Testing Gravity Against Early Time Integrated Sachs-Wolfe Effect

A generic prediction of general relativity is that the cosmological linear density growth factor $D$ is scale independent. But in general, modified gravities do not preserve this signature. A scale dependent $D$ can cause time variation in gravitational potential at high redshifts and provides a new cosmological test of gravity, through early time integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect-large scale structure (LSS) cross correlation. We demonstrate the power of this test for a class of $f(R)$ gravity, with the form $f(R)=-\lambda_1 H_0^2\exp(-R/\lambda_2H_0^2)$. Such $f(R)$ gravity, even with degenerate expansion history to $\Lambda$CDM, can produce detectable ISW effect at z\ga 3 and l\ga 20. Null-detection of such effect would constrain $\lambda_2$ to be $\lambda_2>1000$ at $>95$ confidence level. On the other hand, robust detection of ISW-LSS cross correlation at high $z$ will severely challenge general relativity.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Accepted to PRD. v2: Revised to address to more general audience. v3: added discussion

Dark Energy Accretion onto a Black Hole in an Expanding Universe

By using the solution describing a black hole embedded in the FLRW universe, we obtain the evolving equation of the black hole mass expressed in terms of the cosmological parameters. The evolving equation indicates that in the phantom dark energy universe the black hole mass becomes zero before the Big Rip is reached.Comment: 7 pages, no figures, errors is correcte

Vacuum Energy: If Not Now, Then When?

We review the cosmological evidence for a low matter density universe and a cosmological constant or dynamical vacuum energy and address the cosmolog$ coincidence problem: why is the matter density about one-half the vacuum energy {\em now}. This is reasonble, following the anthropic argument of Efstathiou and of Martel, Schapiro & Weinberg.Comment: 4 pages (latex

Accelerated expansion in modified gravity with a Yukawa-like term

We discuss the Palatini formulation of modified gravity including a Yukawa-like term. It is shown that in this formulation, the Yukawa term offers an explanation for the current exponential accelerated expansion of the universe and reduces to the standard Friedmann cosmology in the appropriate limit. We then discuss the scalar-tensor formulation of the model as a metric theory and show that the Yukawa term predicts a power-law acceleration at late-times. The Newtonian limit of the theory is also discussed in context of the Palatini formalism.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, to appear in IJMP

Measuring the properties of extragalactic dust and implications for the Hubble diagram

Scattering and absorption of light by a homogeneous distribution of intergalactic large dust grains has been proposed as an alternative, non-cosmological explanation for the faintness of Type Ia supernovae at z\s im 0.5. We investigate the differential extinction for high-redshift sources caused by extragalactic dust along the line of sight. Future observations of Type Ia supernovae up to $z\sim 2$, e.g. by the proposed SNAP satellite, will allow the measurement of the properties of dust over cosmological distances. We show that 1% {\em relative} spectrophotometric accuracy (or broadband photometry) in the wavelength interval 0.7--1.5 $\mu$m is required to measure the extinction caused by ``grey'' dust down to $\delta m=0.02$ magnitudes. We also argue that the presence of grey dust is not necessarily inconsistent with the recent measurement of the brightness of a supernova at $z=1.7$ (SN 1997ff), in the absence of accurate spectrophotometric information of the supernova.Comment: Accepted by A&

Eternally inflating cosmologies from intersecting spacelike branes

Intersecting spacelike braneworld cosmologies are investigated. The time axis is set on the scale parameter of extra space, which may include more than one timelike metric. Obtained are eternally inflating (i.e. undergoing late-time inflation) Robertson-Walker spacetime and extra space with a constant scale factor. In the case of multibrane solutions, some dimensions are static or shrink. The fact that the largest supersymmetry algebra contains 32 supercharges in 4 dimensions imposes a restriction on the geometry of extra space.Comment: 19 page

Model-Independent Distance Measurements from Gamma-Ray Bursts and Constraints on Dark Energy

Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB) are the most energetic events in the Universe, and provide a complementary probe of dark energy by allowing the measurement of cosmic expansion history that extends to redshifts greater than 6. Unlike Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), GRBs must be calibrated for each cosmological model considered, because of the lack of a nearby sample of GRBs for model-independent calibration. For a flat Universe with a cosmological constant, we find Omega_m=0.25^{+0.12}_{-0.11} from 69 GRBs alone. We show that the current GRB data can be summarized by a set of model-independent distance measurements, with negligible loss of information. We constrain a dark energy equation of state linear in the cosmic scale factor using these distance measurements from GRBs, together with the "Union" compilation of SNe Ia, WMAP five year observations, and the SDSS baryon acoustic oscillation scale measurement. We find that a cosmological constant is consistent with current data at 68% confidence level for a flat Universe. Our results provide a simple and robust method to incorporate GRB data in a joint analysis of cosmological data to constrain dark energy.Comment: 8 pages, 5 color figures. Version expanded and revised for clarification, and typo in Eqs.(3)(4)(12) corrected. PRD, in pres

Sport, Representation and Culture in the Modern World, 1920-2020

Cultural historians study the change of human civilization over time. They focus on people’s beliefs, rituals, ideas, identity, social norms, institutions, and materials, with particular attention to the meanings of that culture’s elements (Hutton 1981). Cultural historians before World War II focused on high culture, but thereafter, because of the influence of cultural anthropology, they began to study popular culture, that include every day experiences and artifacts that express mass values and attitudes. Since the late 1960s, scholars have studied sport’s interaction with high and low culture, and also sport as an independent element of culture with s symbolic acts, representation, and struggle over meaning of sport’s myths and realities