119305993
The kSZ effect as a test of general radial inhomogeneity in LTB cosmology
The apparent accelerating expansion of the Universe, determined from observations of distant supernovae, and often taken to imply the existence of dark energy, may alternatively be explained by the effects of a giant underdense void if we relax the assumption of homogeneity on large scales. Recent studies have made use of the spherically-symmetric, radially-inhomogeneous Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) models to derive strong constraints on this scenario, particularly from observations of the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect which is sensitive to large scale inhomogeneity. However, most of these previous studies explicitly set the LTB 'bang time' function to be constant, neglecting an important freedom of the general solutions. Here we examine these models in full generality by relaxing this assumption. We find that although the extra freedom allowed by varying the bang time is sufficient to account for some observables individually, it is not enough to simultaneously explain the supernovae observations, the small-angle CMB, the local Hubble rate, and the kSZ effect. This set of observables is strongly constraining, and effectively rules out simple LTB models as an explanation of dark energy.
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.
119408227
CMB likelihood functions for beginners and experts
Although the broad outlines of the appropriate pipeline for cosmological likelihood analysis with CMB data has been known for several years, only recently have we had to contend with the full, large-scale, computationally challenging problem involving both highly-correlated noise and extremely large datasets (N>1000). In this talk we concentrate on the beginning and end of this process. First, we discuss estimating the noise covariance from the data itself in a rigorous and unbiased way; this is essentially an iterated minimum-variance mapmaking approach. We also discuss the unbiased determination of cosmological parameters from estimates of the power spectrum or experimental bandpowers.
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.
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.
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
119205906
Discrete and continuous symmetries in multi-Higgs-doublet models
We consider the Higgs sector of multi-Higgs-doublet models in the presence of simple symmetries relating the various fields. We construct basis-invariant observables which may in principle be used to detect these symmetries for any number of doublets. A categorization of the symmetries into classes is required, which we perform in detail for the case of two and three Higgs doublets.
118844551
An expanding locally anisotropic (ELA) metric describing matter in an expanding universe
Abstract It is suggested an expanding locally anisotropic metric (ELA) ansatz describing matter in a flat expanding universe which interpolates between the Schwarzschild (SC) metric near point-like central bodies of mass M and the Robertson–Walker (RW) metric for large radial coordinate: d s 2 = Z c 2 d t 2 − 1 Z ( d r 1 − H r 1 c Z α 2 + 1 2 c d t ) 2 − r 1 2 d Ω , where Z = 1 − U SC with U SC = 2 G M / ( c 2 r 1 ) , G is the Newton constant, c is the speed of light, H = H ( t ) = a ˙ / a is the time-dependent Hubble rate, d Ω = d θ 2 + sin 2 θ d φ 2 is the solid angle element, a is the universe scale factor and we are employing the coordinates r 1 = a r , being r the radial coordinate for which the RW metric is diagonal. For constant exponent α = α 0 = 0 it is retrieved the isotropic McVittie (McV) metric and for α = α 0 = 1 it is retrieved the locally anisotropic Cosmological-Schwarzschild (SCS) metric, both already discussed in the literature. However it is shown that only for constant exponent α = α 0 > 1 exists an event horizon at the SC radius r 1 = 2 G M / c 2 and only for α = α 0 ⩾ 3 space–time is singularity free for this value of the radius. These bounds exclude the previous existing metrics, for which the SC radius is a naked extended singularity. In addition it is shown that for α = α 0 > 5 space–time is approximately Ricci flat in a neighborhood of the event horizon such that the SC metric is a good approximation in this neighborhood. It is further shown that to strictly maintain the SC mass-pole at the origin r 1 = 0 without the presence of more severe singularities it is required a radial coordinate-dependent correction to the exponent α ( r 1 ) = α 0 + α 1 2 G M / ( c 2 r 1 ) with a negative coefficient α 1 0 . The energy-momentum density, pressures and equation of state are discussed.
118526359
Abelian symmetries in the two-Higgs-doublet model with fermions
We classify all possible implementations of an abelian symmetry in the two-Higgs-doublet model with fermions. We identify those symmetries which are consistent with non-vanishing quark masses and a CKM matrix which is not block-diagonal. Our analysis takes us from a plethora of possibilities down to 246 relevant cases, requiring only 34 distinct matrix forms. We show that applying Z_n with n \geq 4 to the scalar sector leads to a continuous U(1) symmetry in the whole Lagrangian. Finally, we address the possibilities of spontaneous CP violation and of natural suppression of the flavour changing neutral currents. We explain why our work is relevant even for non-abelian symmetries.
119211611
A Locally Anisotropic Metric for Matter in an Expanding Universe: I. The Ansatz and the Modified Newton Law
It is suggested a metric ansatz to describe local matter in an expanding universe, hence interpolating between the Schwarzschild metric at small spatial scales and the FLRW metric at large spatial scales. This is acomplished maintaining space-time free of singularities except for the Schwarzschild mass pole at the origin as opposed to metrics already considered in the literature with the same purpose, namely the McVittie metric. The modified Newton law is analyzed and the static orbit solutions computed. It is concluded that the effects of expantion in the solar system are negligible, however depending on the metric parameter value, at galactic scales there is a significant deviation from the General Relativity Newton law which may contribute to dark matter effects allowing for a flattening of galaxy rotation curves.
119502389
D-branes in topological membranes
Abstract It is shown how two-dimensional states corresponding to D-branes arise in orbifolds of topologically massive gauge and gravity theories. Brane vertex operators naturally appear in induced worldsheet actions when the three-dimensional gauge theory is minimally coupled to external charged matter and the orbifold relations are carefully taken into account. Boundary states corresponding to D-branes are given by vacuum wavefunctionals of the gauge theory in the presence of the matter, and their various constraints, such as the Cardy condition, are shown to arise through compatibility relations between the orbifold charges and bulk gauge invariance. We show that with a further conformally-invariant coupling to a dynamical massless scalar field theory in three dimensions, the brane tension is naturally set by the bulk mass scales and arises through dynamical mechanisms. As an auxilliary result, we show how to describe string descendent states in the three-dimensional theory through the construction of gauge-invariant excited wavefunctionals.