166 research outputs found
Can inflationary models of cosmic perturbations evade the secondary oscillation test?
We consider the consequences of an observed Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
temperature anisotropy spectrum containing no secondary oscillations. While
such a spectrum is generally considered to be a robust signature of active
structure formation, we show that such a spectrum {\em can} be produced by
(very unusual) inflationary models or other passive evolution models. However,
we show that for all these passive models the characteristic oscillations would
show up in other observable spectra. Our work shows that when CMB polarization
and matter power spectra are taken into account secondary oscillations are
indeed a signature of even these very exotic passive models. We construct a
measure of the observability of secondary oscillations in a given experiment,
and show that even with foregrounds both the MAP and \pk satellites should be
able to distinguish between models with and without oscillations. Thus we
conclude that inflationary and other passive models can {\em not} evade the
secondary oscillation test.Comment: Final version accepted for publication in PRD. Minor improvements
have been made to the discussion and new data has been included. The
conclusions are unchagne
Cosmic Strings Lens Phenomenology: Model of Poisson Energy Distribution
We present a novel approach for investigating lens phenomenology of cosmic
strings in order to elaborate detection strategies in galaxy deep field images.
To account for the complexity of the projected energy distribution of string
networks we assume their lens effects to be similar to those of a straight
string carrying a {\em random} lineic energy distribution. In such a model we
show that, unlike the case of uniform strings, critical phenomena naturally
appear. We explore the properties of the critical lines and caustics. In
particular, assuming that the energy coherence length along the string is much
smaller than the observation scale, we succeeded in computing the total length
of critical lines per unit string length and found it to be . The length of the associated caustic lines can also be computed to be
. The picture we obtain here for the
phenomenology of cosmic string detection is clearly at variance with common
lore.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Minor correction
Gauge-ready formulation of the cosmological kinetic theory in generalized gravity theories
We present cosmological perturbations of kinetic components based on
relativistic Boltzmann equations in the context of generalized gravity
theories. Our general theory considers an arbitrary number of scalar fields
generally coupled with the gravity, an arbitrary number of mutually interacting
hydrodynamic fluids, and components described by the relativistic Boltzmann
equations like massive/massless collisionless particles and the photon with the
accompanying polarizations. We also include direct interactions among fluids
and fields. The background FLRW model includes the general spatial curvature
and the cosmological constant. We consider three different types of
perturbations, and all the scalar-type perturbation equations are arranged in a
gauge-ready form so that one can implement easily the convenient gauge
conditions depending on the situation. In the numerical calculation of the
Boltzmann equations we have implemented four different gauge conditions in a
gauge-ready manner where two of them are new. By comparing solutions solved
separately in different gauge conditions we can naturally check the numerical
accuracy.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, revised thoroughly, to appear in Phys. Rev.
The Sachs-Wolfe Effect: Gauge Independence and a General Expression
In this paper we address two points concerning the Sachs-Wolfe effect: (i)
the gauge independence of the observable temperature anisotropy, and (ii) a
gauge-invariant expression of the effect considering the most general situation
of hydrodynamic perturbations. The first result follows because the gauge
transformation of the temperature fluctuation at the observation event only
contributes to the isotropic temperature change which, in practice, is absorbed
into the definition of the background temperature. Thus, we proceed without
fixing the gauge condition, and express the Sachs-Wolfe effect using the
gauge-invariant variables.Comment: 5 pages, closer to published versio
Cost-effectiveness of structured group psychoeducation versus unstructured group support for bipolar disorder: results from a multi-centre pragmatic randomised controlled trial
Background Bipolar disorder (BD) costs the English economy an estimated £5.2billion/year, largely through incomplete recovery. This analysis estimated the cost-effectiveness of group psychoeducation (PEd), versus group peer support (PS), for treating BD.
Methods A 96-week pragmatic randomised controlled trial (RCT), conducted in NHS primary care. The primary analysis compared PEd with PS, using multiple imputed datasets for missing values. An economic model was used to compare PEd with treatment as usual (TAU). The perspective was Health and Personal Social Services.
Results Participants receiving PEd (n=153) used more (costly) health-related resources than PS (n=151) (net cost per person £1098 (95% CI, £252-£1943)), with a quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gain of 0.023 (95% CI, 0.001-0.056). The cost per QALY gained was £47,739. PEd may be cost-effective (versus PS) if decision makers are willing to pay at least £37,500 per QALY gained. PEd costs £10,765 more than PS to avoid one relapse. The economic model indicates that PEd may be cost-effective versus TAU if it reduces the probability of relapse (by 15%) or reduces the probability of and increases time to relapse (by 10%).
Limitations Participants were generally inconsistent in attending treatment sessions and low numbers had complete cost/QALY data. Factors contributing to pervasive uncertainty of the results are discussed.
Conclusions This is the first economic evaluation of PEd versus PS in a pragmatic trial. PEd is associated with a modest improvement in health status and higher costs than PS. There is a high level of uncertainty in the data and results
Observational constraint on generalized Chaplygin gas model
We investigate observational constraints on the generalized Chaplygin gas
(GCG) model as the unification of dark matter and dark energy from the latest
observational data: the Union SNe Ia data, the observational Hubble data, the
SDSS baryon acoustic peak and the five-year WMAP shift parameter. It is
obtained that the best fit values of the GCG model parameters with their
confidence level are ()
, ()
. Furthermore in this model, we can see that the
evolution of equation of state (EOS) for dark energy is similar to quiessence,
and its current best-fit value is with the confidence
level .Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
A parametric model for dark energy
Determining the mechanism behind the current cosmic acceleration constitutes
a major question nowadays in theoretical physics. If the dark energy route is
taken, this problem may potentially bring to light new insights not only in
Cosmology but also in high energy physics theories. Following this approach, we
explore in this paper some cosmological consequences of a new time-dependent
parameterization for the dark energy equation of state (EoS), which is a well
behaved function of the redshift over the entire cosmological evolution,
i.e., . This parameterization allows us to divide the
parametric plane in defined regions associated to distinct classes
of dark energy models that can be confirmed or excluded from a confrontation
with current observational data. A statistical analysis involving the most
recent observations from type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillation peak,
Cosmic Microwave Background shift parameter and Hubble evolution is
performed to check the observational viability of the EoS parameterization here
proposed.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, LaTe
Cosmological Constraints on Decaying Dark Matter
We present a complete analysis of the cosmological constraints on decaying
dark matter. Previous analyses have used the cosmic microwave background and
Type Ia supernova. We have updated them with the latest data as well as
extended the analysis with the inclusion of Lyman- forest, large scale
structure and weak lensing observations. Astrophysical constraints are not
considered in the present paper. The bounds on the lifetime of decaying dark
matter are dominated by either the late-time integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect for
the scenario with weak reionization, or CMB polarization observations when
there is significant reionization. For the respective scenarios, the lifetimes
for decaying dark matter are Gyr and Gyr (at 95.4% confidence level), where the
phenomenological parameter is the fraction of the decay energy deposited in
baryonic gas. This allows us to constrain particle physics models with dark
matter candidates through investigation of dark matter decays into Standard
Model particles via effective operators. For decaying dark matter of
GeV mass, we found that the size of the coupling constant in the effective
dimension-4 operators responsible for dark matter decay has to generically be . We have also explored the implications of our analysis for
representative models in theories of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking,
minimal supergravity and little Higgs.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures. Added references and corrected typos as well as
grammatical oversight
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