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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

TDCOSMO - IV. Hierarchical time-delay cosmography – joint inference of the Hubble constant and galaxy density profiles

The H0LiCOW collaboration inferred via strong gravitational lensing time delays a Hubble constant value of H0 = 73.3−1.8+1.7 km s−1 Mpc−1, describing deflector mass density profiles by either a power-law or stars (constant mass-to-light ratio) plus standard dark matter halos. The mass-sheet transform (MST) that leaves the lensing observables unchanged is considered the dominant source of residual uncertainty in H0. We quantify any potential effect of the MST with a flexible family of mass models, which directly encodes it, and they are hence maximally degenerate with H0. Our calculation is based on a new hierarchical Bayesian approach in which the MST is only constrained by stellar kinematics. The approach is validated on mock lenses, which are generated from hydrodynamic simulations. We first applied the inference to the TDCOSMO sample of seven lenses, six of which are from H0LiCOW, and measured H0 = 74.5−6.1+5.6 km s−1 Mpc−1. Secondly, in order to further constrain the deflector mass density profiles, we added imaging and spectroscopy for a set of 33 strong gravitational lenses from the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) sample. For nine of the 33 SLAC lenses, we used resolved kinematics to constrain the stellar anisotropy. From the joint hierarchical analysis of the TDCOSMO+SLACS sample, we measured H0 = 67.4−3.2+4.1 km s−1 Mpc−1. This measurement assumes that the TDCOSMO and SLACS galaxies are drawn from the same parent population. The blind H0LiCOW, TDCOSMO-only and TDCOSMO+SLACS analyses are in mutual statistical agreement. The TDCOSMO+SLACS analysis prefers marginally shallower mass profiles than H0LiCOW or TDCOSMO-only. Without relying on the form of the mass density profile used by H0LiCOW, we achieve a ∼5% measurement of H0. While our new hierarchical analysis does not statistically invalidate the mass profile assumptions by H0LiCOW – and thus the H0 measurement relying on them – it demonstrates the importance of understanding the mass density profile of elliptical galaxies. The uncertainties on H0 derived in this paper can be reduced by physical or observational priors on the form of the mass profile, or by additional data.Key words: gravitational lensing: strong / galaxies: general / galaxies: kinematics and dynamics / distance scale / cosmological parameters / cosmology: observations⋆ The full analysis is available at https://github.com/TDCOSMO/hierarchy_analysis_2020_public.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cavity-enabled enhancement of ultrafast intramolecular vibrational redistribution over pseudorotation

Vibrational strong coupling (VSC) between molecular vibrations and microcavity photons yields a few polaritons (light-matter modes) and many dark modes (with negligible photonic character). Although VSC is reported to alter thermally activated chemical reactions, its mechanisms remain opaque. To elucidate this problem, we followed ultrafast dynamics of a simple unimolecular vibrational energy exchange in iron pentacarbonyl [Fe(CO) 5 ] under VSC, which showed two competing channels: pseudorotation and intramolecular vibrational-energy redistribution (IVR). We found that under polariton excitation, energy exchange was overall accelerated, with IVR becoming faster and pseudorotation being slowed down. However, dark-mode excitation revealed unchanged dynamics compared with those outside of the cavity, with pseudorotation dominating. Thus, despite controversies around thermally activated VSC modified chemistry, our work shows that VSC can indeed alter chemistry through a nonequilibrium preparation of polaritons.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2021

Thermal WIMPs and the scale of new physics: global fits of Dirac dark matter effective field theories

We assess the status of a wide class of WIMP dark matter (DM) models in light of the latest experimental results using the global fitting framework GAMBIT. We perform a global analysis of effective field theory (EFT) operators describing the interactions between a gauge-singlet Dirac fermion and the Standard Model quarks, the gluons and the photon. In this bottom-up approach, we simultaneously vary the coefficients of 14 such operators up to dimension 7, along with the DM mass, the scale of new physics and several nuisance parameters. Our likelihood functions include the latest data from Planck, direct and indirect detection experiments, and the LHC. For DM masses below 100 GeV, we find that it is impossible to satisfy all constraints simultaneously while maintaining EFT validity at LHC energies. For new physics scales around 1 TeV, our results are influenced by several small excesses in the LHC data and depend on the prescription that we adopt to ensure EFT validity. Furthermore, we find large regions of viable parameter space where the EFT is valid and the relic density can be reproduced, implying that WIMPs can still account for the DM of the universe while being consistent with the latest data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Wave Dark Matter

Here we review the physics and phenomenology of wave dark matter: a bosonic dark matter candidate lighter than about 30 eV. Such particles have a de Broglie wavelength exceeding the average interparticle separation in a galaxy like the Milky Way and are, thus, well described as a set of classical waves. We outline the particle physics motivations for such particles, including the quantum chromodynamics axion as well as ultralight axion-like particles such as fuzzy dark matter. The wave nature of the dark matter implies a rich phenomenology: Wave interference gives rise to order unity density fluctuations on de Broglie scale in halos. One manifestation is vortices where the density vanishes and around which the velocity circulates. There is one vortex ring per de Broglie volume on average. For sufficiently low masses, soliton condensation occurs at centers of halos. The soliton oscillates and undergoes random walks, which is another manifestation of wave interference. The halo and subhalo abundance is expected to be suppressed at small masses, but the precise prediction from numerical wave simulations remains to be determined. For ultralight ∼10 −22 eV dark matter, the wave interference substructures can be probed by tidal streams or gravitational lensing. The signal can be distinguished from that due to subhalos by the dependence on stream orbital radius or image separation. Axion detection experiments are sensitive to interference substructures for wave dark matter that is moderately light. The stochastic nature of the waves affects the interpretation of experimental constraints and motivates the measurement of correlation functions. Current constraints and open questions, covering detection experiments and cosmological, galactic, and black hole observations, are discussed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Spectroscopic Road Map for Cosmic Frontier: DESI, DESI-II, Stage-5

In this white paper, we present an experimental road map for spectroscopic experiments beyond DESI. DESI will be a transformative cosmological survey in the 2020s, mapping 40 million galaxies and quasars and capturing a significant fraction of the available linear modes up to z=1.2. DESI-II will pilot observations of galaxies both at much higher densities and extending to higher redshifts. A Stage-5 experiment would build out those high-density and high-redshift observations, mapping hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies in three dimensions, to address the problems of inflation, dark energy, light relativistic species, and dark matter. These spectroscopic data will also complement the next generation of weak lensing, line intensity mapping and CMB experiments and allow them to reach their full potential.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS2007

The Beginning and End of the Universe

Cosmology is the scientific study of how the Universe began more than 13 billion years ago, how its properties have changed, and what its future might be. The balance of forces and energy cause the Universe to expand, first accelerating, then decelerating and then accelerating again. Within this overall structure, the interplay of atoms and light with the mysterious dark matter and dark energy causes stars and galaxies to form and evolve, leading to galaxies like our own home, the Milky Way. Observational cosmology uses telescopes on Earth and in space to reach back in time to find the faint remaining echoes of the Big Bang and to trace the formation and evolution of the galaxies and structures that fill the Universe. In this lecture, Dr. Gardner will give an overview of cosmology, outlining the 13-billion year history of the Universe, and highlighting the very rapid progress this field has made in the last decade. He will discuss the role that NASA space telescopes have played in this progress and will continue to play in the years to come. He will give a time-based history of the Universe, discussing the successive processes that formed matter, particles, atoms, stars and galaxies. In particular, he will focus on cosmological inflation, the rapid accelerated expansion that marks the beginning of the Universe, and dark energy, a tenuous substance that overcomes gravity and whose properties will determine its final fate.

Gardner, Jonathan P.↗
NASA NTRS2008

The Beginning and End of the Universe

Cosmology is the scientific study of how the Universe began more than 13 billion years ago, how its properties have changed, and what its future might be. The balance of forces and energy cause the Universe to expand, first accelerating, then decelerating and then accelerating again. Within this overall structure, the interplay of atoms and light with the mysterious dark matter and dark energy causes stars and galaxies to form and evolve, leading to galaxies like our own home, the Milky Way. Observational cosmology uses telescopes on Earth and in space to reach back in time to find the faint remaining echoes of the Big Bang and to trace the formation and evolution of the galaxies and structures that fill the Universe. In this lecture, Dr. Gradner will give an overview of cosmology, outlining the 13-billion year history of the Universe, and highlighting the very rapid progress this field has made i the last decade. He will discuss the role that NASA space telescopes have played in this progress and wil continue to play in the years to come. He will give a time-based history of the Universe, discussing the successive processes that formed matter, particles, atoms, stars and galaxies. In particular, he will focus on cosmological inflation, the rapid accelerated expansion that marks the beginning of the Universe, and dark energy, a tenuous substance that overcomes gravity and whose properties will determine its final fate.

Gardner, Jonathan↗
DOE OSTI2021

Is diffuse intracluster light a good tracer of the galaxy cluster matter distribution?

We explore the relation between diffuse intracluster light (central galaxy included) and the galaxy cluster (baryonic and dark) matter distribution using a sample of 528 clusters at 0.2 ≤ z ≤ 0.35 found in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 1 data. The surface brightness of the diffuse light shows an increasing dependence on cluster total mass at larger radius, and appears to be self-similar with a universal radial dependence after scaling by cluster radius. We also compare the diffuse light radial profiles to the cluster (baryonic and dark) matter distribution measured through weak lensing and find them to be comparable. The IllustrisTNG galaxy formation simulation, TNG300, offers further insight into the connection between diffuse stellar mass and cluster matter distributions – the simulation radial profile of the diffuse stellar component does not have a similar slope with the total cluster matter content, although that of the cluster satellite galaxies does. Regardless of the radial trends, the amount of diffuse stellar mass has a low-scatter scaling relation with cluster’s total mass in the simulation, out-performing the total stellar mass of cluster satellite galaxies. We conclude that there is no consistent evidence yet on whether or not diffuse light is a faithful radial tracer of the cluster matter distribution. Nevertheless, both observational and simulation results reveal that diffuse light is an excellent indicator of the cluster’s total mass.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Neutrinos as Dark Matter

Active neutrinos in standard cosmology were ruled out as a dark matter candidate in the 1980's. The reason is twofold: they are too light to account for the observed energy density of dark matter in the Universe, and their relativistic nature would spoil structure formation. In this note we suggest that an enhanced density of cold Standard Model active neutrinos today could behave effectively as dark matter, avoiding constraints from recombination and structure formation. Such an enhancement could be produced, for instance, by late-time decays of a light scalar field that is not in thermal equilibrium with the plasma. This mechanism is testable through the detection of the Cosmic Neutrino Background (C$\nu$B), which could have an average cosmological energy density a factor of $\sim 100-200$ times larger than expected in $\Lambda$CDM. The postulated light neutrinophilic scalar field may be observable, with Yukawa couplings in the range $y \sim 5 \times 10^{-16}-10^{-12}$. A scenario preferred by structure formation constraints is that the scalar is a Majoron, and the neutrinos have an inverted mass hierarchy.

Cline, James M. [McGill U.] (ORCID:000000017437419↗
DOE OSTI2024

Probing dark matter isocurvature with primordial non-Gaussianity

Multiple fields can become dynamical during the inflationary epoch. We consider an example where a light field acquires isocurvature fluctuations during inflation and contributes to the dark matter abundance at late times. Interactions between the light field and the adiabatic sector contribute to mixed adiabatic-isocurvature non-Gaussianity (NG). We show the resulting form of NG has a different kinematic dependence than the `local shape' commonly considered, and highlight the parameter space where a dedicated search is expected to significantly improve the current Planck sensitivity. Here, we interpret our results in the context of the QCD axion and illustrate how the proposed NG searches can improve upon the existing searches for isocurvature power spectrum and bispectrum.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Nuclear Recoil Calibration at Sub-keV Energies in LUX and Its Impact on Dark Matter Search Sensitivity

Dual-phase xenon time projection chamber (TPC) detectors offer heightened sensitivities for dark matter detection across a spectrum of particle masses. To broaden their capability to low-mass dark matter interactions, we investigated the light and charge responses of liquid xenon (LXe) to sub-keV nuclear recoils. Using neutron events from a pulsed Adelphi Deuterium-Deuterium neutron generator, an in situ calibration was conducted on the LUX detector. We demonstrate direct measurements of light and charge yields down to 0.45 keV and 0.27 keV, respectively, both approaching single quanta production, the physical limit of LXe detectors. Furthermore, these results hold significant implications for the future of dual-phase xenon TPCs in detecting low-mass dark matter via nuclear recoils.

Dark matter detectors↗
DOE OSTI2020

Velocity Dispersions of Massive Quiescent Galaxies from Weak Lensing and Spectroscopy

We use MMT spectroscopy and deep Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) imaging to compare the spectroscopic central stellar velocity dispersion of quiescent galaxies with the effective dispersion of the dark matter halo derived from the stacked lensing signal. The spectroscopic survey (the Smithsonian Hectospec Lensing Survey) provides a sample of 4585 quiescent galaxy lenses with measured line-of-sight central stellar velocity dispersion ($\sigma_{\rm SHELS}$) that is more than 85\% complete for $R < 20.6$, $D_{n}4000> 1.5$ and $M_{\star} > 10^{9.5}{\rm M}_{\odot}$.The median redshift of the sample of lenses is 0.32. We measure the stacked lensing signal from the HSC deep imaging. The central stellar velocity dispersion is directly proportional to the velocity dispersion derived from the lensing $\sigma_{\rm Lens}$, $\sigma_{\rm Lens} = (1.05\pm0.15)\sigma_{\rm SHELS}+(-21.17\pm35.19)$. The independent spectroscopic and weak lensing velocity dispersions probe different scales, $\sim3$kpc and $\gtrsim$ 100 kpc, respectively, and strongly indicate that the observable central stellar velocity dispersion for quiescent galaxies is a good proxy for the velocity dispersion of the dark matter halo. We thus demonstrate the power of combining high-quality imaging and spectroscopy to shed light on the connection between galaxies and their dark matter halos.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Three exceptions to the Grossman-Nir bound

A bstract We show that the Grossman-Nir (GN) bound, Br( K L → $$ {\pi}^0\nu \overline{\nu} $$ π 0 ν ν ¯ ) ≤ 4 . 3 Br( K + → $$ {\pi}^{+}\nu \overline{\nu} $$ π + ν ν ¯ ), can be violated in the presence of light new physics with flavor violating couplings. We construct three sample models in which the GN bound can be violated by orders of magnitude, while satisfying all other experimental bounds. In the three models the enhanced branching ratio Br( K L → π 0 + inv) is due to K L → π 0 Φ 1, K L → π 0 Φ 1 Φ 1 , K L → $$ {\pi}^0{\psi}_1{\overline{\psi}}_1 $$ π 0 ψ 1 ψ ¯ 1 transitions, respectively, where Φ 1 ( ψ 1 ) is a light scalar (fermion) that escapes the detector. In the three models Br( K + → π + + inv) remains very close to the SM value, while Br( K L → π 0 + inv) can saturate the present KOTO bound. Besides invisible particles in the final state (which may account for dark matter) the models require additional light mediators around the GeV-scale.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Gravothermal collapse and the diversity of galactic rotation curves

The rotation curves of spiral galaxies exhibit a great diversity that challenges our understanding of galaxy formation and the nature of dark matter. Previous studies showed that in self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) models with a cross section per unit mass of σ/m ≈ $\mathscr{O}$(1) cm 2 /g, the predicted dark matter central densities are a good match to the observed densities in galaxies. Here, in this work, we explore a regime with a larger cross section of σ/m ≈ 20−40 cm 2 /g in dwarf galactic halos. We will show that such strong dark matter self-interactions can further amplify the diversity of halo densities inherited from their assembly history. High concentration halos can enter the gravothermal collapse phase within 10 Gyr, resulting in a high density, while low concentration ones remain in the expansion phase and have a low density. We fit the rotation curves of 14 representative low surface brightness galaxies and demonstrate how the large range of observed central densities is naturally accommodated in the strong SIDM regime of σ/m ≈ 20 – 40 cm 2 /g. Galaxies that are outliers in the previous studies, due to their high halo central densities, are no longer outliers in this SIDM regime as their halos would be in the collapse phase. For galaxies with a low density, the SIDM fits are robust to the variation of the cross section. Our findings open up a new window for testing gravothermal collapse, the unique signature of strong dark matter self-interactions, and exploring a broader SIDM model space. As an example, we illustrate how the larger cross sections favored by our fits, together with upper limits from strong lensing observations in clusters, pick out the preferred SIDM model space for a dark matter particle coupled to a light gauge boson in the Born regime.

dark matter↗
DOE OSTI2023

Superfluid dark matter around black holes

Superfluid dark matter, consisting of self-interacting light particles that thermalize and condense to form a superfluid in galaxies, provides a novel theory that matches the success of the standard ΛCDM model on cosmological scales while simultaneously offering a rich phenomenology on galactic scales. Within galaxies, the dark matter density profile consists of a nearly homogeneous superfluid core surrounded by an isothermal envelope. In this work we compute the density profile of superfluid dark matter around supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies. Here, in this work, we show that, depending on the fluid equation of state, the dark matter profile presents distinct power-law behaviors, which can be used to distinguish it from the standard results for collisionless dark matter.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Extracting the Subhalo Mass Function from Strong Lens Images with Image Segmentation

Abstract Detecting substructure within strongly lensed images is a promising route to shed light on the nature of dark matter. However, it is a challenging task, which traditionally requires detailed lens modeling and source reconstruction, taking weeks to analyze each system. We use machine learning to circumvent the need for lens and source modeling and develop a neural network to both locate subhalos in an image as well as determine their mass using the technique of image segmentation. The network is trained on images with a single subhalo located near the Einstein ring across a wide range of apparent source magnitudes. The network is then able to resolve subhalos with masses m ≳ 10 8.5 M ⊙ . Training in this way allows the network to learn the gravitational lensing of light, and, remarkably, it is then able to detect entire populations of substructure, even for locations further away from the Einstein ring than those used in training. Over a wide range of the apparent source magnitude, the false-positive rate is around three false subhalos per 100 images, coming mostly from the lightest detectable subhalo for that signal-to-noise ratio. With good accuracy and a low false-positive rate, counting the number of pixels assigned to each subhalo class over multiple images allows for a measurement of the subhalo mass function (SMF). When measured over three mass bins from 10 9 –10 10 M ⊙ the SMF slope is recovered with an error of 36% for 50 images, and this improves to 10% for 1000 images with Hubble Space Telescope-like noise.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Search for supersymmetry in final states with disappearing tracks in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ =13 TeV

A search is presented for charged, long-lived supersymmetric particles in final states with one or more disappearing tracks. The search is based on data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC between 2016 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb −1 . The search is performed over final states characterized by varying numbers of jets, 𝑏-tagged jets, electrons, and muons. The length of signal-candidate tracks in the plane perpendicular to the beam axis is used to characterize the lifetimes of wino- and Higgsino-like charginos produced in the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. The d⁢𝐸/d⁢𝑥 energy loss of signal-candidate tracks is used to increase the sensitivity to charginos with a large mass and thus a small Lorentz boost. The observed results are found to be statistically consistent with the background-only hypothesis. Limits on the pair-production cross section of gluinos and squarks are presented in the framework of simplified models of supersymmetric particle production and decay, and for electroweakino production based on models of wino and Higgsino dark matter. The limits presented are the most stringent to date for scenarios with light third-generation squarks and a wino- or Higgsino-like dark matter candidate capable of explaining the observed dark matter relic density.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Searches for CE ν NS and physics beyond the standard model using Skipper-CCDs at CONNIE

The Coherent Neutrino-Nucleus Interaction Experiment (CONNIE) aims to detect the coherent scattering ( CE ν NS ) of reactor antineutrinos off silicon nuclei using thick fully depleted high-resistivity silicon CCDs. Two Skipper-CCD sensors with subelectron readout noise capability were installed at the experiment next to the Angra-2 reactor in 2021, making CONNIE the first experiment to employ Skipper-CCDs for reactor neutrino detection. We report on the performance of the Skipper-CCDs, the new data processing, data quality, and event selection for CE ν NS interactions, which enable CONNIE to reach a record low detection threshold of 15 eV. The data were collected over 300 days in 2021–2022 and correspond to exposures of 14.9 g-days with the reactor-on and 3.5 g-days with the reactor-off. The difference between the reactor-on and off event rates shows no excess and yields upper limits for the neutrino interaction rates, comparable with previous CONNIE limits from standard CCDs and higher exposures. Searches for new neutrino interactions beyond the Standard Model improve the previous CONNIE limit on a simplified model with light vector mediators. A first dark matter (DM) search by diurnal modulation by CONNIE obtains the best limits on the DM-electron scattering cross section by a surface-level experiment. These promising results, obtained using a very small-mass sensor, illustrate the potential of Skipper-CCDs to probe rare neutrino interactions and motivate the plans to increase the detector mass in the near future.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗