Achieving the highest temperature during reheating with the Higgs condensate
Not Available
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Results for “evolution of the Universe”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Small-scale clumping at recombination and the Hubble tension
Despite the success of the standard ΛCDM model of cosmology, recent data improvements have made tensions emerge between low- and high-redshift observables, most importantly in determinations of the Hubble constant H 0 and the (rescaled) clustering amplitude S 8 . The high-redshift data, from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), crucially relies on recombination physics for its interpretation. In this work, we study how small-scale baryon inhomogeneities (i.e., clumping) can affect recombination and consider whether they can relieve both the H 0 and S 8 tensions. Such small-scale clumping, which may be caused by primordial magnetic fields or baryon isocurvature below kpc scales, enhances the recombination rate even when averaged over larger scales, shifting recombination to earlier times. We introduce a flexible clumping model, parametrized via three spatial zones with free densities and volume fractions, and use it to study the impact of clumping on CMB observables. We find that increasing H 0 decreases both Ω m and S 8 , which alleviates the S 8 tension. On the other hand, the shift in Ω m is disfavored by the low-z baryon-acoustic-oscillations measurements. We find that the clumping parameters that can change the CMB sound horizon enough to explain the H 0 tension also alter the damping tail, so they are disfavored by current Planck 2018 data. We test how the CMB damping-tail information rules out changes to recombination by first removing ℓ > 1000 multipoles in Planck data, where we find that clumping could resolve the H 0 tension. Furthermore, we make predictions for future CMB experiments, as their improved damping-tail precision can better constrain departures from standard recombination. Both the Simons Observatory and CMB-S4 will provide decisive evidence for or against clumping as a resolution to the H 0 tension.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Distribution function of nuclei from $\mathcal{e}^±$ scattering in the presence of a strong primordial magnetic field
The amplitude of the primordial magnetic field (PMF) is constrained from observational limits on primordial nuclear abundances. Within this constraint, it is possible that nuclear motion is regulated by Coulomb scattering with electrons and positrons (e ± s), while e ± s are affected by a PMF rather than collisions. For example, at a temperature of 10 9 K, thermal nuclei typically experience ~ 10 21 scatterings per second that are dominated by very small angle scattering leading to minuscule changes in the nuclear kinetic energy of order $\mathcal{O}$(1) eV. In this paper the upper limit on the effects of a possible discretization of the e ± momenta by the PMF on the nuclear momentum distribution is estimated under the extreme assumptions that the momentum of the e ± is relaxed before and after Coulomb scattering to Landau levels, and that during Coulomb scattering the PMF is neglected. This assumption explicitly breaks the time reversal invariance of Coulomb scattering, and the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution is not a trivial steady state solution of the Boltzmann equation under these assumptions. Here we numerically evaluate the collision terms in the Boltzmann equation, and show that the introduction of a special direction in the e ± distribution by the PMF generates no directional dependence of the collisional destruction term of nuclei. Large anisotropies in the nuclear distribution function are then constrained from big bang nucleosynthesis. Ultimately, we conclude that a PMF does not significantly affect the isotropy or big bang nucleosynthesis.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
Model-independent versus model-dependent interpretation of the SDSS-III BOSS power spectrum: Bridging the divide
The traditional clustering analyses of galaxy redshift surveys compress the clustering data into a set of late-time physical variables in a model-independent way. This approach has recently been extended by an additional shape variable encoding early-time physics information. Here we apply this new technique, ShapeFit, to SDSS-III BOSS data and show that it matches the constraining power of alternative, model-dependent approaches, which directly constrain the model’s parameters adopting a cosmological model ab initio. ShapeFit is ~30 times faster, model independent, naturally splits early- and late-time variables, and enables a better control of observational systematics.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
BOSS DR12 full-shape cosmology: Λ CDM constraints from the large-scale galaxy power spectrum and bispectrum monopole
Here, we present a full Λ CDM analysis of the BOSS DR12 dataset, including information from the power spectrum multipoles, the real-space power spectrum, the reconstructed power spectrum and the bispectrum monopole. This is the first analysis to feature a complete treatment of the galaxy bispectrum, including a consistent theoretical model and without large-scale cuts. Unlike previous works, the statistics are measured using window-free estimators: this greatly reduces computational costs by removing the need to window-convolve the theory model. Our pipeline is tested using a suite of high-resolution mocks and shown to be robust and precise, with systematic errors far below the statistical thresholds. Inclusion of the bispectrum yields consistent parameter constraints and shrinks the σ 8 posterior by 13% to reach < 5 % precision; less conservative analysis choices would reduce the error bars further. Our constraints are broadly consistent with Planck: in particular, we find H 0 = 69.6$^{+1.1}_{–1.3}$ km s –1 Mpc –1 , σ 8 = 0.692$^{+0.035}_{–0.041}$ and n s = 0.870$^{+0.067}_{–0.064}$, including a BBN prior on the baryon density. When n s is set by Planck, we find H 0 = 68.31$^{+0.83}_{–0.86}$ km s –1 Mpc –1 and σ 8 = 0.722$^{+0.032}_{–0.036}$. Our S 8 posterior, 0.751 ± 0.039, is consistent with weak lensing studies, but lower than Planck. Constraints on the higher-order bias parameters are significantly strengthened from the inclusion of the bispectrum, and we find no evidence for deviation from the dark matter halo bias relations. These results represent the most complete full-shape analysis of BOSS DR12 to-date, and the corresponding spectra will enable a variety of beyond-Λ CDM analyses, probing phenomena such as the neutrino mass and primordial non-Gaussianity.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Toward a realistic model of dark atoms to resolve the Hubble tension
Not Available
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
Cosmological constraints on first-order phase transitions
Not Available
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Decay of multiple dark matter particles to dark radiation in different epochs does not alleviate the Hubble tension
Decaying cold dark matter (CDM) has been considered as a mechanism to tackle the tensions in the Hubble expansion rate and the clustering of matter. However, polarization measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) severely constrain the fraction of dark matter decaying before recombination, and lensing of the CMB anisotropies by large-scale structure sets strong constraints on dark matter decaying after recombination. Together, these constraints make an explanation of the Hubble tension in terms of decaying dark matter unlikely. In response to this situation, we investigate whether a dark matter ensemble with CDM particles decaying into free streaming dark radiation in different epochs can alleviate the problem. We find that it does not.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Beware of fake ν ’s: The effect of massive neutrinos on the nonlinear evolution of cosmic structure
Massive neutrinos suppress the growth of cosmic structure on small, nonlinear scales. It is thus often proposed that using statistics beyond the power spectrum can tighten constraints on the neutrino mass by extracting additional information from these nonlinear scales. We study the information content regarding neutrino mass at the field level, quantifying how much of this information arises from the difference in nonlinear evolution between a cosmology with one fluid [cold dark matter (CDM)] and two fluids ( CDM + neutrinos ). We do so by running two N -body simulations, one with and one without massive neutrinos, both with the same phases, and matching their linear power spectrum at a given low redshift. This effectively isolates the information encoded in the linear initial conditions from the nonlinear cosmic evolution. We demonstrate that, for k ≲ 1 h / Mpc , and for a single redshift, there is negligible difference in the real-space CDM field between the two simulations. This suggests that all the information regarding neutrino mass is in the linear power spectrum set by the initial conditions. Thus, any probe based on the CDM field alone will have negligible constraining power beyond that which exists at the linear level over the same range of scales. Consequently, any probe based on the halo field will contain little information beyond the linear power. We find similar results for the matter field responsible for weak lensing. We also demonstrate that there may be much information beyond the power spectrum in the 3D matter field; however, this is not observable in modern surveys via dark matter halos or weak lensing. Finally, we show that there is additional information to be found in redshift space.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
A Step in Understanding the Hubble Tension
As cosmological data have improved, tensions have arisen. One such tension is the difference between the locally measured Hubble constant H 0 and the value inferred from the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Interacting radiation has been suggested as a solution, but studies show that conventional models are precluded by high-ℓ CMB polarization data. It seems at least plausible that a solution may be provided by related models that distinguish between high- and low-ℓ multipoles. When interactions of strongly-coupled radiation are mediated by a force-carrier that becomes non-relativistic, the dark radiation undergoes a "step" in which its relative energy density increases as the mediator deposits its entropy into the lighter species. If this transition occurs while CMB-observable modes are inside the horizon, high- and low-ℓ peaks are impacted differently, corresponding to modes that enter the horizon before or after the step. Here, these dynamics are naturally packaged into the simplest supersymmetric theory, the Wess-Zumino model, with the mass of the scalar mediator near the eV-scale. We investigate the cosmological signatures of such "Wess-Zumino Dark Radiation" (WZDR) and find that it provides an improved fit to the CMB alone, favoring larger values of H 0 . If supernovae measurements from the SH0ES collaboration are also included in the analysis, the inferred value of H 0 is yet larger, but the preference for dark radiation and the location of the transition is left nearly unchanged. Utilizing a standardized set of measures, we compare to other models and find that WZDR is among the most successful at addressing the H 0 tension and the best of those with a Lagrangian formulation.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Kinetically driven ekpyrosis
We explore the possibility of a scalar field driving ekpyrotic contraction through a noncanonical kinetic energy density rather than a negative potential. We find that this kinetically driven ekpyrosis (“k-ekpyrosis”) can be achieved in a variety of models, including scalar field theories with power-law, polynomial, or Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI-)like kinetic terms in the action. Of these examples, the ekpyrotic phase is best sustained in power-law models, which can generate large and constant equation-of-state parameters, followed by DBI-like models, which can exhibit dynamical attractors toward similarly large equations of state. Here we show that for a broad class of theories including these examples, phases of k-ekpyrosis are accompanied by preceding or concurrent phases of superluminality.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
Extracting dark-matter velocities from halo masses: A reconstruction conjecture
Increasing attention has recently focused on nontraditional dark-matter production mechanisms which result in primordial dark-matter velocity distributions with highly nonthermal shapes. Here, in this paper, we undertake an assessment of how the detailed shape of a general dark-matter velocity distribution impacts structure formation in the nonlinear regime. In particular, we investigate the impact on the halo-mass and subhalo-mass functions, as well as on astrophysical observables such as satellite and cluster-number counts. We find that many of the standard expectations no longer hold in situations in which this velocity distribution takes a highly nontrivial, even multimodal shape. For example, we find that the nominal free-streaming scale alone becomes insufficient to characterize the effect of free-streaming on structure formation. In addition, we propose a simple one-line conjecture which can be used to “reconstruct” the primordial dark-matter velocity distribution directly from the shape of the halo-mass function. Although our conjecture is completely heuristic, we show that it successfully reproduces the salient features of the underlying dark-matter velocity distribution even for nontrivial distributions which are highly nonthermal and/or multimodal, such as might occur for nonminimal dark sectors. Moreover, since our approach relies only on the halo-mass function, our conjecture provides a method of probing dark-matter properties even for scenarios in which the dark and visible sectors interact only gravitationally.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Effective bias expansion for 21-cm cosmology in redshift space
A near-future detection of the 21-cm signal from the epoch of reionization will provide unique opportunities to probe the underlying cosmology, provided that such cosmological information can be extracted with precision. To this end, we further develop effective field theory (EFT) inspired techniques for the 21-cm brightness temperature field during the epoch of reionization, incorporating renormalized bias and a treatment of redshift space distortions. Notably, we confirm that in redshift space, measures of the 21-cm brightness, e.g., the power spectrum, should have irreducible contributions that lack a bias coefficient and therefore contain direct, astrophysics-free information about the cosmological density field; in this work, we study this effect beyond linear order. To validate our theoretical treatment, we fit the predicted EFT Fourier-space shapes to the thesan suite of hydrodynamical simulations of reionization at the field level, where the considerable number of modes prevents overfitting. We find agreement at the level of a few percent between the 21-cm power spectrum from the EFT fits and simulations over the wave number range k ≲ 0.8 h/Mpc and neutral fraction x HI ≳ 0.4, which is imminently measurable by the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array and future experiments. Furthermore, the ability of the EFT to describe the 21-cm signal extends to simulations that have different astrophysical prescriptions for reionization as well as simulations with interacting dark matter.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Squeezing f NL out of the matter bispectrum with consistency relations
Not Available
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Effects of baryonic feedback on the cosmic web
Here, we study the effect of baryons on the cosmic web—halos, filaments, walls, and voids. To do so, we apply a modified version of NEXUS, a cosmic web morphological analysis algorithm, to the IllustrisTNG simulations. We find that halos lose more than 10% of their mass due to baryons, mostly to filaments and a small portion to walls and voids. However, the mass transfer does not significantly shift the boundaries of structures, leaving the volume fractions of the cosmic structures largely unaffected. We quantify the effects of baryonic feedback on the power spectrum and the probability density function of the density field for individual cosmic structures. For the power spectrum, most suppression due to feedback can be accounted for by including M ≥ 10 12 M ⊙ /h halos, without considering other cosmic structures. However, when examining the probability density function of the density field, we find nearly 100% suppression of the emptiest regions and 10%-level effects (boost or suppression) in the remaining regions of filaments, walls, and voids. Our results indicate the importance of modeling the effects of baryons in the whole cosmic web, not just halos, for cosmological analysis beyond two-point statistics or field-based inferences.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Joint analysis of Dark Energy Survey Year 3 data and CMB lensing from SPT and Planck . III. Combined cosmological constraints
Here we present cosmological constraints from the analysis of two-point correlation functions between galaxy positions and galaxy lensing measured in Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 3 data and measurements of cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Planck. When jointly analyzing the DES-only two-point functions and the DES cross-correlations with SPT+Planck CMB lensing, we find Ω m = 0.344 ± 0.030 and S 8 ≡ σ 8 (Ω m /0.3) 0.5 = 0.773 ± 0.016, assuming ΛCDM. When additionally combining with measurements of the CMB lensing autospectrum, we find Ω m = 0.306$^{+0.018}_{-0.021}$ and S 8 = 0.792 ± 0.012. The high signal-to-noise of the CMB lensing cross-correlations enables several powerful consistency tests of these results, including comparisons with constraints derived from cross-correlations only, and comparisons designed to test the robustness of the galaxy lensing and clustering measurements from DES. Applying these tests to our measurements, we find no evidence of significant biases in the baseline cosmological constraints from the DES-only analyses or from the joint analyses with CMB lensing cross-correlations. However, the CMB lensing cross-correlations suggest possible problems with the correlation function measurements using alternative lens galaxy samples, in particular the redMaGiC galaxies and high-redshift MagLim galaxies, consistent with the findings of previous studies. We use the CMB lensing cross-correlations to identify directions for further investigating these problems.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Baryogenesis and primordial black hole dark matter from heavy metastable particles
Not Available
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗