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EVOLUTION IN THE H I GAS CONTENT OF GALAXY GROUPS: PRE-PROCESSING AND MASS ASSEMBLY IN THE CURRENT EPOCH

We present an analysis of the neutral hydrogen (H I) content and distribution of galaxies in groups as a function of their parent dark matter halo mass. The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey α.40 data release allows us, for the first time, to study the H I properties of over 740 galaxy groups in the volume of sky common to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and ALFALFA surveys. We assigned ALFALFA H I detections a group membership based on an existing magnitude/volume-limited SDSS Data Release 7 group/cluster catalog. Additionally, we assigned group ''proximity' membership to H I detected objects whose optical counterpart falls below the limiting optical magnitude—thereby not contributing substantially to the estimate of the group stellar mass, but significantly to the total group H I mass. We find that only 25% of the H I detected galaxies reside in groups or clusters, in contrast to approximately half of all optically detected galaxies. Further, we plot the relative positions of optical and H I detections in groups as a function of parent dark matter halo mass to reveal strong evidence that H I is being processed in galaxies as a result of the group environment: as optical membership increases, groups become increasingly deficient of H I rich galaxies at their center and the H I distribution of galaxies in the most massive groups starts to resemble the distribution observed in comparatively more extreme cluster environments. We find that the lowest H I mass objects lose their gas first as they are processed in the group environment, and it is evident that the infall of gas rich objects is important to the continuing growth of large scale structure at the present epoch, replenishing the neutral gas supply of groups. Finally, we compare our results to those of cosmological simulations and find that current models cannot simultaneously predict the H I selected halo occupation distribution for both low and high mass halos.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Local random potentials of high differentiability to model the Landscape

We generate random functions locally via a novel generalization of Dyson Brownian motion, such that the functions are in a desired differentiability class C{sup k}, while ensuring that the Hessian is a member of the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (other ensembles might be chosen if desired). Potentials in such higher differentiability classes (k≥2) are required/desirable to model string theoretical landscapes, for instance to compute cosmological perturbations (e.g., k=2 for the power-spectrum) or to search for minima (e.g., suitable de Sitter vacua for our universe). Since potentials are created locally, numerical studies become feasible even if the dimension of field space is large (D∼100). In addition to the theoretical prescription, we provide some numerical examples to highlight properties of such potentials; concrete cosmological applications will be discussed in companion publications.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: delensed power spectra and parameters

We present ΛCDM cosmological parameter constraints obtained from delensed microwave background power spectra. Lensing maps from a subset of DR4 data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) are used to undo the lensing effect in ACT spectra observed at 150 and 98 GHz. At 150 GHz, we remove the lensing distortion with an effective efficiency of 30% (TT), 30% (EE), 26% (TE) and 20% (BB); this results in detections of the delensing effect at 8.7σ (TT), 5.1σ (EE), 2.6σ (TE), and 2.4σ (BB) significance. The combination of 150 and 98 GHz TT, EE, and TE delensed spectra is well fit by a standard ΛCDM model. We also measure the shift in best-fit parameters when fitting delensed versus lensed spectra; while this shift does not inform our ability to measure cosmological parameters, it does provide a three-way consistency check among the lensing inferred from the best-fit parameters, the lensing in the CMB power spectrum, and the reconstructed lensing map. This shift is predicted to be zero when fitting with the correct model since both lensed and delensed spectra originate from the same region of sky. Furthermore, fitting with a ΛCDM model and marginalizing over foregrounds, we find that the shift in cosmological parameters is consistent with zero. Our results show that gravitational lensing of the microwave background is internally consistent within the framework of the standard cosmological model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Does lower Omega allow a resolution of the large-scale structure problem?

The intermediate angular scale anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background, peculiar velocities, density correlations, and mass fluctuations for both neutrino and baryon-dominated universes with Omega less than one are evaluated. The large coherence length associated with a low-Omega, hot dark matter-dominated universe provides substantial density fluctuations on scales up to 100 Mpc: there is a range of acceptable models that are capable of producing large voids and superclusters of galaxies and the clustering of galaxy clusters, with Omega roughly 0.3, without violating any observational constraint. Low-Omega, cold dark matter-dominated cosmologies are also examined. All of these models may be reconciled with the inflationary requirement of a flat universe by introducing a cosmological constant 1-Omega.

Silk, Joseph↗

Cosmological dependence of resonantly produced sterile neutrinos

The detection of a sterile neutrino could constitute the first observation of a particle that could have been produced before Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), and could provide information about the yet untested pre-BBN era. The cosmological evolution in this era could be drastically different than typically assumed in what constitutes the standard cosmology, as happens in a variety of motivated particle models. In this work we assess the sensitivity to different pre-BBN cosmologies in which entropy is conserved of 0.01 eV to 1 MeV mass sterile neutrinos produced in the early Universe via resonant active-sterile oscillations, which requires a large lepton asymmetry. We identify mass ranges where it is possible to have two populations of the same sterile neutrino, one with a colder and one with a hotter momentum spectra, which is in principle an observable effect. Furthermore, we show the regions in mass and mixing where fully resonant production (i.e. simultaneously coherent and adiabatic) can occur. Here, we find that in several of the cosmologies we consider, including the standard one, for a lepton asymmetry larger than ~10 –4 fully resonantly produced sterile neutrinos in the eV-mass range can evade all cosmological constraints.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Joint statistics of cosmological constant and SUSY breaking in flux vacua with nilpotent Goldstino

We obtain the joint distribution of the gravitino mass and the cosmological constant in KKLT and LVS models with anti-D3 brane uplifting described via the nilpotent goldstino formalism. Moduli stabilisation (of both complex structure and Kähler moduli) is incorporated so that we sample only over points corresponding to vacua. Our key inputs are the distributions of the flux superpotential, the string coupling and the hierarchies of warped throats. In the limit of zero cosmological constant, we find that both in KKLT and LVS the distributions are tilted favourably towards lower scales of supersymmetry breaking.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: delensed power spectra and parameters

We present ΛCDM cosmological parameter constraints obtained from delensed microwave background power spectra. Lensing maps from a subset of DR4 data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) are used to undo the lensing effect in ACT spectra observed at 150 and 98 GHz. At 150 GHz, we remove the lensing distortion with an effective efficiency of 30% (T T), 30% (EE), 26% (T E) and 20% (BB); this results in detections of the delensing effect at 8.7σ (T T), 5.1σ (EE), 2.6σ (T E), and 2.4σ (BB) significance. The combination of 150 and 98 GHz T T, EE, and T E delensed spectra is well fit by a standard ΛCDM model. We also measure the shift in best-fit parameters when fitting delensed versus lensed spectra; while this shift does not inform our ability to measure cosmological parameters, it does provide a three-way consistency check among the lensing inferred from the best-fit parameters, the lensing in the CMB power spectrum, and the reconstructed lensing map. This shift is predicted to be zero when fitting with the correct model since both lensed and delensed spectra originate from the same region of sky. Fitting with a ΛCDM model and marginalizing over foregrounds, we find that the shift in cosmological parameters is consistent with zero. Our results show that gravitational lensing of the microwave background is internally consistent within the framework of the standard cosmological model.

Dongwon Han↗

Planck 2013 results. XXVI. Background geometry and topology of the Universe

The new cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature maps from Planck provide the highest-quality full-sky view of the surface of last scattering available to date. This allows us to detect possible departures from the standard model of a globally homogeneous and isotropic cosmology on the largest scales. We search for correlations induced by a possible non-trivial topology with a fundamental domain intersecting, or nearly intersecting, the last scattering surface (at comoving distance χ rec ), both via a direct search for matched circular patterns at the intersections and by an optimal likelihood search for specific topologies. For the latter we consider flat spaces with cubic toroidal (T3), equal-sided chimney (T2) and slab (T1) topologies, three multi-connected spaces of constant positive curvature (dodecahedral, truncated cube and octahedral) and two compact negative-curvature spaces. These searches yield no detection of the compact topology with the scale below the diameter of the last scattering surface. For most compact topologies studied the likelihood maximized over the orientation of the space relative to the observed map shows some preference for multi-connected models just larger than the diameter of the last scattering surface. Since this effect is also present in simulated realizations of isotropic maps, we interpret it as the inevitable alignment of mild anisotropic correlations with chance features in a single sky realization; such a feature can also be present, in milder form, when the likelihood is marginalized over orientations. Thus marginalized, the limits on the radius R i of the largest sphere inscribed in topological domain (at log-likelihood-ratio Δln L > -5 relative to a simply-connected flat Planck best-fit model) are: in a flat Universe, R i > 0.92χ rec for the T3 cubic torus; R i > 0.71χ rec for the T2 chimney; R i > 0.50χ rec for the T1 slab; and in a positively curved Universe, R i > 1.03χ rec for the dodecahedral space; R i > 1.0χ rec for the truncated cube; and R i > 0.89χ rec for the octahedral space. The limit for a wider class of topologies, i.e., those predicting matching pairs of back-to-back circles, among them tori and the three spherical cases listed above, coming from the matched-circles search, is R i > 0.94χ rec at 99% confidence level. Similar limits apply to a wide, although not exhaustive, range of topologies. We also perform a Bayesian search for an anisotropic global Bianchi VII h geometry. In the non-physical setting where the Bianchi cosmology is decoupled from the standard cosmology, Planck data favour the inclusion of a Bianchi component with a Bayes factor of at least 1.5 units of log-evidence. Indeed, the Bianchi pattern is quite efficient at accounting for some of the large-scale anomalies found in Planck data. However, the cosmological parameters that generate this pattern are in strong disagreement with those found from CMB anisotropy data alone. In the physically motivated setting where the Bianchi parameters are coupled and fitted simultaneously with the standard cosmological parameters, we find no evidence for a Bianchi VII h cosmology and constrain the vorticity of such models to (ω/H) 0 < 8.1 × 10 -10 (95% confidence level).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dynamical Dark Energy Imprints in the Lyman-Alpha Forest

The nature of dark energy (DE) remains elusive, even though it constitutes the dominant energy-density component of the Universe and drives the late-time acceleration of cosmic expansion. By combining measurements of the expansion history from baryon acoustic oscillations, supernova surveys, and cosmic microwave background data, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Collaboration has inferred that the DE equation of state may evolve over time. The profound implications of a time-variable, ``dynamical" DE (DDE) that departs from a cosmological constant motivate the need for independent observational tests. In this work, we use cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of structure formation to investigate how DDE affects the properties of the Lyman-Alpha ``forest'' of absorption features produced by neutral hydrogen in the cosmic web. We find that DDE models consistent with the DESI constraints induce a spectral tilt in the forest transmitted flux power spectrum, imprinting a scale- and redshift-dependent signature relative to standard Lambda-CDM cosmologies. These models also yield higher intergalactic medium temperatures and reduced Lyman-Alpha opacity compared to Lambda-CDM. We discuss the observational implications of these trends as potential avenues for independent confirmation of DDE.

Garza, Diego [UC, Santa Cruz, Inst. Part. Phys.] (↗

Towards Solving the Mass-Composition Problem in Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays

Using the Auger mass-composition analysis of ultra high energy cosmic rays, based on the shape-fitting of X{sub max} distributions [1], we demonstrate that mass composition and energy spectra measured by Auger, Telescope Array and HiRes can be brought into good agreement. The shape-fitting analysis of X{sub max} distributions shows that the measured sum of proton and Helium fractions, for some hadronic-interaction models, can saturate the total flux. Such p + He model, with small admixture of other light nuclei, naturally follows from cosmology with recombination and reheating phases. The most radical assumption of the presented model is the assumed unreliability of the experimental separation of Helium and protons, which allows to consider He/p ratio as a free parameter. The results presented here show that the models with dominant p + He composition explain well the energy spectrum of the dip in the latest (2015–2017) data of Auger and Telescope Array, but have some tension at the highest energies with the expected Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin cutoff. The Auger-Prime upgrade experiment has a great potential to reject or confirm this model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Infall patterns around rich clusters of galaxies

The pattern of infall velocities induced by a rich cluster of galaxies is considered, using an infall model based on the Friedmann solution to determine the exact implicit dependence of the peculiar velocity on the density enhancment and the mean cosmological mass density, Omega(0). An analytic model for the distribution of galaxies around a cluster core in redshift space is developed. The high-density caustics in redshift space are shown to appear as envelopes around rich clusters. Assuming that the galaxies trace the matter distribution, low Omega(0) models can explain observational data obtained for four clusters. The present results support the prediction that light traces mass in the infall region.

Regos, Eniko↗

Inflation in the generalized inverse power law scenario

We propose a single field inflationary model by generalizing the inverse power law potential from the intermediate model. We study the implication of our model on the primordial anisotropy of cosmological microwave background radiation. Specifically, we apply the slow-roll approximation to calculate the scalar spectral tilt n{sub s} and the tensor-to-scalar ratio r. The results are compared with the recent data measured by the Planck satellite. We find that by choosing proper values for the parameters, our model can well describe the Planck data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

SASHIMI-SIDM: semi-analytical subhalo modelling for self-interacting dark matter at sub-galactic scales

We combine the semi-analytical structure formation model, SASHIMI, which predicts subhalo populations in collisionless, cold dark matter (CDM), with a parametric model that maps CDM halos to self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) halos. The resulting model, SASHIMI-SIDM, generates SIDM subhalo populations down to sub-galactic mass scales, for an arbitrary input cross section, in minutes. We show that SASHIMI-SIDM agrees with SIDM subhalo populations from high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations in resolved regimes. Crucially, we predict that the fraction of core-collapsed subhalos peaks at a mass scale determined by the input SIDM cross section and decreases toward higher halo masses, consistent with the predictions of gravothermal models and cosmological simulations. For the first time, we also show that the core-collapsed fraction decreases toward lower halo masses. While the dependence of the collapse time on mass and concentration implies such behaviour, our semi-analytical approach allows us to quantify and illustrate this trend clearly across the full mass spectrum of subhalos, including for subhalo masses below the resolution limit of any current cosmological SIDM simulation. As a proof of principle, we apply SASHIMI-SIDM to predict the boost to the local dark matter density and annihilation rate from core-collapsed SIDM subhalos, which can be enhanced relative to CDM by an order of magnitude for viable SIDM models. Thus, SASHIMI-SIDM provides an efficient and reliable tool for scanning SIDM parameter space and testing it with astrophysical observations. The code is publicly available at https://github.com/shinichiroando/sashimi-si.

cosmological simulations↗

Quantifying the 'naturalness' of the curvaton model

We investigate the probability of obtaining an observable curvature perturbation, using as an example the minimal curvaton-higgs (MCH) model. We determine ''probably observable'' and ''probably excluded'' regions of parameter space assuming generic initial conditions and applying a stochastic approach for the curvaton's evolution during inflation. Inflation is assumed to last longer than the N{sub obs} ≅ 55 observable e-folds, and the total number of e-folds of inflation determines the particular ranges of parameters that are probable. For the MCH model, these ''probably observable'' regions always lie within the range 8 × 10{sup 4} GeV ≤ m{sub σ} ≤ 2 × 10{sup 7} GeV, where m{sub σ} is the curvaton mass, and the Hubble scale at horizon exit is chosen as H{sub *} = 10{sup 10} GeV. Because the ''probably observable'' region depends on the total duration of inflation, information on parameters in the Lagrangian from particle physics and from precision CMB observations can therefore provide information about the total duration of inflation, not just the last N{sub obs} e-folds. This method could also be applied to any model that contains additional scalar fields to determine the probability that these scalar fields contribute to the curvature perturbation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Bimetric gravity doubly coupled to matter: theory and cosmological implications

A ghost-free theory of gravity with two dynamical metrics both coupled to matter is shown to be consistent and viable. Its cosmological implications are studied, and the models, in particular in the context of partially massless gravity, are found to explain the cosmic acceleration without resorting to dark energy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Particle Theory & Cosmology

1. Executive Summary (April 1, 2012 - March 31, 2015) Title: Particle Theory, Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology Qaisar Shafi University of Delaware (Principal Investigator) Stephen M. Barr, University of Delaware (Co-Principal Investigator) Thomas K. Gaisser, University of Delaware (Co-Principal Investigator) Todor Stanev, University of Delaware (Co-Principal Investigator) The proposed research was carried out at the Bartol Research included Professors Qaisar Shafi Stephen Barr, Thomas K. Gaisser, and Todor Stanev, two postdoctoral fellows (Ilia Gogoladze and Liucheng Wang), and several graduate students. Five students of Qaisar Shafi completed their PhD during the period August 2011 - August 2014. Measures of the group’s high caliber performance during the 2012-2015 funding cycle included pub- lications in excellent refereed journals, contributions to working groups as well as white papers, and conference activities, which together provide an exceptional record of both individual performance as well as overall strength. Another important indicator of success is the outstanding quality of the past and current cohort of graduate students. The PhD students under our supervision regularly win the top departmental and university awards, and their publications records show excellence both in terms of quality and quantity. The topics covered under this grant cover the frontline research areas in today’s High Energy Theory & Phenomenology. For Professors Shafi and Barr they include LHC related topics including supersymmetry, collider physics, fl vor physics, dark matter physics, Higgs boson and seesaw physics, grand unifi and neutrino physics. The LHC two years ago discovered the Standard Model Higgs boson, thereby at least partially unlocking the secrets behind electroweak symmetry breaking. We remain optimistic that new and exciting physics will be found at LHC 14, which explain our focus on physics beyond the Standard Model. Professors Shafi continued his investigations in cosmology, specifically on supergravity and GUT infl models, primordial gravity waves, dark matter models. The origin of baryon and dark matter in the universe has been explored by Professors Barr and Shafi The research program of Professors Gaisser and Stanev address current research topics in Particle Astrophysics, in particular atmospheric and cosmogenic neutrinos and ultra-high energy cosmic rays. Work also included use of LHC data to improve tools for interpreting cascades generated in the atmosphere by high-energy particles from the cosmos. Cosmogenic neutrinos produced by interactions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays as they propagate through the cosmic microwave background radiation provides insight into the origin of the highest energy particles in nature. Overall, the research covered topics in the energy, cosmic and intensity frontiers.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Trident: A Universal Tool for Generating Synthetic Absorption Spectra from Astrophysical Simulations

Hydrodynamical simulations are increasingly able to accurately model physical systems on stellar, galactic, and cosmological scales; however, the utility of these simulations is often limited by our ability to directly compare them with the data sets produced by observers: spectra, photometry, etc. To address this problem, we have created trident, a Python-based open-source tool for post-processing hydrodynamical simulations to produce synthetic absorption spectra and related data. trident can (i) create absorption-line spectra for any trajectory through a simulated data set mimicking both background quasar and down-the-barrel configurations; (ii) reproduce the spectral characteristics of common instruments like the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph; (iii) operate across the ultraviolet, optical, and infrared using customizable absorption-line lists; (iv) trace simulated physical structures directly to spectral features; (v) approximate the presence of ion species absent from the simulation outputs; (vi) generate column density maps for any ion; and (vii) provide support for all major astrophysical hydrodynamical codes. trident was originally developed to aid in the interpretation of observations of the circumgalactic medium and intergalactic medium, but it remains a general tool applicable in other contexts.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Post-inflationary enhancement of adiabatic perturbations in modular cosmology

We show that multi-field inflationary models with negligible turning in field space during inflation can lead to an effective sourcing of adiabatic from entropic perturbations afterthe end of inflation. We illustrate this general phenomenon with a detailed analysis of an inflationary model whose scalar potential is determined by modular invariance. Its entropic perturbations are frozen during inflation, but instead, they are converted into adiabatic perturbations in the first post-inflationary e-folds. The curvature power spectrum, giving rise to CMB fluctuations, reaches a novel and enhanced plateau in this process; we address the implications for the inflationary observables As , n s and r.

cosmological perturbation theory↗