14009273
Measuring Time Dependence of Dark Energy Density from Type Ia Supernova Data
Observations of high-redshift supernovae imply an accelerating universe that can only be explained by an unusual energy component such as vacuum energy or quintessence. To assess the ability of current and future supernova data to constrain the properties of the dark energy, we allow its density to have arbitrary time dependence, ρX(z). This leads to an equation of state for the dark energy, wX(z) = pX(z)/ρX(z), which is a free function of redshift z. We find that current data of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are consistent with a cosmological constant, with large uncertainties at z 0.5. We show that ρX(z)/ρX(z = 0) can be measured reasonably well to about z = 1.5 using SN Ia data from realistic future SN Ia pencil beam surveys, provided that the weak energy condition (energy density of matter is nonnegative for any observer) is imposed. While it is only possible to differentiate between different models (say, quintessence and k-essence) at z 1.5 using realistic data, the correct trend in the time dependence of the dark energy density can be clearly detected out to z = 2, even in the presence of plausible systematic effects. This would allow us to determine whether the dark energy is a cosmological constant or some exotic form of energy with a time-dependent density.
11940938
Constraints on generalized extended inflationary models.
We study the physical constraints on generalized extended inflationary theories, in which the Brans-Dicke field {Phi} couples to the inflaton sector in the form of two arbitrary power-law functions of {Phi}. We find that the most stringent constraints arise from the need to suppress large bubbles and from considerations of the density perturbations generated during extended inflation. We find that there are sizable portions of the parameter spaces in which all the constraints are satisfied.
1842861
Dark Energy Constraints from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
Baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) in the galaxy power spectrum allow us to extract the scale of the comoving sound horizon at recombination, a cosmological standard ruler accurately determined by the cosmic microwave background anisotropy data. We examine various issues important in the use of BAOs to probe dark energy. We find that if we assume a flat universe and priors on ?m, ?mh2, and ?bh2 as expected from the Planck mission, the constraints on dark energy parameters (w0, w') scale much less steeply with survey area than (area)-1/2 for a given redshift range. The constraints on the dark energy density ?X(z), however, do scale roughly with (area)-1/2 due to the strong correlation between H(z) and ?m (which reduces the effect of priors on ?m). Dark energy constraints from BAOs are very sensitive to the assumed linear scale of matter clustering and the redshift accuracy of the survey. For a BAO survey with 0.5 ? z ? 2, ? (R) = 0.4 [corresponding to kmax (z = 0) = 0.086 h Mpc-1], and ?z/ (1 + z) = 0.001, we find = (0.115,0.183) and (0.069, 0.104) for survey areas of 1000 and 10,000 deg2, respectively. We find that it is critical to minimize the bias in the scale estimates in order to derive reliable dark energy constraints. For a 1000 (10,000) deg2 BAO survey, a 1 ? bias in ln H (z) leads to a 2 ? (3 ?) bias in w'. The bias in w' due to the same scale bias from ln DA (z) is slightly smaller and opposite in sign. The results from this paper will be useful in assessing different proposed BAO surveys and guiding the design of optimal dark energy detection strategies.
42895334
Dark Energy Search with Supernovae
Abstract To determine the nature of dark energy from observational data, it is important that we use model-independent and optimal methods. We should probe dark energy using its density (allowed to be a free function of cosmic time) instead of its equation of state. We should minimize gravitational lensing effect on supernovae by flux-averaging. We need to include complementary data (for example, from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large scale structure (LSS)) in a consistent manner to help break the degeneracy between the dark energy density and the matter density fraction. We should push for ambitious future supernova surveys that can observe a large number of supernovae at the highest possible redshifts. I discuss these and other issues that will be important in our quest to unravel the mystery of the nature of dark energy. Current supernova, CMB, and LSS data already rule out dark energy models with dark energy densities that vary greatly with time; with the cosmological constant model providing an excellent fit to the data. A precise measurement of dark energy density as a free function of cosmic time will have a fundamental impact on particle physics and cosmology.
15326079
Wavelets and WMAP non-Gaussianity
We study the statistical properties of the first-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data on different scales using the spherical Mexican hat wavelet transform. Consistent with the 2004 results of Vielva et al., we find a deviation from Gaussianity in the form of kurtosis of wavelet coefficients on 3-4 scales in the southern Galactic hemisphere. This paper extends the work of Vielva et al. as follows: We find that the non-Gaussian signal shows up more strongly in the form of a larger than expected number of cold pixels and also in the form of scale-scale correlations among wavelet coefficients. We establish the robustness of the non-Gaussian signal under more wide-ranging assumptions regarding the Galactic mask applied to the data and the noise statistics. This signal is unlikely to be due to the usual quadratic term parameterized by the nonlinearity parameter fNL. We use the skewness of the spherical Mexican hat wavelet coefficients to constrain fNL with the first-year WMAP data. Our results constrain fNL to be 50+/-80 at 68% confidence and less than 280 at 99% confidence.
119244043
A robust distance measurement and dark energy constraints from the spherically averaged correlation function of Sloan Digital Sky Survey luminous red Galaxies
We measure the effective distance to z = 0.26, DV (0.26), and mh 2 from the overall shape of the spherically-averaged two-point correlati on function of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7) volume-limited luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample, without assuming a dark energy model or a flat Universe. We giv e the mean and covariance matrix of DV (0.26), mh 2 , bh 2 , and ns. We show that these provide an efficient and accurate summary of the volume-limited LRG data. With flat priors on bh 2 and ns (7σWMAP7), we find mh 2 = 0.131 ± 0.020, and rs/DV (0.26) = 0.1466 +0.0068 0.0073 (the ratio of the sound horizon at the drag epoch to the effective distance to z = 0.26). We find that measurements of mh 2 or m are biased low if flux-limited (instead of volume-limited) L RG sample is used. By scaling the spherically-averaged correlation fun ction, we find the Hubble parameter H(0.26) = 79 +12 13 km s 1 Mpc 1 and the angular diameter distance DA(0.26) = 848 +86 88 Mpc. Combining our results with the cosmic microwave background and supernova data, we obtain k = 0.0059 +0.0092 0.0093 andw = 1.023 +0.054 0.053 (assuming a constant dark energy equation of state). We use LasDamas SDSS mock catalogs to compute the covariance matrix of the correlation function, and investigate the use of lognormal catal ogs as an alternative. We find that the input correlation function can be accurately recovered from lognormal catalogs, although they give larger errors on all scales (especially on small sc ales) compared to the mock catalogs derived from cosmological N-body simulations.
119199394
Modified Chaplygin gas as a unified dark matter and dark energy model and cosmic constraints
A modified Chaplygin gas model (MCG), ρMCG/ρMCG0=[Bs+(1−Bs)a−3(1+B)(1+α)]1/(1+α), as a unified dark matter model and dark energy model, is constrained by using current available cosmic observational data points which include type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillation and the 7-year full WMAP data points. As a contrast to the consideration in the literature, we do not separate the MCG into two components, i.e. dark mater and dark energy component, but we take it as a whole energy component—a unified dark sector. By using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method, a tight constraint is obtained: $\alpha= 0.000727_{- 0.00140- 0.00234}^{+ 0.00142+ 0.00391}$, $B=0.000777_{- 0.000302- 0.000697}^{+ 0.000201+ 0.000915}$ and $B_{s}= 0.782_{- 0.0162- 0.0329}^{+ 0.0163+ 0.0307}$.
119247594
Investigate the interaction between dark matter and dark energy
In this paper we investigate the interaction between dark matter and dark energy by considering two different interacting scenarios, i.e. the cases of constant interaction function and variable interaction function. By fitting the current observational data to constrain the interacting models, it is found that the interacting strength is non-vanishing, but weak for the case of constant interaction function, and the interaction is not obvious for the case of variable interaction function. In addition, for seeing the influence from interaction we also investigate the evolutions of interaction function, effective state parameter for dark energy and energy density of dark matter. At last some geometrical quantities in the interacting scenarios are discussed.
17261464
Black hole to bulge mass correlation in Active Galactic Nuclei: a test for the simple unified formation scheme
A mass correlation of central black holes and their spheroids similar to 0.002 (within a factor of three) is suggested by Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and various ground-based CCD photometries of early type galaxies. The near-IR images of quasar hosts and the emission line measurements of Broad Line Region for bright QSOs present a similar correlation, which supports the speculation of an evolutionary linkage between the early active QSO phase and the central black holes in normal galaxies. On the other hand, recent reverberation mapping of a sample of Seyferts shows a broad distribution of black hole to bulge mass ratio with a mean of similar to 10(-3.5), about one magnitude lower than the value in early type galaxies and bright QSOs. Adopting a simple unified formation scheme for QSOs and Seyferts, we will discuss in this letter the dependence of the black hole to bulge mass ratio in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) on the environmental parameters of the host galaxies. We show a broad distribution of the mass correlation could be due to different velocity dispersion of the accreting gas from different Formation mechanism, and the mass ratio in normal galaxies and bright QSOs is probably a limit case of black hole evolution by merger enhanced accretion close to Eddington limit.
119242452
Unified dark fluid with constant adiabatic sound speed and cosmic constraints
As is known above 90% of the energy content in Universe is made of unknown dark component. Usually this dark fluid is separated into two parts: dark matter and dark energy. However, it may be a mixture of these two energy components, or just one exotic unknown fluid. This property is dubbed as dark degeneracy. With this motivation, in this paper, a unified dark fluid having constant adiabatic sound speed $c_s^2=\alpha$, which is in the range $[0,1]$, is studied. At first, via the energy conservation equation, its energy density, $\rho_d/\rho_{d0}=(1-B_s)+B_s a^{-3(1+\alpha)}$ where $B_s$ is related to integration constant from energy conservation equation as another model parameter, is presented. Then by using Markov Chain Monte Carlo method with currently available cosmic observational data sets which include type Ia supernova Union 2, baryon acoustic oscillation and WMAP 7-year data of cosmic background radiation, we show that small values of $\alpha$ are favored in this unified dark fluid model. Furthermore, we show that smaller values of $\alpha<10^{-5}$ are required to match matter (baryon) power spectrum from SDSS DR7.
55509875
A LOW COST AND HIGH EFFICIENCT FACILITY FOR REMOVAL OF SO2 AND NOx IN THE FLUE GAS FROM COAL FIRE POWER PLANT
The emission of toxic gas, sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides has become serious issue in the world. A review of EB method to remove the SOx and NOx in flue gas from coal-fired power plants was described in this paper. A design of an electron curtain accelerator of 600 keV was given, and a facility for purification of flue gas from coal combustion power plant of 10MW was described here.