers. The interactions are skewed in flavor space, so that a dark matter particle does not directly couple to the Standard Model matter fields of the same flavor, but only to the other two flavors. This framework respects minimal flavor violation and is, therefore, naturally consistent with flavor constraints. We study the phenomenology of a benchmark model in whichmore » dark matter couples to right-handed charged leptons. In large regions of parameter space, the dark matter can emerge as a thermal relic, while remaining consistent with the constraints from direct and indirect detection. The collider signatures of this scenario include events with multiple leptons and missing energy. In conclusion, these events exhibit a characteristic flavor pattern that may allow this class of models to be distinguished from other theories of dark matter.« less

Skew-flavored dark matter

DOE PAGES

Agrawal, Prateek; Chacko, Zackaria; Fortes, Elaine C. F. S.; ...

2016-05-10

We explore a novel flavor structure in the interactions of dark matter with the Standard Model. We consider theories in which both the dark matter candidate, and the particles that mediate its interactions with the Standard Model fields, carry flavor quantum numbers. The interactions are skewed in flavor space, so that a dark matter particle does not directly couple to the Standard Model matter fields of the same flavor, but only to the other two flavors. This framework respects minimal flavor violation and is, therefore, naturally consistent with flavor constraints. We study the phenomenology of a benchmark model in whichmore » dark matter couples to right-handed charged leptons. In large regions of parameter space, the dark matter can emerge as a thermal relic, while remaining consistent with the constraints from direct and indirect detection. The collider signatures of this scenario include events with multiple leptons and missing energy. In conclusion, these events exhibit a characteristic flavor pattern that may allow this class of models to be distinguished from other theories of dark matter.« less

Direct dark matter detection with the DarkSide-50 experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pagani, Luca

2017-01-01

The existence of dark matter is known because of its gravitational effects, and although its nature remains undisclosed, there is a growing indication that the galactic halo could be permeated by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with mass of the order ofmore » $100$$\\,GeV/c$$^2$ and coupling with ordinary matter at or below the weak scale. In this context, DarkSide-50 aims to direct observe WIMP-nucleon collisions in a liquid argon dual phase time-projection chamber located deep underground at Gran Sasso National Laboratory, in Italy. In this work a re-analysis of the data that led to the best limit on WIMP-nucleon cross section with an argon target is done. As starting point of the new approach, the energy reconstruction of events is considered: a new energy variable is developed where anti-correlation between ionization and scintillation produced by an interaction is taken into account. As first result, a better energy resolution is achieved. In this new energy framewor k, access is granted to micro-physics parameters fundamental to argon scintillation such as the recombination and quenching as a function of the energy. The improved knowledge of recombination and quenching allows to develop a new model for distinguish between events possibly due to WIMPs and backgrounds. In light of the new model, the final result of this work is a more stringent limit on spin independent WIMP-nucleon cross section with an argon target. This work was supervised by Marco Pallavicini and was completed in collaboration with members of the DarkSide collaboration.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zheng, Xiaogang; Biesiada, Marek; Cao, Shuo

A new compilation of 012 angular-size/redshift data for compact radio quasars from very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) surveys motivates us to revisit the interaction between dark energy and dark matter with these probes reaching high redshifts z ∼ 3.0. In this paper, we investigate observational constraints on different phenomenological interacting dark energy (IDE) models with the intermediate-luminosity radio quasars acting as individual standard rulers, combined with the newest BAO and CMB observation from Planck results acting as statistical rulers. The results obtained from the MCMC method and other statistical methods including figure of Merit and Information Criteria show that: (1) Compared withmore » the current standard candle data and standard clock data, the intermediate-luminosity radio quasar standard rulers , probing much higher redshifts, could provide comparable constraints on different IDE scenarios. (2) The strong degeneracies between the interaction term and Hubble constant may contribute to alleviate the tension of H {sub 0} between the recent Planck and HST measurements. (3) Concerning the ranking of competing dark energy models, IDE with more free parameters are substantially penalized by the BIC criterion, which agrees very well with the previous results derived from other cosmological probes.« less

The cryogenic dark matter search low ionization-threshold experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basu Thakur, Ritoban

Over 80 years ago we discovered the presence of Dark Matter in our universe. Endeavors in astronomy and cosmology are in consensus with ever improving precision that Dark Matter constitutes an essential 27% of our universe. The Standard Model of Particle Physics does not provide any answers to the Dark Matter problem. It is imperative that we understand Dark Matter and discover its fundamental nature. This is because, alongside other important factors, Dark Matter is responsible for formation of structure in our universe. The very construct in which we sit is defined by its abundance. The Milky Way galaxy, hence life, wouldn't have formed if small over densities of Dark Matter had not caused sufficient accretion of stellar material. Marvelous experiments have been designed based on basic notions to directly and indirectly study Dark Matter, and the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment has been a pioneer and forerunner in the direct detection field. Generations of the CDMS experiment were designed with advanced scientific upgrades to detect Dark Matter particles of mass O(100) GeV/c2. This mass-scale was set primarily by predictions from Super Symmetry. Around 2013 the canonical SUSY predictions were losing some ground and several observations (rather hints of signals) from various experiments indicated to the possibility of lighter Dark Matter of mass O(10) GeV/c2. While the SuperCDMS experiment was probing the regular parameter space, the CDMSlite experiment was conceived to dedicatedly search for light Dark Matter using a novel technology. "CDMSlite" stands for CDMS - low ionization threshold experiment. Here we utilize a unique electron phonon coupling mechanism to measure ionization generated by scattering of light particles. Typically signals from such low energy recoils would be washed under instrumental noise.In CDMSlite via generation of Luke-Neganov phonons we can detect the small ionization energies, amplified in phonon modes during charge transport. This technology allows us to reach very low thresholds and reliably measure and investigate low energy recoils from light Dark Matter particles. This thesis describes the physics behind CDMSlite, the experimenta design and the first science results from CDMSlite operated at the Soudan Underground Laboratory.

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search low ionization-threshold experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Basu Thakur, Ritoban

2014-01-01

Over 80 years ago we discovered the presence of Dark Matter in our universe. Endeavors in astronomy and cosmology are in consensus with ever improving precision that Dark Matter constitutes an essential 27% of our universe. The Standard Model of Particle Physics does not provide any answers to the Dark Matter problem. It is imperative that we understand Dark Matter and discover its fundamental nature. This is because, alongside other important factors, Dark Matter is responsible for formation of structure in our universe. The very construct in which we sit is defined by its abundance. The Milky Way galaxy, hencemore » life, wouldn't have formed if small over densities of Dark Matter had not caused sufficient accretion of stellar material. Marvelous experiments have been designed based on basic notions to directly and in-directly study Dark Matter, and the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment has been a pioneer and forerunner in the direct detection field. Generations of the CDMS experiment were designed with advanced scientific upgrades to detect Dark Matter particles of mass O(100) GeV/c 2. This mass-scale was set primarily by predictions from Super Symmetry. Around 2013 the canonical SUSY predictions were losing some ground and several observations (rather hints of signals) from various experiments indicated to the possibility of lighter Dark Matter of mass O(10) GeV/c 2. While the SuperCDMS experiment was probing the regular parameter space, the CDMSlite experiment was conceived to dedicatedly search for light Dark Matter using a novel technology. "CDMSlite" stands for CDMS - low ionization threshold experiment. Here we utilize a unique electron phonon coupling mechanism to measure ionization generated by scattering of light particles. Typically signals from such low energy recoils would be washed under instrumental noise. In CDMSlite via generation of Luke-Neganov phonons we can detect the small ionization energies, amplified in phonon modes during charge transport. This technology allows us to reach very low thresholds and reliably measure and investigate low energy recoils from light Dark Matter particles. This thesis describes the physics behind CDMSlite, the experimental design and the first science results from CDMSlite operated at the Soudan Underground Laboratory.« less

Unified Dark Matter scalar field models with fast transition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bertacca, Daniele; Bruni, Marco; Piattella, Oliver F.

2011-02-01

We investigate the general properties of Unified Dark Matter (UDM) scalar field models with Lagrangians with a non-canonical kinetic term, looking specifically for models that can produce a fast transition between an early Einstein-de Sitter CDM-like era and a later Dark Energy like phase, similarly to the barotropic fluid UDM models in JCAP01(2010)014. However, while the background evolution can be very similar in the two cases, the perturbations are naturally adiabatic in fluid models, while in the scalar field case they are necessarily non-adiabatic. The new approach to building UDM Lagrangians proposed here allows to escape the common problem ofmore » the fine-tuning of the parameters which plague many UDM models. We analyse the properties of perturbations in our model, focusing on the the evolution of the effective speed of sound and that of the Jeans length. With this insight, we can set theoretical constraints on the parameters of the model, predicting sufficient conditions for the model to be viable. An interesting feature of our models is that what can be interpreted as w{sub DE} can be < −1 without violating the null energy conditions.« less

Matter density perturbation and power spectrum in running vacuum model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geng, Chao-Qiang; Lee, Chung-Chi

2017-01-01

We investigate the matter density perturbation δm and power spectrum P(k) in the running vacuum model, with the cosmological constant being a function of the Hubble parameter, given by Λ = Λ0 + 6σHH0 + 3νH2, in which the linear and quadratic terms of H would originate from the QCD vacuum condensation and cosmological renormalization group, respectively. Taking the dark energy perturbation into consideration, we derive the evolution equation for δm and find a specific scale dcr = 2π/kcr, which divides the evolution of the universe into the sub-interaction and super-interaction regimes, corresponding to k ≪ kcr and k ≫ kcr, respectively. For the former, the evolution of δm has the same behaviour as that in the Λ cold dark model, while for the latter, the growth of δm is frozen (greatly enhanced) when ν + σ > (<)0 due to the couplings between radiation, matter and dark energy. It is clear that the observational data rule out the cases with ν < 0 and ν + σ < 0, while the allowed window for the model parameters is extremely narrow with ν , |σ | ≲ O(10^{-7}).

Observing the shadow of Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton-Axion black hole

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wei, Shao-Wen; Liu, Yu-Xiao, E-mail: weishw@lzu.edu.cn, E-mail: liuyx@lzu.edu.cn

In this paper, the shadows cast by Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton-Axion black hole and naked singularity are studied. The shadow of a rotating black hole is found to be a dark zone covered by a deformed circle. For a fixed value of the spin a, the size of the shadow decreases with the dilaton parameter b. The distortion of the shadow monotonically increases with b and takes its maximal when the black hole approaches to the extremal case. Due to the optical properties, the area of the black hole shadow is supposed to equal to the high-energy absorption cross section. Based on thismore » assumption, the energy emission rate is investigated. For a naked singularity, the shadow has a dark arc and a dark spot or straight, and the corresponding observables are obtained. These results show that there is a significant effect of the spin a and dilaton parameter b on these shadows. Moreover, we examine the observables of the shadow cast by the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, which is very useful for us to probe the nature of the black hole through the astronomical observations in the near future.« less

Exploring the particle nature of dark matter with the All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory (AMEGO)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caputo, Regina; Meyer, Manuel; Sánchez-Conde, Miguel; AMEGO

2018-01-01

The era of precision cosmology has revealed that ~80% of the matter in the universe is dark matter. Two leading candidates, motivated by both particle and astrophysics, are Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) and Weakly Interacting Sub-eV Particles (WISPs) like axions and axionlike particles. Both WIMPs and WISPs have distinct gamma-ray signatures. Data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) continues to be an integral part of the search for these dark matter signatures spanning the 50 MeV to >300 GeV energy range in a variety of astrophysical targets. Thus far, there are no conclusive detections; however, there is an intriguing excess of gamma rays associated with Galactic center (GCE) that could be explained with WIMP annihilation. The angular resolution of the LAT at lower energies makes source selection challenging and the true nature of the detected signal remains unknown. WISP searches using, e.g. supernova explosions, spectra of blazars, or strongly magnetized environments, would also greatly benefit from increased angular and energy resolution, as well as from polarization measurements. To address these, we are developing AMEGO, the All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory. This instrument has a projected energy and angular resolution that will increase sensitivity by a factor of 20-50 over previous instruments. This will allow us to explore new areas of dark matter parameter space and provide unprecedented access to its particle nature.

A Low-threshold Analysis of Data from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bunker, Raymond A., III

Although dark matter appears to constitute over 80% of the matter in the Universe, its composition is a mystery. Astrophysical observations suggest that the luminous portions of the Galaxy are embedded in a halo of darkmatter particles. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are the most studied class of dark-matter candidates and arise naturally within the context of many weak-scale supersymmetric theories. Direct-detection experiments like the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) strive to discern the kinetic energy of recoiling nuclei resulting from WIMP interactions with terrestrial matter. This is a considerable challenge in which the low (expected) rate of WIMP interactions must be distinguished from an overwhelming rate due to known types of radiation. An incontrovertible positive detection has remained elusive. However, a few experiments have recorded data that appear consistent with a low-mass WIMP. This thesis describes an attempt to probe the favored parameter space. To increase sensitivity to low-mass WIMPs, a low-threshold technique with improved sensitivity to small energy depositions is applied to CDMS shallow-site data. Four germanium and two silicon detectors were operated between December 2001 and June 2002, yielding 118 days of exposure. By sacrificing some of the CDMS detectors' ability to discriminate signal from background, energy thresholds of ˜1 and ˜2 keV were achieved for three of the germanium and both silicon detectors, respectively. A large number of WIMP candidate events are observed, most of which can be accounted for by misidentification of background sources. No conclusive evidence for a low-mass WIMP signal is found. The observed event rates are used to set upper limits on the WIMPnucleon scattering cross section as a function of WIMP mass. Interesting parameter space is excluded for WIMPs with masses below ˜9GeV/c 2. Under standard assumptions, the parameter space favored by interpretations of other experiments' data as low-mass WIMP signals is partially excluded, and new parameter space is excluded for WIMP masses between 3 and 4GeV/ c2.

Diffraction and unitarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dremin, I. M.

2016-10-01

I begin with a tribute to V.N. Gribov and then come to a particular problem which would be of interest for him. His first paper on reggeology was devoted to elastic scatterings of hadrons. Here, using the unitarity relation in combination with experimental data about the elastic scattering in the diffraction cone, I show how the shape and the darkness of the interaction region of colliding protons change with the increase of their energies. In particular, the collisions become fully absorptive at small impact parameters at LHC energies that results in some special features of inelastic processes as well. The possible evolution with increasing energy of the shape from the dark core at the LHC to the fully transparent one at higher energies is discussed. It implies that the terminology of the black disk would be replaced by the black torus.

Diffraction and Unitarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dremin, I. M.

I begin with a tribute to V.N. Gribov and then come to a particular problem which would be of interest for him. His first paper on reggeology was devoted to elastic scatterings of hadrons. Here, using the unitarity relation in combination with experimental data about the elastic scattering in the diffraction cone, I show how the shape and the darkness of the interaction region of colliding protons change with the increase of their energies. In particular, the collisions become fully absorptive at small impact parameters at LHC energies that results in some special features of inelastic processes as well. The possible evolution with increasing energy of the shape from the dark core at the LHC to the fully transparent one at higher energies is discussed. It implies that the terminology of the black disk would be replaced by the black torus.

A New Estimator of the Deceleration Parameter from Galaxy Rotation Curves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Putten, Maurice H. P. M.

2016-06-01

The nature of dark energy can be probed by the derivative Q={{dq}(z)/{dz}| }0 at redshift z = 0 of the deceleration parameter q(z). It is probably static if Q\\lt 1 or dynamic if Q\\gt 2.5, supporting ΛCDM or {{Λ }}=(1-q){H}2, respectively, where H denotes the Hubble parameter. We derive q=1-{(4π {a}0/{cH})}2, enabling a determination of q(z) by measuring Milgrom’s parameter, {a}0(z), in galaxy rotation curves, equivalent to the coefficient A in the Tully-Fisher relation {V}c4={{AM}}b between a rotation velocity V c and a baryonic mass M b . We infer that dark matter should be extremely light, with clustering limited to the size of galaxy clusters. The associated transition radius to non-Newtonian gravity can conceivably be probed in a freefall Cavendish-type experiment in space.

Generalized reciprocity theorem for semiconductor devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Misiakos, K.; Lindholm, F. A.

1985-01-01

A reciprocity theorem is presented that relates the short-circuit current of a device, induced by a carrier generation source, to the minority-carrier Fermi level in the dark. The basic relation is general under low injection. It holds for three-dimensional devices with position dependent parameters (energy gap, electron affinity, mobility, etc.), and for transient or steady-state conditions. This theorem allows calculation of the internal quantum efficiency of a solar cell by using the analysis of the device in the dark. Other applications could involve measurements of various device parameters, interfacial surface recombination velocity at a polcrystalline silicon emitter contact, for rexample, by using steady-state or transient photon or mass-particle radiation.

Accelerating dark energy cosmological model in two fluids with hybrid scale factor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishra, B.; Sahoo, P. K.; Ray, Pratik P.

In this paper, we have investigated the anisotropic behavior of the accelerating universe in Bianchi V spacetime in the framework of General Relativity (GR). The matter field we have considered is of two non-interacting fluids, i.e. the usual string fluid and dark energy (DE) fluid. In order to represent the pressure anisotropy, the skewness parameters are introduced along three different spatial directions. To achieve a physically realistic solutions to the field equations, we have considered a scale factor, known as hybrid scale factor, which is generated by a time-varying deceleration parameter. This simulates a cosmic transition from early deceleration to late time acceleration. It is observed that the string fluid dominates the universe at early deceleration phase but does not affect nature of cosmic dynamics substantially at late phase, whereas the DE fluid dominates the universe in present time, which is in accordance with the observations results. Hence, we analyzed here the role of two fluids in the transitional phases of universe with respect to time which depicts the reason behind the cosmic expansion and DE. The role of DE with variable equation of state parameter (EoS) and skewness parameters, is also discussed along with physical and geometrical properties.

On the validity of cosmological Fisher matrix forecasts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wolz, Laura; Kilbinger, Martin; Weller, Jochen

2012-09-01

We present a comparison of Fisher matrix forecasts for cosmological probes with Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) posterior likelihood estimation methods. We analyse the performance of future Dark Energy Task Force (DETF) stage-III and stage-IV dark-energy surveys using supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations and weak lensing as probes. We concentrate in particular on the dark-energy equation of state parameters w{sub 0} and w{sub a}. For purely geometrical probes, and especially when marginalising over w{sub a}, we find considerable disagreement between the two methods, since in this case the Fisher matrix can not reproduce the highly non-elliptical shape of the likelihood function.more » More quantitatively, the Fisher method underestimates the marginalized errors for purely geometrical probes between 30%-70%. For cases including structure formation such as weak lensing, we find that the posterior probability contours from the Fisher matrix estimation are in good agreement with the MCMC contours and the forecasted errors only changing on the 5% level. We then explore non-linear transformations resulting in physically-motivated parameters and investigate whether these parameterisations exhibit a Gaussian behaviour. We conclude that for the purely geometrical probes and, more generally, in cases where it is not known whether the likelihood is close to Gaussian, the Fisher matrix is not the appropriate tool to produce reliable forecasts.« less

Restrained dark U (1 )d at low energies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Correia, Fagner C.; Fajfer, Svjetlana

2016-12-01

We investigate a spontaneously broken U (1 )d gauge symmetry with a muon-specific dark Higgs. Our first goal is to verify how the presence of a new dark Higgs, ϕ , and a dark gauge boson, V , can simultaneously face the anomalies from the muon magnetic moment and the proton charge radius. Second, by assuming that V must decay to an electron-positron pair, we explore the corresponding parameter space determined with the low-energy constraints coming from K →μ X , electron (g -2 )e, K →μ νμe+e-, K →μ νμμ+μ-, and τ →ντμ νμe+e-. We focus on the scenario where the V mass is below ˜2 mμ and the ϕ mass runs from few MeV to 250 MeV, with V -photon mixing of the order ˜O (10-3). Among weak process at low energies, we check the influence of the new light vector on kaon decays as well as on the scattering e+e-→μ+μ-e+e- and discuss the impact of the dark Higgs on e+e-→μ+μ-μ+μ-. Finally, we consider contributions of the V -photon mixing in the decays π0→γ e+e-, η →γ e+e-, ρ →π e+e-, K*→K e+e-, and ϕ (1020 )→η e+e-.

Characterizing Dark Energy Through Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, Tamara M.; Parkinson, David

Type Ia supernovae are a powerful cosmological probe that gave the first strong evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Here we provide an overview of how supernovae can go further to reveal information about what is causing the acceleration, be it dark energy or some modification to our laws of gravity. We first review the methods of statistical inference that are commonly used, making a point of separating parameter estimation from model selection. We then summarize the many different approaches used to explain or test the acceleration, including parametric models (like the standard model, ΛCDM), nonparametric models, dark fluid models such as quintessence, and extensions to standard gravity. Finally, we also show how supernova data can be used beyond the Hubble diagram, to give information on gravitational lensing and peculiar velocities that can be used to distinguish between models that predict the same expansion history.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bernal, José Luis; Cuesta, Antonio J.; Verde, Licia, E-mail: joseluis.bernal@icc.ub.edu, E-mail: liciaverde@icc.ub.edu, E-mail: ajcuesta@icc.ub.edu

We perform an empirical consistency test of General Relativity/dark energy by disentangling expansion history and growth of structure constraints. We replace each late-universe parameter that describes the behavior of dark energy with two meta-parameters: one describing geometrical information in cosmological probes, and the other controlling the growth of structure. If the underlying model (a standard wCDM cosmology with General Relativity) is correct, that is under the null hypothesis, the two meta-parameters coincide. If they do not, it could indicate a failure of the model or systematics in the data. We present a global analysis using state-of-the-art cosmological data sets whichmore » points in the direction that cosmic structures prefer a weaker growth than that inferred by background probes. This result could signify inconsistencies of the model, the necessity of extensions to it or the presence of systematic errors in the data. We examine all these possibilities. The fact that the result is mostly driven by a specific sub-set of galaxy clusters abundance data, points to the need of a better understanding of this probe.« less

Production of Bio-Energy from Pig Manure: A Focus on the Dynamics Change of Four Parameters under Sunlight-Dark Conditions

PubMed Central

Yin, Dongxue; Liu, Wei; Zhai, Ningning; Feng, Yongzhong; Yang, Gaihe; Wang, Xiaojiao; Han, Xinhui

2015-01-01

This study investigated the effect of sunlight-dark conditions on volatile fatty acids (VFAs), total ammonium nitrogen (TAN), total alkalinity (TA) and pH during pig manure (PM) digestion and then the subsequent influence on biogas yield of PM. PM1 and PM2 were performed in a transparent reactor and a non-transparent reactor, respectively. Two sets of experiments were conducted with a temperature of 35.0±2.0 °C and a total solid concentration of 8.0% to the digestion material. The dynamic change of the four parameters in response to sunlight-dark conditions resulted in variations of the physiological properties in the digester and affected the cumulative biogas production (CBP). PM1 obtained higher CBP (15020.0 mL) with a more stable pH and a lower TAN concentration (1414.5 mg/L) compared to PM2 (2675.0 mL and 1670.0 mg/L, respectively). The direct path coefficients and indirect path coefficients between the four parameters and CBP were also analyzed. PMID:25970266

Production of Bio-Energy from Pig Manure: A Focus on the Dynamics Change of Four Parameters under Sunlight-Dark Conditions.

PubMed

Yin, Dongxue; Liu, Wei; Zhai, Ningning; Feng, Yongzhong; Yang, Gaihe; Wang, Xiaojiao; Han, Xinhui

2015-01-01

This study investigated the effect of sunlight-dark conditions on volatile fatty acids (VFAs), total ammonium nitrogen (TAN), total alkalinity (TA) and pH during pig manure (PM) digestion and then the subsequent influence on biogas yield of PM. PM1 and PM2 were performed in a transparent reactor and a non-transparent reactor, respectively. Two sets of experiments were conducted with a temperature of 35.0±2.0 °C and a total solid concentration of 8.0% to the digestion material. The dynamic change of the four parameters in response to sunlight-dark conditions resulted in variations of the physiological properties in the digester and affected the cumulative biogas production (CBP). PM1 obtained higher CBP (15020.0 mL) with a more stable pH and a lower TAN concentration (1414.5 mg/L) compared to PM2 (2675.0 mL and 1670.0 mg/L, respectively). The direct path coefficients and indirect path coefficients between the four parameters and CBP were also analyzed.

Supernova 1987A Constraints on Sub-GeV Dark Sectors, Millicharged Particles, the QCD Axion, and an Axion-like Particle

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chang, Jae Hyeok; Essig, Rouven; McDermott, Samuel D.

We consider the constraints from Supernova 1987A on particles with small couplings to the Standard Model. We discuss a model with a fermion coupled to a dark photon, with various mass relations in the dark sector; millicharged particles; dark-sector fermions with inelastic transitions; the hadronic QCD axion; and an axion-like particle that couples to Standard Model fermions with couplings proportional to their mass. In the fermion cases, we develop a new diagnostic for assessing when such a particle is trapped at large mixing angles. Our bounds for a fermion coupled to a dark photon constrain small couplings and masses <200more » MeV, and do not decouple for low fermion masses. They exclude parameter space that is otherwise unconstrained by existing accelerator-based and direct-detection searches. In addition, our bounds are complementary to proposed laboratory searches for sub-GeV dark matter, and do not constrain several "thermal" benchmark-model targets. For a millicharged particle, we exclude charges between 10^(-9) to a few times 10^(-6) in units of the electron charge; this excludes parameter space to higher millicharges and masses than previous bounds. For the QCD axion and an axion-like particle, we apply several updated nuclear physics calculations and include the energy dependence of the optical depth to accurately account for energy loss at large couplings. We rule out a hadronic axion of mass between 0.1 and a few hundred eV, or equivalently bound the PQ scale between a few times 10^4 and 10^8 GeV, closing the hadronic axion window. For an axion-like particle, our bounds disfavor decay constants between a few times 10^5 GeV up to a few times 10^8 GeV. In all cases, our bounds differ from previous work by more than an order of magnitude across the entire parameter space. We also provide estimated systematic errors due to the uncertainties of the progenitor.« less

Solar Extreme UV radiation and quark nugget dark matter model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhitnitsky, Ariel

2017-10-01

We advocate the idea that the surprising emission of extreme ultra violet (EUV) radiation and soft x-rays from the Sun are powered externally by incident dark matter (DM) particles. The energy and the spectral shape of this otherwise unexpected solar irradiation is estimated within the quark nugget dark matter model. This model was originally invented as a natural explanation of the observed ratio Ωdark ~ Ωvisible when the DM and visible matter densities assume the same order of magnitude values. This generic consequence of the model is a result of the common origin of both types of matter which are formed during the same QCD transition and both proportional to the same fundamental dimensional parameter ΛQCD. We also present arguments suggesting that the transient brightening-like "nanoflares" in the Sun may be related to the annihilation events which inevitably occur in the solar atmosphere within this dark matter scenario.

Little composite dark matter.

PubMed

Balkin, Reuven; Perez, Gilad; Weiler, Andreas

2018-01-01

We examine the dark matter phenomenology of a composite electroweak singlet state. This singlet belongs to the Goldstone sector of a well-motivated extension of the Littlest Higgs with T -parity. A viable parameter space, consistent with the observed dark matter relic abundance as well as with the various collider, electroweak precision and dark matter direct detection experimental constraints is found for this scenario. T -parity implies a rich LHC phenomenology, which forms an interesting interplay between conventional natural SUSY type of signals involving third generation quarks and missing energy, from stop-like particle production and decay, and composite Higgs type of signals involving third generation quarks associated with Higgs and electroweak gauge boson, from vector-like top-partners production and decay. The composite features of the dark matter phenomenology allows the composite singlet to produce the correct relic abundance while interacting weakly with the Higgs via the usual Higgs portal coupling [Formula: see text], thus evading direct detection.

Little composite dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balkin, Reuven; Perez, Gilad; Weiler, Andreas

2018-02-01

We examine the dark matter phenomenology of a composite electroweak singlet state. This singlet belongs to the Goldstone sector of a well-motivated extension of the Littlest Higgs with T-parity. A viable parameter space, consistent with the observed dark matter relic abundance as well as with the various collider, electroweak precision and dark matter direct detection experimental constraints is found for this scenario. T-parity implies a rich LHC phenomenology, which forms an interesting interplay between conventional natural SUSY type of signals involving third generation quarks and missing energy, from stop-like particle production and decay, and composite Higgs type of signals involving third generation quarks associated with Higgs and electroweak gauge boson, from vector-like top-partners production and decay. The composite features of the dark matter phenomenology allows the composite singlet to produce the correct relic abundance while interacting weakly with the Higgs via the usual Higgs portal coupling λ _{ {DM}}˜ O(1%), thus evading direct detection.

Matter-wave dark solitons in boxlike traps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sciacca, M.; Barenghi, C. F.; Parker, N. G.

2017-01-01

Motivated by the experimental development of quasihomogeneous Bose-Einstein condensates confined in boxlike traps, we study numerically the dynamics of dark solitons in such traps at zero temperature. We consider the cases where the side walls of the box potential rise either as a power law or a Gaussian. While the soliton propagates through the homogeneous interior of the box without dissipation, it typically dissipates energy during a reflection from a wall through the emission of sound waves, causing a slight increase in the soliton's speed. We characterize this energy loss as a function of the wall parameters. Moreover, over multiple oscillations and reflections in the boxlike trap, the energy loss and speed increase of the soliton can be significant, although the decay eventually becomes stabilized when the soliton equilibrates with the ambient sound field.

Inflation without inflaton: A model for dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falomir, H.; Gamboa, J.; Méndez, F.; Gondolo, P.

2017-10-01

The interaction between two initially causally disconnected regions of the Universe is studied using analogies of noncommutative quantum mechanics and the deformation of Poisson manifolds. These causally disconnect regions are governed by two independent Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metrics with scale factors a and b and cosmological constants Λa and Λb, respectively. The causality is turned on by positing a nontrivial Poisson bracket [Pα,Pβ]=ɛα βκ/G , where G is Newton's gravitational constant and κ is a dimensionless parameter. The posited deformed Poisson bracket has an interpretation in terms of 3-cocycles, anomalies, and Poissonian manifolds. The modified FLRW equations acquire an energy-momentum tensor from which we explicitly obtain the equation of state parameter. The modified FLRW equations are solved numerically and the solutions are inflationary or oscillating depending on the values of κ . In this model, the accelerating and decelerating regime may be periodic. The analysis of the equation of state clearly shows the presence of dark energy. By completeness, the perturbative solution for κ ≪1 is also studied.

Probing dark energy using convergence power spectrum and bi-spectrum

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dinda, Bikash R., E-mail: bikash@ctp-jamia.res.in

Weak lensing convergence statistics is a powerful tool to probe dark energy. Dark energy plays an important role to the structure formation and the effects can be detected through the convergence power spectrum, bi-spectrum etc. One of the most promising and simplest dark energy model is the ΛCDM . However, it is worth investigating different dark energy models with evolving equation of state of the dark energy. In this work, detectability of different dark energy models from ΛCDM model has been explored through convergence power spectrum and bi-spectrum.

No Evidence for Extensions to the Standard Cosmological Model.

PubMed

Heavens, Alan; Fantaye, Yabebal; Sellentin, Elena; Eggers, Hans; Hosenie, Zafiirah; Kroon, Steve; Mootoovaloo, Arrykrishna

2017-09-08

We compute the Bayesian evidence for models considered in the main analysis of Planck cosmic microwave background data. By utilizing carefully defined nearest-neighbor distances in parameter space, we reuse the Monte Carlo Markov chains already produced for parameter inference to compute Bayes factors B for many different model-data set combinations. The standard 6-parameter flat cold dark matter model with a cosmological constant (ΛCDM) is favored over all other models considered, with curvature being mildly favored only when cosmic microwave background lensing is not included. Many alternative models are strongly disfavored by the data, including primordial correlated isocurvature models (lnB=-7.8), nonzero scalar-to-tensor ratio (lnB=-4.3), running of the spectral index (lnB=-4.7), curvature (lnB=-3.6), nonstandard numbers of neutrinos (lnB=-3.1), nonstandard neutrino masses (lnB=-3.2), nonstandard lensing potential (lnB=-4.6), evolving dark energy (lnB=-3.2), sterile neutrinos (lnB=-6.9), and extra sterile neutrinos with a nonzero scalar-to-tensor ratio (lnB=-10.8). Other models are less strongly disfavored with respect to flat ΛCDM. As with all analyses based on Bayesian evidence, the final numbers depend on the widths of the parameter priors. We adopt the priors used in the Planck analysis, while performing a prior sensitivity analysis. Our quantitative conclusion is that extensions beyond the standard cosmological model are disfavored by Planck data. Only when newer Hubble constant measurements are included does ΛCDM become disfavored, and only mildly, compared with a dynamical dark energy model (lnB∼+2).

No Evidence for Extensions to the Standard Cosmological Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heavens, Alan; Fantaye, Yabebal; Sellentin, Elena; Eggers, Hans; Hosenie, Zafiirah; Kroon, Steve; Mootoovaloo, Arrykrishna

2017-09-01

We compute the Bayesian evidence for models considered in the main analysis of Planck cosmic microwave background data. By utilizing carefully defined nearest-neighbor distances in parameter space, we reuse the Monte Carlo Markov chains already produced for parameter inference to compute Bayes factors B for many different model-data set combinations. The standard 6-parameter flat cold dark matter model with a cosmological constant (Λ CDM ) is favored over all other models considered, with curvature being mildly favored only when cosmic microwave background lensing is not included. Many alternative models are strongly disfavored by the data, including primordial correlated isocurvature models (ln B =-7.8 ), nonzero scalar-to-tensor ratio (ln B =-4.3 ), running of the spectral index (ln B =-4.7 ), curvature (ln B =-3.6 ), nonstandard numbers of neutrinos (ln B =-3.1 ), nonstandard neutrino masses (ln B =-3.2 ), nonstandard lensing potential (ln B =-4.6 ), evolving dark energy (ln B =-3.2 ), sterile neutrinos (ln B =-6.9 ), and extra sterile neutrinos with a nonzero scalar-to-tensor ratio (ln B =-10.8 ). Other models are less strongly disfavored with respect to flat Λ CDM . As with all analyses based on Bayesian evidence, the final numbers depend on the widths of the parameter priors. We adopt the priors used in the Planck analysis, while performing a prior sensitivity analysis. Our quantitative conclusion is that extensions beyond the standard cosmological model are disfavored by Planck data. Only when newer Hubble constant measurements are included does Λ CDM become disfavored, and only mildly, compared with a dynamical dark energy model (ln B ˜+2 ).

Dark Energy Constraints from the Thermal Sunyaev Zeldovich Power Spectrum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bolliet, Boris; Comis, Barbara; Komatsu, Eiichiro; Macías-Pérez, Juan Francisco

2018-03-01

We constrain the dark energy equation of state parameter, w, using the power spectrum of the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect. We improve upon previous analyses by taking into account the trispectrum in the covariance matrix and marginalising over the foreground parameters, the correlated noise, the mass bias B in the Planck universal pressure profile, and all the relevant cosmological parameters (i.e., not just Ωm and σ8). We find that the amplitude of the tSZ power spectrum at ℓ ≲ 103 depends primarily on F ≡ σ8(Ωm/B)0.40h-0.21, where B is related to more commonly used variable b by B = (1 - b)-1. We measure this parameter with 2.6% precision, F = 0.460 ± 0.012 (68% CL). By fixing the bias to B = 1.25 and adding the local determination of the Hubble constant H0 and the amplitude of the primordial power spectrum constrained by the Planck Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data, we find w = -1.10 ± 0.12, σ8 = 0.802 ± 0.037, and Ωm = 0.265 ± 0.022 (68% CL). Our limit on w is consistent with and is as tight as that from the distance-alone constraint from the CMB and H0. Finally, by combining the tSZ power spectrum and the CMB data we find, in the Λ Cold Dark Matter (CDM) model, the mass bias of B = 1.71 ± 0.17, i.e., 1 - b = 0.58 ± 0.06 (68% CL).

Dark energy constraints from the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich power spectrum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bolliet, Boris; Comis, Barbara; Komatsu, Eiichiro; Macías-Pérez, Juan Francisco

2018-07-01

We constrain the dark energy equation of state parameter, {w}, using the power spectrum of the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect. We improve upon previous analyses by taking into account the trispectrum in the covariance matrix and marginalizing over the foreground parameters, the correlated noise, the mass bias B in the Planck universal pressure profile, and all the relevant cosmological parameters (i.e. not just Ωm and σ8). We find that the amplitude of the tSZ power spectrum at ℓ ≲ 103 depends primarily on F ≡ σ8(Ωm/B)0.40h-0.21, where B is related to more commonly used variable b by B = (1 - b)-1. We measure this parameter with 2.6 per cent precision, F = 0.460 ± 0.012 (68 per cent CL). By fixing the bias to B = 1.25 and adding the local determination of the Hubble constant H0 and the amplitude of the primordial power spectrum constrained by the Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) data, we find {w} = -1.10 ± 0.12, σ8 = 0.802 ± 0.037, and Ωm = 0.265 ± 0.022 (68 per cent CL). Our limit on {w} is consistent with and is as tight as that from the distance-alone constraint from the CMB and H0. Finally, by combining the tSZ power spectrum and the CMB data we find, in the Λ cold dark matter model, the mass bias of B = 1.71 ± 0.17, i.e. 1 - b = 0.58 ± 0.06 (68 per cent CL).

Weak-lensing mass calibration of redMaPPer galaxy clusters in Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data

DOE PAGES

Melchior, P.; Gruen, D.; McClintock, T.; ...

2017-05-16

Here, we use weak-lensing shear measurements to determine the mean mass of optically selected galaxy clusters in Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data. In a blinded analysis, we split the sample of more than 8000 redMaPPer clusters into 15 subsets, spanning ranges in the richness parameter 5 ≤ λ ≤ 180 and redshift 0.2 ≤ z ≤ 0.8, and fit the averaged mass density contrast profiles with a model that accounts for seven distinct sources of systematic uncertainty: shear measurement and photometric redshift errors; cluster-member contamination; miscentring; deviations from the NFW halo profile; halo triaxiality and line-of-sight projections.

Optical study of the DAFT/FADA galaxy cluster survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinet, N.; Durret, F.; Clowe, D.; Adami, C.

2013-11-01

DAFT/FADA (Dark energy American French Team) is a large survey of ˜90 high redshift (0.42×10^{14} M_{⊙}) clusters with HST weak lensing oriented data, plus BVRIZJ 4m ground based follow up to compute photometric redshifts. The main goals of this survey are to constrain dark energy parameters using weak lensing tomography and to study a large homogeneous sample of high redshift massive clusters. We will briefly review the latest results of this optical survey, focusing on two ongoing works: the calculation of galaxy luminosity functions from photometric redshift catalogs and the weak lensing analysis of ground based data.

Weak-lensing mass calibration of redMaPPer galaxy clusters in Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Melchior, P.; Gruen, D.; McClintock, T.

Here, we use weak-lensing shear measurements to determine the mean mass of optically selected galaxy clusters in Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data. In a blinded analysis, we split the sample of more than 8000 redMaPPer clusters into 15 subsets, spanning ranges in the richness parameter 5 ≤ λ ≤ 180 and redshift 0.2 ≤ z ≤ 0.8, and fit the averaged mass density contrast profiles with a model that accounts for seven distinct sources of systematic uncertainty: shear measurement and photometric redshift errors; cluster-member contamination; miscentring; deviations from the NFW halo profile; halo triaxiality and line-of-sight projections.

Light yield in DarkSide-10: A prototype two-phase argon TPC for dark matter searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexander, T.; Alton, D.; Arisaka, K.; Back, H. O.; Beltrame, P.; Benziger, J.; Bonfini, G.; Brigatti, A.; Brodsky, J.; Cadonati, L.; Calaprice, F.; Candela, A.; Cao, H.; Cavalcante, P.; Chavarria, A.; Chepurnov, A.; Cline, D.; Cocco, A. G.; Condon, C.; D'Angelo, D.; Davini, S.; De Haas, E.; Derbin, A.; Di Pietro, G.; Dratchnev, I.; Durben, D.; Empl, A.; Etenko, A.; Fan, A.; Fiorillo, G.; Fomenko, K.; Gabriele, F.; Galbiati, C.; Gazzana, S.; Ghag, C.; Ghiano, C.; Goretti, A.; Grandi, L.; Gromov, M.; Guan, M.; Guo, C.; Guray, G.; Hungerford, E. V.; Ianni, Al.; Ianni, An.; Kayunov, A.; Keeter, K.; Kendziora, C.; Kidner, S.; Kobychev, V.; Koh, G.; Korablev, D.; Korga, G.; Shields, E.; Li, P.; Loer, B.; Lombardi, P.; Love, C.; Ludhova, L.; Lukyanchenko, L.; Lund, A.; Lung, K.; Ma, Y.; Machulin, I.; Maricic, J.; Martoff, C. J.; Meng, Y.; Meroni, E.; Meyers, P. D.; Mohayai, T.; Montanari, D.; Montuschi, M.; Mosteiro, P.; Mount, B.; Muratova, V.; Nelson, A.; Nemtzow, A.; Nurakhov, N.; Orsini, M.; Ortica, F.; Pallavicini, M.; Pantic, E.; Parmeggiano, S.; Parsells, R.; Pelliccia, N.; Perasso, L.; Perfetto, F.; Pinsky, L.; Pocar, A.; Pordes, S.; Ranucci, G.; Razeto, A.; Romani, A.; Rossi, N.; Saggese, P.; Saldanha, R.; Salvo, C.; Sands, W.; Seigar, M.; Semenov, D.; Skorokhvatov, M.; Smirnov, O.; Sotnikov, A.; Sukhotin, S.; Suvorov, Y.; Tartaglia, R.; Tatarowicz, J.; Testera, G.; Teymourian, A.; Thompson, J.; Unzhakov, E.; Vogelaar, R. B.; Wang, H.; Westerdale, S.; Wojcik, M.; Wright, A.; Xu, J.; Yang, C.; Zavatarelli, S.; Zehfus, M.; Zhong, W.; Zuzel, G.

2013-09-01

As part of the DarkSide program of direct dark matter searches using two-phase argon TPCs, a prototype detector with an active volume containing 10 kg of liquid argon, DarkSide-10, was built and operated underground in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy. A critically important parameter for such devices is the scintillation light yield, as photon statistics limits the rejection of electron-recoil backgrounds by pulse shape discrimination. We have measured the light yield of DarkSide-10 using the readily-identifiable full-absorption peaks from gamma ray sources combined with single-photoelectron calibrations using low-occupancy laser pulses. For gamma lines of energies in the range 122-1275 keV, we get light yields averaging 8.887±0.003(stat)±0.444(sys) p.e./keVee. With additional purification, the light yield measured at 511 keV increased to 9.142±0.006(stat) p.e./keVee.

Photometric redshifts for weak lensing tomography from space: the role of optical and near infrared photometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdalla, F. B.; Amara, A.; Capak, P.; Cypriano, E. S.; Lahav, O.; Rhodes, J.

2008-07-01

We study in detail the photometric redshift requirements needed for tomographic weak gravitational lensing in order to measure accurately the dark energy equation of state. In particular, we examine how ground-based photometry (u, g, r, i, z, y) can be complemented by space-based near-infrared (near-IR) photometry (J, H), e.g. onboard the planned DUNE satellite. Using realistic photometric redshift simulations and an artificial neural network photo-z method we evaluate the figure of merit for the dark energy parameters (w0, wa). We consider a DUNE-like broad optical filter supplemented with ground-based multiband optical data from surveys like the Dark Energy Survey, Pan-STARRS and LSST. We show that the dark energy figure of merit would be improved by a factor of 1.3-1.7 if IR filters are added onboard DUNE. Furthermore we show that with IR data catastrophic photo-z outliers can be removed effectively. There is an interplay between the choice of filters, the magnitude limits and the removal of outliers. We draw attention to the dependence of the results on the galaxy formation scenarios encoded into the mock galaxies, e.g. the galaxy reddening. For example, very deep u-band data could be as effective as the IR. We also find that about 105-106 spectroscopic redshifts are needed for calibration of the full survey.

DESAlert: Enabling Real-Time Transient Follow-Up with Dark Energy Survey Data

DOE PAGES

Poci, A.; Kuehn, K.; Abbott, T.; ...

2016-09-30

Here, the Dark Energy Survey is undertaking an observational programme imaging 1/4 of the southern hemisphere sky with unprecedented photometric accuracy. In the process of observing millions of faint stars and galaxies to constrain the parameters of the dark energy equation of state, the Dark Energy Survey will obtain pre-discovery images of the regions surrounding an estimated 100 gamma-ray bursts over 5 yr. Once gamma-ray bursts are detected by, e.g., the Swift satellite, the DES data will be extremely useful for follow-up observations by the transient astronomy community. We describe a recently-commissioned suite of software that listens continuously for automatedmore » notices of gamma-ray burst activity, collates information from archival DES data, and disseminates relevant data products back to the community in near-real-time. Of particular importance are the opportunities that non-public DES data provide for relative photometry of the optical counterparts of gamma-ray bursts, as well as for identifying key characteristics (e.g., photometric redshifts) of potential gamma-ray burst host galaxies. We provide the functional details of the DESAlert software, and its data products, and we show sample results from the application of DESAlert to numerous previously detected gamma-ray bursts, including the possible identification of several heretofore unknown gamma-ray burst hosts.« less

DESAlert: Enabling Real-Time Transient Follow-Up with Dark Energy Survey Data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Poci, A.; Kuehn, K.; Abbott, T.

Here, the Dark Energy Survey is undertaking an observational programme imaging 1/4 of the southern hemisphere sky with unprecedented photometric accuracy. In the process of observing millions of faint stars and galaxies to constrain the parameters of the dark energy equation of state, the Dark Energy Survey will obtain pre-discovery images of the regions surrounding an estimated 100 gamma-ray bursts over 5 yr. Once gamma-ray bursts are detected by, e.g., the Swift satellite, the DES data will be extremely useful for follow-up observations by the transient astronomy community. We describe a recently-commissioned suite of software that listens continuously for automatedmore » notices of gamma-ray burst activity, collates information from archival DES data, and disseminates relevant data products back to the community in near-real-time. Of particular importance are the opportunities that non-public DES data provide for relative photometry of the optical counterparts of gamma-ray bursts, as well as for identifying key characteristics (e.g., photometric redshifts) of potential gamma-ray burst host galaxies. We provide the functional details of the DESAlert software, and its data products, and we show sample results from the application of DESAlert to numerous previously detected gamma-ray bursts, including the possible identification of several heretofore unknown gamma-ray burst hosts.« less

External priors for the next generation of CMB experiments

DOE PAGES

Manzotti, Alessandro; Dodelson, Scott; Park, Youngsoo

2016-03-28

Planned cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments can dramatically improve what we know about neutrino physics, inflation, and dark energy. The low level of noise, together with improved angular resolution, will increase the signal to noise of the CMB polarized signal as well as the reconstructed lensing potential of high redshift large scale structure. Projected constraints on cosmological parameters are extremely tight, but these can be improved even further with information from external experiments. Here, we examine quantitatively the extent to which external priors can lead to improvement in projected constraints from a CMB-Stage IV (S4) experiment on neutrino and dark energy properties. We find that CMB S4 constraints on neutrino mass could be strongly enhanced by external constraints on the cold dark matter densitymore » $$\\Omega_{c}h^{2}$$ and the Hubble constant $$H_{0}$$. If polarization on the largest scales ($$\\ell<50$$) will not be measured, an external prior on the primordial amplitude $$A_{s}$$ or the optical depth $$\\tau$$ will also be important. A CMB constraint on the number of relativistic degrees of freedom, $$N_{\\rm eff}$$, will benefit from an external prior on the spectral index $$n_{s}$$ and the baryon energy density $$\\Omega_{b}h^{2}$$. Lastly, an external prior on $$H_{0}$$ will help constrain the dark energy equation of state ($w$).« less

Thermally activated persistent photoconductivity & donor binding energy in high mobility AlAs QWs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dasgupta, S.; Knaak, C.; Fontcuberta, A.; Bichler, M.; Abstreiter, G.; Grayson, M.

2008-03-01

In AlAs, valley index is important quantum number which can help understand interactions. However, important parameters for growth such as donor binding energy and Si δ-doping efficiency were unknown and AlAs quantum wells (QWs) typically did not conduct in dark. We grew series of (001) and (110) oriented double-sided doped n-type AlAs QWs and deduced Si donor binding energy δ in Al0.45Ga0.55 As and doping efficiency η. They work in dark possibly because dilute charge traps in substrate are screened by backside doping. From dark saturation density for doping series we deduced δdk=65.2 meV [1]. Our studies show thermally activated PPC where sample is illuminated at 4 K and returned to dark without appreciable density increase. As temperature is increased to 30 K, density doubles, indicating shallow binding energy δPIA=0 meV post-illumination anneal (PIA). Doping efficiency after illumination for (001) facet was found to be η=n2D/nSi=35% and for (110) η=17%. With this understanding, we designed (001) AlAs QW with PIA density n=2.4 x 10^11 cm-2 and mobility μ=4.3 x 10^5 cm^2/Vs(330 mK), improvement of almost an order of magnitude over published results. [1] Dasgupta, et al. APL (2007)

Dark matter at DeepCore and IceCube

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barger, V.; Gao, Y.; Marfatia, D.

2011-03-01

With the augmentation of IceCube by DeepCore, the prospect for detecting dark matter annihilation in the Sun is much improved. To complement this experimental development, we provide a thorough template analysis of the particle physics issues that are necessary to precisely interpret the data. Our study is about nitty-gritty and is intended as a framework for detailed work on a variety of dark matter candidates. To accurately predict the source neutrino spectrum, we account for spin-correlations of the final state particles and the helicity-dependence of their decays, and absorption effects at production. We fully treat the propagation of neutrinos through the Sun, including neutrino oscillations, energy losses and tau regeneration. We simulate the survival probability of muons produced in the Earth by using the Muon Monte Carlo program, reproduce the published IceCube effective area, and update the parameters in the differential equation that approximates muon energy losses. To evaluate the zenith-angle dependent atmospheric background event rate, we track the Sun and determine the time it spends at each zenith-angle. Throughout, we employ neutralino dark matter as our example.

The Past, Present, and Future of Statistical Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hirata, Christopher M.

2016-01-01

We now have a standard paradigm for the evolution of the Universe and the distribution of matter on large scales. This model has many seemingly strange aspects: an inflationary period, during which quantum mechanical fluctuations set the initial conditions for the formation of galaxies and clusters; dark matter and dark energy, which make up most of the Universe, and yet have no established relation to the more familiar visible particles and fields; and -- if dark energy is a cosmological constant -- a future in which the Universe enters a permanent exponential expansion phase, with a limiting finite "temperature" and observable volume. Over the past 15 years, a diverse array of observations have continued to support the simplest version of this model at ever-improving levels of precision (although not without a few anomalies). I will describe this development from the perspective of one participant, with an emphasis on a subset of the observational probes -- the cosmic microwave background, galaxy surveys, and gravitational lensing. I will emphasize in particular the demands of tight control of systematic errors in both the observations and the theoretical predictions, and the impact this has had on the organization of research programs in cosmology.I will then turn to the the future of statistical cosmology. In the near term, a major goal in dark energy is to use new facilities to go beyond fitting a small number of parameters, and map out the full history of the expansion of the Universe and the growth of structures. I will describe some of these ambitious efforts to probe the effects of dark energy in the distant past, when it was a subdominant component of the cosmic energy budget. Finally, I will speculate on what cosmology as a field might look like in 25 years.

Dark energy domination in the Virgocentric flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernin, A. D.; Karachentsev, I. D.; Nasonova, O. G.; Teerikorpi, P.; Valtonen, M. J.; Dolgachev, V. P.; Domozhilova, L. M.; Byrd, G. G.

2010-09-01

Context. The standard ΛCDM cosmological model implies that all celestial bodies are embedded in a perfectly uniform dark energy background, represented by Einstein's cosmological constant, and experience its repulsive antigravity action. Aims: Can dark energy have strong dynamical effects on small cosmic scales as well as globally? Continuing our efforts to clarify this question, we now focus on the Virgo Cluster and the flow of expansion around it. Methods: We interpret the Hubble diagram from a new database of velocities and distances of galaxies in the cluster and its environment, using a nonlinear analytical model, which incorporates the antigravity force in terms of Newtonian mechanics. The key parameter is the zero-gravity radius, the distance at which gravity and antigravity are in balance. Results: 1. The interplay between the gravity of the cluster and the antigravity of the dark energy background determines the kinematical structure of the system and controls its evolution. 2. The gravity dominates the quasi-stationary bound cluster, while the antigravity controls the Virgocentric flow, bringing order and regularity to the flow, which reaches linearity and the global Hubble rate at distances ⪆15 Mpc. 3. The cluster and the flow form a system similar to the Local Group and its outflow. In the velocity-distance diagram, the cluster-flow structure reproduces the group-flow structure with a scaling factor of about 10; the zero-gravity radius for the cluster system is also 10 times larger. Conclusions: The phase and dynamical similarity of the systems on the scales of 1-30 Mpc suggests that a two-component pattern may be universal for groups and clusters: a quasi-stationary bound central component and an expanding outflow around it, caused by the nonlinear gravity-antigravity interplay with the dark energy dominating in the flow component.

Probing dark energy via galaxy cluster outskirts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morandi, Andrea; Sun, Ming

2016-04-01

We present a Bayesian approach to combine Planck data and the X-ray physical properties of the intracluster medium in the virialization region of a sample of 320 galaxy clusters (0.056 < z < 1.24, kT ≳ 3 keV) observed with Chandra. We exploited the high level of similarity of the emission measure in the cluster outskirts as cosmology proxy. The cosmological parameters are thus constrained assuming that the emission measure profiles at different redshift are weakly self-similar, that is their shape is universal, explicitly allowing for temperature and redshift dependence of the gas fraction. This cosmological test, in combination with Planck+SNIa data, allows us to put a tight constraint on the dark energy models. For a constant-w model, we have w = -1.010 ± 0.030 and Ωm = 0.311 ± 0.014, while for a time-evolving equation of state of dark energy w(z) we have Ωm = 0.308 ± 0.017, w0 = -0.993 ± 0.046 and wa = -0.123 ± 0.400. Constraints on the cosmology are further improved by adding priors on the gas fraction evolution from hydrodynamic simulations. Current data favour the cosmological constant with w ≡ -1, with no evidence for dynamic dark energy. We checked that our method is robust towards different sources of systematics, including background modelling, outlier measurements, selection effects, inhomogeneities of the gas distribution and cosmic filaments. We also provided for the first time constraints on which definition of cluster boundary radius is more tenable, namely based on a fixed overdensity with respect to the critical density of the Universe. This novel cosmological test has the capacity to provide a generational leap forward in our understanding of the equation of state of dark energy.

James Webb Space Telescope Studies of Dark Energy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gardner, Jonathan P.; Stiavelli, Massimo; Mather, John C.

2010-01-01

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has contributed significantly to studies of dark energy. It was used to find the first evidence of deceleration at z=1.8 (Riess et al. 2001) through the serendipitous discovery of a type 1a supernova (SN1a) in the Hubble Deep Field. The discovery of deceleration at z greater than 1 was confirmation that the apparent acceleration at low redshift (Riess et al. 1998; Perlmutter et al. 1999) was due to dark energy rather than observational or astrophysical effects such as systematic errors, evolution in the SN1a population or intergalactic dust. The GOODS project and associated follow-up discovered 21 SN1a, expanding on this result (Riess et al. 2007). HST has also been used to constrain cosmological parameters and dark energy through weak lensing measurements in the COSMOS survey (Massey et al 2007; Schrabback et al 2009) and strong gravitational lensing with measured time delays (Suyu et al 2010). Constraints on dark energy are often parameterized as the equation of state, w = P/p. For the cosmological constant model, w = -1 at all times; other models predict a change with time, sometimes parameterized generally as w(a) or approximated as w(sub 0)+(1-a)w(sub a), where a = (1+z)(sup -1) is the scale factor of the universe relative to its current scale. Dark energy can be constrained through several measurements. Standard candles, such as SN1a, provide a direct measurement of the luminosity distance as a function of redshift, which can be converted to H(z), the change in the Hubble constant with redshift. An analysis of weak lensing in a galaxy field can be used to derive the angular-diameter distance from the weak-lensing equation and to measure the power spectrum of dark-matter halos, which constrains the growth of structure in the Universe. Baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO), imprinted on the distribution of matter at recombination, provide a standard rod for measuring the cosmological geometry. Strong gravitational lensing of a time-variable source gives the angular diameter distance through measured time delays of multiple images. Finally, the growth of structure can also be constrained by measuring the mass of the largest galaxy clusters over cosmic time. HST has contributed to the study of dark energy through SN1a and gravitational lensing, as discussed above. HST has also helped to characterize galaxy clusters and the HST-measured constraints on the current Hubble constant H(sub 0) are relevant to the interpretation of dark energy measurements (Riess et al 2009a). HST has not been used to constrain BAO as the large number of galaxy redshifts required, of order 100 million, is poorly matched to HST's capabilities. As the successor to HST, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST; Gardner et al 2006) will continue and extend HST's dark energy work in several ways.

Constraints on interacting dark energy models from Planck 2015 and redshift-space distortion data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Costa, André A.; Abdalla, E.; Xu, Xiao-Dong

2017-01-01

We investigate phenomenological interactions between dark matter and dark energy and constrain these models by employing the most recent cosmological data including the cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropies from Planck 2015, Type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, the Hubble constant and redshift-space distortions. We find that the interaction in the dark sector parameterized as an energy transfer from dark matter to dark energy is strongly suppressed by the whole updated cosmological data. On the other hand, an interaction between dark sectors with the energy flow from dark energy to dark matter is proved in better agreement with the available cosmologicalmore » observations. This coupling between dark sectors is needed to alleviate the coincidence problem.« less

Thermal dark matter from a highly decoupled sector

DOE PAGES

Berlin, Asher; Hooper, Dan; Krnjaic, Gordan

2016-11-17

It has recently been shown that if the dark matter is in thermal equilibrium with a sector that is highly decoupled from the Standard Model, it can freeze out with an acceptable relic abundance, even if the dark matter is as heavy as ~1–100 PeV. In such scenarios, both the dark and visible sectors are populated after inflation, but with independent temperatures. The lightest particle in the dark sector will be generically long-lived and can come to dominate the energy density of the Universe. Upon decaying, these particles can significantly reheat the visible sector, diluting the abundance of dark mattermore » and thus allowing for dark matter particles that are much heavier than conventional WIMPs. In this study, we present a systematic and pedagogical treatment of the cosmological history in this class of models, emphasizing the simplest scenarios in which a dark matter candidate annihilates into hidden sector particles which then decay into visible matter through the vector, Higgs, or lepton portals. In each case, we find ample parameter space in which very heavy dark matter particles can provide an acceptable thermal relic abundance. We also discuss possible extensions of models featuring these dynamics.« less

Thermal dark matter from a highly decoupled sector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berlin, Asher; Hooper, Dan; Krnjaic, Gordan

It has recently been shown that if the dark matter is in thermal equilibrium with a sector that is highly decoupled from the Standard Model, it can freeze out with an acceptable relic abundance, even if the dark matter is as heavy as ~1–100 PeV. In such scenarios, both the dark and visible sectors are populated after inflation, but with independent temperatures. The lightest particle in the dark sector will be generically long-lived and can come to dominate the energy density of the Universe. Upon decaying, these particles can significantly reheat the visible sector, diluting the abundance of dark mattermore » and thus allowing for dark matter particles that are much heavier than conventional WIMPs. In this study, we present a systematic and pedagogical treatment of the cosmological history in this class of models, emphasizing the simplest scenarios in which a dark matter candidate annihilates into hidden sector particles which then decay into visible matter through the vector, Higgs, or lepton portals. In each case, we find ample parameter space in which very heavy dark matter particles can provide an acceptable thermal relic abundance. We also discuss possible extensions of models featuring these dynamics.« less

Gravitational collapse of dark energy field configurations and supermassive black hole formation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jhalani, V.; Kharkwal, H.; Singh, A., E-mail: anupamsingh.iitk@gmail.com

Dark energy is the dominant component of the total energy density of our Universe. The primary interaction of dark energy with the rest of the Universe is gravitational. It is therefore important to understand the gravitational dynamics of dark energy. Since dark energy is a low-energy phenomenon from the perspective of particle physics and field theory, a fundamental approach based on fields in curved space should be sufficient to understand the current dynamics of dark energy. Here, we take a field theory approach to dark energy. We discuss the evolution equations for a generic dark energy field in curved space-timemore » and then discuss the gravitational collapse for dark energy field configurations. We describe the 3 + 1 BSSN formalism to study the gravitational collapse of fields for any general potential for the fields and apply this formalism to models of dark energy motivated by particle physics considerations. We solve the resulting equations for the time evolution of field configurations and the dynamics of space-time. Our results show that gravitational collapse of dark energy field configurations occurs and must be considered in any complete picture of our Universe. We also demonstrate the black hole formation as a result of the gravitational collapse of the dark energy field configurations. The black holes produced by the collapse of dark energy fields are in the supermassive black hole category with the masses of these black holes being comparable to the masses of black holes at the centers of galaxies.« less

Multistep cascade annihilations of dark matter and the Galactic Center excess

DOE PAGES

Elor, Gilly; Rodd, Nicholas L.; Slatyer, Tracy R.

2015-05-26

If dark matter is embedded in a non-trivial dark sector, it may annihilate and decay to lighter dark-sector states which subsequently decay to the Standard Model. Such scenarios - with annihilation followed by cascading dark-sector decays - can explain the apparent excess GeV gamma-rays identified in the central Milky Way, while evading bounds from dark matter direct detection experiments. Each 'step' in the cascade will modify the observable signatures of dark matter annihilation and decay, shifting the resulting photons and other final state particles to lower energies and broadening their spectra. We explore, in a model-independent way, the effect ofmore » multi-step dark-sector cascades on the preferred regions of parameter space to explain the GeV excess. We find that the broadening effects of multi-step cascades can admit final states dominated by particles that would usually produce too sharply peaked photon spectra; in general, if the cascades are hierarchical (each particle decays to substantially lighter particles), the preferred mass range for the dark matter is in all cases 20-150 GeV. Decay chains that have nearly-degenerate steps, where the products are close to half the mass of the progenitor, can admit much higher DM masses. We map out the region of mass/cross-section parameter space where cascades (degenerate, hierarchical or a combination) can fit the signal, for a range of final states. In the current paper, we study multi-step cascades in the context of explaining the GeV excess, but many aspects of our results are general and can be extended to other applications.« less

Physical condition for the slowing down of cosmic acceleration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ming-Jian; Xia, Jun-Qing

2018-04-01

The possible slowing down of cosmic acceleration was widely studied. However, judgment on this effect in different dark energy parameterizations was very ambiguous. Moreover, the reason of generating these uncertainties was still unknown. In the present paper, we analyze the derivative of deceleration parameter q‧ (z) using the Gaussian processes. This model-independent reconstruction suggests that no slowing down of acceleration is presented within 95% C.L. from the Union2.1 and JLA supernova data. However, q‧ (z) from the observational H (z) data is a little smaller than zero at 95% C.L., which indicates that future H (z) data may have a potential to test this effect. From the evolution of q‧ (z), we present an interesting constraint on the dark energy and observational data. The physical constraint clearly solves the problem of why some dark energy models cannot produce this effect in previous work. Comparison between the constraint and observational data also shows that most of current data are not in the allowed regions. This implies a reason of why current data cannot convincingly measure this effect.

De Sitter universe described by a binary mixture with a variable cosmological constant λ

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biswal, S. K.

2018-04-01

We have constructed a self-consistent system of Bianchi Type VI0 cosmology, and mingling of perfect fluid and dark energy in five dimensions. The usual equation of state p = γ ρ with γ \\in [0, 1] is chosen by the perfect fluid. The dark energy assumed to be chosen is taken into consideration to be either the quintessence or Chaplygin gas. The same solutions pertaining to the corresponding the field equations of Einstein are obtained as a quadrature. State parameter's equations for dark energy ω is found to be consistent enough with the recent observations of SNe Ia data (SNe Ia data with CMBR anisotropy) and galaxy clustering statistics. Here our models predict that the rate of expansion of Universe would increase with passage of time. The cosmological constant Λ is traced as a declining function of time and it gets nearer to a small positive value later on which is supported by the results from the current supernovae Ia observations. Also a detail discussion is made on the physical and geometrical aspects of the models.

Search for Dark Gauge Bosons Decaying into Displaced Lepton-Jets in Proton-Proton Collisions at √S = 13 TeV with the Atlas Detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diamond, Miriam

The dark photon (A'), the gauge boson carrier of a hypothetical new force, has been proposed in a wide range of Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) theories, and could serve as our window to an entire dark sector. A massive A' could decay back to the Standard Model (SM) with a significant branching fraction, through kinetic mixing with the SM photon. If this A' can be produced from decays of a dark scalar that mixes with the SM Higgs boson, collider searches involving leptonic final states provide promising discovery prospects with rich phenomenology. This work presents the results of a search for dark photons in the mass range 0.2 ≤ mA' ≤ 10 GeV decaying into collimated jets of light leptons and mesons, so-called ``lepton-jets". It employs 3.57 fb-1 of data from proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s =13 TeV, collected during 2015 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. No deviations from SM expectations are observed. Limits on benchmark models predicting Higgs boson decays to A's are derived as a function of the A' lifetime; limits are also established in the parameter space of mA' vs. kinetic mixing parameter epsilon . These extend the limits obtained in a similar search previously performed during Run 1 of the LHC, to include dark photon masses 2 ≤ mA' ≤ 10 GeV and to cover higher epsilon values for 0.2 ≤ mA' ≤ 2 GeV, and are complementary to various other ATLAS A' searches. As data-taking continues at the LHC, the reach of lepton-jet analyses will continue to expand in model coverage and in parameter space.

Constraints on the coupling between dark energy and dark matter from CMB data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murgia, R.; Gariazzo, S.; Fornengo, N., E-mail: riccardo.murgia@sissa.it, E-mail: gariazzo@to.infn.it, E-mail: fornengo@to.infn.it

2016-04-01

We investigate a phenomenological non-gravitational coupling between dark energy and dark matter, where the interaction in the dark sector is parameterized as an energy transfer either from dark matter to dark energy or the opposite. The models are constrained by a whole host of updated cosmological data: cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies and polarization, high-redshift supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift space distortions and gravitational lensing. Both models are found to be compatible with all cosmological observables, but in the case where dark matter decays into dark energy, the tension with the independent determinations of H{sub 0} and σ{sub 8}, alreadymore » present for standard cosmology, increases: this model in fact predicts lower H{sub 0} and higher σ{sub 8}, mostly as a consequence of the higher amount of dark matter at early times, leading to a stronger clustering during the evolution. Instead, when dark matter is fed by dark energy, the reconstructed values of H{sub 0} and σ{sub 8} nicely agree with their local determinations, with a full reconciliation between high- and low-redshift observations. A non-zero coupling between dark energy and dark matter, with an energy flow from the former to the latter, appears therefore to be in better agreement with cosmological data.« less

Subwavelength dark hollow focus of spirally polarized axisymmetric Bessel-modulated Gaussian beam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, X. M.; Zhan, Q. F.; Wang, Q.; Yun, M. J.; Guo, H. M.; Zhuang, S. L.

2011-09-01

Dark hollow focus plays an important role in many optical systems. In this paper, dark hollow focal shaping of spirally polarized axisymmetric Bessel-modulated Gaussian beam is investigated by vector diffraction theory in detail. Results show that the dark hollow focus can be altered considerably by beam parameter and spiral parameter that indicates polarization spiral degree. One dark hollow focus and two dark hollow foci pattern may occur for certain spiral parameter, and the transverse size of dark hollow focus can be less than the diffraction limit size of bright focus. In addition, there may also appear two triangle dark hollow foci that are connected by one dark line focus.

Making beam splitters with dark soliton collisions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Steiglitz, Ken

2010-10-15

We show with numerical simulations that for certain simple choices of parameters, the waveguides induced by colliding dark solitons in a Kerr medium yield a complete family of beam splitters for trapped linear waves, ranging from total transmission to total deflection. The way energy is transferred from one waveguide to another is similar to that of a directional coupler, but no special fabrication is required. Dark soliton beam splitters offer potential advantages over their bright soliton counterparts: Their transfer characteristics do not depend on the relative phase or speed of the colliding solitons; dark solitons are generally more robust thanmore » bright solitons; and the probe peaks at nulls of the pump, enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio for probe detection. The last factor is especially important for possible application to quantum information processing.« less

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SUPERNOVA LEGACY SURVEY SAMPLE WITH ΛCDM AND THE R{sub h}=ct UNIVERSE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wei, Jun-Jie; Wu, Xue-Feng; Melia, Fulvio

The use of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) has thus far produced the most reliable measurement of the expansion history of the universe, suggesting that ΛCDM offers the best explanation for the redshift–luminosity distribution observed in these events. However, analysis of other kinds of sources, such as cosmic chronometers, gamma-ray bursts, and high-z quasars, conflicts with this conclusion, indicating instead that the constant expansion rate implied by the R{sub h} = ct universe is a better fit to the data. The central difficulty with the use of SNe Ia as standard candles is that one must optimize three or fourmore » nuisance parameters characterizing supernova (SN) luminosities simultaneously with the parameters of an expansion model. Hence, in comparing competing models, one must reduce the data independently for each. We carry out such a comparison of ΛCDM and the R{sub h} = ct universe using the SN Legacy Survey sample of 252 SN events, and show that each model fits its individually reduced data very well. However, since R{sub h} = ct has only one free parameter (the Hubble constant), it follows from a standard model selection technique that it is to be preferred over ΛCDM, the minimalist version of which has three (the Hubble constant, the scaled matter density, and either the spatial curvature constant or the dark energy equation-of-state parameter). We estimate using the Bayes Information Criterion that in a pairwise comparison, the likelihood of R{sub h} = ct is ∼90%, compared with only ∼10% for a minimalist form of ΛCDM, in which dark energy is simply a cosmological constant. Compared to R{sub h} = ct, versions of the standard model with more elaborate parametrizations of dark energy are judged to be even less likely.« less

Cosmological constraints from strong gravitational lensing in clusters of galaxies.

PubMed

Jullo, Eric; Natarajan, Priyamvada; Kneib, Jean-Paul; D'Aloisio, Anson; Limousin, Marceau; Richard, Johan; Schimd, Carlo

2010-08-20

Current efforts in observational cosmology are focused on characterizing the mass-energy content of the universe. We present results from a geometric test based on strong lensing in galaxy clusters. Based on Hubble Space Telescope images and extensive ground-based spectroscopic follow-up of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1689, we used a parametric model to simultaneously constrain the cluster mass distribution and dark energy equation of state. Combining our cosmological constraints with those from x-ray clusters and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 5-year data gives Omega(m) = 0.25 +/- 0.05 and w(x) = -0.97 +/- 0.07, which are consistent with results from other methods. Inclusion of our method with all other available techniques brings down the current 2sigma contours on the dark energy equation-of-state parameter w(x) by approximately 30%.

The spectral energy distribution of the scattered light from dark clouds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mattila, Kalevi; Schnur, G. F. O.

1989-01-01

A dark cloud is exposed to the ambient radiation field of integrated starlight in the Galaxy. Scattering of starlight by the dust particles gives rise to a diffuse surface brightness of the dark nebula. The intensity and the spectrum of this diffuse radiation can be used to investigate, e.g., the scattering parameters of the dust, the optical thickness of the cloud, and as a probe of the ambient radiation field at the location of the cloud. An understanding of the scattering process is also a prerequisite for the isolation of broad spectral features due to fluorescence or to any other non-scattering origin of the diffuse light. Model calculations are presented for multiple scattering in a spherical cloud. These calculations show that the different spectral shapes of the observed diffuse light can be reproduced with standard dust parameters. The possibility to use the observed spectrum as a diagnostic tool for analyzing the thickness of the cloud and the dust particle is discussed.

Cosmology from cosmic shear with Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data

DOE PAGES

Becker, M. R.

2016-07-06

We present the first constraints on cosmology from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), using weak lensing measurements from the preliminary Science Verification (SV) data. We use 139 square degrees of SV data, which is less than 3% of the full DES survey area. Using cosmic shear 2-point measurements over three redshift bins we find σ 8(m=0.3) 0.5 = 0:81 ± 0:06 (68% confidence), after marginalising over 7 systematics parameters and 3 other cosmological parameters. Furthermore, we examine the robustness of our results to the choice of data vector and systematics assumed, and find them to be stable. About 20% ofmore » our error bar comes from marginalising over shear and photometric redshift calibration uncertainties. The current state-of-the-art cosmic shear measurements from CFHTLenS are mildly discrepant with the cosmological constraints from Planck CMB data. Our results are consistent with both datasets. Our uncertainties are ~30% larger than those from CFHTLenS when we carry out a comparable analysis of the two datasets, which we attribute largely to the lower number density of our shear catalogue. We investigate constraints on dark energy and find that, with this small fraction of the full survey, the DES SV constraints make negligible impact on the Planck constraints. The moderate disagreement between the CFHTLenS and Planck values of σ 8(Ω m=0.3) 0.5 is present regardless of the value of w.« less

Cosmology from cosmic shear with Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Becker, M. R.

We present the first constraints on cosmology from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), using weak lensing measurements from the preliminary Science Verification (SV) data. We use 139 square degrees of SV data, which is less than 3% of the full DES survey area. Using cosmic shear 2-point measurements over three redshift bins we find σ 8(m=0.3) 0.5 = 0:81 ± 0:06 (68% confidence), after marginalising over 7 systematics parameters and 3 other cosmological parameters. Furthermore, we examine the robustness of our results to the choice of data vector and systematics assumed, and find them to be stable. About 20% ofmore » our error bar comes from marginalising over shear and photometric redshift calibration uncertainties. The current state-of-the-art cosmic shear measurements from CFHTLenS are mildly discrepant with the cosmological constraints from Planck CMB data. Our results are consistent with both datasets. Our uncertainties are ~30% larger than those from CFHTLenS when we carry out a comparable analysis of the two datasets, which we attribute largely to the lower number density of our shear catalogue. We investigate constraints on dark energy and find that, with this small fraction of the full survey, the DES SV constraints make negligible impact on the Planck constraints. The moderate disagreement between the CFHTLenS and Planck values of σ 8(Ω m=0.3) 0.5 is present regardless of the value of w.« less

Designing a space-based galaxy redshift survey to probe dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yun; Percival, Will; Cimatti, Andrea; Mukherjee, Pia; Guzzo, Luigi; Baugh, Carlton M.; Carbone, Carmelita; Franzetti, Paolo; Garilli, Bianca; Geach, James E.; Lacey, Cedric G.; Majerotto, Elisabetta; Orsi, Alvaro; Rosati, Piero; Samushia, Lado; Zamorani, Giovanni

2010-12-01

A space-based galaxy redshift survey would have enormous power in constraining dark energy and testing general relativity, provided that its parameters are suitably optimized. We study viable space-based galaxy redshift surveys, exploring the dependence of the Dark Energy Task Force (DETF) figure-of-merit (FoM) on redshift accuracy, redshift range, survey area, target selection and forecast method. Fitting formulae are provided for convenience. We also consider the dependence on the information used: the full galaxy power spectrum P(k), P(k) marginalized over its shape, or just the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO). We find that the inclusion of growth rate information (extracted using redshift space distortion and galaxy clustering amplitude measurements) leads to a factor of ~3 improvement in the FoM, assuming general relativity is not modified. This inclusion partially compensates for the loss of information when only the BAO are used to give geometrical constraints, rather than using the full P(k) as a standard ruler. We find that a space-based galaxy redshift survey covering ~20000deg2 over with σz/(1 + z) <= 0.001 exploits a redshift range that is only easily accessible from space, extends to sufficiently low redshifts to allow both a vast 3D map of the universe using a single tracer population, and overlaps with ground-based surveys to enable robust modelling of systematic effects. We argue that these parameters are close to their optimal values given current instrumental and practical constraints.

Explorations in dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bozek, Brandon

This dissertation describes three research projects on the topic of dark energy. The first project is an analysis of a scalar field model of dark energy with an exponential potential using the Dark Energy Task Force (DETF) simulated data models. Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling techniques we examine the ability of each simulated data set to constrain the parameter space of the exponential potential for data sets based on a cosmological constant and a specific exponential scalar field model. We compare our results with the constraining power calculated by the DETF using their "w 0--wa" parameterization of the dark energy. We find that respective increases in constraining power from one stage to the next produced by our analysis give results consistent with DETF results. To further investigate the potential impact of future experiments, we also generate simulated data for an exponential model background cosmology which can not be distinguished from a cosmological constant at DETF Stage 2, and show that for this cosmology good DETF Stage 4 data would exclude a cosmological constant by better than 3sigma. The second project details this analysis on a Inverse Power Law (IPL) or "Ratra-Peebles" (RP) model. This model is a member of a popular subset of scalar field quintessence models that exhibit "tracking" behavior that make this model particularly theoretically interesting. We find that the relative increase in constraining power on the parameter space of this model is consistent to what was found in the first project and the DETF report. We also show, using a background cosmology based on an IPL scalar field model that is consistent with a cosmological constant with Stage 2 data, that good DETF Stage 4 data would exclude a cosmological constant by better than 3sigma. The third project extends the Causal Entropic Principle to predict the preferred curvature within the "multiverse". The Causal Entropic Principle (Bousso, et al.) provides an alternative approach to anthropic attempts to predict our observed value of the cosmological constant by calculating the entropy created within a causal diamond. We have found that values larger than rhok = 40rho m are disfavored by more than 99.99% and a peak value at rho Λ = 7.9 x 10-123 and rho k = 4.3rhom for open universes. For universes that allow only positive curvature or both positive and negative curvature, we find a correlation between curvature and dark energy that leads to an extended region of preferred values. Our universe is found to be disfavored to an extent depending the priors on curvature. We also provide a comparison to previous anthropic constraints on open universes and discuss future directions for this work.

Hidden sector monopole, vector dark matter and dark radiation with Higgs portal

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baek, Seungwon; Ko, P.; Park, Wan-Il, E-mail: sbaek1560@gmail.com, E-mail: pko@kias.re.kr, E-mail: wipark@kias.re.kr

2014-10-01

We show that the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole model in the hidden sector with Higgs portal interaction makes a viable dark matter model, where monopole and massive vector dark matter (VDM) are stable due to topological conservation and the unbroken subgroup U(1 {sub X}. We show that, even though observed CMB data requires the dark gauge coupling to be quite small, a right amount of VDM thermal relic can be obtained via s-channel resonant annihilation for the mass of VDM close to or smaller than the half of SM higgs mass, thanks to Higgs portal interaction. Monopole relic density turns outmore » to be several orders of magnitude smaller than the observed dark matter relic density. Direct detection experiments, particularly, the projected XENON1T experiment, may probe the parameter space where the dark Higgs is lighter than ∼< 50 GeV. In addition, the dark photon associated with the unbroken U(1 {sub X} contributes to the radiation energy density at present, giving Δ N{sub eff}{sup ν} ∼ 0.1 as the extra relativistic neutrino species.« less

AMS-02 fits dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balázs, Csaba; Li, Tong

2016-05-01

In this work we perform a comprehensive statistical analysis of the AMS-02 electron, positron fluxes and the antiproton-to-proton ratio in the context of a simplified dark matter model. We include known, standard astrophysical sources and a dark matter component in the cosmic ray injection spectra. To predict the AMS-02 observables we use propagation parameters extracted from observed fluxes of heavier nuclei and the low energy part of the AMS-02 data. We assume that the dark matter particle is a Majorana fermion coupling to third generation fermions via a spin-0 mediator, and annihilating to multiple channels at once. The simultaneous presence of various annihilation channels provides the dark matter model with additional flexibility, and this enables us to simultaneously fit all cosmic ray spectra using a simple particle physics model and coherent astrophysical assumptions. Our results indicate that AMS-02 observations are not only consistent with the dark matter hypothesis within the uncertainties, but adding a dark matter contribution improves the fit to the data. Assuming, however, that dark matter is solely responsible for this improvement of the fit, it is difficult to evade the latest CMB limits in this model.

A generalized quantitative interpretation of dark-field contrast for highly concentrated microsphere suspensions

PubMed Central

Gkoumas, Spyridon; Villanueva-Perez, Pablo; Wang, Zhentian; Romano, Lucia; Abis, Matteo; Stampanoni, Marco

2016-01-01

In X-ray grating interferometry, dark-field contrast arises due to partial extinction of the detected interference fringes. This is also called visibility reduction and is attributed to small-angle scattering from unresolved structures in the imaged object. In recent years, analytical quantitative frameworks of dark-field contrast have been developed for highly diluted monodisperse microsphere suspensions with maximum 6% volume fraction. These frameworks assume that scattering particles are separated by large enough distances, which make any interparticle scattering interference negligible. In this paper, we start from the small-angle scattering intensity equation and, by linking Fourier and real-space, we introduce the structure factor and thus extend the analytical and experimental quantitative interpretation of dark-field contrast, for a range of suspensions with volume fractions reaching 40%. The structure factor accounts for interparticle scattering interference. Without introducing any additional fitting parameters, we successfully predict the experimental values measured at the TOMCAT beamline, Swiss Light Source. Finally, we apply this theoretical framework to an experiment probing a range of system correlation lengths by acquiring dark-field images at different energies. This proposed method has the potential to be applied in single-shot-mode using a polychromatic X-ray tube setup and a single-photon-counting energy-resolving detector. PMID:27734931

Revealing the nonadiabatic nature of dark energy perturbations from galaxy clustering data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Velten, Hermano; Fazolo, Raquel

2017-10-01

We study structure formation using relativistic cosmological linear perturbation theory in the presence of intrinsic and relative (with respect to matter) nonadiabatic dark energy perturbations. For different dark energy models we assess the impact of nonadiabaticity on the matter growth promoting a comparison with growth rate data. The dark energy models studied lead to peculiar signatures of the (non)adiabatic nature of dark energy perturbations in the evolution of the f σ8(z ) observable. We show that nonadiabatic dark energy models become close to be degenerated with respect to the Λ CDM model at first order in linear perturbations. This would avoid the identification of the nonadiabatic nature of dark energy using current available data. Therefore, such evidence indicates that new probes are necessary to reveal the nonadiabatic features in the dark energy sector.

Dissipative dark matter halos: The steady state solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foot, R.

2018-02-01

Dissipative dark matter, where dark matter particle properties closely resemble familiar baryonic matter, is considered. Mirror dark matter, which arises from an isomorphic hidden sector, is a specific and theoretically constrained scenario. Other possibilities include models with more generic hidden sectors that contain massless dark photons [unbroken U (1 ) gauge interactions]. Such dark matter not only features dissipative cooling processes but also is assumed to have nontrivial heating sourced by ordinary supernovae (facilitated by the kinetic mixing interaction). The dynamics of dissipative dark matter halos around rotationally supported galaxies, influenced by heating as well as cooling processes, can be modeled by fluid equations. For a sufficiently isolated galaxy with a stable star formation rate, the dissipative dark matter halos are expected to evolve to a steady state configuration which is in hydrostatic equilibrium and where heating and cooling rates locally balance. Here, we take into account the major cooling and heating processes, and numerically solve for the steady state solution under the assumptions of spherical symmetry, negligible dark magnetic fields, and that supernova sourced energy is transported to the halo via dark radiation. For the parameters considered, and assumptions made, we were unable to find a physically realistic solution for the constrained case of mirror dark matter halos. Halo cooling generally exceeds heating at realistic halo mass densities. This problem can be rectified in more generic dissipative dark matter models, and we discuss a specific example in some detail.

Axion induced oscillating electric dipole moments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hill, Christopher T.

In this study, the axion electromagnetic anomaly induces an oscillating electric dipole for any magnetic dipole. This is a low energy theorem which is a consequence of the space-time dependent cosmic background field of the axion. The electron will acquire an oscillating electric dipole of frequency m a and strength ~ 10-32 e-cm, within four orders of magnitude of the present standard model DC limit, and two orders of magnitude above the nucleon, assuming standard axion model and dark matter parameters. This may suggest sensitive new experimental venues for the axion dark matter search.

Predicting Constraints on Ultra-Light Axion Parameters due to LSST Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Given, Gabriel; Grin, Daniel

2018-01-01

Ultra-light axions (ULAs) are a type of dark matter or dark energy candidate (depending on the mass) that are predicted to have a mass between $10^{‑33}$ and $10^{‑18}$ eV. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is expected to provide a large number of weak lensing observations, which will lower the statistical uncertainty on the convergence power spectrum. I began work with Daniel Grin to predict how accurately the data from the LSST will be able to constrain ULA properties. I wrote Python code that takes a matter power spectrum calculated by axionCAMB and converts it to a convergence power spectrum. My code then takes derivatives of the convergence power spectrum with respect to several cosmological parameters; these derivatives will be used in Fisher Matrix analysis to determine the sensitivity of LSST observations to axion parameters.

A Comparative Analysis of the Supernova Legacy Survey Sample With ΛCDM and the Rh=ct Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Jun-Jie; Wu, Xue-Feng; Melia, Fulvio; Maier, Robert S.

2015-03-01

The use of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) has thus far produced the most reliable measurement of the expansion history of the universe, suggesting that ΛCDM offers the best explanation for the redshift-luminosity distribution observed in these events. However, analysis of other kinds of sources, such as cosmic chronometers, gamma-ray bursts, and high-z quasars, conflicts with this conclusion, indicating instead that the constant expansion rate implied by the Rh = ct universe is a better fit to the data. The central difficulty with the use of SNe Ia as standard candles is that one must optimize three or four nuisance parameters characterizing supernova (SN) luminosities simultaneously with the parameters of an expansion model. Hence, in comparing competing models, one must reduce the data independently for each. We carry out such a comparison of ΛCDM and the Rh = ct universe using the SN Legacy Survey sample of 252 SN events, and show that each model fits its individually reduced data very well. However, since Rh = ct has only one free parameter (the Hubble constant), it follows from a standard model selection technique that it is to be preferred over ΛCDM, the minimalist version of which has three (the Hubble constant, the scaled matter density, and either the spatial curvature constant or the dark energy equation-of-state parameter). We estimate using the Bayes Information Criterion that in a pairwise comparison, the likelihood of Rh = ct is ˜90%, compared with only ˜10% for a minimalist form of ΛCDM, in which dark energy is simply a cosmological constant. Compared to Rh = ct, versions of the standard model with more elaborate parametrizations of dark energy are judged to be even less likely. This work is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Tan Lu, who sadly passed away 2014 December 3. Among his many achievements, he is considered to be one of the founders of high-energy astrophysics, and a pioneer in modern cosmology, in China.

Large Synoptic Survey Telescope: From Science Drivers to Reference Design

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: constraining dark energy and dark matter , taking an inventory of the Solar...Energy and Dark Matter (2) Taking an Inventory of the Solar System (3) Exploring the Transient Optical Sky (4) Mapping the Milky Way Each of these four...Constraining Dark Energy and Dark Matter Current models of cosmology require the exis- tence of both dark matter and dark energy to match observational

Association between light-to-dark changes in angle width and iris parameters in light, dark and changes from light-to-dark conditions.

PubMed

Lee, Roland Y; Lin, Shuai-Chun; Chen, Rebecca I; Barbosa, Diego T; Lin, Shan C

2016-09-01

To evaluate the association between light-to-dark changes in angle width parameters and iris parameters in light, dark and changes from light-to-dark conditions. In this prospective, cross-sectional study, anterior segment optical coherence tomography images, obtained under light and dark conditions, were analysed to determine angle opening distance measured at 500 μm from the scleral spur (AOD500), trabecular-iris space area at 500 μm from the scleral spur (TISA500), iris thickness measured at 750 μm from the scleral spur (IT750), iris thickness measured at 2000 μm from the scleral spur (IT2000), iris area (IArea) and pupil diameter (PD). Multivariable linear mixed-effect regression models were used to evaluate the association between light-to-dark changes in angle width parameters (AOD500, TISA500) and iris parameters (IT750, IT2000, IArea, PD) in light, dark and changes from light-to-dark conditions. 534 eyes from 314 non-glaucomatous subjects were analysed. IT750, IT2000, IArea and PD in light conditions were significantly associated with light-to-dark changes in AOD500 (p<0.05). IT750, IT2000 and IArea in light conditions were significantly associated with light-to-dark changes in TISA500 (p<0.05). IT750 in dark conditions was significantly associated with light-to-dark changes in AOD500 and TISA500 (p<0.05). Light-to-dark changes in IT2000, IArea and PD were significantly associated with light-to-dark changes in AOD500 (p<0.05). Light-to-dark changes in IArea were significantly associated with light-to-dark changes in TISA500 (p<0.05). Evaluation of iris parameters in light, dark and changes from light-to-dark conditions demonstrated that IT750, IT2000, IArea and PD in light conditions are significant predictors of light-to-dark changes in angle width. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Dynamic field theory and equations of motion in cosmology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kopeikin, Sergei M., E-mail: kopeikins@missouri.edu; Petrov, Alexander N., E-mail: alex.petrov55@gmail.com

2014-11-15

We discuss a field-theoretical approach based on general-relativistic variational principle to derive the covariant field equations and hydrodynamic equations of motion of baryonic matter governed by cosmological perturbations of dark matter and dark energy. The action depends on the gravitational and matter Lagrangian. The gravitational Lagrangian depends on the metric tensor and its first and second derivatives. The matter Lagrangian includes dark matter, dark energy and the ordinary baryonic matter which plays the role of a bare perturbation. The total Lagrangian is expanded in an asymptotic Taylor series around the background cosmological manifold defined as a solution of Einstein’s equationsmore » in the form of the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) metric tensor. The small parameter of the decomposition is the magnitude of the metric tensor perturbation. Each term of the series expansion is gauge-invariant and all of them together form a basis for the successive post-Friedmannian approximations around the background metric. The approximation scheme is covariant and the asymptotic nature of the Lagrangian decomposition does not require the post-Friedmannian perturbations to be small though computationally it works the most effectively when the perturbed metric is close enough to the background FLRW metric. The temporal evolution of the background metric is governed by dark matter and dark energy and we associate the large scale inhomogeneities in these two components as those generated by the primordial cosmological perturbations with an effective matter density contrast δρ/ρ≤1. The small scale inhomogeneities are generated by the condensations of baryonic matter considered as the bare perturbations of the background manifold that admits δρ/ρ≫1. Mathematically, the large scale perturbations are given by the homogeneous solution of the linearized field equations while the small scale perturbations are described by a particular solution of these equations with the bare stress–energy tensor of the baryonic matter. We explicitly work out the covariant field equations of the successive post-Friedmannian approximations of Einstein’s equations in cosmology and derive equations of motion of large and small scale inhomogeneities of dark matter and dark energy. We apply these equations to derive the post-Friedmannian equations of motion of baryonic matter comprising stars, galaxies and their clusters.« less

Roles of dark energy perturbations in dynamical dark energy models: can we ignore them?

PubMed

Park, Chan-Gyung; Hwang, Jai-chan; Lee, Jae-heon; Noh, Hyerim

2009-10-09

We show the importance of properly including the perturbations of the dark energy component in the dynamical dark energy models based on a scalar field and modified gravity theories in order to meet with present and future observational precisions. Based on a simple scaling scalar field dark energy model, we show that observationally distinguishable substantial differences appear by ignoring the dark energy perturbation. By ignoring it the perturbed system of equations becomes inconsistent and deviations in (gauge-invariant) power spectra depend on the gauge choice.

Dark Energy Survey Group

Science.gov Websites

Supernova Argonne/HEP Dark Energy Survey Group Ravi Gupta, Eve Kovacs, Steve Kuhlmann, Hal Spinka, Kasia Pomian The Argonne/HEP Dark Energy Survey (DES) group worked to build and test the Dark Energy Camera

Dark energy in the dark ages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linder, Eric V.

2006-08-01

Non-negligible dark energy density at high redshifts would indicate dark energy physics distinct from a cosmological constant or "reasonable" canonical scalar fields. Such dark energy can be constrained tightly through investigation of the growth of structure, with limits of ≲2% of total energy density at z ≫ 1 for many models. Intermediate dark energy can have effects distinct from its energy density; the dark ages acceleration can be constrained to last less than 5% of a Hubble e-fold time, exacerbating the coincidence problem. Both the total linear growth, or equivalently σ8, and the shape and evolution of the nonlinear mass power spectrum for z < 2 (using the Linder-White nonlinear mapping prescription) provide important windows. Probes of growth, such as weak gravitational lensing, can interact with supernovae and CMB distance measurements to scan dark energy behavior over the entire range z = 0-1100.

The Cardassian expansion revisited: constraints from updated Hubble parameter measurements and type Ia supernova data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magaña, Juan; Amante, Mario H.; Garcia-Aspeitia, Miguel A.; Motta, V.

2018-05-01

Motivated by an updated compilation of observational Hubble data (OHD) that consist of 51 points in the redshift range of 0.07 < z < 2.36, we study an interesting model known as Cardassian that drives the late cosmic acceleration without a dark energy component. Our compilation contains 31 data points measured with the differential age method by Jimenez & Loeb (2002), and 20 data points obtained from clustering of galaxies. We focus on two modified Friedmann equations: the original Cardassian (OC) expansion and the modified polytropic Cardassian (MPC). The dimensionless Hubble, E(z), and the deceleration parameter, q(z), are revisited in order to constrain the OC and MPC free parameters, first with the OHD and then contrasted with recent observations of type Ia supernova (SN Ia) using the compressed and full joint-light-analysis (JLA) samples (Betoule et al.). We also perform a joint analysis using the combination OHD plus compressed JLA. Our results show that the OC and MPC models are in agreement with the standard cosmology and naturally introduce a cosmological-constant-like extra term in the canonical Friedmann equation with the capability of accelerating the Universe without dark energy.

Secluded WIMPs, Dark QED with Massive Photons, and the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fortes, E. C. F. S.; Pleitez, V.; Stecker, F. W.

2015-01-01

We discuss a particular secluded WIMP dark matter model consisting of neutral fermions as the dark matter candidate and a Proca-Wentzel (PW) field as a mediator. In the model that we consider here, dark matter WIMPs interact with standard model (SM) particles only through the PW field of approximately MeV-multi-GeV mass particles. The interactions occur via a U(1)' mediator, V'(sub mu), which couples to the SM by kinetic mixing with U(1) hypercharge bosons, B'(sub mu). One important difference between our model and other such models in the literature is the absence of an extra singlet scalar, so that the parameter with dimension of mass M(sup 2, sub V) is not related to a spontaneous symmetry breaking. This QED based model is also renormalizable. The mass scale of the mediator and the absence of the singlet scalar can lead to interesting astrophysical signatures. The dominant annihilation channels are different from those usually considered in previous work. We show that the GeV energy gamma-ray excess in the galactic center region, as derived from Fermi-LAT Gamma-ray Space Telescope data, can be attributed to such secluded dark matter WIMPs, given parameters of the model that are consistent with both the cosmological dark matter density and the upper limits on WIMP spin-independent elastic scattering. Secluded WIMP models are also consistent with suggested upper limits on a DM contribution to the cosmic-ray antiproton flux.

Peaked signals from dark matter velocity structures in direct detection experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lang, Rafael F.; Weiner, Neal

2010-06-01

In direct dark matter detection experiments, conventional elastic scattering of WIMPs results in exponentially falling recoil spectra. In contrast, theories of WIMPs with excited states can lead to nuclear recoil spectra that peak at finite recoil energies ER. The peaks of such signals are typically fairly broad, with ΔER/Epeak ~ 1. We show that in the presence of dark matter structures with low velocity dispersion, such as streams or clumps, peaks from up-scattering can become extremely narrow with FWHM of a few keV only. This differs dramatically from the conventionally expected WIMP spectrum and would, once detected, open the possibility to measure the dark matter velocity structure with high accuracy. As an intriguing example, we confront the observed cluster of 3 events near 42 keV from the CRESST commissioning run with this scenario. Inelastic dark matter particles with a wide range of parameters are capable of producing such a narrow peak. We calculate the possible signals at other experiments, and find that such particles could also give rise to the signal at DAMA, although not from the same stream. Over some range of parameters, a signal would be visible at xenon experiments. We show that such dark matter peaks are a very clear signal and can be easily disentangled from potential backgrounds, both terrestrial or due to WIMP down-scattering, by an enhanced annual modulation in both the amplitude of the signal and its spectral shape.

The effect of anisotropy on the thermodynamics of the interacting holographic dark energy model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hossienkhani, H.; Jafari, A.; Fayaz, V.; Ramezani, A. H.

2018-02-01

By considering a holographic model for the dark energy in an anisotropic universe, the thermodynamics of a scheme of dark matter and dark energy interaction has been investigated. The results suggest that when holographic dark energy and dark matter evolve separately, each of them remains in thermodynamic equilibrium, therefore the interaction between them may be viewed as a stable thermal fluctuation that brings a logarithmic correction to the equilibrium entropy. Also the relation between the interaction term of the dark components and this thermal fluctuation has been obtained. Additionally, for a cosmological interaction as a free function, the anisotropy effects on the generalized second law of thermodynamics have been studied. By using the latest observational data on the holographic dark energy models as the unification of dark matter and dark energy, the observational constraints have been probed. To do this, we focus on observational determinations of the Hubble expansion rate H( z). Finally, we evaluate the anisotropy effects (although low) on various topics, such as the evolution of the statefinder diagnostic, the distance modulus and the spherical collapse from the holographic dark energy model and compare them with the results of the holographic dark energy of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker and Λ CDM models.

Quantum field theory of interacting dark matter and dark energy: Dark monodromies

DOE PAGES

D’Amico, Guido; Hamill, Teresa; Kaloper, Nemanja

2016-11-28

We discuss how to formulate a quantum field theory of dark energy interacting with dark matter. We show that the proposals based on the assumption that dark matter is made up of heavy particles with masses which are very sensitive to the value of dark energy are strongly constrained. Quintessence-generated long-range forces and radiative stability of the quintessence potential require that such dark matter and dark energy are completely decoupled. However, if dark energy and a fraction of dark matter are very light axions, they can have significant mixings which are radiatively stable and perfectly consistent with quantum field theory.more » Such models can naturally occur in multi-axion realizations of monodromies. The mixings yield interesting signatures which are observable and are within current cosmological limits but could be constrained further by future observations« less

Quantum field theory of interacting dark matter and dark energy: Dark monodromies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

D’Amico, Guido; Hamill, Teresa; Kaloper, Nemanja

We discuss how to formulate a quantum field theory of dark energy interacting with dark matter. We show that the proposals based on the assumption that dark matter is made up of heavy particles with masses which are very sensitive to the value of dark energy are strongly constrained. Quintessence-generated long-range forces and radiative stability of the quintessence potential require that such dark matter and dark energy are completely decoupled. However, if dark energy and a fraction of dark matter are very light axions, they can have significant mixings which are radiatively stable and perfectly consistent with quantum field theory.more » Such models can naturally occur in multi-axion realizations of monodromies. The mixings yield interesting signatures which are observable and are within current cosmological limits but could be constrained further by future observations« less

Directly Detecting MeV-Scale Dark Matter Via Solar Reflection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

An, Haipeng; Pospelov, Maxim; Pradler, Josef; Ritz, Adam

2018-04-01

If dark matter (DM) particles are lighter than a few MeV /c2 and can scatter off electrons, their interaction within the solar interior results in a considerable hardening of the spectrum of galactic dark matter received on Earth. For a large range of the mass versus cross section parameter space, {me,σe}, the "reflected" component of the DM flux is far more energetic than the end point of the ambient galactic DM energy distribution, making it detectable with existing DM detectors sensitive to an energy deposition of 10 -103 eV . After numerically simulating the small reflected component of the DM flux, we calculate its subsequent signal due to scattering on detector electrons, deriving new constraints on σe in the MeV and sub-MeV range using existing data from the XENON10/100, LUX, PandaX-II, and XENON1T experiments, as well as making projections for future low threshold direct detection experiments.

Directly Detecting MeV-Scale Dark Matter Via Solar Reflection.

PubMed

An, Haipeng; Pospelov, Maxim; Pradler, Josef; Ritz, Adam

2018-04-06

If dark matter (DM) particles are lighter than a few   MeV/c^{2} and can scatter off electrons, their interaction within the solar interior results in a considerable hardening of the spectrum of galactic dark matter received on Earth. For a large range of the mass versus cross section parameter space, {m_{e},σ_{e}}, the "reflected" component of the DM flux is far more energetic than the end point of the ambient galactic DM energy distribution, making it detectable with existing DM detectors sensitive to an energy deposition of 10-10^{3}  eV. After numerically simulating the small reflected component of the DM flux, we calculate its subsequent signal due to scattering on detector electrons, deriving new constraints on σ_{e} in the MeV and sub-MeV range using existing data from the XENON10/100, LUX, PandaX-II, and XENON1T experiments, as well as making projections for future low threshold direct detection experiments.

Cosmological perturbations during the Bose-Einstein condensation of dark matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Freitas, R.C.; Gonçalves, S.V.B., E-mail: rodolfo.camargo@pq.cnpq.br, E-mail: sergio.vitorino@pq.cnpq.br

In the present work, we analyze the evolution of the scalar and tensorial perturbations and the quantities relevant for the physical description of the Universe, as the density contrast of the scalar perturbations and the gravitational waves energy density during the Bose-Einstein condensation of dark matter. The behavior of these parameters during the Bose-Einstein phase transition of dark matter is analyzed in details. To study the cosmological dynamics and evolution of scalar and tensorial perturbations in a Universe with and without cosmological constant we use both analytical and numerical methods. The Bose-Einstein phase transition modifies the evolution of gravitational wavesmore » of cosmological origin, as well as the process of large-scale structure formation.« less

Structural, electrical and photovoltaic properties of CoS/Si heterojunction prepared by spray pyrolysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El Radaf, I. M.; Nasr, Mahmoud; Mansour, A. M.

2018-01-01

Au/p-CoS/n-Si/Al heterojunction device was fabricated by spray pyrolysis technique. The structural and morphological features were examined by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive x-ray analysis. The capacitance-voltage characteristics of the prepared heterojunction were analyzed at room temperature in the dark. The current-voltage characteristics were examined under dark and different incident light intensities 20-100 mW cm-2. The rectification ratio, series resistance, shunt resistance, diode ideality factor and the effective barrier height were determined at dark and illumination conditions. The photovoltaic parameters such as short circuit current density, open circuit voltage, fill factor and power conversion efficiency were calculated at different incident light intensities.

Holographic Dark Energy Density

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saadat, Hassan

2011-06-01

In this article we consider the cosmological model based on the holographic dark energy. We study dark energy density in Universe with arbitrary spatially curvature described by the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric. We use Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametrization to specify dark energy density.

Solar Extreme UV radiation and quark nugget dark matter model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhitnitsky, Ariel, E-mail: arz@phas.ubc.ca

2017-10-01

We advocate the idea that the surprising emission of extreme ultra violet (EUV) radiation and soft x-rays from the Sun are powered externally by incident dark matter (DM) particles. The energy and the spectral shape of this otherwise unexpected solar irradiation is estimated within the quark nugget dark matter model. This model was originally invented as a natural explanation of the observed ratio Ω{sub dark} ∼ Ω{sub visible} when the DM and visible matter densities assume the same order of magnitude values. This generic consequence of the model is a result of the common origin of both types of mattermore » which are formed during the same QCD transition and both proportional to the same fundamental dimensional parameter Λ{sub QCD}. We also present arguments suggesting that the transient brightening-like 'nanoflares' in the Sun may be related to the annihilation events which inevitably occur in the solar atmosphere within this dark matter scenario.« less

DAMA confronts null searches in the effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Catena, Riccardo; Ibarra, Alejandro; Wild, Sebastian

2016-05-17

We examine the dark matter interpretation of the modulation signal reported by the DAMA experiment from the perspective of effective field theories displaying Galilean invariance. We consider the most general effective coupling leading to the elastic scattering of a dark matter particle with spin 0 or 1/2 off a nucleon, and we analyze the compatibility of the DAMA signal with the null results from other direct detection experiments, as well as with the non-observation of a high energy neutrino flux in the direction of the Sun from dark matter annihilation. To this end, we develop a novel semi-analytical approach formore » comparing experimental results in the high-dimensional parameter space of the non-relativistic effective theory. Assuming the standard halo model, we find a strong tension between the dark matter interpretation of the DAMA modulation signal and the null result experiments. We also list possible ways-out of this conclusion.« less

Effect of Dark Energy Perturbation on Cosmic Voids Formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Endo, Takao; Nishizawa, Atsushi J.; Ichiki, Kiyotomo

2018-05-01

In this paper, we present the effects of dark energy perturbation on the formation and abundance of cosmic voids. We consider dark energy to be a fluid with a negative pressure characterised by a constant equation of state w and speed of sound c_s^2. By solving fluid equations for two components, namely, dark matter and dark energy fluids, we quantify the effects of dark energy perturbation on the sizes of top-hat voids. We also explore the effects on the size distribution of voids based on the excursion set theory. We confirm that dark energy perturbation negligibly affects the size evolution of voids; c_s^2=0 varies the size only by 0.1% as compared to the homogeneous dark energy model. We also confirm that dark energy perturbation suppresses the void size when w < -1 and enhances the void size when w > -1 (Basse et al. 2011). In contrast to the negligible impact on the size, we find that the size distribution function on scales larger than 10 Mpc/h highly depends on dark energy perturbation; compared to the homogeneous dark energy model, the number of large voids of radius 30Mpc is 25% larger for the model with w = -0.9 and c_s^2=0 while they are 20% less abundant for the model with w = -1.3 and c_s^2=0.

From "~" to Precision Science: Cosmology from 1995 to 2025

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamionkowski, Marc; Spergel, David N.

2016-01-01

Over the past decade and a half, astronomical measurements, primarily of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, have transformed cosmology from an order-of-magnitude game into a paragon of precision science. From these measurements has emerged a 6-parameter cosmological "standard model": a flat universe filled with dark matter and dark energy and seeded by a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of Gaussian random-phase density perturbations. The striking resemblance between these perturbations and those expected from inflation motivates the search for a unique "B-mode" signature of inflation in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. While the fluctuation spectrum is close to scale invariant, WMAP, Planck and ground-based CMB experiments now have strong evidence for a departure from scale invariance in primordial perturbations. This suggests, in simple models of inflation that these B modes should be within striking distance within the next 5-10 years. The advent of a new generation of galaxy surveys will, over similar timescales, shed additional light not only on the physics of inflation, but also the nature of the dark matter and dark energy required by the current cosmological standard model, and perhaps on the new physics that determines the baryon density.

Post-Planck constraints on interacting vacuum energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yuting; Wands, David; Zhao, Gong-Bo; Xu, Lixin

2014-07-01

We present improved constraints on an interacting vacuum model using updated astronomical observations including the first data release from Planck. We consider a model with one dimensionless parameter, α, describing the interaction between dark matter and vacuum energy (with fixed equation of state w=-1). The background dynamics correspond to a generalized Chaplygin gas cosmology, but the perturbations have a zero sound speed. The tension between the value of the Hubble constant, H0, determined by Planck data plus WMAP polarization (Planck +WP) and that determined by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) can be alleviated by energy transfer from dark matter to vacuum (α>0). A positive α increases the allowed values of H0 due to parameter degeneracy within the model using only cosmic microwave background data. Combining with additional data sets of including supernova type Ia (SN Ia) and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), we can significantly tighten the bounds on α. Redshift-space distortions (RSD), which constrain the linear growth of structure, provide the tightest constraints on vacuum interaction when combined with Planck+WP, and prefer energy transfer from vacuum to dark matter (α<0) which suppresses the growth of structure. Using the combined data sets of Planck +WP+Union2.1+BAO+RSD, we obtain the constraint on α to be -0.083<α<-0.006 (95% C.L.), allowing low H0 consistent with the measurement from 6dF Galaxy survey. This interacting vacuum model can alleviate the tension between RSD and Planck +WP in the ΛCDM model for α <0, or between HST measurements of H0 and Planck+WP for α>0, but not both at the same time.

Cosmological implications of scalar field dark energy models in f(T,𝒯 ) gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salako, Ines G.; Jawad, Abdul; Moradpour, Hooman

After reviewing the f(T,𝒯 ) gravity, in which T is the torsion scalar and 𝒯 is the trace of the energy-momentum tensor, we refer to two cosmological models of this theory in agreement with observational data. Thereinafter, we consider a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe filled by a pressureless source and look at the terms other than the Einstein terms in the corresponding Friedmann equations, as the dark energy (DE) candidate. In addition, some cosmological features of models, including equation of states and deceleration parameters, are addressed helping us in getting the accelerated expansion of the universe in quintessence era. Finally, we extract the scalar field as well as potential of quintessence, tachyon, K-essence and dilatonic fields for both f(T,𝒯 ) models. It is observed that the dynamics of scalar field as well as the scalar potential of these models indicate an accelerated expanding universe in these models.

Accelerated cosmos in a nonextensive setup

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moradpour, H.; Bonilla, Alexander; Abreu, Everton M. C.; Neto, Jorge Ananias

2017-12-01

Here we consider a flat FRW universe whose horizon entropy meets the Rényi entropy of nonextensive systems. In our model, the ordinary energy-momentum conservation law is not always valid. By applying the Clausius relation as well as the Cai-Kim temperature to the apparent horizon of a flat FRW universe, we obtain modified Friedmann equations. Fitting the model to the observational data on the current accelerated universe, some values for the model parameters are also addressed. Our study shows that the current accelerating phase of universe expansion may be described by a geometrical fluid, originated from the nonextensive aspects of geometry, which models a varying dark energy source interacting with the matter field in the Rastall way. Moreover, our results indicate that the probable nonextensive features of spacetime may also be used to model a varying dark energy source which does not interact with the matter field and is compatible with the current accelerated phase of the Universe.

Constraints on Resonant Dark Matter Annihilation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Backovic, Mihailo

Resonant dark matter annihilation drew much attention in the light of recent measurements of charged cosmic ray fluxes. Interpreting the anomalous signal in the positron fraction as a sign of dark matter annihilation in the galactic halo requires cross sections orders of magnitudes higher than the estimates coming from thermal relic abundance. Resonant dark matter annihilation provides a mechanism to bridge the apparent contradiction between thermal relic abundance and the positron data measured by PAMELA and FERMI satellites. In this thesis, we analyze a class of models which allow for dark matter to annihilate through an s-channel resonance. Our analysis takes into account constraints from thermal relic abundance and the recent measurements of charged lepton cosmic ray fluxes, first separately and then simultaneously. Consistency of resonant dark matter annihilation models with thermal relic abundance as measured by WMAP serves to construct a relationship between the full set of masses, couplings and widths involved. Extensive numerical analysis of the full four dimensional parameter space is summarized by simple analytic approximations. The expressions are robust enough to be generalized to models including additional annihilation channels. We provide a separate treatment of resonant annihilation of dark matter in the galac- tic halo. We find model-independent upper limits on halo dark matter annihilation rates and show that the most efficient annihilation mechanism involves s-channel resonances. Widths that are large compared to the energy spread in the galactic halo are capable of saturating unitarity bounds without much difficulty. Partial wave unitarity prevents the so called Sommerfeld factors from producing large changes in cross sections. In addition, the approximations made in Sommerfeld factors break down in the kinematic regions where large cross section enhancements are often cited. Simultaneous constraints from thermal relic abundance and halo annihilation serve to produce new limits on dark matter masses and couplings. Past considerations of only a part of the resonant annihilation parameter set to motivate large annihilation cross section enhancements in the halo while maintaining correct relic abundance are generally incomplete. Taking into account only the resonance mass and width to show that large cross section enhancements are possible does not in principle guarantee that the enhancement will be achieved. We extend the calculation to include the full resonant parameter set. As a result, we obtain new limits on dark matter masses and couplings.

Imperfect dark energy from kinetic gravity braiding

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Deffayet, Cédric; Pujolàs, Oriol; Sawicki, Ignacy

2010-10-01

We introduce a large class of scalar-tensor models with interactions containing the second derivatives of the scalar field but not leading to additional degrees of freedom. These models exhibit peculiar features, such as an essential mixing of scalar and tensor kinetic terms, which we have named kinetic braiding. This braiding causes the scalar stress tensor to deviate from the perfect-fluid form. Cosmology in these models possesses a rich phenomenology, even in the limit where the scalar is an exact Goldstone boson. Generically, there are attractor solutions where the scalar monitors the behaviour of external matter. Because of the kinetic braiding,more » the position of the attractor depends both on the form of the Lagrangian and on the external energy density. The late-time asymptotic of these cosmologies is a de Sitter state. The scalar can exhibit phantom behaviour and is able to cross the phantom divide with neither ghosts nor gradient instabilities. These features provide a new class of models for Dark Energy. As an example, we study in detail a simple one-parameter model. The possible observational signatures of this model include a sizeable Early Dark Energy and a specific equation of state evolving into the final de-Sitter state from a healthy phantom regime.« less

Dipolar dark matter with massive bigravity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blanchet, Luc; Heisenberg, Lavinia; Department of Physics & The Oskar Klein Centre, AlbaNova University Centre,Roslagstullsbacken 21, 10691 Stockholm

2015-12-14

Massive gravity theories have been developed as viable IR modifications of gravity motivated by dark energy and the problem of the cosmological constant. On the other hand, modified gravity and modified dark matter theories were developed with the aim of solving the problems of standard cold dark matter at galactic scales. Here we propose to adapt the framework of ghost-free massive bigravity theories to reformulate the problem of dark matter at galactic scales. We investigate a promising alternative to dark matter called dipolar dark matter (DDM) in which two different species of dark matter are separately coupled to the twomore » metrics of bigravity and are linked together by an internal vector field. We show that this model successfully reproduces the phenomenology of dark matter at galactic scales (i.e. MOND) as a result of a mechanism of gravitational polarisation. The model is safe in the gravitational sector, but because of the particular couplings of the matter fields and vector field to the metrics, a ghost in the decoupling limit is present in the dark matter sector. However, it might be possible to push the mass of the ghost beyond the strong coupling scale by an appropriate choice of the parameters of the model. Crucial questions to address in future work are the exact mass of the ghost, and the cosmological implications of the model.« less

Dipolar dark matter with massive bigravity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blanchet, Luc; Heisenberg, Lavinia, E-mail: blanchet@iap.fr, E-mail: laviniah@kth.se

2015-12-01

Massive gravity theories have been developed as viable IR modifications of gravity motivated by dark energy and the problem of the cosmological constant. On the other hand, modified gravity and modified dark matter theories were developed with the aim of solving the problems of standard cold dark matter at galactic scales. Here we propose to adapt the framework of ghost-free massive bigravity theories to reformulate the problem of dark matter at galactic scales. We investigate a promising alternative to dark matter called dipolar dark matter (DDM) in which two different species of dark matter are separately coupled to the twomore » metrics of bigravity and are linked together by an internal vector field. We show that this model successfully reproduces the phenomenology of dark matter at galactic scales (i.e. MOND) as a result of a mechanism of gravitational polarisation. The model is safe in the gravitational sector, but because of the particular couplings of the matter fields and vector field to the metrics, a ghost in the decoupling limit is present in the dark matter sector. However, it might be possible to push the mass of the ghost beyond the strong coupling scale by an appropriate choice of the parameters of the model. Crucial questions to address in future work are the exact mass of the ghost, and the cosmological implications of the model.« less

Using PS1 and Type Ia Supernovae To Make Most Precise Measurement of Dark Energy To Date

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scolnic, Daniel; Pan-STARRS

2018-01-01

I will review recent results that present optical light curves, redshifts, and classifications for 361 spectroscopically confirmed Type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) discovered by the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) Medium Deep Survey. I will go over improvements to the PS1 SN photometry, astrometry and calibration that reduce the systematic uncertainties in the PS1 SN Ia distances. We combined distances of PS1 SNe with distance estimates of SNIa from SDSS, SNLS, various low-z and HST samples to form the largest combined sample of SN Ia consisting of a total of ~1050 SN Ia ranging from 0.01 < z < 2.3, which we call the ‘Pantheon Sample’. Photometric calibration uncertainties have long dominated the systematic error budget of every major analysis of cosmological parameters with SNIa. Using the PS1 relative calibration, we have reduced these calibration systematics to the point where they are similar in magnitude to the other major sources of known systematic uncertainties: the nature of the intrinsic scatter of SNIa and modeling of selection effects. I will present measurements of dark energy which are now the most precise measurements of dark energy to date.

Behavior of Holographic Ricci Dark Energy in Scalar Gauss-Bonnet Gravity for Different Choices of the Scale Factor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasqua, Antonio; Chattopadhyay, Surajit; Khurshudyan, Martiros; Aly, Ayman A.

2014-09-01

In this paper, we studied the cosmological application of the interacting Ricci Dark Energy (RDE) model in the framework of the scalar Gauss-Bonnet modified gravity model. We studied the properties of the reconstructed potential , the Strong Energy Condition (SEC), the Weak Energy Condition (WEC) and the deceleration parameter q for three different models of scale factor, i.e. the emergent, the intermediate and the logamediate one. We obtained that , for the emergent scenario, has a decreasing behavior, while, for the logamediate scenario, the potential start with an increasing behavior then, for later times, it shows a slowly decreasing behavior. Finally, for the intermediate scenario, the potential has an initial increasing behavior, then for a time of t≈1.2, it starts to decrease. We also found that both SEC and WEC are violated for all the three scale factors considered. Finally, studying the plots of q, we derived that an accelerated universe can be achieved for the three models of scale factor considered.

Deformation of the quintom cosmological model and its consequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadeghi, J.; Pourhassan, B.; Nekouee, Z.; Shokri, M.

In this paper, we investigate the effects of noncommutative phase-space on the quintom cosmological model. In that case, we discuss about some cosmological parameters and show that they depend on the deformation parameters. We find that the noncommutative parameter plays important role which helps to re-arrange the divergency of cosmological constant. We draw time-dependent scale factor and investigate the effect of noncommutative parameters. Finally, we take advantage from noncommutative phase-space and obtain the deformed Lagrangian for the quintom model. In order to discuss some cosmological phenomena as dark energy and inflation, we employ Noether symmetry.

SCoPE: an efficient method of Cosmological Parameter Estimation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Das, Santanu; Souradeep, Tarun, E-mail: santanud@iucaa.ernet.in, E-mail: tarun@iucaa.ernet.in

Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampler is widely used for cosmological parameter estimation from CMB and other data. However, due to the intrinsic serial nature of the MCMC sampler, convergence is often very slow. Here we present a fast and independently written Monte Carlo method for cosmological parameter estimation named as Slick Cosmological Parameter Estimator (SCoPE), that employs delayed rejection to increase the acceptance rate of a chain, and pre-fetching that helps an individual chain to run on parallel CPUs. An inter-chain covariance update is also incorporated to prevent clustering of the chains allowing faster and better mixing of themore » chains. We use an adaptive method for covariance calculation to calculate and update the covariance automatically as the chains progress. Our analysis shows that the acceptance probability of each step in SCoPE is more than 95% and the convergence of the chains are faster. Using SCoPE, we carry out some cosmological parameter estimations with different cosmological models using WMAP-9 and Planck results. One of the current research interests in cosmology is quantifying the nature of dark energy. We analyze the cosmological parameters from two illustrative commonly used parameterisations of dark energy models. We also asses primordial helium fraction in the universe can be constrained by the present CMB data from WMAP-9 and Planck. The results from our MCMC analysis on the one hand helps us to understand the workability of the SCoPE better, on the other hand it provides a completely independent estimation of cosmological parameters from WMAP-9 and Planck data.« less

The presence of a phantom field in a Randall–Sundrum scenario

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acuña-Cárdenas, Rubén O.; Astorga-Moreno, J. A.; García-Aspeitia, Miguel A.; López-Domínguez, J. C.

2018-02-01

The presence of phantom dark energy in brane world cosmology generates important new effects, causing a premature big rip singularity when we increase the presence of extra dimensions and considerably competing with the other components of our Universe. This article first considers only a field with the characteristic equation ω<-1 and then the explicit form of the scalar field with a potential with a maximum (with the aim of avoiding a big rip singularity). In both cases we study the dynamics robustly through dynamical analysis theory, considering in detail parameters such as the deceleration q and the vector field associated to the dynamical system. Results are discussed with the purpose of treating the cosmology with a phantom field as dark energy in a Randall–Sundrum scenario.

Conditions for the cosmological viability of the most general scalar-tensor theories and their applications to extended Galileon dark energy models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Felice, Antonio De; Tsujikawa, Shinji, E-mail: antoniod@nu.ac.th, E-mail: shinji@rs.kagu.tus.ac.jp

2012-02-01

In the Horndeski's most general scalar-tensor theories with second-order field equations, we derive the conditions for the avoidance of ghosts and Laplacian instabilities associated with scalar, tensor, and vector perturbations in the presence of two perfect fluids on the flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) background. Our general results are useful for the construction of theoretically consistent models of dark energy. We apply our formulas to extended Galileon models in which a tracker solution with an equation of state smaller than -1 is present. We clarify the allowed parameter space in which the ghosts and Laplacian instabilities are absent and we numerically confirmmore » that such models are indeed cosmologically viable.« less

Light chiral dark sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harigaya, Keisuke; Nomura, Yasunori

2016-08-01

An interesting possibility for dark matter is a scalar particle of mass of order 10 MeV-1 GeV, interacting with a U (1 ) gauge boson (dark photon) which mixes with the photon. We present a simple and natural model realizing this possibility. The dark matter arises as a composite pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson (dark pion) in a non-Abelian gauge sector, which also gives a mass to the dark photon. For a fixed non-Abelian gauge group, S U (N ) , and a U (1 ) charge of the constituent dark quarks, the model has only three free parameters: the dynamical scale of the non-Abelian gauge theory, the gauge coupling of the dark photon, and the mixing parameter between the dark and standard model photons. In particular, the gauge symmetry of the model does not allow any mass term for the dark quarks, and the stability of the dark pion is understood as a result of an accidental global symmetry. The model has a significant parameter space in which thermal relic dark pions comprise all of the dark matter, consistently with all experimental and cosmological constraints. In a corner of the parameter space, the discrepancy of the muon g -2 between experiments and the standard model prediction can also be ameliorated due to a loop contribution of the dark photon. Smoking-gun signatures of the model include a monophoton signal from the e+e- collision into a photon and a "dark rho meson." Observation of two processes in e+e- collision—the mode into the dark photon and that into the dark rho meson—would provide strong evidence for the model.

Observational Constraints on the Nature of the Dark Energy: First Cosmological Results From the ESSENCE Supernova Survey

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wood-Vasey, W.Michael; Miknaitis, G.; Stubbs, C.W.

We present constraints on the dark energy equation-of-state parameter, w = P/({rho}c{sup 2}), using 60 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the ESSENCE supernova survey. We derive a set of constraints on the nature of the dark energy assuming a flat Universe. By including constraints on ({Omega}{sub M}, w) from baryon acoustic oscillations, we obtain a value for a static equation-of-state parameter w = -1.05{sub -0.12}{sup +0.13} (stat 1{sigma}) {+-} 0.13 (sys) and {Omega}{sub M} = 0.274{sub -0.020}{sup +0.033} (stat 1{sigma}) with a best-fit {chi}{sup 2}/DoF of 0.96. These results are consistent with those reported by the Super-Nova Legacy Surveymore » in a similar program measuring supernova distances and redshifts. We evaluate sources of systematic error that afflict supernova observations and present Monte Carlo simulations that explore these effects. Currently, the largest systematic currently with the potential to affect our measurements is the treatment of extinction due to dust in the supernova host galaxies. Combining our set of ESSENCE SNe Ia with the SuperNova Legacy Survey SNe Ia, we obtain a joint constraint of w = -1.07{sub -0.09}{sup +0.09} (stat 1{sigma}) {+-} 0.13 (sys), {Omega}{sub M} = 0.267{sub -0.018}{sup +0.028} (stat 1{sigma}) with a best-fit {chi}{sup 2}/DoF of 0.91. The current SNe Ia data are fully consistent with a cosmological constant.« less

Revisiting dark energy models using differential ages of galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rani, Nisha; Jain, Deepak; Mahajan, Shobhit; Mukherjee, Amitabha; Biesiada, Marek

2017-03-01

In this work, we use a test based on the differential ages of galaxies for distinguishing the dark energy models. As proposed by Jimenez and Loeb in [1], relative ages of galaxies can be used to put constraints on various cosmological parameters. In the same vein, we reconstruct H0dt/dz and its derivative (H0d2t/dz2) using a model independent technique called non-parametric smoothing. Basically, dt/dz is the change in the age of the object as a function of redshift which is directly linked with the Hubble parameter. Hence for reconstruction of this quantity, we use the most recent H(z) data. Further, we calculate H0dt/dz and its derivative for several models like Phantom, Einstein de Sitter (EdS), ΛCDM, Chevallier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) parametrization, Jassal-Bagla-Padmanabhan (JBP) parametrization and Feng-Shen-Li-Li (FSLL) parametrization. We check the consistency of these models with the results of reconstruction obtained in a model independent way from the data. It is observed that H0dt/dz as a tool is not able to distinguish between the ΛCDM, CPL, JBP and FSLL parametrizations but, as expected, EdS and Phantom models show noticeable deviation from the reconstructed results. Further, the derivative of H0dt/dz for various dark energy models is more sensitive at low redshift. It is found that the FSLL model is not consistent with the reconstructed results, however, the ΛCDM model is in concordance with the 3σ region of the reconstruction at redshift z>= 0.3.

Cosmic equation of state from combined angular diameter distances: Does the tension with luminosity distances exist?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Shuo; Zhu, Zong-Hong

2014-10-01

Using relatively complete observational data concerning four angular diameter distance (ADD) measurements and combined SN +GRB observations representing current luminosity distance (LD) data, this paper investigates the compatibility of these two cosmological distances considering three classes of dark energy equation of state (EoS) reconstruction. In particular, we use strongly gravitationally lensed systems from various large systematic gravitational lens surveys and galaxy clusters, which yield the Hubble constant independent ratio between two angular diameter distances Dl s/Ds data. Our results demonstrate that, with more general categories of standard ruler data, ADD and LD data are compatible at 1 σ level. Second, we note that consistency between ADD and LD data is maintained irrespective of the EoS parametrizations: there is a good match between the universally explored Chevalier-Polarski-Linder model and other formulations of cosmic equation of state. Especially for the truncated generalized equation of state (GEoS) model with β =-2 , the conclusions obtained with ADD and LD are almost the same. Finally, statistical analysis of generalized dark energy equation of state performed on four classes of ADD data provides stringent constraints on the EoS parameters w0 , wβ, and β , which suggest that dark energy was a subdominant component at early times. Moreover, the GEoS parametrization with β ≃1 seems to be a more favorable two-parameter model to characterize the cosmic equation of state, because the combined angular diameter distance data (SGL +CBF +BAO +WMAP 9 ) provide the best-fit value β =0.75 1-0.480+0.465 .

Low-mass dark matter search with CDMSlite

DOE PAGES

Agnese, R.; Anderson, A. J.; Aralis, T.; ...

2018-01-01

The SuperCDMS experiment is designed to directly detect WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) that may constitute the dark matter in our galaxy. During its operation at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, germanium detectors were run in the CDMSlite (Cryogenic Dark Matter Search low ionization threshold experiment) mode to gather data sets with sensitivity specifically for WIMPs with massesmore » $${<}10$$ GeV/$c^2$. In this mode, a large detector-bias voltage is applied to amplify the phonon signals produced by drifting charges. This paper presents studies of the experimental noise and its effect on the achievable energy threshold, which is demonstrated to be as low as 56 eV$$_{\\text{ee}}$$ (electron equivalent energy). The detector biasing configuration is described in detail, with analysis corrections for voltage variations to the level of a few percent. Detailed studies of the electric-field geometry, and the resulting successful development of a fiducial parameter, eliminate poorly measured events, yielding an energy resolution ranging from $${\\sim}$$9 eV$$_{\\text{ee}}$$ at 0 keV to 101 eV$$_{\\text{ee}}$$ at $${\\sim}$$10 keV$$_{\\text{ee}}$$. New results are derived for astrophysical uncertainties relevant to the WIMP-search limits, specifically examining how they are affected by variations in the most probable WIMP velocity and the galactic escape velocity. These variations become more important for WIMP masses below 10 GeV/$c^2$. Finally, new limits on spin-dependent low-mass WIMP-nucleon interactions are derived, with new parameter space excluded for WIMP masses $${\\lesssim}$$3 GeV/$c^2$.« less

Optimal surveys for weak-lensing tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amara, Adam; Réfrégier, Alexandre

2007-11-01

Weak-lensing surveys provide a powerful probe of dark energy through the measurement of the mass distribution of the local Universe. A number of ground-based and space-based surveys are being planned for this purpose. Here, we study the optimal strategy for these future surveys using the joint constraints on the equation-of-state parameter wn and its evolution wa as a figure of merit by considering power spectrum tomography. For this purpose, we first consider an `ideal' survey which is both wide and deep and exempt from systematics. We find that such a survey has great potential for dark energy studies, reaching 1σ precisions of 1 and 10 per cent on the two parameters, respectively. We then study the relative impact of various limitations by degrading this ideal survey. In particular, we consider the effect of sky coverage, survey depth, shape measurement systematics, photometric redshift systematics and uncertainties in the non-linear power spectrum predictions. We find that, for a given observing time, it is always advantageous to choose a wide rather than a deep survey geometry. We also find that the dark energy constraints from power spectrum tomography are robust to photometric redshift errors and catastrophic failures, if a spectroscopic calibration sample of 104-105 galaxies are available. The impact of these systematics is small compared to the limitations that come from potential uncertainties in the power spectrum, due to shear measurement and theoretical errors. To help the planning of future surveys, we summarize our results with comprehensive scaling relations which avoid the need for full Fisher matrix calculations.

Study of the gamma-ray spectrum from the Galactic Center in view of multi-TeV dark matter candidates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belikov, Alexander V.; Zaharijas, Gabrijela; Silk, Joseph

2012-10-01

Motivated by the complex gamma-ray spectrum of the Galactic Center source now measured over five decades in energy, we revisit the issue of the role of dark matter (DM) annihilations in this interesting region. We reassess whether the emission measured by the HESS collaboration could be a signature of dark matter annihilation, and we use the Fermi LAT spectrum to model the emission from SgrA*, using power-law spectral fits. We find that good fits are achieved by a power law with an index ˜2.5-2.6, in combination with a spectrum similar to the one observed from pulsar population and with a spectrum from a ≳10TeV DM annihilating to a mixture of bb¯ and harder τ+τ- channels and with boost factors of the order of a hundred. Alternatively, we also consider the combination of a log-parabola fit with the DM contribution. Finally, as both the spectrum of gamma rays from the Galactic Center and the spectrum of cosmic ray electrons exhibit a cutoff at TeV energies, we study the dark matter fits to both data sets. Constraining the spectral shape of the purported dark matter signal provides a robust way of comparing data. We find a marginal overlap only between the 99.999% C.L. regions in parameter space.

Hidden from view: coupled dark sector physics and small scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elahi, Pascal J.; Lewis, Geraint F.; Power, Chris; Carlesi, Edoardo; Knebe, Alexander

2015-09-01

We study cluster mass dark matter (DM) haloes, their progenitors and surroundings in a coupled dark matter-dark energy (DE) model and compare it to quintessence and Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) models with adiabatic zoom simulations. When comparing cosmologies with different expansions histories, growth functions and power spectra, care must be taken to identify unambiguous signatures of alternative cosmologies. Shared cosmological parameters, such as σ8, need not be the same for optimal fits to observational data. We choose to set our parameters to ΛCDM z = 0 values. We find that in coupled models, where DM decays into DE, haloes appear remarkably similar to ΛCDM haloes despite DM experiencing an additional frictional force. Density profiles are not systematically different and the subhalo populations have similar mass, spin, and spatial distributions, although (sub)haloes are less concentrated on average in coupled cosmologies. However, given the scatter in related observables (V_max,R_{V_max}), this difference is unlikely to distinguish between coupled and uncoupled DM. Observations of satellites of Milky Way and M31 indicate a significant subpopulation reside in a plane. Coupled models do produce planar arrangements of satellites of higher statistical significance than ΛCDM models; however, in all models these planes are dynamically unstable. In general, the non-linear dynamics within and near large haloes masks the effects of a coupled dark sector. The sole environmental signature we find is that small haloes residing in the outskirts are more deficient in baryons than their ΛCDM counterparts. The lack of a pronounced signal for a coupled dark sector strongly suggests that such a phenomena would be effectively hidden from view.

Two fluid anisotropic dark energy models in a scale invariant theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tripathy, S. K.; Mishra, B.; Sahoo, P. K.

2017-09-01

Some anisotropic Bianchi V dark energy models are investigated in a scale invariant theory of gravity. We consider two non-interacting fluids such as dark energy and a bulk viscous fluid. Dark energy pressure is considered to be anisotropic in different spatial directions. A dynamically evolving pressure anisotropy is obtained from the models. The models favour phantom behaviour. It is observed that, in presence of dark energy, bulk viscosity has no appreciable effect on the cosmic dynamics.

A Note on Equivalence Among Various Scalar Field Models of Dark Energies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mandal, Jyotirmay Das; Debnath, Ujjal

2017-08-01

In this work, we have tried to find out similarities between various available models of scalar field dark energies (e.g., quintessence, k-essence, tachyon, phantom, quintom, dilatonic dark energy, etc). We have defined an equivalence relation from elementary set theory between scalar field models of dark energies and used fundamental ideas from linear algebra to set up our model. Consequently, we have obtained mutually disjoint subsets of scalar field dark energies with similar properties and discussed our observation.

Dark information of black hole radiation raised by dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Yu-Han; Chen, Jin-Fu; Sun, Chang-Pu

2018-06-01

The "lost" information of black hole through the Hawking radiation was discovered being stored in the correlation among the non-thermally radiated particles (Parikh and Wilczek, 2000 [31], Zhang et al., 2009 [16]). This correlation information, which has not yet been proved locally observable in principle, is named by dark information. In this paper, we systematically study the influences of dark energy on black hole radiation, especially on the dark information. Calculating the radiation spectrum in the existence of dark energy by the approach of canonical typicality, which is reconfirmed by the quantum tunneling method, we find that the dark energy will effectively lower the Hawking temperature, and thus makes the black hole has longer life time. It is also discovered that the non-thermal effect of the black hole radiation is enhanced by dark energy so that the dark information of the radiation is increased. Our observation shows that, besides the mechanical effect (e.g., gravitational lensing effect), the dark energy rises the stored dark information, which could be probed by a non-local coincidence measurement similar to the coincidence counting of the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss experiment in quantum optics.

Neutrino and Gravitational-Wave Signatures of Quark Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Ming-chung; Leung, Shing Chi; Lin, Lap Ming; Zha, Shuai

We study two types of supernovae — Type IA (SNIa) and Core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe), particularly how they may help to probe new physics. First, using a two-dimensional hydrodynamics code with a fifth-order shock capturing scheme, we simulate the explosions of dark matter admixed SNIa and find that the explosion energy and abundance of 56Ni produced are sensitive to the mass of admixed dark matter. A small admixture of dark matter may account for some sub-luminous SNIa observed. Second, by incorporating a hybrid equation of state (EOS) that includes a hadron-to-quark phase transition, we study possible formation of quark stars in CCSNe. We calculate the gravitational-wave and neutrino emissions from such a system, and we study the effects of the parameters in the EOS on such signals.

New holographic dark energy model with constant bulk viscosity in modified f(R,T) gravity theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srivastava, Milan; Singh, C. P.

2018-06-01

The aim of this paper is to study new holographic dark energy (HDE) model in modified f(R,T) gravity theory within the framework of a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker model with bulk viscous matter content. It is thought that the negative pressure caused by the bulk viscosity can play the role of dark energy component, and drive the accelerating expansion of the universe. This is the motive of this paper to observe such phenomena with bulk viscosity. In the specific model f(R,T)=R+λ T, where R is the Ricci scalar, T the trace of the energy-momentum tensor and λ is a constant, we find the solution for non-viscous and viscous new HDE models. We analyze new HDE model with constant bulk viscosity, ζ =ζ 0= const. to explain the present accelerated expansion of the universe. We classify all possible scenarios (deceleration, acceleration and their transition) with possible positive and negative ranges of λ over the constraint on ζ 0 to analyze the evolution of the universe. We obtain the solutions of scale factor and deceleration parameter, and discuss the evolution of the universe. We observe the future finite-time singularities of type I and III at a finite time under certain constraints on λ . We also investigate the statefinder and Om diagnostics of the viscous new HDE model to discriminate with other existing dark energy models. In late time the viscous new HDE model approaches to Λ CDM model. We also discuss the thermodynamics and entropy of the model and find that it satisfies the second law of thermodynamics.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Burrage, Clare; Copeland, Edmund J.; Hinds, E.A., E-mail: Clare.Burrage@nottingham.ac.uk, E-mail: Edmund.Copeland@nottingham.ac.uk, E-mail: Ed.Hinds@imperial.ac.uk

Theories of dark energy require a screening mechanism to explain why the associated scalar fields do not mediate observable long range fifth forces. The archetype of this is the chameleon field. Here we show that individual atoms are too small to screen the chameleon field inside a large high-vacuum chamber, and therefore can detect the field with high sensitivity. We derive new limits on the chameleon parameters from existing experiments, and show that most of the remaining chameleon parameter space is readily accessible using atom interferometry.

Anisotropic Bianchi-V dark energy model under the new perspective of accelerated expansion of the universe in Brans-Dicke theory of gravitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaiswal, Rekha; Zia, Rashid

2018-04-01

In this paper, we have proposed a cosmological model, which is consistent with the new findings of `The Supernova Cosmology project' headed by Saul Perlmutter, and the `High-Z Supernova Search team', headed by Brian Schimdt. According to these new findings, the universe is undergoing an expansion with an increasing rate, in contrast to the earlier belief that the rate of expansion is constant or the expansion is slowing down. We have considered spatially homogeneous and anisotropic Bianchi-V dark energy model in Brans-Dicke theory of gravitation. We have taken the scale factor a(t)=k t^α e^{β t} , which results into variable deceleration parameter (DP). The graph of DP shows a transition from positive to negative, which shows that universe has passed through the past decelerated expansion to the current accelerated expansion phase. In this context, we have also calculated and plotted various parameters and observed that these are in good agreement with physical and kinematic properties of the universe and are also consistent with recent observations.

Supernova Cosmology in the Big Data Era

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kessler, Richard

Here we describe large "Big Data" Supernova (SN) Ia surveys, past and present, used to make precision measurements of cosmological parameters that describe the expansion history of the universe. In particular, we focus on surveys designed to measure the dark energy equation of state parameter w and its dependence on cosmic time. These large surveys have at least four photometric bands, and they use a rolling search strategy in which the same instrument is used for both discovery and photometric follow-up observations. These surveys include the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS), Sloan Digital Sky Survey II (SDSS-II), Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1), Dark Energy Survey (DES), and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). We discuss the development of how systematic uncertainties are evaluated, and how methods to reduce them play a major role is designing new surveys. The key systematic effects that we discuss are (1) calibration, measuring the telescope efficiency in each filter band, (2) biases from a magnitude-limited survey and from the analysis, and (3) photometric SN classification for current surveys that don't have enough resources to spectroscopically confirm each SN candidate.

Effective field theory of cosmic acceleration: Constraining dark energy with CMB data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raveri, Marco; Hu, Bin; Frusciante, Noemi; Silvestri, Alessandra

2014-08-01

We introduce EFTCAMB/EFTCosmoMC as publicly available patches to the commonly used camb/CosmoMC codes. We briefly describe the structure of the codes, their applicability and main features. To illustrate the use of these patches, we obtain constraints on parametrized pure effective field theory and designer f(R) models, both on ΛCDM and wCDM background expansion histories, using data from Planck temperature and lensing potential spectra, WMAP low-ℓ polarization spectra (WP), and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). Upon inspecting the theoretical stability of the models on the given background, we find nontrivial parameter spaces that we translate into viability priors. We use different combinations of data sets to show their individual effects on cosmological and model parameters. Our data analysis results show that, depending on the adopted data sets, in the wCDM background case these viability priors could dominate the marginalized posterior distributions. Interestingly, with Planck +WP+BAO+lensing data, in f(R) gravity models, we get very strong constraints on the constant dark energy equation of state, w0∈(-1,-0.9997) (95% C.L.).

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dale, R.; Sáez, D., E-mail: rdale@umh.es, E-mail: diego.saez@uv.es

The vector-tensor (VT) theory of gravitation revisited in this article was studied in previous papers, where it was proved that VT works and deserves attention. New observational data and numerical codes have motivated further development which is presented here. New research has been planed with the essential aim of proving that current cosmological observations, including Planck data, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), and so on, may be explained with VT, a theory which accounts for a kind of dark energy which has the same equation of state as vacuum. New versions of the codes CAMB and COSMOMC have been designed formore » applications to VT, and the resulting versions have been used to get the cosmological parameters of the VT model at suitable confidence levels. The parameters to be estimated are the same as in general relativity (GR), plus a new parameter D . For D = 0, VT linear cosmological perturbations reduces to those of GR, but the VT background may explain dark energy. The fits between observations and VT predictions lead to non vanishing | D | upper limits at the 1σ confidence level. The value D = 0 is admissible at this level, but this value is not that of the best fit in any case. Results strongly suggest that VT may explain current observations, at least, as well as GR; with the advantage that, as it is proved in this paper, VT has an additional parameter which facilitates adjustments to current observational data.« less

Composite dark energy: Cosmon models with running cosmological term and gravitational coupling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grande, Javier; Solà, Joan; Štefančić, Hrvoje

2007-02-01

In the recent literature on dark energy (DE) model building we have learnt that cosmologies with variable cosmological parameters can mimic more traditional DE pictures exclusively based on scalar fields (e.g. quintessence and phantom). In a previous work we have illustrated this situation within the context of a renormalization group running cosmological term, Λ. Here we analyze the possibility that both the cosmological term and the gravitational coupling, G, are running parameters within a more general framework (a variant of the so-called “ΛXCDM models”) in which the DE fluid can be a mixture of a running Λ and another dynamical entity X (the “cosmon”) which may behave quintessence-like or phantom-like. We compute the effective EOS parameter, ω, of this composite fluid and show that the ΛXCDM can mimic to a large extent the standard ΛCDM model while retaining features hinting at its potential composite nature (such as the smooth crossing of the cosmological constant boundary ω=-1). We further argue that the ΛXCDM models can cure the cosmological coincidence problem. All in all we suggest that future experimental studies on precision cosmology should take seriously the possibility that the DE fluid can be a composite medium whose dynamical features are partially caused and renormalized by the quantum running of the cosmological parameters.

Dynamical system analysis for DBI dark energy interacting with dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahata, Nilanjana; Chakraborty, Subenoy

2015-01-01

A dynamical system analysis related to Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) cosmological model has been investigated in this present work. For spatially flat FRW spacetime, the Einstein field equation for DBI scenario has been used to study the dynamics of DBI dark energy interacting with dark matter. The DBI dark energy model is considered as a scalar field with a nonstandard kinetic energy term. An interaction between the DBI dark energy and dark matter is considered through a phenomenological interaction between DBI scalar field and the dark matter fluid. The field equations are reduced to an autonomous dynamical system by a suitable redefinition of the basic variables. The potential of the DBI scalar field is assumed to be exponential. Finally, critical points are determined, their nature have been analyzed and corresponding cosmological scenario has been discussed.

Constraints on cosmological parameters from the analysis of the cosmic lens all sky survey radio-selected gravitational lens statistics.

PubMed

Chae, K-H; Biggs, A D; Blandford, R D; Browne, I W A; De Bruyn, A G; Fassnacht, C D; Helbig, P; Jackson, N J; King, L J; Koopmans, L V E; Mao, S; Marlow, D R; McKean, J P; Myers, S T; Norbury, M; Pearson, T J; Phillips, P M; Readhead, A C S; Rusin, D; Sykes, C M; Wilkinson, P N; Xanthopoulos, E; York, T

2002-10-07

We derive constraints on cosmological parameters and the properties of the lensing galaxies from gravitational lens statistics based on the final Cosmic Lens All Sky Survey data. For a flat universe with a classical cosmological constant, we find that the present matter fraction of the critical density is Omega(m)=0.31(+0.27)(-0.14) (68%)+0.12-0.10 (syst). For a flat universe with a constant equation of state for dark energy w=p(x)(pressure)/rho(x)(energy density), we find w<-0.55(+0.18)(-0.11) (68%).

Dark energy scenario consistent with GW170817 in theories beyond Horndeski gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kase, Ryotaro; Tsujikawa, Shinji

2018-05-01

The Gleyzes-Langlois-Piazza-Vernizzi (GLPV) theories up to quartic order are the general scheme of scalar-tensor theories allowing the possibility for realizing the tensor propagation speed ct equivalent to 1 on the isotropic cosmological background. We propose a dark energy model in which the late-time cosmic acceleration occurs by a simple k-essence Lagrangian analogous to the ghost condensate with cubic and quartic Galileons in the framework of GLPV theories. We show that a wide variety of the variation of the dark energy equation of state wDE including the entry to the region wDE<-1 can be realized without violating conditions for the absence of ghosts and Laplacian instabilities. The approach to the tracker equation of state wDE=-2 during the matter era, which is disfavored by observational data, can be avoided by the existence of a quadratic k-essence Lagrangian X2. We study the evolution of nonrelativistic matter perturbations for the model ct2=1 and show that the two quantities μ and Σ , which are related to the Newtonian and weak lensing gravitational potentials respectively, are practically equivalent to each other, such that μ ≃Σ >1 . For the case in which the deviation of wDE from -1 is significant at a later cosmological epoch, the values of μ and Σ tend to be larger at low redshifts. We also find that our dark energy model can be consistent with the bounds on the deviation parameter αH from Horndeski theories arising from the modification of gravitational law inside massive objects.

Simplified phenomenology for colored dark sectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El Hedri, Sonia; Kaminska, Anna; de Vries, Maikel; Zurita, Jose

2017-04-01

We perform a general study of the relic density and LHC constraints on simplified models where the dark matter coannihilates with a strongly interacting particle X. In these models, the dark matter depletion is driven by the self-annihilation of X to pairs of quarks and gluons through the strong interaction. The phenomenology of these scenarios therefore only depends on the dark matter mass and the mass splitting between dark matter and X as well as the quantum numbers of X. In this paper, we consider simplified models where X can be either a scalar, a fermion or a vector, as well as a color triplet, sextet or octet. We compute the dark matter relic density constraints taking into account Sommerfeld corrections and bound state formation. Furthermore, we examine the restrictions from thermal equilibrium, the lifetime of X and the current and future LHC bounds on X pair production. All constraints are comprehensively presented in the mass splitting versus dark matter mass plane. While the relic density constraints can lead to upper bounds on the dark matter mass ranging from 2 TeV to more than 10 TeV across our models, the prospective LHC bounds range from 800 to 1500 GeV. A full coverage of the strongly coannihilating dark matter parameter space would therefore require hadron colliders with significantly higher center-of-mass energies.

Cosmology with the largest galaxy cluster surveys: going beyond Fisher matrix forecasts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Khedekar, Satej; Majumdar, Subhabrata, E-mail: satej@mpa-garching.mpg.de, E-mail: subha@tifr.res.in

2013-02-01

We make the first detailed MCMC likelihood study of cosmological constraints that are expected from some of the largest, ongoing and proposed, cluster surveys in different wave-bands and compare the estimates to the prevalent Fisher matrix forecasts. Mock catalogs of cluster counts expected from the surveys — eROSITA, WFXT, RCS2, DES and Planck, along with a mock dataset of follow-up mass calibrations are analyzed for this purpose. A fair agreement between MCMC and Fisher results is found only in the case of minimal models. However, for many cases, the marginalized constraints obtained from Fisher and MCMC methods can differ bymore » factors of 30-100%. The discrepancy can be alarmingly large for a time dependent dark energy equation of state, w(a); the Fisher methods are seen to under-estimate the constraints by as much as a factor of 4-5. Typically, Fisher estimates become more and more inappropriate as we move away from ΛCDM, to a constant-w dark energy to varying-w dark energy cosmologies. Fisher analysis, also, predicts incorrect parameter degeneracies. There are noticeable offsets in the likelihood contours obtained from Fisher methods that is caused due to an asymmetry in the posterior likelihood distribution as seen through a MCMC analysis. From the point of mass-calibration uncertainties, a high value of unknown scatter about the mean mass-observable relation, and its redshift dependence, is seen to have large degeneracies with the cosmological parameters σ{sub 8} and w(a) and can degrade the cosmological constraints considerably. We find that the addition of mass-calibrated cluster datasets can improve dark energy and σ{sub 8} constraints by factors of 2-3 from what can be obtained from CMB+SNe+BAO only . Finally, we show that a joint analysis of datasets of two (or more) different cluster surveys would significantly tighten cosmological constraints from using clusters only. Since, details of future cluster surveys are still being planned, we emphasize that optimal survey design must be done using MCMC analysis rather than Fisher forecasting.« less

A Unified Model of Phantom Energy and Dark Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaves, Max; Singleton, Douglas

2008-01-01

To explain the acceleration of the cosmological expansion researchers have considered an unusual form of mass-energy generically called dark energy. Dark energy has a ratio of pressure over mass density which obeys w = p/ρ < -1/3. This form of mass-energy leads to accelerated expansion. An extreme form of dark energy, called phantom energy, has been proposed which has w = p/ρ < -1. This possibility is favored by the observational data. The simplest model for phantom energy involves the introduction of a scalar field with a negative kinetic energy term. Here we show that theories based on graded Lie algebras naturally have such a negative kinetic energy and thus give a model for phantom energy in a less ad hoc manner. We find that the model also contains ordinary scalar fields and anti-commuting (Grassmann) vector fields which act as a form of two component dark matter. Thus from a gauge theory based o! n a graded algebra we naturally obtained both phantom energy and dark matter.

Dark energy two decades after: observables, probes, consistency tests.

PubMed

Huterer, Dragan; Shafer, Daniel L

2018-01-01

The discovery of the accelerating universe in the late 1990s was a watershed moment in modern cosmology, as it indicated the presence of a fundamentally new, dominant contribution to the energy budget of the universe. Evidence for dark energy, the new component that causes the acceleration, has since become extremely strong, owing to an impressive variety of increasingly precise measurements of the expansion history and the growth of structure in the universe. Still, one of the central challenges of modern cosmology is to shed light on the physical mechanism behind the accelerating universe. In this review, we briefly summarize the developments that led to the discovery of dark energy. Next, we discuss the parametric descriptions of dark energy and the cosmological tests that allow us to better understand its nature. We then review the cosmological probes of dark energy. For each probe, we briefly discuss the physics behind it and its prospects for measuring dark energy properties. We end with a summary of the current status of dark energy research.

Light chiral dark sector

DOE PAGES

Harigaya, Keisuke; Nomura, Yasunori

2016-08-11

An interesting possibility for dark matter is a scalar particle of mass of order 10 MeV-1 GeV, interacting with a U(1) gauge boson (dark photon) which mixes with the photon. We present a simple and natural model realizing this possibility. The dark matter arises as a composite pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson (dark pion) in a non-Abelian gauge sector, which also gives a mass to the dark photon. For a fixed non-Abelian gauge group, SU(N), and a U(1) charge of the constituent dark quarks, the model has only three free parameters: the dynamical scale of the non-Abelian gauge theory, the gauge coupling ofmore » the dark photon, and the mixing parameter between the dark and standard model photons. In particular, the gauge symmetry of the model does not allow any mass term for the dark quarks, and the stability of the dark pion is understood as a result of an accidental global symmetry. The model has a significant parameter space in which thermal relic dark pions comprise all of the dark matter, consistently with all experimental and cosmological constraints. In a corner of the parameter space, the discrepancy of the muon g-2 between experiments and the standard model prediction can also be ameliorated due to a loop contribution of the dark photon. Smoking-gun signatures of the model include a monophoton signal from the e +e - collision into a photon and a "dark rho meson." Observation of two processes in e +e - collision - the mode into the dark photon and that into the dark rho meson - would provide strong evidence for the model.« less

Light chiral dark sector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harigaya, Keisuke; Nomura, Yasunori

An interesting possibility for dark matter is a scalar particle of mass of order 10 MeV-1 GeV, interacting with a U(1) gauge boson (dark photon) which mixes with the photon. We present a simple and natural model realizing this possibility. The dark matter arises as a composite pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson (dark pion) in a non-Abelian gauge sector, which also gives a mass to the dark photon. For a fixed non-Abelian gauge group, SU(N), and a U(1) charge of the constituent dark quarks, the model has only three free parameters: the dynamical scale of the non-Abelian gauge theory, the gauge coupling ofmore » the dark photon, and the mixing parameter between the dark and standard model photons. In particular, the gauge symmetry of the model does not allow any mass term for the dark quarks, and the stability of the dark pion is understood as a result of an accidental global symmetry. The model has a significant parameter space in which thermal relic dark pions comprise all of the dark matter, consistently with all experimental and cosmological constraints. In a corner of the parameter space, the discrepancy of the muon g-2 between experiments and the standard model prediction can also be ameliorated due to a loop contribution of the dark photon. Smoking-gun signatures of the model include a monophoton signal from the e +e - collision into a photon and a "dark rho meson." Observation of two processes in e +e - collision - the mode into the dark photon and that into the dark rho meson - would provide strong evidence for the model.« less

Environmentally selected WIMP dark matter with high-scale supersymmetry breaking

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Elor, Gilly; Goh, Hock-Seng; Kumar, Piyush

2010-05-01

We explore the possibility that both the weak scale and the thermal relic dark matter abundance are environmentally selected in a multiverse. An underlying supersymmetric theory containing the states of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) and singlets, with supersymmetry and R symmetry broken at unified scales, has just two realistic low-energy effective theories. One theory (SM+w-tilde) is the standard model augmented only by the wino, having a mass near 3 TeV, and has a Higgs boson mass in the range of (127-142) GeV. The other theory (SM+h-tilde/s-tilde) has Higgsinos and a singlino added to the standard model. The Higgsmore » boson mass depends on the single new Yukawa coupling of the theory, y, and is near 141 GeV for small y but grows to be as large as 210 GeV as this new coupling approaches strong coupling at high energies. Much of the parameter space of this theory will be probed by direct detection searches for dark matter that push 2 orders of magnitude below the present bounds; furthermore, the dark matter mass and cross section on nucleons are correlated with the Higgs boson mass. The indirect detection signal of monochromatic photons from the Galactic center is computed, and the range of parameters that may be accessible to LHC searches for trilepton events is explored. Taking a broader view, allowing the possibility of R symmetry protection to the TeV scale or axion dark matter, we find four more theories: (SM+axion), two versions of split supersymmetry, and the E-MSSM, where a little supersymmetric hierarchy is predicted. The special Higgs mass value of (141{+-}2) GeV appears in symmetry limits of three of the six theories, (SM+axion), (SM+w-tilde), and (SM+h-tilde/s-tilde), motivating a comparison of other signals of these three theories.« less

Ultrahigh precision cosmology from gravitational waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cutler, Curt; Holz, Daniel E.

2009-11-01

We show that the Big Bang Observer (BBO), a proposed space-based gravitational-wave (GW) detector, would provide ultraprecise measurements of cosmological parameters. By detecting ˜3×105 compact-star binaries, and utilizing them as standard sirens, BBO would determine the Hubble constant to ˜0.1%, and the dark-energy parameters w0 and wa to ˜0.01 and ˜0.1, respectively. BBO’s dark-energy figure-of-merit would be approximately an order of magnitude better than all other proposed, dedicated dark-energy missions. To date, BBO has been designed with the primary goal of searching for gravitational waves from inflation, down to the level ΩGW˜10-17; this requirement determines BBO’s frequency band (deci-Hz) and its sensitivity requirement (strain measured to ˜10-24). To observe an inflationary GW background, BBO would first have to detect and subtract out ˜3×105 merging compact-star binaries, out to a redshift z˜5. It is precisely this carefully measured foreground which would enable high-precision cosmology. BBO would determine the luminosity distance to each binary to ˜ percent accuracy. In addition, BBO’s angular resolution would be sufficient to uniquely identify the host galaxy for the majority of binaries; a coordinated optical/infrared observing campaign could obtain the redshifts. Combining the GW-derived distances and the electromagnetically-derived redshifts for such a large sample of objects, out to such high redshift, naturally leads to extraordinarily tight constraints on cosmological parameters. We emphasize that such “standard siren” measurements of cosmology avoid many of the systematic errors associated with other techniques: GWs offer a physics-based, absolute measurement of distance. In addition, we show that BBO would also serve as an exceptionally powerful gravitational-lensing mission, and we briefly discuss other astronomical uses of BBO, including providing an early warning system for all short/hard gamma-ray bursts.

Dark energy: A brief review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Miao; Li, Xiao-Dong; Wang, Shuang; Wang, Yi

2013-12-01

The problem of dark energy is briefly reviewed in both theoretical and observational aspects. In the theoretical aspect, dark energy scenarios are classified into symmetry, anthropic principle, tuning mechanism, modified gravity, quantum cosmology, holographic principle, back-reaction and phenomenological types. In the observational aspect, we introduce cosmic probes, dark energy related projects, observational constraints on theoretical models and model independent reconstructions.

Baryon acoustic oscillation intensity mapping of dark energy.

PubMed

Chang, Tzu-Ching; Pen, Ue-Li; Peterson, Jeffrey B; McDonald, Patrick

2008-03-07

The expansion of the Universe appears to be accelerating, and the mysterious antigravity agent of this acceleration has been called "dark energy." To measure the dynamics of dark energy, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) can be used. Previous discussions of the BAO dark energy test have focused on direct measurements of redshifts of as many as 10(9) individual galaxies, by observing the 21 cm line or by detecting optical emission. Here we show how the study of acoustic oscillation in the 21 cm brightness can be accomplished by economical three-dimensional intensity mapping. If our estimates gain acceptance they may be the starting point for a new class of dark energy experiments dedicated to large angular scale mapping of the radio sky, shedding light on dark energy.

Statistical Analysis of Large-Scale Structure of Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tugay, A. V.

While galaxy cluster catalogs were compiled many decades ago, other structural elements of cosmic web are detected at definite level only in the newest works. For example, extragalactic filaments were described by velocity field and SDSS galaxy distribution during the last years. Large-scale structure of the Universe could be also mapped in the future using ATHENA observations in X-rays and SKA in radio band. Until detailed observations are not available for the most volume of Universe, some integral statistical parameters can be used for its description. Such methods as galaxy correlation function, power spectrum, statistical moments and peak statistics are commonly used with this aim. The parameters of power spectrum and other statistics are important for constraining the models of dark matter, dark energy, inflation and brane cosmology. In the present work we describe the growth of large-scale density fluctuations in one- and three-dimensional case with Fourier harmonics of hydrodynamical parameters. In result we get power-law relation for the matter power spectrum.

Comprehensive cosmographic analysis by Markov chain method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capozziello, S.; Lazkoz, R.; Salzano, V.

2011-12-01

We study the possibility of extracting model independent information about the dynamics of the Universe by using cosmography. We intend to explore it systematically, to learn about its limitations and its real possibilities. Here we are sticking to the series expansion approach on which cosmography is based. We apply it to different data sets: Supernovae type Ia (SNeIa), Hubble parameter extracted from differential galaxy ages, gamma ray bursts, and the baryon acoustic oscillations data. We go beyond past results in the literature extending the series expansion up to the fourth order in the scale factor, which implies the analysis of the deceleration q0, the jerk j0, and the snap s0. We use the Markov chain Monte Carlo method (MCMC) to analyze the data statistically. We also try to relate direct results from cosmography to dark energy (DE) dynamical models parametrized by the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder model, extracting clues about the matter content and the dark energy parameters. The main results are: (a) even if relying on a mathematical approximate assumption such as the scale factor series expansion in terms of time, cosmography can be extremely useful in assessing dynamical properties of the Universe; (b) the deceleration parameter clearly confirms the present acceleration phase; (c) the MCMC method can help giving narrower constraints in parameter estimation, in particular for higher order cosmographic parameters (the jerk and the snap), with respect to the literature; and (d) both the estimation of the jerk and the DE parameters reflect the possibility of a deviation from the ΛCDM cosmological model.

Consistent scalar and tensor perturbation power spectra in single fluid matter bounce with dark energy era

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bacalhau, Anna Paula; Pinto-Neto, Nelson; Vitenti, Sandro Dias Pinto

2018-04-01

We investigate cosmological scenarios containing one canonical scalar field with an exponential potential in the context of bouncing models, in which the bounce happens due to quantum cosmological effects. The only possible bouncing solutions in this scenario (discarding an infinitely fine-tuned exception) must have one and only one dark energy phase, occurring either in the contracting era or in the expanding era. Hence, these bounce solutions are necessarily asymmetric. Naturally, the more convenient solution is the one in which the dark energy phase happens in the expanding era, in order to be a possible explanation for the current accelerated expansion indicated by cosmological observations. In this case, one has the picture of a Universe undergoing a classical dust contraction from very large scales, the initial repeller of the model, moving to a classical stiff-matter contraction near the singularity, which is avoided due to the quantum bounce. The Universe is then launched to a dark energy era, after passing through radiation- and dust-dominated phases, finally returning to the dust expanding phase, the final attractor of the model. We calculate the spectral indices and amplitudes of scalar and tensor perturbations numerically, considering the whole history of the model, including the bounce phase itself, without making any approximation nor using any matching condition on the perturbations. As the background model is necessarily dust dominated in the far past, the usual adiabatic vacuum initial conditions can be easily imposed in this era. Hence, this is a cosmological model in which the presence of dark energy behavior in the Universe does not turn the usual vacuum initial conditions prescription for cosmological perturbation in bouncing models problematic. Scalar and tensor perturbations end up being almost scale invariant, as expected. The background parameters can be adjusted, without fine-tunings, to yield the observed amplitude for scalar perturbations and also for the ratio between tensor and scalar amplitudes, r =T /S ≲0.1 . The amplification of scalar perturbations over tensor perturbations takes place only around the bounce, due to quantum effects, and it would not occur if General Relativity has remained valid throughout this phase. Hence, this is a bouncing model in which a single field induces not only an expanding background dark energy phase but also produces all observed features of cosmological perturbations of quantum mechanical origin at linear order.

Automatic Cloud Classification from Multi-Spectral Satellite Data Over Oceanic Regions

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-01-14

parameters the first two colors used are, blue for low values and dark green for high parameter values. If a third class is identified, the intermediate...intermediate yellow and high dark green classes. The color sequence blue-yellow-light green- dark green, then characterizes the low to high parameter value...to light green then to dark green correspond to superpixels of increasing (from low to high) variability in their altitude, (see Table V.3). When the

Effects of a neutrino-dark energy coupling on oscillations of high-energy neutrinos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klop, Niki; Ando, Shin'ichiro

2018-03-01

If dark energy (DE) is a dynamical field rather than a cosmological constant, an interaction between DE and the neutrino sector could exist, modifying the neutrino oscillation phenomenology and causing C P and apparent Lorentz violating effects. The terms in the Hamiltonian for flavor propagation induced by the DE-neutrino coupling do not depend on the neutrino energy, while the ordinary components decrease as Δ m2/Eν. Therefore, the DE-induced effects are absent at lower neutrino energies, but become significant at higher energies, allowing to be searched for by neutrino observatories. We explore the impact of the DE-neutrino coupling on the oscillation probability and the flavor transition in the three-flavor framework, and investigate the C P -violating and apparent Lorentz violating effects. We find that DE-induced effects become observable for Eνmeff˜10-20 GeV2, where meff is the effective mass parameter in the DE-induced oscillation probability, and C P is violated over a wide energy range. We also show that current and future experiments have the sensitivity to detect anomalous effects induced by a DE-neutrino coupling and probe the new mixing parameters. The DE-induced effects on neutrino oscillation can be distinguished from other new physics possibilities with similar effects, through the detection of the directional dependence of the interaction, which is specific to this interaction with DE. However, current experiments will not yet be able to measure the small changes of ˜0.03 % in the flavor composition due to this directional effect.

Dark-bright soliton pairs: Bifurcations and collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katsimiga, G. C.; Kevrekidis, P. G.; Prinari, B.; Biondini, G.; Schmelcher, P.

2018-04-01

The statics, stability, and dynamical properties of dark-bright soliton pairs are investigated here, motivated by applications in a homogeneous two-component repulsively interacting Bose-Einstein condensate. One of the intraspecies interaction coefficients is used as the relevant parameter controlling the deviation from the integrable Manakov limit. Two different families of stationary states are identified consisting of dark-bright solitons that are either antisymmetric (out-of-phase) or asymmetric (mass imbalanced) with respect to their bright soliton. Both of the above dark-bright configurations coexist at the integrable limit of equal intra and interspecies repulsions and are degenerate in that limit. However, they are found to bifurcate from it in a transcritical bifurcation. This bifurcation interchanges the stability properties of the bound dark-bright pairs rendering the antisymmetric states unstable and the asymmetric ones stable past the associated critical point (and vice versa before it). Finally, on the dynamical side, it is found that large kinetic energies and thus rapid soliton collisions are essentially unaffected by the intraspecies variation, while cases involving near equilibrium states or breathing dynamics are significantly modified under such a variation.

Dark matter detectors as dark photon helioscopes.

PubMed

An, Haipeng; Pospelov, Maxim; Pradler, Josef

2013-07-26

Light new particles with masses below 10 keV, often considered as a plausible extension of the standard model, will be emitted from the solar interior and can be detected on Earth with a variety of experimental tools. Here, we analyze the new "dark" vector state V, a massive vector boson mixed with the photon via an angle κ, that in the limit of the small mass mV has its emission spectrum strongly peaked at low energies. Thus, we utilize the constraints on the atomic ionization rate imposed by the results of the XENON10 experiment to set the limit on the parameters of this model: κ×mV<3×10(-12)  eV. This makes low-threshold dark matter experiments the most sensitive dark vector helioscopes, as our result not only improves current experimental bounds from other searches by several orders of magnitude but also surpasses even the most stringent astrophysical and cosmological limits in a seven-decade-wide interval of mV. We generalize this approach to other light exotic particles and set the most stringent direct constraints on "minicharged" particles.

Dark-dark-soliton dynamics in two density-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morera, I.; Mateo, A. Muñoz; Polls, A.; Juliá-Díaz, B.

2018-04-01

We study the one-dimensional dynamics of dark-dark solitons in the miscible regime of two density-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates having repulsive interparticle interactions within each condensate (g >0 ). By using an adiabatic perturbation theory in the parameter g12/g , we show that, contrary to the case of two solitons in scalar condensates, the interactions between solitons are attractive when the interparticle interactions between condensates are repulsive g12>0 . As a result, the relative motion of dark solitons with equal chemical potential μ is well approximated by harmonic oscillations of angular frequency wr=(μ /ℏ ) √{(8 /15 ) g12/g } . We also show that, in finite systems, the resonance of this anomalous excitation mode with the spin-density mode of lowest energy gives rise to alternating dynamical instability and stability fringes as a function of the perturbative parameter. In the presence of harmonic trapping (with angular frequency Ω ) the solitons are driven by the superposition of two harmonic motions at a frequency given by w2=(Ω/√{2 }) 2+wr2 . When g12<0 , these two oscillators compete to give rise to an overall effective potential that can be either single well or double well through a pitchfork bifurcation. All our theoretical results are compared with numerical solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the dynamics and the Bogoliubov equations for the linear stability. A good agreement is found between them.

New Worlds in Astroparticle Physics: Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mourão, Ana M.; Pimenta, Mário; Potting, Robertus; Sá, Paulo M.

Preface -- Group photo -- pt. 1. Overviews in astroparticle physics. An overview of the status of work on ultra high energy cosmic rays / A. A. Watson. Gravitational waves from compact sources / K. D. Kokkotas and N. Stergioulas. Neutrino physics and astrophysics / E. Fernandez. Black holes and fundamental physics / J. P. S. Lemos -- pt. 2. Contributions. Cosmic ray physics. Phenomenology of cosmic ray air showers / M. T. Dova. First results from the MAGIC experiment / A. de Angelis. How to select UHECR in EUSO - the trigger system / P. Assis. Pressure and temperature dependence of the primary scintillation in air / M. Fraga ... [et al.]. Overview of the GLAST physics / N. Giglietto ... [et al.]. Velocity and charge reconstruction with the AMS/RICH detector / L. Arruda ... [et al.]. Isotope separation with the RICH detector of the AMS experiment / L. Arruda ... [et al.]. Gravitational waves and compact sources. Gravitational radiation from 3D collapse to rotating black holes / L. Baiotti ... [et al.]. The role of differential rotation in the evolution of the r-mode instability / P. M. Sá and B. Tomé. Analytical r-mode solution with gravitational radiation reaction force / Ó. J. C. Dias and P. M. Sá. Space radiation: effects and monitoring. Particles from the sun / D. Maia. Simulations of space radiation monitors / B. Tomé. GEANT4 detector simulations: radiation interaction simulations for the high-energy astrophysics experiments EUSO and AMS / P. Goncalves. Software for radiological risk assessment in space missions / A. Trindade, P. Rodrigues. Neutrino physics. Results from K2K / S. Andringa. SNO: salt phase results and NCD phase status / J. Maneira. The ICARUS experiment / S. Navas-Concha. Cosmological parameters measurements. High redshift supernova surveys / S. Fabbro. SNFactory: nearby supernova factory / P. Antilogus. A polarized galactic emission mapping experiment at 5-10 GHz / D. Barbosa ... [et al.]. Galaxy clusters as probes of dark energy / P. T. P. Viana. Black hole physics. Acoustic black holes / V. Cardoso. Superradiant instabilities in black hole systems / Á. J. C. Dias ... [et al.]. Microscopic black hole detection in UHECR: the double bang signature / M. Paulos. Generalized uncertainty principle and holography / F. Scardiali and R. Casadio. Testing covariant entropy bounds / S. Gao and J. P. S. Lemos. Dark matter and dark energy. Dark energy - dark matter unification: generalized Chaplygin gas model / O. Bertolami. Cosmology and spacetime symmetries / R. Lehnert. Scalar field models: from the pioneer anomaly to astrophysical constraints / J. Páramos. Braneworlds, conformal fields and dark energy / R. Neves. Sun and stars as cosmological tools: probing supersymmetric dark matter / I. Lopes. ZEPLIN III: xenon detector for WIMP searches / H. Araújo. Dark matter detectability with Čerenkov telescopes -- List of participants.

Sterile neutrinos and flavor ratios in IceCube

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brdar, Vedran; Kopp, Joachim; Wang, Xiao-Ping, E-mail: vbrdar@uni-mainz.de, E-mail: jkopp@uni-mainz.de, E-mail: xiaowang@uni-mainz.de

2017-01-01

The flavor composition of astrophysical neutrinos observed in neutrino telescopes is a powerful discriminator between different astrophysical neutrino production mechanisms and can also teach us about the particle physics properties of neutrinos. In this paper, we investigate how the possible existence of light sterile neutrinos can affect these flavor ratios. We consider two scenarios: (i) neutrino production in conventional astrophysical sources, followed by partial oscillation into sterile states; (ii) neutrinos from dark matter decay with a primary flavor composition enhanced in tau neutrinos or sterile neutrinos. Throughout the paper, we constrain the sterile neutrino mixing parameters from a full globalmore » fit to short and long baseline data. We present our results in the form of flavor triangles and, for scenario (ii), as exclusion limits on the dark matter mass and lifetime, derived from a fit to IceCube high energy starting events and through-going muons. We argue that identifying a possible flux of neutrinos from dark matter decay may require analyzing the flavor composition as a function of neutrino energy.« less

Direct detection signatures of self-interacting dark matter with a light mediator

DOE PAGES

Nobile, Eugenio Del; Kaplinghat, Manoj; Yu, Hai-Bo

2015-10-27

Self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) is a simple and well-motivated scenario that could explain long-standing puzzles in structure formation on small scales. If the required self-interaction arises through a light mediator (with mass ~ 10 MeV) in the dark sector, this new particle must be unstable to avoid overclosing the universe. The decay of the light mediator could happen due to a weak coupling of the hidden and visible sectors, providing new signatures for direct detection experiments. The SIDM nuclear recoil spectrum is more peaked towards low energies compared to the usual case of contact interactions, because the mediator mass ismore » comparable to the momentum transfer of nuclear recoils. We show that the SIDM signal could be distinguished from that of DM particles with contact interactions by considering the time-average energy spectrum in experiments employing different target materials, or the average and modulated spectra in a single experiment. Using current limits from LUX and SuperCDMS, we also derive strong bounds on the mixing parameter between hidden and visible sector.« less

Separating Dark Physics from Physical Darkness: Minimalist Modified Gravity vs. Dark Energy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huterer, Dragan; Linder, Eric V.

The acceleration of the cosmic expansion may be due to a new component of physical energy density or a modification of physics itself. Mapping the expansion of cosmic scales and the growth of large scale structure in tandem can provide insights to distinguish between the two origins. Using Minimal Modified Gravity (MMG) - a single parameter gravitational growth index formalism to parameterize modified gravity theories - we examine the constraints that cosmological data can place on the nature of the new physics. For next generation measurements combining weak lensing, supernovae distances, and the cosmic microwave background we can extend themore » reach of physics to allow for fitting gravity simultaneously with the expansion equation of state, diluting the equation of state estimation by less than 25percent relative to when general relativity is assumed, and determining the growth index to 8percent. For weak lensing we examine the level of understanding needed of quasi- and nonlinear structure formation in modified gravity theories, and the trade off between stronger precision but greater susceptibility to bias as progressively more nonlinear information is used.« less

Separating dark physics from physical darkness: Minimalist modified gravity versus dark energy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huterer, Dragan; Linder, Eric V.

The acceleration of the cosmic expansion may be due to a new component of physical energy density or a modification of physics itself. Mapping the expansion of cosmic scales and the growth of large scale structure in tandem can provide insights to distinguish between the two origins. Using Minimal Modified Gravity (MMG) - a single parameter gravitational growth index formalism to parametrize modified gravity theories - we examine the constraints that cosmological data can place on the nature of the new physics. For next generation measurements combining weak lensing, supernovae distances, and the cosmic microwave background we can extend themore » reach of physics to allow for fitting gravity simultaneously with the expansion equation of state, diluting the equation of state estimation by less than 25% relative to when general relativity is assumed, and determining the growth index to 8%. For weak lensing we examine the level of understanding needed of quasi- and nonlinear structure formation in modified gravity theories, and the trade off between stronger precision but greater susceptibility to bias as progressively more nonlinear information is used.« less

Anomalous Galactic Dynamics by Collusion of Rindler and Cosmological Horizons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Putten, Maurice H. P. M.

2017-03-01

In holography, the dimensional reduction of phase space to two dimensions defines a dynamical dark energy of {{Λ }}=(1-q){H}2, associated with the cosmological horizon at a Hubble radius of {R}H=c/H, and inertia m of baryonic matter at acceleration α in terms of a thermodynamic potential U={{mc}}2 of Rindler horizons at ξ ={c}2/α . Here, H is the Hubble parameter with deceleration q and c is the velocity of light. In weak gravity, m drops below Newton’s value m 0 as α < {a}H, when Rindler horizons fall beyond the cosmological horizon. The onset to weak gravity across α ={a}H is sharp by causality. Striking evidence is found in galaxy rotation curves, whose asymptotic dynamics is parameterized by Milgrom’s scale of acceleration {a}0=({cH}/2π )\\sqrt{1-q}. This onset presents a new challenge for canonical dark matter distributions on galactic scales in ΛCDM. Instead, future galaxy surveys may determine {Q}0={{dq}(z)/{dz}| }z=0, to provide a direct test of dynamical dark energy ({Q}0> 2.5) versus ΛCDM ({Q}0< 1) and establish a bound of {10}-30 {{eV}} on the mass of the putative dark matter particle with clustering limited to galaxy clusters.

Spherical collapse of dark matter haloes in tidal gravitational fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reischke, Robert; Pace, Francesco; Meyer, Sven; Schäfer, Björn Malte

2016-11-01

We study the spherical collapse model in the presence of external gravitational tidal shear fields for different dark energy scenarios and investigate the impact on the mass function and cluster number counts. While previous studies of the influence of shear and rotation on δc have been performed with heuristically motivated models, we try to avoid this model dependence and sample the external tidal shear values directly from the statistics of the underlying linearly evolved density field based on first-order Lagrangian perturbation theory. Within this self-consistent approach, in the sense that we restrict our treatment to scales where linear theory is still applicable, only fluctuations larger than the scale of the considered objects are included into the sampling process which naturally introduces a mass dependence of δc. We find that shear effects are predominant for smaller objects and at lower redshifts, I. e. the effect on δc is at or below the percent level for the ΛCDM model. For dark energy models we also find small but noticeable differences, similar to ΛCDM. The virial overdensity ΔV is nearly unaffected by the external shear. The now mass dependent δc is used to evaluate the mass function for different dark energy scenarios and afterwards to predict cluster number counts, which indicate that ignoring the shear contribution can lead to biases of the order of 1σ in the estimation of cosmological parameters like Ωm, σ8 or w.

Probing the Dark Sector with Dark Matter Bound States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

An, Haipeng; Echenard, Bertrand; Pospelov, Maxim; Zhang, Yue

2016-04-01

A model of the dark sector where O (few GeV ) mass dark matter particles χ couple to a lighter dark force mediator V , mV≪mχ, is motivated by the recently discovered mismatch between simulated and observed shapes of galactic halos. Such models, in general, provide a challenge for direct detection efforts and collider searches. We show that for a large range of coupling constants and masses, the production and decay of the bound states of χ , such as 0-+ and 1-- states, ηD and ϒD, is an important search channel. We show that e+e-→ηD+V or ϒD+γ production at B factories for αD>0.1 is sufficiently strong to result in multiple pairs of charged leptons and pions via ηD→2 V →2 (l+l-) and ϒD→3 V →3 (l+l-) (l =e ,μ ,π ). The absence of such final states in the existing searches performed at BABAR and Belle sets new constraints on the parameter space of the model. We also show that a search for multiple bremsstrahlung of dark force mediators, e+e-→χ χ ¯+n V , resulting in missing energy and multiple leptons, will further improve the sensitivity to self-interacting dark matter.

Status of the scalar singlet dark matter model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Athron, Peter; Balázs, Csaba; Bringmann, Torsten; Buckley, Andy; Chrząszcz, Marcin; Conrad, Jan; Cornell, Jonathan M.; Dal, Lars A.; Edsjö, Joakim; Farmer, Ben; Jackson, Paul; Kahlhoefer, Felix; Krislock, Abram; Kvellestad, Anders; McKay, James; Mahmoudi, Farvah; Martinez, Gregory D.; Putze, Antje; Raklev, Are; Rogan, Christopher; Saavedra, Aldo; Savage, Christopher; Scott, Pat; Serra, Nicola; Weniger, Christoph; White, Martin

2017-08-01

One of the simplest viable models for dark matter is an additional neutral scalar, stabilised by a Z_2 symmetry. Using the GAMBIT package and combining results from four independent samplers, we present Bayesian and frequentist global fits of this model. We vary the singlet mass and coupling along with 13 nuisance parameters, including nuclear uncertainties relevant for direct detection, the local dark matter density, and selected quark masses and couplings. We include the dark matter relic density measured by Planck, direct searches with LUX, PandaX, SuperCDMS and XENON100, limits on invisible Higgs decays from the Large Hadron Collider, searches for high-energy neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Sun with IceCube, and searches for gamma rays from annihilation in dwarf galaxies with the Fermi-LAT. Viable solutions remain at couplings of order unity, for singlet masses between the Higgs mass and about 300 GeV, and at masses above ˜ 1 TeV. Only in the latter case can the scalar singlet constitute all of dark matter. Frequentist analysis shows that the low-mass resonance region, where the singlet is about half the mass of the Higgs, can also account for all of dark matter, and remains viable. However, Bayesian considerations show this region to be rather fine-tuned.

Probing the Dark Sector with Dark Matter Bound States.

PubMed

An, Haipeng; Echenard, Bertrand; Pospelov, Maxim; Zhang, Yue

2016-04-15

A model of the dark sector where O(few  GeV) mass dark matter particles χ couple to a lighter dark force mediator V, m_{V}≪m_{χ}, is motivated by the recently discovered mismatch between simulated and observed shapes of galactic halos. Such models, in general, provide a challenge for direct detection efforts and collider searches. We show that for a large range of coupling constants and masses, the production and decay of the bound states of χ, such as 0^{-+} and 1^{--} states, η_{D} and ϒ_{D}, is an important search channel. We show that e^{+}e^{-}→η_{D}+V or ϒ_{D}+γ production at B factories for α_{D}>0.1 is sufficiently strong to result in multiple pairs of charged leptons and pions via η_{D}→2V→2(l^{+}l^{-}) and ϒ_{D}→3V→3(l^{+}l^{-}) (l=e,μ,π). The absence of such final states in the existing searches performed at BABAR and Belle sets new constraints on the parameter space of the model. We also show that a search for multiple bremsstrahlung of dark force mediators, e^{+}e^{-}→χχ[over ¯]+nV, resulting in missing energy and multiple leptons, will further improve the sensitivity to self-interacting dark matter.

Power spectrum precision for redshift space distortions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linder, Eric V.; Samsing, Johan

2013-02-01

Redshift space distortions in galaxy clustering offer a promising technique for probing the growth rate of structure and testing dark energy properties and gravity. We consider the issue of to what accuracy they need to be modeled in order not to unduly bias cosmological conclusions. Fitting for nonlinear and redshift space corrections to the linear theory real space density power spectrum in bins in wavemode, we analyze both the effect of marginalizing over these corrections and of the bias due to not correcting them fully. While naively subpercent accuracy is required to avoid bias in the unmarginalized case, in the fitting approach the Kwan-Lewis-Linder reconstruction function for redshift space distortions is found to be accurately selfcalibrated with little degradation in dark energy and gravity parameter estimation for a next generation galaxy redshift survey such as BigBOSS.

Intrinsic uncertainty on the nature of dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valkenburg, Wessel; Kunz, Martin; Marra, Valerio

2013-12-01

We argue that there is an intrinsic noise on measurements of the equation of state parameter w = p/ρ from large-scale structure around us. The presence of the large-scale structure leads to an ambiguity in the definition of the background universe and thus there is a maximal precision with which we can determine the equation of state of dark energy. To study the uncertainty due to local structure, we model density perturbations stemming from a standard inflationary power spectrum by means of the exact Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi solution of Einstein’s equation, and show that the usual distribution of matter inhomogeneities in a ΛCDM cosmology causes a variation of w - as inferred from distance measures - of several percent. As we observe only one universe, or equivalently because of the cosmic variance, this uncertainty is systematic in nature.

Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Intensity Mapping of Dark Energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Tzu-Ching; Pen, Ue-Li; Peterson, Jeffrey B.; McDonald, Patrick

2008-03-01

The expansion of the Universe appears to be accelerating, and the mysterious antigravity agent of this acceleration has been called “dark energy.” To measure the dynamics of dark energy, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) can be used. Previous discussions of the BAO dark energy test have focused on direct measurements of redshifts of as many as 109 individual galaxies, by observing the 21 cm line or by detecting optical emission. Here we show how the study of acoustic oscillation in the 21 cm brightness can be accomplished by economical three-dimensional intensity mapping. If our estimates gain acceptance they may be the starting point for a new class of dark energy experiments dedicated to large angular scale mapping of the radio sky, shedding light on dark energy.

A dark energy model alternative to generalized Chaplygin gas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hova, Hoavo; Yang, Huanxiong

By proposing a new cosmic fluid model of ‑ 1 ≤ ω ≤ 0 as an alternative to the generalized Chaplygin gas, we reexamine the role of Chaplygin gaslike fluid models in understanding dark energy and dark matter. Instead of as a unified dark matter, the fluid is suggested to be a mixture of unclustered dark energy and pressureless dark matter. Within such a scenario, the sub-horizon fluctuations of matter are stable and scale invariant, similar to those in standard ΛCDM model.

The Evolving Search for the Nature of Dark Energy | Berkeley Lab

Science.gov Websites

percent of its contents is ordinary matter, 24 percent is dark matter, and all the rest is dark energy ordinary matter, 24 percent is dark matter, and all the rest is dark energy - unless there's a flaw in our Universe, and it's pushing all the rest - ordinary matter and dark matter - farther apart at an ever

Teleparallel dark energy in a system of D0-branes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Umesh Kumar; Sepehri, Alireza; Pradhan, Anirudh

A new model which allows a non-minimal coupling between gravity and quintessence in the configuration of teleparallel gravity was recently proposed by Geng et al. [“Teleparallel” dark energy, Phys. Lett. B 704 (2011) 384-387] and they named it teleparallel dark energy. Now the main problem which arises is to know what is the source of this dark energy? The answer of this question is given by us in M-theory. This type of dark energy may be produced at three stages in our model. First, one six-dimensional universe is formed by combining and expanding D0-branes. We know that this universe-brane is polarized on two circles and our four-dimensional cosmos and two D1-branes are yielded. At third stage, two D1-branes glued to each other and one D2-brane is formed. This D2 connects our universe with another universe, gives its energy to them and causes the production of dark energy. Thus, the D2-brane is unstable and dissolves in our four-dimensional universes and supplies the needed teleparallel dark energy for expansion. These calculations are extended to M-theory and shown that the amount of teleparallel dark energy which is produced by compactification of universe-branes in M-theory is more than string theory.

Searches for vector-like quarks at future colliders and implications for composite Higgs models with dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chala, Mikael; Gröber, Ramona; Spannowsky, Michael

2018-03-01

Many composite Higgs models predict the existence of vector-like quarks with masses outside the reach of the LHC, e.g. m Q ≳ 2 TeV, in particular if these models contain a dark matter candidate. In such models the mass of the new resonances is bounded from above to satisfy the constraint from the observed relic density. We therefore develop new strategies to search for vector-like quarks at a future 100 TeV collider and evaluate what masses and interactions can be probed. We find that masses as large as ˜ 6.4 (˜9) TeV can be tested if the fermionic resonances decay into Standard Model (dark matter) particles. We also discuss the complementarity of dark matter searches, showing that most of the parameter space can be closed. On balance, this study motivates further the consideration of a higher-energy hadron collider for a next generation of facilities.

PHYSICS OF OUR DAYS: Dark energy: myths and reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lukash, V. N.; Rubakov, V. A.

2008-03-01

We discuss the questions related to dark energy in the Universe. We note that in spite of the effect of dark energy, large-scale structure is still being generated in the Universe and this will continue for about ten billion years. We also comment on some statements in the paper "Dark energy and universal antigravitation" by A D Chernin, Physics Uspekhi 51 (3) (2008).

Fermilab | Science | Questions for the Universe | The Birth of the Universe

Science.gov Websites

Fermilab and the LHC Dark matter and dark energy ADMX Muons More fundamental particles and forces Theory , that could explain ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, dark matter and perhaps even dark energy. Experiments Accelerators for science and society Particle Physics 101 Science of matter, energy, space and time How

Opening up the QCD axion window

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agrawal, Prateek; Marques-Tavares, Gustavo; Xue, Wei

2018-03-01

We present a new mechanism to deplete the energy density of the QCD axion, making decay constants as high as f a ≃ 1017 GeV viable for generic initial conditions. In our setup, the axion couples to a massless dark photon with a coupling that is moderately stronger than the axion coupling to gluons. Dark photons are produced copiously through a tachyonic instability when the axion field starts oscillating, and an exponential suppression of the axion density can be achieved. For a large part of the parameter space this dark radiation component of the universe can be observable in upcoming CMB experiments. Such dynamical depletion of the axion density ameliorates the isocurvature bound on the scale of inflation. The depletion also amplifies the power spectrum at scales that enter the horizon before particle production begins, potentially leading to axion miniclusters.

The general form of the coupled Horndeski Lagrangian that allows cosmological scaling solutions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gomes, Adalto R.; Amendola, Luca, E-mail: argomes.ufma@gmail.com, E-mail: l.amendola@thphys.uni-heidelberg.de

We consider the general scalar field Horndeski Lagrangian coupled to dark matter. Within this class of models, we present two results that are independent of the particular form of the model. First, we show that in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric the Horndeski Lagrangian coincides with the pressure of the scalar field. Second, we employ the previous result to identify the most general form of the Lagrangian that allows for cosmological scaling solutions, i.e. solutions where the ratio of dark matter to field density and the equation of state remain constant. Scaling solutions of this kind may help solving the coincidence problemmore » since in this case the presently observed ratio of matter to dark energy does not depend on initial conditions, but rather on the theoretical parameters.« less

The cosmological constant and dark energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peebles, P. J.; Ratra, Bharat

2003-04-01

Physics welcomes the idea that space contains energy whose gravitational effect approximates that of Einstein’s cosmological constant, Λ; today the concept is termed dark energy or quintessence. Physics also suggests that dark energy could be dynamical, allowing for the arguably appealing picture of an evolving dark-energy density approaching its natural value, zero, and small now because the expanding universe is old. This would alleviate the classical problem of the curious energy scale of a millielectron volt associated with a constant Λ. Dark energy may have been detected by recent cosmological tests. These tests make a good scientific case for the context, in the relativistic Friedmann-Lemaître model, in which the gravitational inverse-square law is applied to the scales of cosmology. We have well-checked evidence that the mean mass density is not much more than one-quarter of the critical Einstein de Sitter value. The case for detection of dark energy is not yet as convincing but still serious; we await more data, which may be derived from work in progress. Planned observations may detect the evolution of the dark-energy density; a positive result would be a considerable stimulus for attempts at understanding the microphysics of dark energy. This review presents the basic physics and astronomy of the subject, reviews the history of ideas, assesses the state of the observational evidence, and comments on recent developments in the search for a fundamental theory.

Revisiting dark energy models using differential ages of galaxies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rani, Nisha; Mahajan, Shobhit; Mukherjee, Amitabha

In this work, we use a test based on the differential ages of galaxies for distinguishing the dark energy models. As proposed by Jimenez and Loeb in [1], relative ages of galaxies can be used to put constraints on various cosmological parameters. In the same vein, we reconstruct H {sub 0} {sub dt} / dz and its derivative ( H {sub 0} {sub d} {sup 2} {sup t} / dz {sup 2}) using a model independent technique called non-parametric smoothing . Basically, dt / dz is the change in the age of the object as a function of redshift whichmore » is directly linked with the Hubble parameter. Hence for reconstruction of this quantity, we use the most recent H ( z ) data. Further, we calculate H {sub 0} {sub dt} / dz and its derivative for several models like Phantom, Einstein de Sitter (EdS), ΛCDM, Chevallier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) parametrization, Jassal-Bagla-Padmanabhan (JBP) parametrization and Feng-Shen-Li-Li (FSLL) parametrization. We check the consistency of these models with the results of reconstruction obtained in a model independent way from the data. It is observed that H {sub 0} {sub dt} / dz as a tool is not able to distinguish between the ΛCDM, CPL, JBP and FSLL parametrizations but, as expected, EdS and Phantom models show noticeable deviation from the reconstructed results. Further, the derivative of H {sub 0} {sub dt} / dz for various dark energy models is more sensitive at low redshift. It is found that the FSLL model is not consistent with the reconstructed results, however, the ΛCDM model is in concordance with the 3σ region of the reconstruction at redshift z ≥ 0.3.« less

Joint constraints on galaxy bias and σ{sub 8} through the N-pdf of the galaxy number density

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arnalte-Mur, Pablo; Martínez, Vicent J.; Vielva, Patricio

We present a full description of the N-probability density function of the galaxy number density fluctuations. This N-pdf is given in terms, on the one hand, of the cold dark matter correlations and, on the other hand, of the galaxy bias parameter. The method relies on the assumption commonly adopted that the dark matter density fluctuations follow a local non-linear transformation of the initial energy density perturbations. The N-pdf of the galaxy number density fluctuations allows for an optimal estimation of the bias parameter (e.g., via maximum-likelihood estimation, or Bayesian inference if there exists any a priori information on themore » bias parameter), and of those parameters defining the dark matter correlations, in particular its amplitude (σ{sub 8}). It also provides the proper framework to perform model selection between two competitive hypotheses. The parameters estimation capabilities of the N-pdf are proved by SDSS-like simulations (both, ideal log-normal simulations and mocks obtained from Las Damas simulations), showing that our estimator is unbiased. We apply our formalism to the 7th release of the SDSS main sample (for a volume-limited subset with absolute magnitudes M{sub r} ≤ −20). We obtain b-circumflex  = 1.193 ± 0.074 and σ-bar{sub 8} = 0.862 ± 0.080, for galaxy number density fluctuations in cells of the size of 30h{sup −1}Mpc. Different model selection criteria show that galaxy biasing is clearly favoured.« less

PPPC 4 DM ID: a poor particle physicist cookbook for dark matter indirect detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cirelli, Marco; Corcella, Gennaro; Hektor, Andi; Hütsi, Gert; Kadastik, Mario; Panci, Paolo; Raidal, Martti; Sala, Filippo; Strumia, Alessandro

2011-03-01

We provide ingredients and recipes for computing signals of TeV-scale Dark Matter annihilations and decays in the Galaxy and beyond. For each DM channel, we present the energy spectra of at production, computed by high-statistics simulations. We estimate the Monte Carlo uncertainty by comparing the results yielded by the Pythia and Herwig event generators. We then provide the propagation functions for charged particles in the Galaxy, for several DM distribution profiles and sets of propagation parameters. Propagation of e± is performed with an improved semi-analytic method that takes into account position-dependent energy losses in the Milky Way. Using such propagation functions, we compute the energy spectra of e±,bar p and bar d at the location of the Earth. We then present the gamma ray fluxes, both from prompt emission and from Inverse Compton scattering in the galactic halo. Finally, we provide the spectra of extragalactic gamma rays. All results are available in numerical form and ready to be consumed.

Cosmology of a holographic induced gravity model with curvature effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouhmadi-López, Mariam; Errahmani, Ahmed; Ouali, Taoufiq

2011-10-01

We present a holographic model of the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati scenario with a Gauss-Bonnet term in the bulk. We concentrate on the solution that generalizes the normal Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati branch. It is well known that this branch cannot describe the late-time acceleration of the universe even with the inclusion of a Gauss-Bonnet term. Here, we show that this branch in the presence of a Gauss-Bonnet curvature effect and a holographic dark energy with the Hubble scale as the infrared cutoff can describe the late-time acceleration of the universe. It is worthwhile to stress that such an energy density component cannot do the same job on the normal Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati branch (without Gauss-Bonnet modifications) nor in a standard four-dimensional relativistic model. The acceleration on the brane is also presented as being induced through an effective dark energy which corresponds to a balance between the holographic one and geometrical effects encoded through the Hubble parameter.

Photoconduction in amorphous thin films of Se90Sb10-xAgx glassy alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Suresh Kumar; Shukla, R. K.; Dwivedi, Prabhat K.; Kumar, A.

2017-10-01

The present paper reports the steady state photoconductivity and photosensitivity response of thermally evaporated amorphous thin films of Se90Sb10-xAgx(x = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10). Temperature dependence of dark conductivity is studied and activation energy is calculated for different samples. Temperature dependence of photoconductivity is also studied at different intensities. From temperature dependence of photoconductivity activation energy is computed at different intensities which are found to vary from 0.26 to 0.47 eV. Intensity dependence of photoconductivity has also been studied at different temperatures. These curves are plotted on logarithmic scale and found to be straight lines which show that photoconductivity follows a power law with intensity. Composition dependence of dark conductivity, activation energy of DC conduction and photosensitivity show that these parameters are highly. composition dependent and show a discontinuity at a particular composition when Ag concentration becomes 6 at. %. This is explained in terms of transition from floppy state to mechanically stabilized state at this composition.

Core or Cusps: The Central Dark Matter Profile of a Strong Lensing Cluster with a Bright Central Image at Redshift 1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collett, Thomas E.; Buckley-Geer, Elizabeth; Lin, Huan; Bacon, David; Nichol, Robert C.; Nord, Brian; Morice-Atkinson, Xan; Amara, Adam; Birrer, Simon; Kuropatkin, Nikolay; More, Anupreeta; Papovich, Casey; Romer, Kathy K.; Tessore, Nicolas; Abbott, Tim M. C.; Allam, Sahar; Annis, James; Benoit-Lévy, Aurlien; Brooks, David; Burke, David L.; Carrasco Kind, Matias; Castander, Francisco Javier J.; D'Andrea, Chris B.; da Costa, Luiz N.; Desai, Shantanu; Diehl, H. Thomas; Doel, Peter; Eifler, Tim F.; Flaugher, Brenna; Frieman, Josh; Gerdes, David W.; Goldstein, Daniel A.; Gruen, Daniel; Gschwend, Julia; Gutierrez, Gaston; James, David J.; Kuehn, Kyler; Kuhlmann, Steve; Lahav, Ofer; Li, Ting S.; Lima, Marcos; Maia, Marcio A. G.; March, Marisa; Marshall, Jennifer L.; Martini, Paul; Melchior, Peter; Miquel, Ramon; Plazas, Andrs A.; Rykoff, Eli S.; Sanchez, Eusebio; Scarpine, Vic; Schindler, Rafe; Schubnell, Michael; Sevilla-Noarbe, Ignacio; Smith, Mathew; Sobreira, Flavia; Suchyta, Eric; Swanson, Molly E. C.; Tarle, Gregory; Tucker, Douglas L.; Walker, Alistair R.

2017-07-01

We report on SPT-CLJ2011-5228, a giant system of arcs created by a cluster at z = 1.06. The arc system is notable for the presence of a bright central image. The source is a Lyman break galaxy at z s = 2.39 and the mass enclosed within the Einstein ring of radius 14 arcsec is ˜ {10}14.2 {M}⊙ . We perform a full reconstruction of the light profile of the lensed images to precisely infer the parameters of the mass distribution. The brightness of the central image demands that the central total density profile of the lens be shallow. By fitting the dark matter as a generalized Navarro-Frenk-White profile—with a free parameter for the inner density slope—we find that the break radius is {270}-76+48 kpc, and that the inner density falls with radius to the power -0.38 ± 0.04 at 68% confidence. Such a shallow profile is in strong tension with our understanding of relaxed cold dark matter halos; dark matter-only simulations predict that the inner density should fall as {r}-1. The tension can be alleviated if this cluster is in fact a merger; a two-halo model can also reconstruct the data, with both clumps (density varying as {r}-0.8 and {r}-1.0) much more consistent with predictions from dark matter-only simulations. At the resolution of our Dark Energy Survey imaging, we are unable to choose between these two models, but we make predictions for forthcoming Hubble Space Telescope imaging that will decisively distinguish between them.

Pressure from dark matter annihilation and the rotation curve of spiral galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wechakama, M.; Ascasibar, Y.

2011-05-01

The rotation curves of spiral galaxies are one of the basic predictions of the cold dark matter paradigm, and their shape in the innermost regions has been hotly debated over the last decades. The present work shows that dark matter annihilation into electron-positron pairs may affect the observed rotation curve by a significant amount. We adopt a model-independent approach, where all the electrons and positrons are injected with the same initial energy E0˜mdmc2 in the range from 1 MeV to 1 TeV and the injection rate is constrained by INTEGRAL, Fermi and HESS data. The pressure of the relativistic electron-positron gas is determined by solving the diffusion-loss equation, considering inverse Compton scattering, synchrotron radiation, Coulomb collisions, bremsstrahlung and ionization. For values of the gas density and magnetic field that are representative of the Milky Way, it is estimated that pressure gradients are strong enough to balance gravity in the central parts if E0 < 1 GeV. The exact value depends somewhat on the astrophysical parameters, and it changes dramatically with the slope of the dark matter density profile. For very steep slopes, as those expected from adiabatic contraction, the rotation curves of spiral galaxies would be affected on ˜kpc scales for most values of E0. By comparing the predicted rotation curves with observations of dwarf and low surface brightness galaxies, we show that the pressure from dark matter annihilation may improve the agreement between theory and observations in some cases, but it also imposes severe constraints on the model parameters (most notably, the inner slope of halo density profile, as well as the mass and the annihilation cross-section of dark matter particles into electron-positron pairs).

Core or Cusps: The Central Dark Matter Profile of a Strong Lensing Cluster with a Bright Central Image at Redshift 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Collett, Thomas E.; Buckley-Geer, Elizabeth; Lin, Huan

We report on SPT-CLJ2011-5228, a giant system of arcs created by a cluster atmore » $z=1.06$. The arc system is notable for the presence of a bright central image. The source is a Lyman Break galaxy at $$z_s=2.39$$ and the mass enclosed within the 14 arc second radius Einstein ring is $$10^{14.2}$$ solar masses. We perform a full light profile reconstruction of the lensed images to precisely infer the parameters of the mass distribution. The brightness of the central image demands that the central total density profile of the lens be shallow. By fitting the dark matter as a generalized Navarro-Frenk-White profile---with a free parameter for the inner density slope---we find that the break radius is $$270^{+48}_{-76}$$ kpc, and that the inner density falls with radius to the power $$-0.38\\pm0.04$$ at 68 percent confidence. Such a shallow profile is in strong tension with our understanding of relaxed cold dark matter halos; dark matter only simulations predict the inner density should fall as $$r^{-1}$$. The tension can be alleviated if this cluster is in fact a merger; a two halo model can also reconstruct the data, with both clumps (density going as $$r^{-0.8}$$ and $$r^{-1.0}$$) much more consistent with predictions from dark matter only simulations. At the resolution of our Dark Energy Survey imaging, we are unable to choose between these two models, but we make predictions for forthcoming Hubble Space Telescope imaging that will decisively distinguish between them.« less

Structure formation by a fifth force: N-body versus linear simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Baojiu; Zhao, Hongsheng

2009-08-01

We lay out the frameworks to numerically study the structure formation in both linear and nonlinear regimes in general dark-matter-coupled scalar field models, and give an explicit example where the scalar field serves as a dynamical dark energy. Adopting parameters of the scalar field which yield a realistic cosmic microwave background (CMB) spectrum, we generate the initial conditions for our N-body simulations, which follow the spatial distributions of the dark matter and the scalar field by solving their equations of motion using the multilevel adaptive grid technique. We show that the spatial configuration of the scalar field tracks well the voids and clusters of dark matter. Indeed, the propagation of scalar degree of freedom effectively acts as a fifth force on dark matter particles, whose range and magnitude are determined by the two model parameters (μ,γ), local dark matter density as well as the background value for the scalar field. The model behaves like the ΛCDM paradigm on scales relevant to the CMB spectrum, which are well beyond the probe of the local fifth force and thus not significantly affected by the matter-scalar coupling. On scales comparable or shorter than the range of the local fifth force, the fifth force is perfectly parallel to gravity and their strengths have a fixed ratio 2γ2 determined by the matter-scalar coupling, provided that the chameleon effect is weak; if on the other hand there is a strong chameleon effect (i.e., the scalar field almost resides at its effective potential minimum everywhere in the space), the fifth force indeed has suppressed effects in high density regions and shows no obvious correlation with gravity, which means that the dark-matter-scalar-field coupling is not simply equivalent to a rescaling of the gravitational constant or the mass of the dark matter particles. We show these spatial distributions and (lack of) correlations at typical redshifts (z=0,1,5.5) in our multigrid million-particle simulations. The viable parameters for the scalar field can be inferred on intermediate or small scales at late times from, e.g., weak lensing and phase space properties, while the predicted Hubble expansion and linearly simulated CMB spectrum are virtually indistinguishable from the standard ΛCDM predictions.

Decay of ultralight axion condensates

DOE PAGES

Eby, Joshua; Ma, Michael; Suranyi, Peter; ...

2018-01-15

Axion particles can form macroscopic condensates, whose size can be galactic in scale for models with very small axion massesmore » $$m\\sim10^{-22}$$ eV, and which are sometimes referred to under the name of Fuzzy Dark Matter. Many analyses of these condensates are done in the non-interacting limit, due to the weakness of the self-interaction coupling of axions. We investigate here how certain results change upon inclusion of these interactions, finding a decreased maximum mass and a modified mass-radius relationship. Further, these condensates are, in general, unstable to decay through number-changing interactions. We analyze the stability of galaxy-sized condensates of axion-like particles, and sketch the parameter space of stable configurations as a function of a binding energy parameter. As a result, we find a strong lower bound on the size of Fuzzy Dark Matter condensates which are stable to decay, with lifetimes longer than the age of the universe.« less

Constraints on the unified dark energy dark matter model from latest observational data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Puxun; Yu, Hongwei

2007-03-01

The generalized Chaplygin gas (GCG) is studied in this paper by using the latest observational data including 182 gold sample type Ia supernovae (Sne Ia) data, the ESSENCE Sne Ia data, the distance ratio from z = 0.35 to 1089 (the redshift of decoupling), the cosmic microwave background shift parameter and the Hubble parameter data. Our results rule out the standard Chaplygin gas model (α = 1) at the 99.7% confidence level, but allow for the λCDM model (α = 0) at the 68.3% confidence level. At a 95.4% confidence level, we obtain w = -0.74-0.09+0.10 and α = -0.14-0.19+0.30. In addition, we find that the phase transition from deceleration to acceleration occurs at redshift zq = 0~0.78-0.89 at a 1σ confidence level for the GCG model.

Decay of ultralight axion condensates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eby, Joshua; Ma, Michael; Suranyi, Peter

Axion particles can form macroscopic condensates, whose size can be galactic in scale for models with very small axion massesmore » $$m\\sim10^{-22}$$ eV, and which are sometimes referred to under the name of Fuzzy Dark Matter. Many analyses of these condensates are done in the non-interacting limit, due to the weakness of the self-interaction coupling of axions. We investigate here how certain results change upon inclusion of these interactions, finding a decreased maximum mass and a modified mass-radius relationship. Further, these condensates are, in general, unstable to decay through number-changing interactions. We analyze the stability of galaxy-sized condensates of axion-like particles, and sketch the parameter space of stable configurations as a function of a binding energy parameter. As a result, we find a strong lower bound on the size of Fuzzy Dark Matter condensates which are stable to decay, with lifetimes longer than the age of the universe.« less

Development of a liquid xenon time projection chamber for the XENON dark matter search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ni, Kaixuan

This thesis describes the research conducted for the XENON dark matter direct detection experiment. The tiny energy and small cross-section, from the interaction of dark matter particle on the target, requires a low threshold and sufficient background rejection capability of the detector. The XENON experiment uses dual phase technology to detect scintillation and ionization simultaneously from an event in liquid xenon (LXe). The distinct ratio, between scintillation and ionization, for nuclear recoil and electron recoil events provides excellent background rejection potential. The XENON detector is designed to have 3D position sensitivity down to mm scale, which provides additional event information for background rejection. Started in 2002, the XENON project made steady progress in the R&D phase during the past few years. Those include developing sensitive photon detectors in LXe, improving the energy resolution and LXe purity for detecting very low energy events. Two major quantities related to the dark matter detection, the scintillation efficiency and ionization yield of nuclear recoils in LXe, have been established. A prototype dual phase detector (XENON3) has been built and tested extensively in above ground laboratory. The 3D position sensitivity, as well as the background discrimination potential demonstrated from the XENON3 prototype, allows the construction of a 10 kg scale detector (XENON10), to be deployed underground in early 2006. With 99.5% electron recoil rejection efficiency and 16 keVr nuclear recoil energy threshold, XENON10 will be able to probe the WIMP-nucleon cross-section down to 2 x 10-44 cm2 in the supersymmetry parameter space, after one month operation in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory.

PRECISION COSMOGRAPHY WITH STACKED VOIDS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lavaux, Guilhem; Wandelt, Benjamin D.

2012-08-01

We present a purely geometrical method for probing the expansion history of the universe from the observation of the shape of stacked voids in spectroscopic redshift surveys. Our method is an Alcock-Paczynski (AP) test based on the average sphericity of voids posited on the local isotropy of the universe. It works by comparing the temporal extent of cosmic voids along the line of sight with their angular, spatial extent. We describe the algorithm that we use to detect and stack voids in redshift shells on the light cone and test it on mock light cones produced from N-body simulations. Wemore » establish a robust statistical model for estimating the average stretching of voids in redshift space and quantify the contamination by peculiar velocities. Finally, assuming that the void statistics that we derive from N-body simulations is preserved when considering galaxy surveys, we assess the capability of this approach to constrain dark energy parameters. We report this assessment in terms of the figure of merit (FoM) of the dark energy task force and in particular of the proposed Euclid mission which is particularly suited for this technique since it is a spectroscopic survey. The FoM due to stacked voids from the Euclid wide survey may double that of all other dark energy probes derived from Euclid data alone (combined with Planck priors). In particular, voids seem to outperform baryon acoustic oscillations by an order of magnitude. This result is consistent with simple estimates based on mode counting. The AP test based on stacked voids may be a significant addition to the portfolio of major dark energy probes and its potentialities must be studied in detail.« less

The Structure of Dark Matter Halos in Dwarf Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burkert, A.

1995-07-01

Recent observations indicate that dark matter halos have flat central density profiles. Cosmological simulations with nonbaryonic dark matter, however, predict self-similar halos with central density cusps. This contradiction has lead to the conclusion that dark matter must be baryonic. Here it is shown that the dark matter halos of dwarf spiral galaxies represent a one-parameter family with self-similar density profiles. The observed global halo parameters are coupled with each other through simple scaling relations which can be explained by the standard cold dark matter model if one assumes that all the halos formed from density fluctuations with the same primordial amplitude. We find that the finite central halo densities correlate with the other global parameters. This result rules out scenarios where the flat halo cores formed subsequently through violent dynamical processes in the baryonic component. These cores instead provide important information on the origin and nature of dark matter in dwarf galaxies.

A causal viscous cosmology without singularities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laciana, Carlos E.

2017-05-01

An isotropic and homogeneous cosmological model with a source of dark energy is studied. That source is simulated with a viscous relativistic fluid with minimal causal correction. In this model the restrictions on the parameters coming from the following conditions are analized: (a) energy density without singularities along time, (b) scale factor increasing with time, (c) universe accelerated at present time, (d) state equation for dark energy with " w" bounded and close to -1. It is found that those conditions are satisfied for the following two cases. (i) When the transport coefficient (τ _{Π}), associated to the causal correction, is negative, with the additional restriction ζ | τ _{Π}| >2/3, where ζ is the relativistic bulk viscosity coefficient. The state equation is in the "phantom" energy sector. (ii) For τ _{Π} positive, in the "k-essence" sector. It is performed an exact calculation for the case where the equation of state is constant, finding that option (ii) is favored in relation to (i), because in (ii) the entropy is always increasing, while this does no happen in (i).

Saul Perlmutter, Distant Supernovae, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating

Science.gov Websites

, Distant Supernovae, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Expansion of the Universe Resources with Additional nature of dark energy.'1 'The accelerating expansion means that the universe could expand forever until , in the distant future, it is cold and dark. The teams' discovery led to speculation that there is a

Constraining Secluded Dark Matter models with the public data from the 79-string IceCube search for dark matter in the Sun

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ardid, M.; Felis, I.; Martínez-Mora, J.A.

The 79-string IceCube search for dark matter in the Sun public data is used to test Secluded Dark Matter models. No significant excess over background is observed and constraints on the parameters of the models are derived. Moreover, the search is also used to constrain the dark photon model in the region of the parameter space with dark photon masses between 0.22 and ∼ 1 GeV and a kinetic mixing parameter ε ∼ 10{sup −9}, which remains unconstrained. These are the first constraints of dark photons from neutrino telescopes. It is expected that neutrino telescopes will be efficient tools tomore » test dark photons by means of different searches in the Sun, Earth and Galactic Center, which could complement constraints from direct detection, accelerators, astrophysics and indirect detection with other messengers, such as gamma rays or antiparticles.« less

Local dark matter and dark energy as estimated on a scale of ~1 Mpc in a self-consistent way

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernin, A. D.; Teerikorpi, P.; Valtonen, M. J.; Dolgachev, V. P.; Domozhilova, L. M.; Byrd, G. G.

2009-12-01

Context: Dark energy was first detected from large distances on gigaparsec scales. If it is vacuum energy (or Einstein's Λ), it should also exist in very local space. Here we discuss its measurement on megaparsec scales of the Local Group. Aims: We combine the modified Kahn-Woltjer method for the Milky Way-M 31 binary and the HST observations of the expansion flow around the Local Group in order to study in a self-consistent way and simultaneously the local density of dark energy and the dark matter mass contained within the Local Group. Methods: A theoretical model is used that accounts for the dynamical effects of dark energy on a scale of ~1 Mpc. Results: The local dark energy density is put into the range 0.8-3.7ρv (ρv is the globally measured density), and the Local Group mass lies within 3.1-5.8×1012 M⊙. The lower limit of the local dark energy density, about 4/5× the global value, is determined by the natural binding condition for the group binary and the maximal zero-gravity radius. The near coincidence of two values measured with independent methods on scales differing by ~1000 times is remarkable. The mass ~4×1012 M⊙ and the local dark energy density ~ρv are also consistent with the expansion flow close to the Local Group, within the standard cosmological model. Conclusions: One should take into account the dark energy in dynamical mass estimation methods for galaxy groups, including the virial theorem. Our analysis gives new strong evidence in favor of Einstein's idea of the universal antigravity described by the cosmological constant.

Accounting for baryonic effects in cosmic shear tomography: Determining a minimal set of nuisance parameters using PCA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eifler, Tim; Krause, Elisabeth; Dodelson, Scott

2014-05-28

Systematic uncertainties that have been subdominant in past large-scale structure (LSS) surveys are likely to exceed statistical uncertainties of current and future LSS data sets, potentially limiting the extraction of cosmological information. Here we present a general framework (PCA marginalization) to consistently incorporate systematic effects into a likelihood analysis. This technique naturally accounts for degeneracies between nuisance parameters and can substantially reduce the dimension of the parameter space that needs to be sampled. As a practical application, we apply PCA marginalization to account for baryonic physics as an uncertainty in cosmic shear tomography. Specifically, we use CosmoLike to run simulatedmore » likelihood analyses on three independent sets of numerical simulations, each covering a wide range of baryonic scenarios differing in cooling, star formation, and feedback mechanisms. We simulate a Stage III (Dark Energy Survey) and Stage IV (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope/Euclid) survey and find a substantial bias in cosmological constraints if baryonic physics is not accounted for. We then show that PCA marginalization (employing at most 3 to 4 nuisance parameters) removes this bias. Our study demonstrates that it is possible to obtain robust, precise constraints on the dark energy equation of state even in the presence of large levels of systematic uncertainty in astrophysical processes. We conclude that the PCA marginalization technique is a powerful, general tool for addressing many of the challenges facing the precision cosmology program.« less

Dark energy and modified gravity in the Effective Field Theory of Large-Scale Structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cusin, Giulia; Lewandowski, Matthew; Vernizzi, Filippo

2018-04-01

We develop an approach to compute observables beyond the linear regime of dark matter perturbations for general dark energy and modified gravity models. We do so by combining the Effective Field Theory of Dark Energy and Effective Field Theory of Large-Scale Structure approaches. In particular, we parametrize the linear and nonlinear effects of dark energy on dark matter clustering in terms of the Lagrangian terms introduced in a companion paper [1], focusing on Horndeski theories and assuming the quasi-static approximation. The Euler equation for dark matter is sourced, via the Newtonian potential, by new nonlinear vertices due to modified gravity and, as in the pure dark matter case, by the effects of short-scale physics in the form of the divergence of an effective stress tensor. The effective fluid introduces a counterterm in the solution to the matter continuity and Euler equations, which allows a controlled expansion of clustering statistics on mildly nonlinear scales. We use this setup to compute the one-loop dark-matter power spectrum.

Gravitational vacuum energy in our recently accelerating universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bludman, Sidney

2009-04-01

We review current observations of the homogeneous cosmological expansion which, because they measure only kinematic variables, cannot determine the dynamics driving the recent accelerated expansion. The minimal fit to the data, the flat ACDM model, consisting of cold dark matter and a cosmological constant, interprets 4? geometrically as a classical spacetime curvature constant of nature, avoiding any reference to quantum vacuum energy. (The observed Uehling and Casimir effects measure forces due to QED vacuum polarization, but not any quantum material vacuum energies.) An Extended Anthropic Principle, that Dark Energy and Dark Gravity be indistinguishable, selects out flat ACDM. Prospective cosmic shear and galaxy clustering observations of the growth of fluctuations are intended to test whether the 'dark energy' driving the recent cosmological acceleration is static or moderately dynamic. Even if dynamic, observational differences between an additional negative-pressure material component within general relativity (Dark Energy) and low-curvature modifications of general relativity (Dark Gravity) will be extremely small.

Natural implementation of neutralino dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

King, Steve F.; Roberts, Jonathan P.

2006-09-01

The prediction of neutralino dark matter is generally regarded as one of the successes of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). However the successful regions of parameter space allowed by WMAP and collider constraints are quite restricted. We discuss fine-tuning with respect to both dark matter and Electroweak Symmetry Breaking (EWSB) and explore regions of MSSM parameter space with non-universal gaugino and third family scalar masses in which neutralino dark matter may be implemented naturally. In particular allowing non-universal gauginos opens up the bulk region that allows Bino annihilation via t-channel slepton exchange, leading to ``supernatural dark matter'' corresponding to no fine-tuning at all with respect to dark matter. By contrast we find that the recently proposed ``well tempered neutralino'' regions involve substantial fine-tuning of MSSM parameters in order to satisfy the dark matter constraints, although the fine tuning may be ameliorated if several annihilation channels act simultaneously. Although we have identified regions of ``supernatural dark matter'' in which there is no fine tuning to achieve successful dark matter, the usual MSSM fine tuning to achieve EWSB always remains.

Charming dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jubb, Thomas; Kirk, Matthew; Lenz, Alexander

2017-12-01

We have considered a model of Dark Minimal Flavour Violation (DMFV), in which a triplet of dark matter particles couple to right-handed up-type quarks via a heavy colour-charged scalar mediator. By studying a large spectrum of possible constraints, and assessing the entire parameter space using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), we can place strong restrictions on the allowed parameter space for dark matter models of this type.

A dark matter scaling relation from mirror dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foot, R.

2014-12-01

Mirror dark matter, and other similar dissipative dark matter candidates, need an energy source to stabilize dark matter halos around spiral galaxies. It has been suggested previously that ordinary supernovae can potentially supply the required energy. By matching the energy supplied to the halo from supernovae to that lost due to radiative cooling, we here derive a rough scaling relation, RSN ∝ρ0r02 (RSN is the supernova rate and ρ0 ,r0 the dark matter central density and core radius). Such a relation is consistent with dark matter properties inferred from studies of spiral galaxies with halo masses larger than 3 ×1011M⊙. We speculate that other observed galaxy regularities might be explained within the framework of such dissipative dark matter.

Prospects of direct search for dark photon and dark Higgs in SeaQuest/E1067 experiment at the Fermilab main injector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Ming Xiong

2017-03-01

In this review, we present the current status and prospects of the dark sector physics search program of the SeaQuest/E1067 fixed target dimuon experiment at Fermilab Main Injector. There has been tremendous excitement and progress in searching for new physics in the dark sector in recent years. Dark sector refers to a collection of currently unknown particles that do not directly couple with the Standard Model (SM) strong and electroweak (EW) interactions but assumed to carry gravitational force, thus could be candidates of the missing Dark Matter (DM). Such particles may interact with the SM particles through “portal” interactions. Two of the simple possibilities are being investigated in our initial search: (1) dark photon and (2) dark Higgs. They could be within immediate reach of current or near future experimental search. We show there is a unique opportunity today at Fermilab to directly search for these particles in a highly motivated but uncharted parameter space in high-energy proton-nucleus collisions in the beam-dump mode using the 120 GeV proton beam from the Main Injector. Our current search window covers the mass range 0.2-10 GeV/c2, and in the near future, by adding an electromagnetic calorimeter (EMCal) to the spectrometer, we can further explore the lower mass region down to about ˜1 MeV/c2 through the di-electron channel. If dark photons (and/or dark Higgs) were observed, they would revolutionize our understanding of the fundamental structures and interactions of our universe.

Initial conditions for dark soliton generation in normal-dispersion fiber lasers.

PubMed

Ge, Y Q; Luo, J L; Li, L; Jin, X X; Tang, D Y; Shen, D Y; Zhang, S M; Zhao, L M

2015-01-01

We report results of numerical simulations on the various initial conditions for dark soliton generation in an all-normal-dispersion fiber laser. All the dark solitons generated are odd dark solitons. Differently from the dark soliton generation in fibers, where an arbitrary dip could evolve into a dark soliton, it is found that the dark soliton can originate only from an initial dip with a certain parameter requirement. A bright pulse with either a hyperbolic secant square, Gaussian, or Lorentz profile can be developed into a dark soliton, provided that the parameters of the initial bright pulse are selected. Dark solitons can be generated in fiber lasers only if there is a phase jump, and this phase jump can be maintained and evolve to π during the pulse evolution.

Simulations of galaxy cluster collisions with a dark plasma component

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spethmann, Christian; Veermäe, Hardi; Sepp, Tiit; Heikinheimo, Matti; Deshev, Boris; Hektor, Andi; Raidal, Martti

2017-12-01

Context. Dark plasma is an intriguing form of self-interacting dark matter with an effective fluid-like behavior, which is well motivated by various theoretical particle physics models. Aims: We aim to find an explanation for an isolated mass clump in the Abell 520 system, which cannot be explained by traditional models of dark matter, but has been detected in weak lensing observations. Methods: We performed N-body smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of galaxy cluster collisions with a two component model of dark matter, which is assumed to consist of a predominant non-interacting dark matter component and a 10-40% mass fraction of dark plasma. Results: The mass of a possible dark clump was calculated for each simulation in a parameter scan over the underlying model parameters. In two higher resolution simulations shock-waves and Mach cones were observed to form in the dark plasma halos. Conclusions: By choosing suitable simulation parameters, the observed distributions of dark matter in both the Bullet cluster (1E 0657-558) and Abell 520 (MS 0451.5+0250) can be qualitatively reproduced. Movies associated to Figs. A.1 and A.2 are available at http://www.aanda.org

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Audren, Benjamin; Bellini, Emilio; Cuesta, Antonio J.

The existence of a cosmic neutrino background can be probed indirectly by CMB experiments, not only by measuring the background density of radiation in the universe, but also by searching for the typical signatures of the fluctuations of free-streaming species in the temperature and polarisation power spectrum. Previous studies have already proposed a rather generic parametrisation of these fluctuations, that could help to discriminate between the signature of ordinary free-streaming neutrinos, or of more exotic dark radiation models. Current data are compatible with standard values of these parameters, which seems to bring further evidence for the existence of a cosmicmore » neutrino background. In this work, we investigate the robustness of this conclusion under various assumptions. We generalise the definition of an effective sound speed and viscosity speed to the case of massive neutrinos or other dark radiation components experiencing a non-relativistic transition. We show that current bounds on these effective parameters do not vary significantly when considering an arbitrary value of the particle mass, or extended cosmological models with a free effective neutrino number, dynamical dark energy or a running of the primordial spectrum tilt. We conclude that it is possible to make a robust statement about the detection of the cosmic neutrino background by CMB experiments.« less

Equation of state of dark energy in f (R ) gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, Kazufumi; Yokoyama, Jun'ichi

2015-04-01

f (R ) gravity is one of the simplest generalizations of general relativity, which may explain the accelerated cosmic expansion without introducing a cosmological constant. Transformed into the Einstein frame, a new scalar degree of freedom appears and it couples with matter fields. In order for f (R ) theories to pass the local tests of general relativity, it has been known that the chameleon mechanism with a so-called thin-shell solution must operate. If the thin-shell constraint is applied to a cosmological situation, it has been claimed that the equation-of-state parameter of dark energy w must be extremely close to -1 . We argue this is due to the incorrect use of the Poisson equation, which is valid only in the static case. By solving the correct Klein-Gordon equation perturbatively, we show that a thin-shell solution exists even if w deviates appreciably from -1 .

Dark matter sensitivity of multi-ton liquid xenon detectors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schumann, Marc; Bütikofer, Lukas; Baudis, Laura

2015-10-01

We study the sensitivity of multi ton-scale time projection chambers using a liquid xenon target, e.g., the proposed DARWIN instrument, to spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon scattering interactions. Taking into account realistic backgrounds from the detector itself as well as from neutrinos, we examine the impact of exposure, energy threshold, background rejection efficiency and energy resolution on the dark matter sensitivity. With an exposure of 200 t × y and assuming detector parameters which have been already demonstrated experimentally, spin-independent cross sections as low as 2.5 × 10{sup −49} cm{sup 2} can be probed for WIMP masses around 40 GeV/c{sup 2}. Additional improvementsmore » in terms of background rejection and exposure will further increase the sensitivity, while the ultimate WIMP science reach will be limited by neutrinos scattering coherently off the xenon nuclei.« less

Throwing light on dark energy.

PubMed

Kirshner, Robert P

2003-06-20

Supernova observations show that the expansion of the universe has been speeding up. This unexpected acceleration is ascribed to a dark energy that pervades space. Supernova data, combined with other observations, indicate that the universe is about 14 billion years old and is composed of about 30%matter and 70%dark energy. New observational programs can trace the history of cosmic expansion more precisely and over a larger span of time than has been done to date to learn whether the dark energy is a modern version of Einstein's cosmological constant or another form of dark energy that changes with time. Either conclusion is an enigma that points to gaps in our fundamental understanding of gravity.

Graviweak Unification, Invisible Universe and Dark Energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Das, C. R.; Laperashvili, L. V.; Tureanu, A.

2013-07-01

We consider a graviweak unification model with the assumption of the existence of a hidden (invisible) sector of our Universe, parallel to the visible world. This Hidden World (HW) is assumed to be a Mirror World (MW) with broken mirror parity. We start with a diffeomorphism invariant theory of a gauge field valued in a Lie algebra g, which is broken spontaneously to the direct sum of the space-time Lorentz algebra and the Yang-Mills algebra: ˜ {g} = {{su}}(2) (grav)L ⊕ {{su}}(2)L — in the ordinary world, and ˜ {g}' = {{su}}(2){' (grav)}R ⊕ {{su}}(2)'R — in the hidden world. Using an extension of the Plebanski action for general relativity, we recover the actions for gravity, SU(2) Yang-Mills and Higgs fields in both (visible and invisible) sectors of the Universe, and also the total action. After symmetry breaking, all physical constants, including the Newton's constants, cosmological constants, Yang-Mills couplings, and other parameters, are determined by a single parameter g present in the initial action, and by the Higgs VEVs. The dark energy problem of this model predicts a too large supersymmetric breaking scale (MSUSY 1010GeV), which is not within the reach of the LHC experiments.

Mass, Energy, Space And Time System Theory---MEST A way to help our earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Dayong

2009-03-01

There are two danger to our earth. The first, the sun will expand to devour our earth, for example, the ozonosphere of our earth is be broken; The second, the asteroid will impact near our earth. According to MEST, there is a interaction between Black hole (and Dark matter-energy) and Solar system. The orbit of Jupiter is a boundary of the interaction between Black hole (and Dark matter-energy) and Solar system. Because there are four terrestrial planets which is mass-energy center as solar system, and there are four or five Jovian planets which is gas (space-time) center as black hole system. According to MEST, dark matter-energy take the velocity of Jupiter gose up. So there are a lot of asteroids and dark matter-energy near the orbit of Jupiter-the boundary. Dark matter-energy can change the orbit of asteroid, and take it impacted near our earth. Because the Dark matter-energy will pressure the Solar system. It is a inverse process with sun's expandedness. So the ``two danger'' is from a new process of the balance system between Black hole (and Dark matter-energy) and Solar system. According to MEST, We need to find the right point for our earth in the ``new process of the balance system.''

Dark matter and color octets beyond the Standard Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krnjaic, Gordan Z.

Although the Standard Model (SM) of particles and interactions has survived forty years of experimental tests, it does not provide a complete description of nature. From cosmological and astrophysical observations, it is now clear that the majority of matter in the universe is not baryonic and interacts very weakly (if at all) via non-gravitational forces. The SM does not provide a dark matter candidate, so new particles must be introduced. Furthermore, recent Tevatron results suggest that SM predictions for benchmark collider observables are in tension with experimental observations. In this thesis, we will propose extensions to the SM that address each of these issues. Although there is abundant indirect evidence for the existence of dark matter, terrestrial efforts to observe its interactions have yielded conflicting results. We address this situation with a simple model of dark matter that features hydrogen-like bound states that scatter off SM nuclei by undergoing inelastic hyperfine transitions. We explore the available parameter space that results from demanding that DM self-interactions satisfy experimental bounds and ameliorate the tension between positive and null signals at the DAMA and CDMS experiments respectively. However, this simple model does not explain the cosmological abundance of dark matter and also encounters a Landau pole at a low energy scale. We, therefore, extend the field content and gauge group of the dark sector to resolve these issues with a renormalizable UV completion. We also explore the galactic dynamics of unbound dark matter and find that "dark ions" settle into a diffuse isothermal halo that differs from that of the bound states. This suppresses the local dark-ion density and expands the model's viable parameter space. We also consider the > 3σ excess in W plus dijet events recently observed at the Tevatron collider. We show that decays of a color-octet, electroweak-triplet scalar particle ("octo-triplet") can yield the requisite final state to explain the data. We also find that octotriplets can induce mixing in the B - B¯ system and may give rise to additional CP violation. The model makes concrete predictions for several final states accessible at the LHC, so it can promptly be discovered or falsified. Finally we address the anomalous top forward-backward asymmetry observed the Tevatron. We find that a spin-1 color octet particle with flavor blind axial interactions can explain this anomaly if the mass is in the 50 - 90 GeV range. We explore the multitude of experimental constrains in this mass window and present the viable parameter space as a function of the axigluon mass and coupling constant.

Probing the dynamics of dark energy with divergence-free parametrizations: A global fit study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hong; Zhang, Xin

2011-09-01

The CPL parametrization is very important for investigating the property of dark energy with observational data. However, the CPL parametrization only respects the past evolution of dark energy but does not care about the future evolution of dark energy, since w ( z ) diverges in the distant future. In a recent paper [J.Z. Ma, X. Zhang, Phys. Lett. B 699 (2011) 233], a robust, novel parametrization for dark energy, w ( z ) = w + w ( l n ( 2 + z ) 1 + z - l n 2 ) , has been proposed, successfully avoiding the future divergence problem in the CPL parametrization. On the other hand, an oscillating parametrization (motivated by an oscillating quintom model) can also avoid the future divergence problem. In this Letter, we use the two divergence-free parametrizations to probe the dynamics of dark energy in the whole evolutionary history. In light of the data from 7-year WMAP temperature and polarization power spectra, matter power spectrum of SDSS DR7, and SN Ia Union2 sample, we perform a full Markov Chain Monte Carlo exploration for the two dynamical dark energy models. We find that the best-fit dark energy model is a quintom model with the EOS across -1 during the evolution. However, though the quintom model is more favored, we find that the cosmological constant still cannot be excluded.

A Possible Solution to the Smallness Problem of Dark Energy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Pisin; /SLAC; Gu, Je-An

2005-07-08

The smallness of the dark energy density has been recognized as the most crucial difficulty in understanding dark energy and also one of the most important questions in the new century. In a recent paper[1], we proposed a new dark energy model in which the smallness of the cosmological constant is naturally achieved by invoking the Casimir energy in a supersymmetry-breaking brane-world. In this paper we review the basic notions of this model. Various implications, perspectives, and subtleties of this model are briefly discussed.

Core or Cusps: The Central Dark Matter Profile of a Strong Lensing Cluster with a Bright Central Image at Redshift 1 [Core or Cusps: The Central Dark Matter Profile of a Redshift One Strong Lensing Cluster with a Bright Central Image

DOE PAGES

Collett, Thomas E.; Buckley-Geer, Elizabeth; Lin, Huan; ...

2017-07-10

Here, we report on SPT-CLJ2011-5228, a giant system of arcs created by a cluster at z = 1.06. The arc system is notable for the presence of a bright central image. The source is a Lyman break galaxy at z s = 2.39 and the mass enclosed within the Einstein ring of radius 14 arcsec ismore » $$\\sim {10}^{14.2}\\ {M}_{\\odot }$$. We perform a full reconstruction of the light profile of the lensed images to precisely infer the parameters of the mass distribution. The brightness of the central image demands that the central total density profile of the lens be shallow. By fitting the dark matter as a generalized Navarro–Frenk–White profile—with a free parameter for the inner density slope—we find that the break radius is $${270}_{-76}^{+48}$$ kpc, and that the inner density falls with radius to the power –0.38 ± 0.04 at 68% confidence. Such a shallow profile is in strong tension with our understanding of relaxed cold dark matter halos; dark matter-only simulations predict that the inner density should fall as $${r}^{-1}$$. The tension can be alleviated if this cluster is in fact a merger; a two-halo model can also reconstruct the data, with both clumps (density varying as $${r}^{-0.8}$$ and $${r}^{-1.0}$$) much more consistent with predictions from dark matter-only simulations. At the resolution of our Dark Energy Survey imaging, we are unable to choose between these two models, but we make predictions for forthcoming Hubble Space Telescope imaging that will decisively distinguish between them.« less

Core or Cusps: The Central Dark Matter Profile of a Strong Lensing Cluster with a Bright Central Image at Redshift 1 [Core or Cusps: The Central Dark Matter Profile of a Redshift One Strong Lensing Cluster with a Bright Central Image

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Collett, Thomas E.; Buckley-Geer, Elizabeth; Lin, Huan

Here, we report on SPT-CLJ2011-5228, a giant system of arcs created by a cluster at z = 1.06. The arc system is notable for the presence of a bright central image. The source is a Lyman break galaxy at z s = 2.39 and the mass enclosed within the Einstein ring of radius 14 arcsec ismore » $$\\sim {10}^{14.2}\\ {M}_{\\odot }$$. We perform a full reconstruction of the light profile of the lensed images to precisely infer the parameters of the mass distribution. The brightness of the central image demands that the central total density profile of the lens be shallow. By fitting the dark matter as a generalized Navarro–Frenk–White profile—with a free parameter for the inner density slope—we find that the break radius is $${270}_{-76}^{+48}$$ kpc, and that the inner density falls with radius to the power –0.38 ± 0.04 at 68% confidence. Such a shallow profile is in strong tension with our understanding of relaxed cold dark matter halos; dark matter-only simulations predict that the inner density should fall as $${r}^{-1}$$. The tension can be alleviated if this cluster is in fact a merger; a two-halo model can also reconstruct the data, with both clumps (density varying as $${r}^{-0.8}$$ and $${r}^{-1.0}$$) much more consistent with predictions from dark matter-only simulations. At the resolution of our Dark Energy Survey imaging, we are unable to choose between these two models, but we make predictions for forthcoming Hubble Space Telescope imaging that will decisively distinguish between them.« less

Cosmology from large-scale galaxy clustering and galaxy–galaxy lensing with Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data

DOE PAGES

Kwan, J.; Sánchez, C.; Clampitt, J.; ...

2016-10-05

We present cosmological constraints from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) using a combined analysis of angular clustering of red galaxies and their cross-correlation with weak gravitational lensing of background galaxies. We use a 139 square degree contiguous patch of DES data from the Science Verification (SV) period of observations. Using large scale measurements, we constrain the matter density of the Universe asmore » $$\\Omega_m = 0.31 \\pm 0.09$$ and the clustering amplitude of the matter power spectrum as $$\\sigma_8 = 0.74 +\\pm 0.13$$ after marginalizing over seven nuisance parameters and three additional cosmological parameters. This translates into $$S_8$$ = $$\\sigma_8(\\Omega_m/0.3)^{0.16} = 0.74 \\pm 0.12$$ for our fiducial lens redshift bin at 0.35 < z < 0.5, while $$S_8 = 0.78 \\pm 0.09$$ using two bins over the range 0.2 < z < 0.5. We study the robustness of the results under changes in the data vectors, modelling and systematics treatment, including photometric redshift and shear calibration uncertainties, and find consistency in the derived cosmological parameters. We show that our results are consistent with previous cosmological analyses from DES and other data sets and conclude with a joint analysis of DES angular clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing with Planck CMB data, Baryon Accoustic Oscillations and Supernova type Ia measurements.« less

Cosmological constraints with clustering-based redshifts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovetz, Ely D.; Raccanelli, Alvise; Rahman, Mubdi

2017-07-01

We demonstrate that observations lacking reliable redshift information, such as photometric and radio continuum surveys, can produce robust measurements of cosmological parameters when empowered by clustering-based redshift estimation. This method infers the redshift distribution based on the spatial clustering of sources, using cross-correlation with a reference data set with known redshifts. Applying this method to the existing Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometric galaxies, and projecting to future radio continuum surveys, we show that sources can be efficiently divided into several redshift bins, increasing their ability to constrain cosmological parameters. We forecast constraints on the dark-energy equation of state and on local non-Gaussianity parameters. We explore several pertinent issues, including the trade-off between including more sources and minimizing the overlap between bins, the shot-noise limitations on binning and the predicted performance of the method at high redshifts, and most importantly pay special attention to possible degeneracies with the galaxy bias. Remarkably, we find that once this technique is implemented, constraints on dynamical dark energy from the SDSS imaging catalogue can be competitive with, or better than, those from the spectroscopic BOSS survey and even future planned experiments. Further, constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity from future large-sky radio-continuum surveys can outperform those from the Planck cosmic microwave background experiment and rival those from future spectroscopic galaxy surveys. The application of this method thus holds tremendous promise for cosmology.

Cosmology from large-scale galaxy clustering and galaxy–galaxy lensing with Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kwan, J.; Sánchez, C.; Clampitt, J.

We present cosmological constraints from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) using a combined analysis of angular clustering of red galaxies and their cross-correlation with weak gravitational lensing of background galaxies. We use a 139 square degree contiguous patch of DES data from the Science Verification (SV) period of observations. Using large scale measurements, we constrain the matter density of the Universe asmore » $$\\Omega_m = 0.31 \\pm 0.09$$ and the clustering amplitude of the matter power spectrum as $$\\sigma_8 = 0.74 +\\pm 0.13$$ after marginalizing over seven nuisance parameters and three additional cosmological parameters. This translates into $$S_8$$ = $$\\sigma_8(\\Omega_m/0.3)^{0.16} = 0.74 \\pm 0.12$$ for our fiducial lens redshift bin at 0.35 < z < 0.5, while $$S_8 = 0.78 \\pm 0.09$$ using two bins over the range 0.2 < z < 0.5. We study the robustness of the results under changes in the data vectors, modelling and systematics treatment, including photometric redshift and shear calibration uncertainties, and find consistency in the derived cosmological parameters. We show that our results are consistent with previous cosmological analyses from DES and other data sets and conclude with a joint analysis of DES angular clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing with Planck CMB data, Baryon Accoustic Oscillations and Supernova type Ia measurements.« less

Mechanisms of the passage of dark currents through Cd(Zn)Te semi-insulating crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sklyarchuk, V.; Fochuk, P.; Rarenko, I.; Zakharuk, Z.; Sklyarchuk, O.; Nykoniuk, Ye.; Rybka, A.; Kutny, V.; Bolotnikov, A. E.; James, R. B.

2014-09-01

We investigated the passage of dark currents through semi-insulating crystals of Cd(Zn)Te with weak n-type conductivity that are used widely as detectors of ionizing radiation. The crystals were grown from a tellurium solution melt at 800 оС by the zone-melting method, in which a polycrystalline rod in a quartz ampoule was moved through a zone heater at a rate of 2 mm per day. The synthesis of the rod was carried out at ~1150 оС. We determined the important electro-physical parameters of this semiconductor, using techniques based on a parallel study of the temperature dependence of current-voltage characteristics in both the ohmic and the space-charge-limited current regions. We established in these crystals the relationship between the energy levels and the concentrations of deep-level impurity states, responsible for dark conductivity and their usefulness as detectors.

Radial-orbit instability in modified Newtonian dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nipoti, Carlo; Ciotti, Luca; Londrillo, Pasquale

2011-07-01

The stability of radially anisotropic spherical stellar systems in modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) is explored by means of numerical simulations performed with the N-body code N-MODY. We find that Osipkov-Merritt MOND models require for stability larger minimum anisotropy radii than equivalent Newtonian systems (ENSs) with the dark matter, and also than purely baryonic Newtonian models with the same density profile. The maximum value for stability of the Fridman-Polyachenko-Shukhman parameter in MOND models is lower than in ENSs, but higher than in Newtonian models with no dark matter. We conclude that MOND systems are substantially more prone to radial-orbit instability than ENSs with dark matter, while they are able to support a larger amount of kinetic energy stored in radial orbits than purely baryonic Newtonian systems. An explanation of these results is attempted and their relevance to the MOND interpretation of the observed kinematics of globular clusters, dwarf spheroidal and elliptical galaxies is briefly discussed.

The emergence of gravity as a retro-causal post-inflation macro-quantum-coherent holographic vacuum Higgs-Goldstone field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarfatti, Jack; Levit, Creon

2009-06-01

We present a model for the origin of gravity, dark energy and dark matter: Dark energy and dark matter are residual pre-inflation false vacuum random zero point energy (w = - 1) of large-scale negative, and short-scale positive pressure, respectively, corresponding to the "zero point" (incoherent) component of a superfluid (supersolid) ground state. Gravity, in contrast, arises from the 2nd order topological defects in the post-inflation virtual "condensate" (coherent) component. We predict, as a consequence, that the LHC will never detect exotic real on-mass-shell particles that can explain dark matter ΩMDM approx 0.23. We also point out that the future holographic dark energy de Sitter horizon is a total absorber (in the sense of retro-causal Wheeler-Feynman action-at-a-distance electrodynamics) because it is an infinite redshift surface for static detectors. Therefore, the advanced Hawking-Unruh thermal radiation from the future de Sitter horizon is a candidate for the negative pressure dark vacuum energy.

Conceptual problems in detecting the evolution of dark energy when using distance measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bolejko, K.

2011-01-01

Context. Dark energy is now one of the most important and topical problems in cosmology. The first step to reveal its nature is to detect the evolution of dark energy or to prove beyond doubt that the cosmological constant is indeed constant. However, in the standard approach to cosmology, the Universe is described by the homogeneous and isotropic Friedmann models. Aims: We aim to show that in the perturbed universe (even if perturbations vanish if averaged over sufficiently large scales) the distance-redshift relation is not the same as in the unperturbed universe. This has a serious consequence when studying the nature of dark energy and, as shown here, can impair the analysis and studies of dark energy. Methods: The analysis is based on two methods: the linear lensing approximation and the non-linear Szekeres Swiss-Cheese model. The inhomogeneity scale is ~50 Mpc, and both models have the same density fluctuations along the line of sight. Results: The comparison between linear and non-linear methods shows that non-linear corrections are not negligible. When inhomogeneities are present the distance changes by several percent. To show how this change influences the measurements of dark energy, ten future observations with 2% uncertainties are generated. It is shown the using the standard methods (i.e. under the assumption of homogeneity) the systematics due to inhomogeneities can distort our analysis, and may lead to a conclusion that dark energy evolves when in fact it is constant (or vice versa). Conclusions: Therefore, if future observations are analysed only within the homogeneous framework then the impact of inhomogeneities (such as voids and superclusters) can be mistaken for evolving dark energy. Since the robust distinction between the evolution and non-evolution of dark energy is the first step to understanding the nature of dark energy a proper handling of inhomogeneities is essential.

Le Châtelier Braun principle in cosmological physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pavón, Diego; Wang, Bin

2009-01-01

Assuming that dark energy may be treated as a fluid with a well-defined temperature, close to equilibrium, we argue that if nowadays there is a transfer of energy between dark energy and dark matter, it must be such that the latter gains energy from the former and not the other way around.

Cosmic Acceleration, Dark Energy, and Fundamental Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, Michael S.; Huterer, Dragan

2007-11-01

A web of interlocking observations has established that the expansion of the Universe is speeding up and not slowing, revealing the presence of some form of repulsive gravity. Within the context of general relativity the cause of cosmic acceleration is a highly elastic ( p˜-ρ), very smooth form of energy called “dark energy” accounting for about 75% of the Universe. The “simplest” explanation for dark energy is the zero-point energy density associated with the quantum vacuum; however, all estimates for its value are many orders-of-magnitude too large. Other ideas for dark energy include a very light scalar field or a tangled network of topological defects. An alternate explanation invokes gravitational physics beyond general relativity. Observations and experiments underway and more precise cosmological measurements and laboratory experiments planned for the next decade will test whether or not dark energy is the quantum energy of the vacuum or something more exotic, and whether or not general relativity can self consistently explain cosmic acceleration. Dark energy is the most conspicuous example of physics beyond the standard model and perhaps the most profound mystery in all of science.

Measurement of Nuclear Recoils in the CDMS II Dark Matter Search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fallows, Scott M.

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment is designed to directly detect elastic scatters of weakly-interacting massive dark matter particles (WIMPs), on target nuclei in semiconductor crystals composed of Si and Ge. These scatters would occur very rarely, in an overwhelming background composed primarily of electron recoils from photons and electrons, as well as a smaller but non-negligible background of WIMP-like nuclear recoils from neutrons. The CDMS~II generation of detectors simultaneously measure ionization and athermal phonon signals from each scatter, allowing discrimination against virtually all electron recoils in the detector bulk. Pulse-shape timing analysis allows discrimination against nearly all remaining electron recoils taking place near detector surfaces. Along with carefully limited neutron backgrounds, this experimental program allowed for "background-free'' operation of CDMS~II at Soudan, with less than one background event expected in each WIMP-search analysis. As a result, exclusionary upper-limits on WIMP-nucleon interaction cross section were placed over a wide range of candidate WIMP masses, ruling out large new regions of parameter space. These results, like any others, are subject to a variety of systematic effects that may alter their final interpretations. A primary focus of this dissertation will be difficulties in precisely calibrating the energy scale for nuclear recoil events like those from WIMPs. Nuclear recoils have suppressed ionization signals relative to electron recoils of the same recoil energy, so the response of the detectors is calibrated differently for each recoil type. The overall normalization and linearity of the energy scale for electron recoils in CDMS~II detectors is clearly established by peaks of known gamma energy in the ionization spectrum of calibration data from a 133Ba source. This electron-equivalent keVee) energy scale enables calibration of the total phonon signal (keVt) by enforcing unity yield for electron recoils, in aggregate. Subtracting an event's Luke phonon contribution from its calibrated total phonon energy (keV t), as measured by the ionization signal, results in a valid measure of the true recoil energy (keVr) for both electron and nuclear recoils. I discuss systematic uncertainties affecting the reconstruction of this recoil energy, the primary analysis variable, and use several methods to constrain their magnitude. I present the resulting adjusted WIMP limits and discuss their impact in the context of current and projected constraints on the parameter space for WIMP interactions.

Optimization of signal versus background in liquid xenon detectors used for dark matter direct detection experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Arcangelo, Francesca D.

2010-02-01

The discovery of cosmic acceleration twelve years ago implies that our universe is dominated by dark energy, which is either a tiny cosmological constant or a mysterious fluid with large negative pressure, or that Einstein's successful theory of gravity needs to be modified at large scales/low energies. Since then, independent evidence of a number of cosmological probes has firmly established the picture of a universe where dark energy (or the effective contribution from a modification of gravity) makes up about 72% of the total energy density. Whichever of the options mentioned above will turn out to be the right one, a satisfying explanation for cosmic acceleration will likely lead to important new insights in fundamental physics. The question of the physics behind cosmic acceleration is thus one of the most intriguing open questions in modern physics. In this thesis, we calculate current constraints on dark energy and study how to optimally use the cosmological tools at our disposal to learn about its nature. We will first present constraints from a host of recent data on the dark energy sound speed and equation of state for different dark energy models including early dark energy. We then study the observational properties of purely kinetic k-essence models and show how they can in principle be straightforwardly distinguished from quintessence models by their equation of state behavior. We next consider a large, representative set of dark energy and modified gravity models and show that they can be divided into a small set of observationally distinct classes. We also find that all non-early dark energy models we consider can be modeled extremely well by a simple linear equation of state form. We will then go on to discuss a number of alternative, model independent parametrizations of dark energy properties. Among other things, we find that principal component analysis is not as model-independent as one would like it to be and that assuming a fixed value for the high redshift equation of state can lead to a dangerous bias in the determination of the equation of state at low redshift. Finally, we discuss using weak gravitational lensing of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies as a cosmological probe. We compare different methods for extracting cosmological information from the lensed CMB and show that CMB lensing will in the future be a useful tool for constraining dark energy and neutrino mass. Whereas marginalizing over neutrino mass can degrade dark energy constraints, CMB lensing helps to break the degeneracy between the two and restores the dark energy constraints to the level of the fixed neutrino mass case.

Designing future dark energy space missions. II. Photometric redshift of space weak lensing optimized surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jouvel, S.; Kneib, J.-P.; Bernstein, G.; Ilbert, O.; Jelinsky, P.; Milliard, B.; Ealet, A.; Schimd, C.; Dahlen, T.; Arnouts, S.

2011-08-01

Context. With the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the universe, different observational probes have been proposed to investigate the presence of dark energy, including possible modifications to the gravitation laws by accurately measuring the expansion of the Universe and the growth of structures. We need to optimize the return from future dark energy surveys to obtain the best results from these probes. Aims: A high precision weak-lensing analysis requires not an only accurate measurement of galaxy shapes but also a precise and unbiased measurement of galaxy redshifts. The survey strategy has to be defined following both the photometric redshift and shape measurement accuracy. Methods: We define the key properties of the weak-lensing instrument and compute the effective PSF and the overall throughput and sensitivities. We then investigate the impact of the pixel scale on the sampling of the effective PSF, and place upper limits on the pixel scale. We then define the survey strategy computing the survey area including in particular both the Galactic absorption and Zodiacal light variation accross the sky. Using the Le Phare photometric redshift code and realistic galaxy mock catalog, we investigate the properties of different filter-sets and the importance of the u-band photometry quality to optimize the photometric redshift and the dark energy figure of merit (FoM). Results: Using the predicted photometric redshift quality, simple shape measurement requirements, and a proper sky model, we explore what could be an optimal weak-lensing dark energy mission based on FoM calculation. We find that we can derive the most accurate the photometric redshifts for the bulk of the faint galaxy population when filters have a resolution ℛ ~ 3.2. We show that an optimal mission would survey the sky through eight filters using two cameras (visible and near infrared). Assuming a five-year mission duration, a mirror size of 1.5 m and a 0.5 deg2 FOV with a visible pixel scale of 0.15'', we found that a homogeneous survey reaching a survey population of IAB = 25.6 (10σ) with a sky coverage of ~11 000 deg2 maximizes the weak lensing FoM. The effective number density of galaxies used for WL is then ~45 gal/arcmin2, which is at least a factor of two higher than ground-based surveys. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that a full account of the observational strategy is required to properly optimize the instrument parameters and maximize the FoM of the future weak-lensing space dark energy mission.