819 research outputs found
Collisional Dark Matter and Scalar Phantoms
As has been previously proposed, a minimal modification of the standard
theory provides a viable dark matter candidate.
Such a particle, a scalar gauge singlet, is naturally self-interacting---making
it of particular interest given recent developments in astrophysics. We review
this dark matter candidate, with reference to the parameter ranges currently
under discussion.Comment: 8 pages, no figure
Self-interacting dark matter and Higgs bosons in the SU(3)_C x SU(3)_L x U(1)_N model with right-handed neutrinos
We investigate the possibility that dark matter could be made from CP-even
and CP- odd Higgs bosons in the SU(3)_C X SU(3)_L X U(1)_N (3-3-1) model with
right-handed neutrinos. This self-interacting dark matters are stable without
imposing of new symmetry and should be weak-interacting.Comment: 7 pages, Latex, To appear in Europhys. Let
Fast, exact CMB power spectrum estimation for a certain class of observational strategies
We describe a class of observational strategies for probing the anisotropies
in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) where the instrument scans on rings
which can be combined into an n-torus, the {\em ring torus}. This class has the
remarkable property that it allows exact maximum likelihood power spectrum
estimation in of order operations (if the size of the data set is )
under circumstances which would previously have made this analysis intractable:
correlated receiver noise, arbitrary asymmetric beam shapes and far side lobes,
non-uniform distribution of integration time on the sky and partial sky
coverage. This ease of computation gives us an important theoretical tool for
understanding the impact of instrumental effects on CMB observables and hence
for the design and analysis of the CMB observations of the future. There are
members of this class which closely approximate the MAP and Planck satellite
missions. We present a numerical example where we apply our ring torus methods
to a simulated data set from a CMB mission covering a 20 degree patch on the
sky to compute the maximum likelihood estimate of the power spectrum
with unprecedented efficiency.Comment: RevTeX, 14 pages, 5 figures. A full resolution version of Figure 1
and additional materials are at http://feynman.princeton.edu/~bwandelt/RT
Application of Monte Carlo Algorithms to the Bayesian Analysis of the Cosmic Microwave Background
Power spectrum estimation and evaluation of associated errors in the presence
of incomplete sky coverage; non-homogeneous, correlated instrumental noise; and
foreground emission is a problem of central importance for the extraction of
cosmological information from the cosmic microwave background. We develop a
Monte Carlo approach for the maximum likelihood estimation of the power
spectrum. The method is based on an identity for the Bayesian posterior as a
marginalization over unknowns. Maximization of the posterior involves the
computation of expectation values as a sample average from maps of the cosmic
microwave background and foregrounds given some current estimate of the power
spectrum or cosmological model, and some assumed statistical characterization
of the foregrounds. Maps of the CMB are sampled by a linear transform of a
Gaussian white noise process, implemented numerically with conjugate gradient
descent. For time series data with N_{t} samples, and N pixels on the sphere,
the method has a computational expense $KO[N^{2} +- N_{t} +AFw-log N_{t}],
where K is a prefactor determined by the convergence rate of conjugate gradient
descent. Preconditioners for conjugate gradient descent are given for scans
close to great circle paths, and the method allows partial sky coverage for
these cases by numerically marginalizing over the unobserved, or removed,
region.Comment: submitted to Ap
Pico: Parameters for the Impatient Cosmologist
We present a fast, accurate, robust and flexible method of accelerating
parameter estimation. This algorithm, called Pico, can compute the CMB power
spectrum and matter transfer function as well as any computationally expensive
likelihoods in a few milliseconds. By removing these bottlenecks from parameter
estimation codes, Pico decreases their computational time by 1 or 2 orders of
magnitude. Pico has several important properties. First, it is extremely fast
and accurate over a large volume of parameter space. Furthermore, its accuracy
can continue to be improved by using a larger training set. This method is
generalizable to an arbitrary number of cosmological parameters and to any
range of l-values in multipole space. Pico is approximately 3000 times faster
than CAMB for flat models, and approximately 2000 times faster then the WMAP 3
year likelihood code. In this paper, we demonstrate that using Pico to compute
power spectra and likelihoods produces parameter posteriors that are very
similar to those using CAMB and the official WMAP3 code, but in only a fraction
of the time. Pico and an interface to CosmoMC are made publicly available at
http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~bwandelt/pico/.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, submitted to ApJ, LaTeX with emulateap
Primordial Non-Gaussianity: Baryon Bias and Gravitational Collapse of Cosmic String Wakes
I compute the 3-D non-linear evolution of gas and dark matter fluids in the
neighbourhood of cosmic string wakes which are formed at high redshift
() for a ``realistic'' scenario of wake formation. These wakes
are the ones which stand out most prominently as cosmological sheets and are
expected to play a dominant r\^ole in the cosmic string model of structure
formation. Employing a high-resolution 3-D hydrodynamics code to evolve these
wakes until the present day yields results for the baryon bias generated in the
inner wake region. I find that today, wakes would be Mpc thick and
contain a 70% excess in the density of baryons over the dark matter density in
their centre. However, high density peaks in the wake region do not inherit a
baryon enhancement. I propose a mechanism for this erasure of the baryon excess
in spherically collapsed objects based on the geometry change around the
collapsing region. Further, I present heuristic arguments for the consequences
of this work for large scale structure in the cosmic string model and conclude
that the peculiarities of wake formation are unlikely to have significant
import on the discrepancy between power spectrum predictions and observations
in this model. If one invokes the nucleosynthesis bound on this
could be seen as strengthening the case against or for low Hubble
constants.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, prepared with the AASTeX package.
Minor modifications, results unchanged. ApJ in press, scheduled for Vol. 50
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