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Strigari, Louis E.

Publications and source records attributed to Strigari, Louis E..

15 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Constraining Cosmology with Simulation-based inference and Optical Galaxy Cluster Abundance

We test the robustness of simulation-based inference (SBI) in the context of cosmological parameter estimation from galaxy cluster counts and masses in simulated optical datasets. We construct ``simulations'' using analytical models for the galaxy cluster halo mass function (HMF) and for the observed richness (number of observed member galaxies) to train and test the SBI method. We compare the SBI parameter posterior samples to those from an MCMC analysis that uses the same analytical models to construct predictions of the observed data vector. The two methods exhibit comparable performance, with reliable constraints derived for the primary cosmological parameters, ($\Omega_m$ and $\sigma_8$), and richness-mass relation parameters. We also perform out-of-domain tests with observables constructed from galaxy cluster-sized halos in the Quijote simulations. Again, the SBI and MCMC results have comparable posteriors, with similar uncertainties and biases. Unsurprisingly, upon evaluating the SBI method on thousands of simulated data vectors that span the parameter space, SBI exhibits worsened posterior calibration metrics in the out-of-domain application. We note that such calibration tests with MCMC is less computationally feasible and highlight the potential use of SBI to stress-test limitations of analytical models, such as in the use for constructing models for inference with MCMC.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Prospects for measuring the time variation of astrophysical neutrino sources at dark matter detectors

We study the prospects for measuring the time variation of solar and atmospheric neutrino fluxes at future large-scale xenon and argon dark matter detectors. For solar neutrinos, a yearly time variation arises from the eccentricity of Earth’s orbit and, for charged current interactions, from a smaller energy-dependent day-night variation due to flavor regeneration as neutrinos travel through Earth. For a 100-ton xenon detector running for ten years with a xenon-136 fraction of ≲ 0.1 % , in the electron recoil channel a time-variation amplitude of about 0.8% is detectable with a power of 90% and the level of significance of 10%. This is sufficient to detect time variation due to eccentricity, which has amplitude of ∼ 3 % . In the nuclear recoil channel, the detectable amplitude is about 10% under current detector resolution and efficiency conditions, and this generally reduces to about 1% for improved detector resolution and efficiency, the latter of which is sufficient to detect time variation due to eccentricity. Our analysis assumes both known and unknown periods. We provide scalings to determine the sensitivity to an arbitrary time-varying amplitude as a function of detector parameters. Identifying the time variation of the neutrino fluxes will be important for distinguishing neutrinos from dark matter signals and other detector-related backgrounds and extracting properties of neutrinos that can be uniquely studied in dark matter experiments. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Zhuang, Yi (ORCID:0000000277138724)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Detection of astrophysical neutrinos at prospective locations of dark matter detectors

We study the prospects for detection of solar, atmospheric neutrino, and diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB) fluxes at future large-scale dark matter detectors through both electron and nuclear recoils. We specifically examine how the detection prospects change for several prospective detector locations [Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), SNOlab, Gran Sasso, China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL), and Kamioka] and improve upon the statistical methodologies used in previous studies. Because of its ability to measure lower neutrino energies than other locations, we find that the best prospects for the atmospheric neutrino flux are at the SURF location, while the prospects are weakest at CJPL because it is restricted to higher neutrino energies. On the contrary, the prospects for the DSNB are best at CJPL, due largely to the reduced atmospheric neutrino background at this location. Including full detector resolution and efficiency models, the CNO component of the solar flux is detectable via the electron recoil channel with exposures of ∼ 10 3 ton-yr for all locations. These results highlight the benefits for employing two detector locations, one at high and one at low latitude. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2023

Velocity-dependent J-factors for Milky Way dwarf spheroidal analogues in cosmological simulations

We study the impact of the dark matter velocity distribution modelling on signals from velocity-dependent dark matter annihilation in Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Using the high resolution APOSTLE simulations, we identify analogues corresponding to Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies, and from these directly determine the dark matter pair-wise relative velocity distribution, and compare to best-fitting Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution models. For three velocity-dependent annihilation models, p-wave, d-wave, and the Sommerfeld model, we quantify the errors introduced when using the Maxwell-Boltzmann parameterization. We extract a simple power-law relation between the maximum circular velocity of the dwarf spheroidal analogue and the peak speed of the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. We show that this relation can be used to accurately calculate the dark matter relative velocity distribution, and find that it allows us to estimate the dark matter annihilation signal without the need to directly calculate the relative velocity distribution for each galaxy. The scatter in the J-factors calculated from the analogues dominates the uncertainty obtained when compared to the J-factor as determined from the observational data for each dwarf spheroidal, with the largest scatter from d-wave models and the smallest from Sommerfeld models.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Forecasts on the Dark Matter Density Profiles of Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with Current and Future Kinematic Observations

We forecast parameter uncertainties on the mass profile of a typical Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) using the spherical Jeans equation and Fisher matrix formalism. For a Draco-like system we show that radial velocity measurements for 1000 individual stars can constrain the mass contained within the effective radius of a dSph to within 5%. This is consistent with constraints extracted from current observational data. We compare two systems, a cusp and core, and demonstrate that a minimum sample of 100,000 (10,000) stars with both radial and proper motions measurements is required to disentangle their inner slopes at the 2σ (1σ) level. If using the log-slope measured at the half-light radius as a proxy for differentiating between a core or cusp slope, only 1000 line-of-sight and proper motions measurements are required; however, we show this choice of radius does not always unambiguously differentiate between core and cusped profiles. Once observational errors are below half the value of the intrinsic dispersion, improving the observational precision yields little change in the density profile uncertainties. The choice of priors in our profile shape analysis plays a crucial role when the number of stars in a system is less than 100 but does not affect the resulting uncertainties for larger kinematic samples. Our predicted 2D confidence regions agree well with those from a full likelihood analysis run on a mock kinematic data set taken from the Gaia Challenge, validating our Fisher predictions. Our methodology is flexible, allowing us to predict density profile uncertainties for a wide range of current and future kinematic data sets.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Velocity-dependent annihilation radiation from dark matter subhalos in cosmological simulations

Here, we use the suite of Milky Way-like galaxies in the Auriga simulations to determine the contribution to annihilation radiation from dark matter subhalos in three velocity-dependent dark matter annihilation models: Sommerfeld, p-wave, and d-wave models. We compare these to the corresponding distribution in the velocity-independent s-wave annihilation model. For both the hydrodynamical and dark-matter-only simulations, only in the case of the Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation does the total annihilation flux from subhalos exceed the total annihilation flux from the smooth halo component within the virial radius of the halo. Progressing from Sommerfeld to the s, p, and d-wave models, the contribution from the smooth component of the halo becomes more dominant, implying that for the p-wave and d-wave models the smooth component is by far the dominant contribution to the radiation. Comparing to the Galactic center excess observed by Fermi-LAT, for all simulated halos the emission is dominated by the smooth halo contribution. However, it is possible that for Sommerfeld models, extrapolation down to mass scales below the current resolution limit of the simulation would imply a non-negligible contribution to the gamma-ray emission from the Galactic Center region.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dark and luminous mass components of Omega Centauri from stellar kinematics

Here we combine proper motion data from Gaia EDR 3 and HST with line-of-sight velocity data to study the stellar kinematics of the ω Cen globular cluster. Using a steady-state, axisymmetric dynamical model, we measure the distribution of both the dark and luminous mass components. Assuming both Gaussian and Navarro–Frenk–White mass profiles, depending on the data set, we measure an integrated mass of ≲10 6 M ⊙ within the ω Cen half-light radius for a dark component that is distinct from the luminous stellar component. For the HST and radial velocity data, models with a non-luminous mass component are strongly statistically preferred relative to a stellar mass-only model with a constant mass-to-light ratio. While a compact core of stellar remnants may account for a dynamical mass up to ~5 x 10 5 M ⊙ , they likely cannot explain the higher end of the range. This leaves open the possibility that this non-luminous dynamical mass component comprises non-baryonic dark matter. In comparison to the dark matter distributions around dwarf spheroidal galaxies, the ω Cen dark mass component is much more centrally concentrated. Interpreting the non-luminous mass distribution as particle dark matter, we use these results to obtain the J-factor, which sets the sensitivity to the annihilation cross-section. For the data sets considered, the range of median J-factors is ~10 22 -10 24 GeV 2 cm -5 , which is larger than that obtained for any dwarf spheroidal galaxy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Atmospheric neutrinos in next-generation xenon and argon dark matter experiments

In this work, we study the sensitivity of future xenon- and argon-based dark matter and neutrino detection experiments to low-energy atmospheric neutrinos. Not accounting for experimental backgrounds, the primary obstacle for identifying nuclear recoils induced by atmospheric neutrinos in xenon is the tail of the electron recoil distribution due to pp solar neutrinos. We use the NEST code to model the solar and atmospheric neutrino signals in a xenon detector and find that an exposure of 700 tonne-years will produce a 5σ detection of atmospheric neutrinos. We explore the effect of different detector properties and find that a sufficiently long electron lifetime is essential to the success of such a measurement.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Velocity-dependent J-factors for annihilation radiation from cosmological simulations

Abstract We determine the dark matter pair-wise relative velocity distribution in a set of Milky Way-like halos in the Auriga and APOSTLE simulations. Focusing on the smooth halo component, the relative velocity distribution is well-described by a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution over nearly all radii in the halo. We explore the implications for velocity-dependent dark matter annihilation, focusing on four models which scale as different powers of the relative velocity: Sommerfeld, s-wave, p-wave, and d-wave models. We show that the J-factors scale as the moments of the relative velocity distribution, and that the halo-to-halo scatter is largest for d-wave, and smallest for Sommerfeld models. The J-factor is strongly correlated with the dark matter density in the halo, and is very weakly correlated with the velocity dispersion. This implies that if the dark matter density in the Milky Way can be robustly determined, one can accurately predict the dark matter annihilation signal, without the need to identify the dark matter velocity distribution in the Galaxy.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2021

Constraints on MeV dark matter and primordial black holes: Inverse Compton signals at the SKA

Here we investigate the possibilities for probing MeV dark matter (DM) particles and primordial black holes (PBHs) (for masses ~ 10 15 –10 17 g) at the upcoming radio telescope SKA, using photon signals from the Inverse Compton (IC) effect within a galactic halo. Pair-annihilation or decay of MeV DM particles (into e + e - pairs) or Hawking radiation from a population of PBHs generates mildly relativistic e ± which can lead to radio signals through the IC scattering on low energy cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons. We study the ability of SKA to detect such signals coming from nearby ultra-faint dwarf galaxies Segue I and Ursa Major II as well as the globular cluster ω-cen and the Coma cluster. We find that with ~ 100 hours of observation, the SKA improves the Planck constraints on the DM annihilation/decay rate and the PBH abundance for masses in the range ~ 1 to few tens of MeV and above 10 15 to 10 17 g, respectively. Importantly, the SKA limits are independent of the assumed magnetic fields within the galaxies. Previously allowed regions of diffusion parameters of MeV electrons inside a dwarf galaxy that give rise to observable signals at the SKA are also excluded. For objects like dwarf galaxies, predicted SKA constraints depend on both the DM and diffusion parameters. Independent observations in different frequency bands, e.g., radio and γ-ray frequencies, may break this degeneracy and thus enable one to constrain the combined parameter space of DM and diffusion. However, the constraints are independent of diffusion parameters for galaxy clusters such as Coma.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Effective J -factors for Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies with velocity-dependent annihilation

We calculate the effective J-factors, which determine the strength of indirect detection signals from dark matter annihilation, for 25 dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs). We consider several well-motivated assumptions for the relative velocity dependence of the dark matter annihilation cross section: σAv: s -wave (velocity independent), p -wave (σ A v∝v 2 ), d-wave (σ A v∝v 4 ), and Sommerfeld-enhancement in the Coulomb limit (σ A v∝1/v). As a result we provide the largest and most updated sample of J-factors for velocity-dependent annihilation models. For each scenario, we use Fermi-LAT gamma-ray data to constrain the annihilation cross section. Due to the assumptions made in our gamma-ray data analysis, our bounds are comparable to previous bounds on both the p-wave and Sommerfeld-enhanced cross sections using dSphs. Finally, our bounds on the d-wave cross section are the first such bounds using indirect detection data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering with directional detectors

We study the sensitivity of detectors with directional sensitivity to coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$\textit{ν}$NS), and how these detectors complement measurements of the nuclear recoil energy. In this work we consider stopped pion and reactor neutrino sources, and use gaseous helium and fluorine as examples of detector material. We generate Standard Model predictions, and compare to scenarios that include new, light vector or scalar mediators. We show that directional detectors can provide valuable additional information in discerning new physics, and we identify prominent spectral features in both the angular and the recoil energy spectrum for light mediators, even for nuclear recoil energy thresholds as high as ~50 keV. Combined with energy and timing information, directional information can play an important role in extracting new physics from CE$\textit{ν}$NS experiments.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Milky Way’s stellar streams and globular clusters do not align in a Vast Polar Structure

ABSTRACT There is increasing evidence that a substantial fraction of Milky Way satellite galaxies align in a rotationally supported plane of satellites, a rare configuration in cosmological simulations of galaxy formation. It has been suggested that other Milky Way substructures (namely young halo globular clusters and stellar/gaseous streams) similarly tend to align with this plane, accordingly dubbed the Vast Polar Structure (VPOS). Using systemic proper motions inferred from Gaia data, we find that globular cluster orbital poles are not clustered in the VPOS direction, though the population with the highest VPOS membership fraction is the young halo clusters (∼30 per cent). We additionally provide a current census of stellar streams, including new streams discovered using the Dark Energy Survey and Gaia data sets, and find that stellar stream normals are also not clustered in the direction of the VPOS normal. We also find that, based on orbit modelling, there is a likely association between NGC 3201 and the Gjöll stellar stream and that, based on its orbital pole, NGC 4147 is likely not a Sagittarius globular cluster. That the Milky Way’s accreted globular clusters and streams do not align in the same planar configuration as its satellites suggests that the plane of satellites is either a particularly stable orbital configuration or a population of recently accreted satellites. Neither of these explanations is particularly likely in light of other recent studies, leaving the plane of satellites problem as one of the more consequential open problems in galaxy formation and cosmology.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗