817 research outputs found
A Correlation Between Hard Gamma-ray Sources and Cosmic Voids Along the Line of Sight
We estimate the galaxy density along lines of sight to hard extragalactic
gamma-ray sources by correlating source positions on the sky with a void
catalog based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Extragalactic gamma-ray
sources that are detected at very high energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) or have been
highlighted as VHE-emitting candidates in the Fermi Large Area Telescope hard
source catalog (together referred to as "VHE-like" sources) are distributed
along underdense lines of sight at the 2.4 sigma level. There is also a less
suggestive correlation for the Fermi hard source population (1.7 sigma). A
correlation between 10-500 GeV flux and underdense fraction along the line of
sight for VHE-like and Fermi hard sources is found at 2.4 sigma and 2.6 sigma,
respectively. The preference for underdense sight lines is not displayed by
gamma-ray emitting galaxies within the second Fermi catalog, containing sources
detected above 100 MeV, or the SDSS DR7 quasar catalog. We investigate whether
this marginal correlation might be a result of lower extragalactic background
light (EBL) photon density within the underdense regions and find that, even in
the most extreme case of a entirely underdense sight line, the EBL photon
density is only 2% less than the nominal EBL density. Translating this into
gamma-ray attenuation along the line of sight for a highly attenuated source
with opacity tau(E,z) ~5, we estimate that the attentuation of gamma-rays
decreases no more than 10%. This decrease, although non-neglible, is unable to
account for the apparent hard source correlation with underdense lines of
sight.Comment: Accepted by MNRA
On the Accuracy of the Semiclassical Trace Formula
The semiclassical trace formula provides the basic construction from which
one derives the semiclassical approximation for the spectrum of quantum systems
which are chaotic in the classical limit. When the dimensionality of the system
increases, the mean level spacing decreases as , while the
semiclassical approximation is commonly believed to provide an accuracy of
order , independently of d. If this were true, the semiclassical trace
formula would be limited to systems in d <= 2 only. In the present work we set
about to define proper measures of the semiclassical spectral accuracy, and to
propose theoretical and numerical evidence to the effect that the semiclassical
accuracy, measured in units of the mean level spacing, depends only weakly (if
at all) on the dimensionality. Detailed and thorough numerical tests were
performed for the Sinai billiard in 2 and 3 dimensions, substantiating the
theoretical arguments.Comment: LaTeX, 31 pages, 14 figures, final version (minor changes
Quantal Consequences of Perturbations Which Destroy Structurally Unstable Orbits in Chaotic Billiards
Non-generic contributions to the quantal level-density from parallel segments
in billiards are investigated. These contributions are due to the existence of
marginally stable families of periodic orbits, which are structurally unstable,
in the sense that small perturbations, such as a slight tilt of one of the
segments, destroy them completely. We investigate the effects of such
perturbation on the corresponding quantum spectra, and demonstrate them for the
stadium billiard
Point-like gamma ray sources as signatures of distant accelerators of ultra high energy cosmic rays
We discuss the possibility of observing distant accelerators of ultra high
energy cosmic rays in synchrotron gamma rays. Protons propagating away from
their acceleration sites produce extremely energetic electrons during
photo-pion interactions with cosmic microwave background photons. If the
accelerator is embedded in a magnetized region, these electrons will emit high
energy synchrotron radiation. The resulting synchrotron source is expected to
be point-like and detectable in the GeV-TeV energy range if the magnetic field
is at the nanoGauss level.Comment: 4 pages 2 figures. To be published in PR
Models for Dusty Lyman alpha Emitters at High Redshift
Models are presented for the Lyman alpha emission of dusty high-redshift
galaxies by combining the Press-Schechter formalism with a treatment of the
inhomogeneous dust distribution inside galaxies. It is found that the amount of
Lyman alpha radiation escaping from the galaxies strongly depends on the time
over which the dust is produced through stellar activity, and on the ambient
inhomogeneity of the HII regions that surround the ionizing OB stars. Good
agreement is found with recent observations, as well as previous
non-detections. Our models indicate that the dust content builds up in no more
than approximately 5x10^8 yr, the galactic HII regions are inhomogeneous with a
cloud covering factor of order unity, and the overall star formation efficiency
is at least about 5%. It is predicted that future observations can detect these
Lyman alpha galaxies upto redshifts of about 8.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Ap
Galactic Collapse of Scalar Field Dark Matter
We present a scenario for galaxy formation based on the hypothesis of scalar
field dark matter. We interpret galaxy formation through the collapse of a
scalar field fluctuation. We find that a cosh potential for the
self-interaction of the scalar field provides a reasonable scenario for
galactic formation, which is in agreement with cosmological observations and
phenomenological studies in galaxies.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figue
Ultra-light Axions: Degeneracies with Massive Neutrinos and Forecasts for Future Cosmological Observations
A generic prediction of string theory is the existence of many axion fields.
It has recently been argued that many of these fields should be light and, like
the well known QCD axion, lead to observable cosmological consequences. In this
paper we study in detail the effect of the so-called string axiverse on large
scale structure, focusing on the morphology and evolution of density
perturbations, anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background and weak
gravitational lensing of distant galaxies. We quantify specific effects that
will arise from the presence of the axionic fields and highlight possible
degeneracies that may arise in the presence of massive neutrinos. We take
particular care understanding the different physical effects and scales that
come into play. We then forecast how the string axiverse may be constrained and
show that with a combination of different observations, it should be possible
to detect a fraction of ultralight axions to dark matter of a few percent.Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, this version: corrected typos, some comments
added, matches published versio
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