16319433
The trispectrum of the cosmic microwave background on subdegree angular scales: an analysis of the BOOMERanG data
The trispectrum of the cosmic microwave background can be used to assess the level of non-Gaussianity on cosmological scales. It probes the fourth-order moment, as a function of angular scale, of the probability distribution function of fluctuations and has been shown to be sensitive to primordial non-Gaussianity, secondary anisotropies (such as the Ostriker–Vishniac effect) and systematic effects (such as astrophysical foregrounds). In this paper we develop a formalism for estimating the trispectrum from high-resolution sky maps that incorporates the impact of finite sky coverage. This leads to a series of operations applied to the data set to minimize the effects of contamination due to the Gaussian component and correlations between estimates at different scales. To illustrate the effect of the estimation process, we apply our procedure to the BOOMERanG data set and show that it is consistent with Gaussianity. This work presents the first estimation of the cosmic microwave background trispectrum on subdegree scales.
17421918
Living in a void: testing the Copernican principle with distant supernovae.
We show that the local redshift dependence of the luminosity distance can be used to test the Copernican principle that we are not in a central or otherwise special region of the Universe. Future surveys of type Ia supernovae that focus on a redshift range of approximately 0.1-0.4 will be ideally suited to observationally determine the validity of the Copernican principle on new scales, as well as probing the degree to which dark energy must be considered a necessary ingredient in the Universe.
11014726
Initial conditions of the universe: how much isocurvature is allowed?
We investigate the constraints imposed by current data on correlated mixtures of adiabatic and nonadiabatic primordial perturbations. We discover subtle flat directions in parameter space that tolerate large (approximately 60%) fractions of nonadiabatic fluctuations. In particular, larger values of the baryon density and a spectral tilt are allowed. The cancellations in the degenerate directions are explored and the role of priors is elucidated.
36591368
Fast and precise map‐making for massively multi‐detector CMB experiments
Future cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarisation experiments aim to measure an unprecedentedly small signal - the primordial gravity wave component of the polarisation field B-mode. To achieve this, they will analyse huge dataset s, involving years worth of timeordered data (TOD) from massively multi-detector focal planes. This creates the need for fast and precise methods to complement the M-L approach in analysis pipelines. In this paper, we investigate fast map-making methods as applied to long duration, massively multi-detector, ground-based experiments, in the context of the search for B-modes. We focus on two alternative map-making approaches: destriping and TOD filtering , comparing their performance on simulated multi-detector polarisation data. We have written an optimised, parallel destriping code, the DEStriping CARTographer (DESCART), that is generalised for massive focal planes, including the potential effect of cross-correlate d TOD 1/f noise. We also determine the scaling of computing time for destriping as applied to a simulated full-season data-set for a realistic experiment. We find that destriping can out-perf orm filtering in estimating both the large-scale E and B-mode angular power spectra. In particular, filtering can produce significant spurious B-mode power via EB mixing. Whilst this can be removed, it contributes to the variance of B-mode bandpower estimates at scales near the primordial B-mode peak. For the experimental configuration we simulate, this has an effect o n the possible detection significance for primordial B-modes. Destriping is a viable alternative fast method to the full M-L approach that does not cause the problems associated with fil tering, and is flexible enough to
122687802
Imaging the early universe with the BOOMERanG Experiment
The BOOMERanG experiment has recently detected temperature fluctuations the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the otherwise isotropic radiation coming from the early Universe. These anisotropies have a low contrast (about 30 ppm) and feature a peculiar angular power spectrum at angles corresponding to sub-horizon scales at recombination. In the current cosmological model, these structures result from acoustic oscillations in the primeval plasma. In the framework of the Hot Big Bang theory with the inflationary hypothesis, the statistical properties of the image of the CMB allow us to measure most of the cosmological parameters.
119285987
Cosmology of Axions and Moduli: A Dynamical Systems Approach
xed point attractors, repellers and saddle points, which we analyse in detail. We also provide geometric interpretations of the phase space. The xed points can be used to bound the couplings in the model. A systematic scan of certain regions of parameter space reveals that the future evolution of the universe in this model can be rich, containing multiple epochs of accelerated expansion.
16906939
Effect of Pions in Cosmic Rays
The effects of pions for vacuum polarization in background magnetic fields are considered. The effects of quark condensates is also briefly addresses. Although these effects are out of the measurement accuracy of laboratory experiments they may be relevant for gamma‐ray burst propagation. In particular, for emissions from the center of the galaxy, we show that the mixing between the neutral pion and photons results in a deviation of the gamma‐ray spectrum from the standard power‐law in the TeV range.
119103473
One-loop charge and colour breaking associated with the top Yukawa coupling
We calculate the one-loop contributions to the MSSM effective potential when the scalar top fields have non-zero vacuum expectation values and study their impact on charge and colour breaking bounds.
119493491
One-loop stau masses in the effective potential approach
We calculate the one-loop contributions to the tau slepton masses in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model in the effective potential approach. For the majority of parameter space under study, those corrections are shown to elevate the value of the lightest stau mass.
88506479
Parameterizing the flattening of galaxies rotation curves on an expanding locally anisotropic background
In this paper are discussed possible many body generalizations of the expanding locally anisotropic metric ansatz with respect to approximately Newtonian gravitational systems. This ansatz consistently describes local point-like matter distributions on the expanding Universe also allowing for a covariant parameterization of gravitational interactions at intermediate length scales. 
As an example of applicability it is modeled a disk galaxy model matching the physical parameters of the galaxy UGC2885 and it is shown that, by fine-tuning the metric functional parameter, the flattening of the galaxy rotation curve is fully parameterized by this metric. In addition it is numerically computed the mass-energy density corrections due to the expanding anisotropic background and explicitly shown that although there are negative contributions within the galaxy plane the total mass-energy density is strictly positive both at the galaxy plane and outside the galaxy plane. As the functional parameter for this metric is an exponential factor is required a floating point precision of $250$ significant digits for root finding routines and $200$ significant digits to evaluate the effective mass-energy density rendering a final precision of the results presented above double precision ($16$ significant digits). 
It is further shown that these results are consistent with the interpretation of the gravitational corrections as due to Dark Matter, in particular constituting a novel heuristic local parameterization for the Dark Matter distribution within the galaxy plane consistent with both local scale and cosmological scale physical laws which is useful to further investigate the local properties of Dark Matter.
119286402
Fast simulations for intensity mapping experiments
We present a code to generate mock observations of 21 cm intensity mapping experiments. The emphasis of the code is on reducing the computational cost of running a full-blown simulation, trading computational time for accuracy. The code can be used to generate independent realizations of the cosmological signal and foregrounds, which are necessary, for instance, in order to obtain realistic forecasts for future intensity mapping experiments. The code is able to reproduce the correct angular and radial clustering pattern for the cosmological signal, including redshift-space distortions, lightcone evolution and bias. Furthermore, it is possible to simulate a variety of foregrounds, including the potentially problematic polarized synchrotron emission.