31 research outputs found
The Interplay Between Collider Searches For Supersymmetric Higgs Bosons and Direct Dark Matter Experiments
In this article, we explore the interplay between searches for supersymmetric
particles and Higgs bosons at hadron colliders (the Tevatron and the LHC) and
direct dark matter searches (such as CDMS, ZEPLIN, XENON, EDELWEISS, CRESST,
WARP and others). We focus on collider searches for heavy MSSM Higgs bosons
(, , ) and how the prospects for these searches are impacted by
direct dark matter limits and vice versa. We find that the prospects of these
two experimental programs are highly interrelated. A positive detection of ,
or at the Tevatron would dramatically enhance the prospects for a
near future direct discovery of neutralino dark matter. Similarly, a positive
direct detection of neutralino dark matter would enhance the prospects of
discovering heavy MSSM Higgs bosons at the Tevatron or the LHC. Combining the
information obtained from both types of experimental searches will enable us to
learn more about the nature of supersymmetry.Comment: 22 pages, 28 figure
Learning from the Scatter in Type Ia Supernovae
Type Ia Supernovae are standard candles so their mean apparent magnitude has
been exploited to learn about the redshift-distance relationship. Besides
intrinsic scatter in this standard candle, additional source of scatter is
caused by gravitational magnification by large scale structure. Here we probe
the dependence of this dispersion on cosmological parameters and show that
information about the amplitude of clustering, \sigma_8, is contained in the
scatter. In principle, it will be possible to constrain \sigma_8 to within 5%
with observations of 2000 Type Ia Supernovae. However, extracting this
information requires subtlety as the distribution of magnifications is far from
Gaussian. If one incorrectly assumes a Gaussian distribution, the estimate of
the clustering amplitude will be biased three-\sigma away from the true value.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Exploiting Cross Correlations and Joint Analyses
In this report, we present a wide variety of ways in which information from
multiple probes of dark energy may be combined to obtain additional information
not accessible when they are considered separately. Fundamentally, because all
major probes are affected by the underlying distribution of matter in the
regions studied, there exist covariances between them that can provide
information on cosmology. Combining multiple probes allows for more accurate
(less contaminated by systematics) and more precise (since there is
cosmological information encoded in cross-correlation statistics) measurements
of dark energy. The potential of cross-correlation methods is only beginning to
be realized. By bringing in information from other wavelengths, the
capabilities of the existing probes of dark energy can be enhanced and
systematic effects can be mitigated further. We present a mixture of work in
progress and suggestions for future scientific efforts. Given the scope of
future dark energy experiments, the greatest gains may only be realized with
more coordination and cooperation between multiple project teams; we recommend
that this interchange should begin sooner, rather than later, to maximize
scientific gains.Comment: Report from the "Dark Energy and CMB" working group for the American
Physical Society's Division of Particles and Fields long-term planning
exercise ("Snowmass"
Modeling The Large Scale Bias of Neutral Hydrogen
We present new analytical estimates of the large scale bias of neutral
hydrogen (HI). We use a simple, non-parametric model which monotonically
relates the total mass of a halo M_tot with its HI mass M_HI at zero redshift;
for earlier times we assume limiting models for the HI density evolution
consistent with the data presently available, as well as two main scenarios for
the evolution of our M_HI - M_tot relation. We find that both the linear and
the first nonlinear bias terms exhibit a strong evolution with redshift,
regardless of the specific limiting model assumed for the H I density over
time. These analytical predictions are then shown to be consistent with
measurements performed on the Millennium Simulation. Additionally, we show that
this strong bias evolution does not sensibly affect the measurement of the HI
power spectrum.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. Accepted by ApJ. New version: important changes
from considering blue galaxy fraction, but conclusions remain the same. Fixed
typo
The effect of neutrinos on the matter distribution as probed by the Intergalactic Medium
We present a suite of full hydrodynamical cosmological simulations that
quantitatively address the impact of neutrinos on the (mildly non-linear)
spatial distribution of matter and in particular on the neutral hydrogen
distribution in the Intergalactic Medium (IGM), which is responsible for the
intervening Lyman-alpha absorption in quasar spectra. The free-streaming of
neutrinos results in a (non-linear) scale-dependent suppression of power
spectrum of the total matter distribution at scales probed by Lyman-alpha
forest data which is larger than the linear theory prediction by about 25% and
strongly redshift dependent. By extracting a set of realistic mock quasar
spectra, we quantify the effect of neutrinos on the flux probability
distribution function and flux power spectrum. The differences in the matter
power spectra translate into a ~2.5% (5%) difference in the flux power spectrum
for neutrino masses with Sigma m_{\nu} = 0.3 eV (0.6 eV). This rather small
effect is difficult to detect from present Lyman-alpha forest data and nearly
perfectly degenerate with the overall amplitude of the matter power spectrum as
characterised by sigma_8. If the results of the numerical simulations are
normalized to have the same sigma_8 in the initial conditions, then neutrinos
produce a smaller suppression in the flux power of about 3% (5%) for Sigma
m_{\nu} = 0.6 eV (2
sigma C.L.), comparable to constraints obtained from the cosmic microwave
background data or other large scale structure probes.Comment: 38 pages, 21 figures. One section and references added. JCAP in pres
Weak Lensing Effects on the Galaxy Three-Point Correlation Function
We study the corrections to the galaxy three-point correlation function
(3PCF) induced by weak lensing magnification due to the matter distribution
along the line of sight. We consistently derive all the correction terms
arising up to second order in perturbation theory and provide analytic
expressions as well as order of magnitude estimates for their relative
importance. The magnification contributions depend on the geometry of the
projected triangle on the sky plane, and scale with different powers of the
number count slope and redshift of the galaxy sample considered. We evaluate
all terms numerically and show that, depending on the triangle configuration as
well as the galaxy sample considered, weak lensing can in general significantly
contribute to and alter the three-point correlation function observed through
galaxy and quasar catalogs.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures; version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
D; v2: typos corrected, figure caption clarifie
The High Redshift Integrated Sachs-Wolfe Effect
In this paper we rely on the quasar (QSO) catalog of the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey Data Release Six (SDSS DR6) of about one million photometrically
selected QSOs to compute the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect at high
redshift, aiming at constraining the behavior of the expansion rate and thus
the behaviour of dark energy at those epochs. This unique sample significantly
extends previous catalogs to higher redshifts while retaining high efficiency
in the selection algorithm. We compute the auto-correlation function (ACF) of
QSO number density from which we extract the bias and the stellar
contamination. We then calculate the cross-correlation function (CCF) between
QSO number density and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature
fluctuations in different subsamples: at high z>1.5 and low z<1.5 redshifts and
for two different choices of QSO in a conservative and in a more speculative
analysis. We find an overall evidence for a cross-correlation different from
zero at the 2.7\sigma level, while this evidence drops to 1.5\sigma at z>1.5.
We focus on the capabilities of the ISW to constrain the behaviour of the dark
energy component at high redshift both in the \LambdaCDM and Early Dark Energy
cosmologies, when the dark energy is substantially unconstrained by
observations. At present, the inclusion of the ISW data results in a poor
improvement compared to the obtained constraints from other cosmological
datasets. We study the capabilities of future high-redshift QSO survey and find
that the ISW signal can improve the constraints on the most important
cosmological parameters derived from Planck CMB data, including the high
redshift dark energy abundance, by a factor \sim 1.5.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, and 7 table
Inflationary attractor in Gauss-Bonnet brane cosmology
The inflationary attractor properties of the canonical scalar field and
Born-Infeld field are investigated in the Randall-Sundrum II scenario with a
Gauss-Bonnet term in the bulk action. We find that the inflationary attractor
property will always hold for both the canonical and Born-Infeld fields for any
allowed non-negative Gauss-Bonnet coupling. We also briefly discuss the
possibility of explaining the suppressed lower multiples and running scalar
spectral index simultaneously in the scenario of Gauss-Bonnet brane inflation.Comment: 7 pages, no figures. An error in the discussion of BI field
corrected, conclusion correcte
Size magnification as a complement to Cosmic Shear
We investigate the extent to which cosmic size magnification may be used to
com- plement cosmic shear in weak gravitational lensing surveys, with a view to
obtaining high-precision estimates of cosmological parameters. Using simulated
galaxy images, we find that size estimation can be an excellent complement,
finding that unbiased estimation of the convergence field is possible with
galaxies with angular sizes larger than the point-spread function (PSF) and
signal-to-noise ratio in excess of 10. The statistical power is similar to, but
not quite as good as, cosmic shear, and it is subject to different systematic
effects. Application to ground-based data will be challeng- ing, with
relatively large empirical corrections required to account for with biases for
galaxies which are smaller than the PSF, but for space-based data with 0.1
arcsecond resolution, the size distribution of galaxies brighter than i=24 is
ideal for accurate estimation of cosmic size magnification.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, accepted by MNRA
Vector field as a quintessence partner
We derive generic equations for a vector field driving the evolution of flat
homogeneous isotropic universe and give a comparison with a scalar filed
dynamics in the cosmology. Two exact solutions are shown as examples, which can
serve to describe an inflation and a slow falling down of dynamical
``cosmological constant'' like it is given by the scalar quintessence. An
attractive feature of vector field description is a generation of ``induced
mass'' proportional to a Hubble constant, which results in a dynamical
suppression of actual cosmological constant during the evolution.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX file, iopart class, discussion extended, reference
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