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At least 667 records · Page 37
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DOE OSTI2013

Frame independent cosmological perturbations

We compute the third order gauge invariant action for scalar-graviton interactions in the Jordan frame. We demonstrate that the gauge invariant action for scalar and tensor perturbations on one physical hypersurface only differs from that on another physical hypersurface via terms proportional to the equation of motion and boundary terms, such that the evolution of non-Gaussianity may be called unique. Moreover, we demonstrate that the gauge invariant curvature perturbation and graviton on uniform field hypersurfaces in the Jordan frame are equal to their counterparts in the Einstein frame. These frame independent perturbations are therefore particularly useful in relating results in different frames at the perturbative level. On the other hand, the field perturbation and graviton on uniform curvature hypersurfaces in the Jordan and Einstein frame are non-linearly related, as are their corresponding actions and n-point functions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Describing massive neutrinos in cosmology as a collection of independent flows

A new analytical approach allowing to account for massive neutrinos in the non-linear description of the growth of the large-scale structure of the universe is proposed. Unlike the standard approach in which neutrinos are described as a unique hot fluid, it is shown that the overall neutrino fluid can be equivalently decomposed into a collection of independent flows. Starting either from elementary conservation equations or from the evolution equation of the phase-space distribution function and assuming that there is no shell-crossing, we derive the two non-linear motion equations that each of these flows satisfies. Those fluid equations describe the evolution of macroscopic fields. We explain in detail the connection between the collection of flows we defined and the standard massive neutrino fluid. Then, in the particular case of adiabatic initial conditions, we explicitly check that, at linear order, the resolution of this new system of equations reproduces the results obtained in the standard approach based on the collisionless Boltzmann hierarchy. Besides, the approach advocated in this paper allows to show how each neutrino flow settles into the cold dark matter flow depending on initial velocities. Although valid up to shell-crossing only, it is a further step towards a fully non-linear treatment of the dynamical evolution of neutrinos in the framework of large-scale structure growth.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Computing model independent perturbations in dark energy and modified gravity

We present a methodology for computing model independent perturbations in dark energy and modified gravity. This is done from the Lagrangian for perturbations, by showing how field content, symmetries, and physical principles are often sufficient ingredients for closing the set of perturbed fluid equations. The fluid equations close once ''equations of state for perturbations'' are identified: these are linear combinations of fluid and metric perturbations which construct gauge invariant entropy and anisotropic stress perturbations for broad classes of theories. Our main results are the proof of the equation of state for perturbations presented in a previous paper, and the development of the required calculational tools.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Probing non-standard gravity with the growth index: a background independent analysis

Measurements of the growth index of linear matter density fluctuations γ(z) provide a clue as to whether Einstein's field equations encompass gravity also on large cosmic scales, those where the expansion of the universe accelerates. We show that the information encoded in this function can be satisfactorily parameterized using a small set of coefficients γ{sub i}, in such a way that the true scaling of the growth index is recovered to better than 1% in most dark energy and dark gravity models. We find that the likelihood of current data, given this formalism and the Λ Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) expansion model of Planck, is maximal for γ{sub 0} = 0.74{sup +0.44}{sub −0.41} and γ{sub 1} = 0.01{sup +0.46}{sub −0.46}, a measurement compatible with the ΛCDM predictions (γ{sub 0} = 0.545, γ{sub 1} = −0.007). In addition, data tend to favor models predicting slightly less growth of structures than the Planck ΛCDM scenario. The main aim of the paper is to provide a prescription for routinely calculating, in an analytic way, the amplitude of the growth indices γ{sub i} in relevant cosmological scenarios, and to show that these parameters naturally define a space where predictions of alternative theories of gravity can be compared against growth data in a manner which is independent from the expansion history of the cosmological background. As the standard Ω-plane provides a tool to identify different expansion histories H(t) and their relation to various cosmological models, the γ-plane can thus be used to locate different growth rate histories f(t) and their relation to alternatives model of gravity. As a result, we find that the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati gravity model is rejected with a 95% confidence level. By simulating future data sets, such as those that a Euclid-like mission will provide, we also show how to tell apart ΛCDM predictions from those of more extreme possibilities, such as smooth dark energy models, clustering quintessence or parameterized post-Friedmann cosmological models.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

A systematic halo-independent analysis of direct detection data within the framework of Inelastic Dark Matter

We present a systematic halo-independent analysis of available Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMP) direct detection data within the framework of Inelastic Dark Matter (IDM). We show that, when the smallest number of assumptions is made on the WIMP velocity distribution in the halo of our Galaxy, it is possible to find values of the WIMP mass and the IDM mass splitting for which compatibility between present constraints and any of the three experiments claiming to see a WIMP excess among DAMA, CDMS-Si and CRESST can be achieved.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Halo-independent direct detection of momentum-dependent dark matter

We show that the momentum dependence of dark matter interactions with nuclei can be probed in direct detection experiments without knowledge of the dark matter velocity distribution. This is one of the few properties of DM microphysics that can be determined with direct detection alone, given a signal of dark matter in multiple direct detection experiments with different targets. Long-range interactions arising from the exchange of a light mediator are one example of momentum-dependent DM. For data produced from the exchange of a massless mediator we find for example that the mediator mass can be constrained to be ∼< 10 MeV for DM in the 20-1000 GeV range in a halo-independent manner.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Strongest model-independent bound on the lifetime of Dark Matter

Dark Matter is essential for structure formation in the late Universe so it must be stable on cosmological time scales. But how stable exactly? Only assuming decays into relativistic particles, we report an otherwise model independent bound on the lifetime of Dark Matter using current cosmological data. Since these decays affect only the low ℓ multipoles of the CMB, the Dark Matter lifetime is expected to correlate with the tensor-to-scalar ratio r as well as the curvature Ω{sub k}. We consider two models, including r and r+Ω{sub k} respectively, versus data from Planck, WMAP, WiggleZ and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations, with or without the BICEP2 data (if interpreted in terms of primordial gravitational waves). This results in a lower bound on the lifetime of CDM given by 160 Gyr (without BICEP2) or 200 Gyr (with BICEP2) at 95% confidence level.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

A cosmological exclusion plot: towards model-independent constraints on modified gravity from current and future growth rate data

Most cosmological constraints on modified gravity are obtained assuming that the cosmic evolution was standard ΛCDM in the past and that the present matter density and power spectrum normalization are the same as in a ΛCDM model. Here we examine how the constraints change when these assumptions are lifted. We focus in particular on the parameter Y (also called G{sub eff}) that quantifies the deviation from the Poisson equation. This parameter can be estimated by comparing with the model-independent growth rate quantity fσ{sub 8}(z) obtained through redshift distortions. We reduce the model dependency in evaluating Y by marginalizing over σ{sub 8} and over the initial conditions, and by absorbing the degenerate parameter Ω{sub m,0} into Y. We use all currently available values of fσ{sub 8}(z). We find that the combination Y-circumflex =YΩ{sub m,0}, assumed constant in the observed redshift range, can be constrained only very weakly by current data, Y-circumflex =0.28{sub −0.23}{sup +0.35} at 68% c.l. We also forecast the precision of a future estimation of Y-circumflex in a Euclid-like redshift survey. We find that the future constraints will reduce substantially the uncertainty, Y-circumflex =0.30{sub −0.09}{sup +0.08} , at 68% c.l., but the relative error on Y-circumflex around the fiducial remains quite high, of the order of 30%. The main reason for these weak constraints is that Y-circumflex is strongly degenerate with the initial conditions, so that large or small values of Y-circumflex are compensated by choosing non-standard initial values of the derivative of the matter density contrast. Finally, we produce a forecast of a cosmological exclusion plot on the Yukawa strength and range parameters, which complements similar plots on laboratory scales but explores scales and epochs reachable only with large-scale galaxy surveys. We find that future data can constrain the Yukawa strength to within 3% of the Newtonian one if the range is around a few Megaparsecs. In the particular case of f(R) models, we find that the Yukawa range will be constrained to be larger than 80 Mpc/h or smaller than 2 Mpc/h (95% c.l.), regardless of the specific f(R) model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

On the importance of direct detection combined limits for spin independent and spin dependent dark matter interactions

In this work we show how the inclusion of dark matter (DM) direct detection upper bounds in a theoretically consistent manner can affect the allowed parameter space of a DM model. Traditionally, the limits from DM direct detection experiments on the elastic scattering cross section of DM particles as a function of their mass are extracted under simplifying assumptions. Relaxing the assumptions related to the DM particle nature, such as the neutron to proton ratio of the interactions, or the possibility of having similar contributions from the spin independent (SI) and spin dependent (SD) interactions can vary significantly the upper limits. Furthermore, it is known that astrophysical and nuclear uncertainties can also affect the upper bounds. To exemplify the impact of properly including all these factors, we have analysed two well motivated and popular DM scenarios: neutralinos in the NMSSM and a Z' portal with Dirac DM. We have found that the allowed parameter space of these models is subject to important variations when one includes both the SI and SD interactions at the same time, realistic neutron to proton ratios, as well as using different self-consistent speed distributions corresponding to popular DM halo density profiles, and distinct SD structure functions. Finally, we provide all the necessary information to include the upper bounds of SuperCDMS and LUX taking into account all these subtleties in the investigation of any particle physics model. The data for each experiment and example codes are available at this site http://goo.gl/1CDFYi, and their use is detailed in the appendices of this work.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

On the evaporation of solar dark matter: spin-independent effective operators

As a part of the effort to investigate the implications of dark matter (DM)-nucleon effective interactions on the solar DM detection, in this paper we focus on the evaporation of the solar DM for a set of the DM-nucleon spin-independent (SI) effective operators. In order to put the evaluation of the evaporation rate on a more reliable ground, we calculate the non-thermal distribution of the solar DM using the Monte Carlo methods, rather than adopting the Maxwellian approximation. We then specify relevant signal parameter spaces for the solar DM detection for various SI effective operators. Based on the analysis, we determine the minimum DM masses for which the DM-nucleon coupling strengths can be probed from the solar neutrino observations. As an interesting application, our investigation also shows that evaporation effect can not be neglectd in a recent proposal aiming to solve the solar abundance problem by invoking the momentum-dependent asymmetric DM in the Sun.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Model-independent constraints on modified gravity from current data and from the Euclid and SKA future surveys

The aim of this paper is to constrain modified gravity with redshift space distortion observations and supernovae measurements. Compared with a standard ΛCDM analysis, we include three additional free parameters, namely the initial conditions of the matter perturbations, the overall perturbation normalization, and a scale-dependent modified gravity parameter modifying the Poisson equation, in an attempt to perform a more model-independent analysis. First, we constrain the Poisson parameter Y (also called G {sub eff}) by using currently available f σ{sub 8} data and the recent SN catalog JLA. We find that the inclusion of the additional free parameters makes the constraints significantly weaker than when fixing them to the standard cosmological value. Second, we forecast future constraints on Y by using the predicted growth-rate data for Euclid and SKA missions. Here again we point out the weakening of the constraints when the additional parameters are included. Finally, we adopt as modified gravity Poisson parameter the specific Horndeski form, and use scale-dependent forecasts to build an exclusion plot for the Yukawa potential akin to the ones realized in laboratory experiments, both for the Euclid and the SKA surveys.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Model-independent limits and constraints on extended theories of gravity from cosmic reconstruction techniques

The onset of dark energy domination depends on the particular gravitational theory driving the cosmic evolution. Model independent techniques are crucial to test the both the present ΛCDM cosmological paradigm and alternative theories, making the least possible number of assumptions about the Universe. In this paper we investigate whether cosmography is able to distinguish between different gravitational theories, by determining bounds on model parameters for three different extensions of General Relativity, namely quintessence, F (Τ) and f ( R ) gravitational theories. We expand each class of theories in powers of redshift z around the present time, making no additional assumptions. This procedure is an extension of previous work and can be seen as the most general approach for testing extended theories of gravity through the use of cosmography. In the case of F (Τ) and f ( R ) theories, we show that some assumptions on model parameters often made in previous works are superfluous or even unjustified. We use data from the Union 2.1 supernovae catalogue, baryonic acoustic oscillation data and H ( z ) differential age compilations, which probe cosmology on different scales of the cosmological evolution. We perform a Monte Carlo analysis using a Metropolis-Hastings algorithm with a Gelman-Rubin convergence criterion, reporting 1-σ and 2-σ confidence levels. To do so, we perform two distinct fits, assuming only data within z < 1 first and then without limitations in redshift. We obtain the corresponding numerical intervals in which coefficients span, and find that the data is compatible the ΛCDM limit of all three theories at the 1-σ level, while still compatible with quite a large portion of parameter space. We compare our results to the truncated ΛCDM paradigm, demonstrating that our bounds divert from the expectations of previous works, showing that the permitted regions of coefficients are significantly modified and in general widened with respect to values usually reported in the existing literature. Finally, we test the extended theories through the Bayesian selection criteria AIC and BIC.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Model-independent astrophysical constraints on leptophilic Dark Matter in the framework of Tsallis statistics

Here, we derive model-independent astrophysical constraints on leptophilic dark matter (DM), considering its thermal production in a supernova core and taking into account core temperature fluctuations within the framework of q-deformed Tsallis statistics. In an effective field theory approach, where the DM fermions interact with the Standard Model via dimension-six operators of either scalar-pseudoscalar, vector-axial vector, or tensor-axial tensor type, we obtain bounds on the effective cut-off scale Λ from supernova cooling and free-streaming of DM from supernova core, and from thermal relic density considerations, depending on the DM mass and the q-deformation parameter. Using Raffelt's criterion on the energy loss rate from SN1987A, we obtain a lower bound on Λ ≳ 3 (12) TeV corresponding to q = 1.0 (1.1) and an average supernova core temperature of 0T SN =3 MeV . From the optical depth criterion on the free-streaming of DM fermions from the outer 10% of the SN1987A core, the cooling bound is restricted to Λ ≳ 1 TeV . Both cooling and free-streaming bounds are insensitive to the DM mass m χ for m χ ≲ T SN , whereas for m χ >> T SN , the bounds weaken significantly due to the Boltzmann-suppression of the DM number density. We also calculate the thermal relic density of the DM particles in this setup and find that it imposes an upper bound on Λ 4 /m χ 2 , which together with the cooling/free-streaming bound significantly constrains light leptophilic DM.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Halo-independent analysis of direct dark matter detection through electron scattering

Sub-GeV mass dark matter particles whose collisions with nuclei would not deposit sufficient energy to be detected, could instead be revealed through their interaction with electrons. Analyses of data from direct detection experiments usually require assuming a local dark matter halo velocity distribution. In the halo-independent analysis method, properties of this distribution are instead inferred from direct dark matter detection data, which allows then to compare different data without making any assumption on the uncertain local dark halo characteristics. Furthermore, this method has so far been developed for and applied to dark matter scattering off nuclei. Here we demonstrate how this analysis can be applied to scattering off electrons.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Statistical properties of sites visited by independent random walks

The set of visited sites and the number of visited sites are two basic properties of the random walk trajectory. Here, we consider two independent random walks on hyper-cubic lattices and study ordering probabilities associated with these characteristics. The first is the probability that during the time interval (0, t), the number of sites visited by a walker never exceeds that of another walker. The second is the probability that the sites visited by a walker remain a subset of the sites visited by another walker. Using numerical simulations, we investigate the leading asymptotic behaviors of the ordering probabilities in spatial dimensions d = 1, 2, 3, 4. We also study the time evolution of the number of ties between the number of visited sites. We show analytically that the average number of ties increases as a 1 ln t with a 1 = 0.970 508 in one dimension and as (ln t) 2 in two dimensions.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2014

THE MASS-INDEPENDENCE OF SPECIFIC STAR FORMATION RATES IN GALACTIC DISKS

The slope of the star formation rate/stellar mass relation (the SFR {sup M}ain Sequence{sup ;} SFR-M {sub *}) is not quite unity: specific star formation rates (SFR/M {sub *}) are weakly but significantly anti-correlated with M {sub *}. Here we demonstrate that this trend may simply reflect the well-known increase in bulge mass-fractions—portions of a galaxy not forming stars—with M {sub *}. Using a large set of bulge/disk decompositions and SFR estimates derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we show that re-normalizing SFR by disk stellar mass (sSFR{sub disk} ≡ SFR/M {sub *,} {sub disk}) reduces the M {sub *} dependence of SF efficiency by ∼0.25 dex per dex, erasing it entirely in some subsamples. Quantitatively, we find log sSFR{sub disk}-log M {sub *} to have a slope β{sub disk} in [ – 0.20, 0.00] ± 0.02 (depending on the SFR estimator and Main Sequence definition) for star-forming galaxies with M {sub *} ≥ 10{sup 10} M {sub ☉} and bulge mass-fractions B/T ≲ 0.6, generally consistent with a pure-disk control sample (β{sub control} = –0.05 ± 0.04). That (SFR/M {sub *,} {sub disk}) is (largely) independent of host mass for star-forming disks has strong implications for aspects of galaxy evolution inferred from any SFR-M {sub *} relation, including manifestations of ''mass quenching'' (bulge growth), factors shaping the star-forming stellar mass function (uniform dlog M {sub *}/dt for low-mass, disk-dominated galaxies), and diversity in star formation histories (dispersion in SFR(M {sub *}, t)). Our results emphasize the need to treat galaxies as composite systems—not integrated masses—in observational and theoretical work.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

MODEL-INDEPENDENT DETERMINATION OF CURVATURE PARAMETER USING H(z) AND D{sub A} (z) DATA PAIRS FROM BAO MEASUREMENTS

We present a model-independent determination of the curvature parameter Ω {sub k} using the Hubble parameter H(z) and the angular diameter distance D{sub A} (z) from recent baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements. Each H(z) and D{sub A} (z) pair from a BAO measurement can constrain a curvature parameter. The accuracy of the curvature measurement improves with increased redshift of H(z) and D{sub A} (z) data. By using the H(z) and D{sub A} (z) pair derived from a BAO Lyman α forest measurement at z = 2.36, the Ω {sub k} is confined to be –0.05 ± 0.06, which is consistent with the curvature of −0.037{sub −0.042}{sup +0.044} constrained by the nine year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data only. Considering future BAO measurements, at least one order of magnitude improvement of this curvature measurement can be expected.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

iPTF14yb: The First Discovery of a Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Independent of a High-Energy Trigger

We report here the discovery by the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) of iPTF14yb, a luminous (Msub>r ≈ ₋27.8 mag), cosmological (redshift 1.9733), rapidly fading optical transient. We demonstrate, based on probabilistic arguments and a comparison with the broader population, that iPTF14yb is the optical afterglow of the long-duration gamma-ray burst GRB140226A. This marks the rst unambiguous discovery of a GRB afterglow prior to (and thus entirely independent of) an associated high-energy trigger. We estimate the rate of iPTF14yb-like sources (i.e., cosmologically dis- tant relativistic explosions) based on iPTF observations, inferring an all-sky value of $R_{rel}$ = 610yr -1 (68% con dence interval of 110{2000 yr -1 ). Our derived rate is consistent (within the large uncer- tainty) with the all-sky rate of on-axis GRBs derived by the Swift satellite. Finally, we brie y discuss the implications of the nondetection to date of bona de \orphan" afterglows (i.e., those lacking de- tectable high-energy emission) on GRB beaming and the degree of baryon loading in these relativistic jets.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗