Engineering Papers⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Copeland, Edmund J.

Publications and source records attributed to Copeland, Edmund J..

12 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Gravitational waves from asymmetric oscillon dynamics?

It has been recently suggested that oscillons produced in the early universe from certain asymmetric potentials continue to emit gravitational waves for a number of e-folds of expansion after their formation, leading to potentially detectable gravitational wave signals. We revisit this claim by conducting a convergence study using graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated lattice simulations and show that numerical errors accumulated with time are significant in low-resolution scenarios, or in scenarios where the run-time causes the resolution to drop below the relevant scales in the problem. Our study determines that the dominant, growing high frequency peak of the gravitational wave signals in the fiducial "hill-top model" in [arXiv:1607.01314] is a numerical artifact. This new finding prompts the need for a more careful analysis of the numerical validity of other similar results related to gravitational waves from oscillon dynamics.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

A proposed experimental search for chameleons using asymmetric parallel plates

Light scalar fields coupled to matter are a common consequence of theories of dark energy and attempts to solve the cosmological constant problem. The chameleon screening mechanism is commonly invoked in order to suppress the fifth forces mediated by these scalars, sufficiently to avoid current experimental constraints, without fine tuning. The force is suppressed dynamically by allowing the mass of the scalar to vary with the local density. Recently it has been shown that near future cold atoms experiments using atom-interferometry have the ability to access a large proportion of the chameleon parameter space. In this work we demonstrate how experiments utilising asymmetric parallel plates can push deeper into the remaining parameter space available to the chameleon.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Probing dark energy with atom interferometry

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.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

The dark energy cosmic clock: a new way to parametrise the equation of state

We propose a new parametrisation of the dark energy equation of state, which uses the dark energy density, Ω{sub e} as a cosmic clock. We expand the equation of state in a series of orthogonal polynomials, with Ω{sub e} as the expansion parameter and determine the expansion coefficients by fitting to SNIa and H(z) data. Assuming that Ω{sub e} is a monotonic function of time, we show that our parametrisation performs better than the popular Chevallier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) and Gerke and Efstathiou (GE) parametrisations, and we demonstrate that it is robust to the choice of prior. Expanding in orthogonal polynomials allows us to relate models of dark energy directly to our parametrisation, which we illustrate by placing constraints on the expansion coefficients extracted from two popular quintessence models. Finally, we comment on how this parametrisation could be modified to accommodate high redshift data, where any non-monotonicity of Ω{sub e} would need to be accounted for.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Influence of reheating on the trispectrum and its scale dependence

We study the evolution of the non-linear curvature perturbation during perturbative reheating, and hence how observables evolve to their final values which we may compare against observations. Our study includes the evolution of the two trispectrum parameters, g{sub NL} and τ{sub NL}, as well as the scale dependence of both f{sub NL} and τ{sub NL}. In general the evolution is significant and must be taken into account, which means that models of multifield inflation cannot be compared to observations without specifying how the subsequent reheating takes place. If the trispectrum is large at the end of inflation, it normally remains large at the end of reheating. In the classes of models we study, it remains very hard to generate τ{sub NL} >> f{sub NL}{sup 2}, regardless of the decay rates of the fields. Similarly, for the classes of models in which g{sub NL} ≅ τ{sub NL} during slow-roll inflation, we find the relation typically remains valid during reheating. Therefore it is possible to observationally test such classes of models without specifying the parameters of reheating, even though the individual observables are sensitive to the details of reheating. It is hard to generate an observably large g{sub NL} however. The runnings, n{sub f{sub N{sub L}}} and n{sub τ{sub N{sub L}}}, tend to satisfy a consistency relation n{sub τ{sub N{sub L}}} = (3/2)n{sub f{sub N{sub L}}} regardless of the reheating timescale, but are in general too small to be observed for the class of models considered.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

The cosmology of the Fab-Four

We have recently proposed a novel self tuning mechanism to alleviate the famous cosmological constant problem, based on the general scalar tensor theory proposed by Horndeski. The self-tuning model ends up consisting of four geometric terms in the action, with each term containing a free potential function of the scalar field; the four together being labeled as the Fab-Four. In this paper we begin the important task of deriving the cosmology associated with the Fab-Four Lagrangian. Performing a phase plane analysis of the system we are able to obtain a number of fixed points for the system, with some remarkable new solutions emerging from the trade-off between the various potentials. As well as obtaining inflationary solutions we also find conventional radiation/matter-like solutions, but in regimes where the energy density is dominated by a cosmological constant, and where we do not have any explicit forms of radiation or matter. Stability conditions for matter solutions are obtained and we show how it is possible for there to exist an extended period of 'matter domination' opening up the possibility that we can generate cosmological structures, and recover a consistent cosmology even in the presence of a large cosmological constant.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Reheating, multifield inflation and the fate of the primordial observables

We study the effects of perturbative reheating on the evolution of the curvature perturbation ζ, in two-field inflation models. We use numerical methods to explore the sensitivity of f{sub NL}, n{sub ζ} and r to the reheating process, and present simple qualitative arguments to explain our results. In general, if a large non-Gaussian signal exists at the start of reheating, it will remain non-zero at the end of reheating. Unless all isocurvature modes have completely decayed before the start of reheating, we find that the non-linearity parameter, f{sub NL}, can be sensitive to the reheating timescale, and that this dependence is most appreciable for 'runaway' inflationary potentials that only have a minimum in one direction. For potentials with a minimum in both directions, f{sub NL} can also be sensitive to reheating if a mild hierarchy exists between the decay rates of each field. Within the class of models studied, we find that the spectral index n{sub ζ}, is fairly insensitive to large changes in the field decay rates, indicating that n{sub ζ} is a more robust inflationary observable, unlike the non-linearity parameter f{sub NL}. Our results imply that the statistics of ζ, especially f{sub NL}, can only be reliably used to discriminate between models of two-field inflation if the physics of reheating are properly accounted for.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1993

Observing the inflation potential

We show how observations of the density perturbation (scalar) spectrum and the gravitational wave (tensor) spectrum allow a reconstruction of the potential responsible for cosmological inflation. A complete functional reconstruction or a perturbative approximation about a single scale are possible; the suitability of each approach depends on the data available. Consistency equations between the scalar and tensor spectra are derived, which provide a powerful signal of inflation.

Copeland, Edmund J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Baryogenesis in extended inflation. 2: Baryogenesis via primordial black holes

Baryogenesis at the end of extended inflation is studied. Extended inflation is brought to an end by the collisions of bubble walls surrounding regions of true vacuum, a process which produces particles well out of thermal equilibrium. The possibility that the wall collisions may provide a significant density of primordial black holes is considered and their possible role in generating a baryon asymmetry is examined.

Barrow, John D.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Classical theory of radiating strings

The divergent part of the self force of a radiating string coupled to gravity, an antisymmetric tensor and a dilaton in four dimensions are calculated to first order in classical perturbation theory. While this divergence can be absorbed into a renormalization of the string tension, demanding that both it and the divergence in the energy momentum tensor vanish forces the string to have the couplings of compactified N = 1 D = 10 supergravity. In effect, supersymmetry cures the classical infinities.

Copeland, Edmund J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Topological defects in extended inflation

The production of topological defects, especially cosmic strings, in extended inflation models was considered. In extended inflation, the Universe passes through a first-order phase transition via bubble percolation, which naturally allows defects to form at the end of inflation. The correlation length, which determines the number density of the defects, is related to the mean size of bubbles when they collide. This mechanism allows a natural combination of inflation and large scale structure via cosmic strings.

Copeland, Edmund J.↗