78 research outputs found
The bispectrum of matter perturbations from cosmic strings
We present the first calculation of the bispectrum of the matter perturbations induced by cosmic strings. The calculation is performed in two different ways: the first uses the unequal time correlators (UETCs) of the string network - computed using a Gaussian model previously employed for cosmic string power spectra. The second approach uses the wake model, where string density perturbations are concentrated in sheet-like structures whose surface density grows with time. The qualitative and quantitative agreement of the two gives confidence to the results. An essential ingredient in the UETC approach is the inclusion of compensation factors in the integration with the Green's function of the matter and radiation fluids, and we show that these compensation factors must be included in the wake model also. We also present a comparison of the UETCs computed in the Gaussian model, and those computed in the unconnected segment model (USM) used by the standard cosmic string perturbation package CMBACT. We compare numerical estimates for the bispectrum of cosmic strings to those produced by perturbations from an inflationary era, and discover that, despite the intrinsically non-Gaussian nature of string-induced perturbations, the matter bispectrum is unlikely to produce competitive constraints on a population of cosmic strings
Dynamical compactification from de Sitter space
We show that D-dimensional de Sitter space is unstable to the nucleation of
non-singular geometries containing spacetime regions with different numbers of
macroscopic dimensions, leading to a dynamical mechanism of compactification.
These and other solutions to Einstein gravity with flux and a cosmological
constant are constructed by performing a dimensional reduction under the
assumption of q-dimensional spherical symmetry in the full D-dimensional
geometry. In addition to the familiar black holes, black branes, and
compactification solutions we identify a number of new geometries, some of
which are completely non-singular. The dynamical compactification mechanism
populates lower-dimensional vacua very differently from false vacuum eternal
inflation, which occurs entirely within the context of four-dimensions. We
outline the phenomenology of the nucleation rates, finding that the
dimensionality of the vacuum plays a key role and that among vacua of the same
dimensionality, the rate is highest for smaller values of the cosmological
constant. We consider the cosmological constant problem and propose a novel
model of slow-roll inflation that is triggered by the compactification process.Comment: Revtex. 41 pages with 24 embedded figures. Minor corrections and
added reference
Reconstruction of the Primordial Power Spectrum by Direct Inversion
We introduce a new method for reconstructing the primordial power spectrum,
, directly from observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). We
employ Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) to invert the radiation perturbation
transfer function. The degeneracy of the multipole to wavenumber
linear mapping is thus reduced. This enables the inversion to be carried out at
each point along a Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) exploration of the combined
and cosmological parameter space. We present best--fit obtained
with this method along with other cosmological parameters.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figure
Model selection applied to reconstruction of the Primordial Power Spectrum
The preferred shape for the primordial spectrum of curvature perturbations is
determined by performing a Bayesian model selection analysis of cosmological
observations. We first reconstruct the spectrum modelled as piecewise linear in
\log k between nodes in k-space whose amplitudes and positions are allowed to
vary. The number of nodes together with their positions are chosen by the
Bayesian evidence, so that we can both determine the complexity supported by
the data and locate any features present in the spectrum. In addition to the
node-based reconstruction, we consider a set of parameterised models for the
primordial spectrum: the standard power-law parameterisation, the spectrum
produced from the Lasenby & Doran (LD) model and a simple variant
parameterisation. By comparing the Bayesian evidence for different classes of
spectra, we find the power-law parameterisation is significantly disfavoured by
current cosmological observations, which show a preference for the LD model.Comment: Minor changes to match version accepted by JCA
The Inflationary Wavefunction and its Initial Conditions
We explore the effect of initial conditions on the inflationary wavefunction
and their consequences for the observed spectrum of primordial fluctuations. In
a class of models with a sudden transition into inflation we find that, for a
reasonable set of assumptions about the reheat temperature and the number of
e-foldings, it is possible for initial conditions set by a pre-inflationary
epoch to have an observable effect.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure, numerical example and analysis thereof added in
this versio
Observational Consequences of a Landscape
In this paper we consider the implications of the "landscape" paradigm for
the large scale properties of the universe. The most direct implication of a
rich landscape is that our local universe was born in a tunnelling event from a
neighboring vacuum. This would imply that we live in an open FRW universe with
negative spatial curvature. We argue that the "overshoot" problem, which in
other settings would make it difficult to achieve slow roll inflation, actually
favors such a cosmology.
We consider anthropic bounds on the value of the curvature and on the
parameters of inflation. When supplemented by statistical arguments these
bounds suggest that the number of inflationary efolds is not very much larger
than the observed lower bound. Although not statistically favored, the
likelihood that the number of efolds is close to the bound set by observations
is not negligible. The possible signatures of such a low number of efolds are
briefly described.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures v2: references adde
The extended empirical process test for non-Gaussianity in the CMB, with an application to non-Gaussian inflationary models
In (Hansen et al. 2002) we presented a new approach for measuring
non-Gaussianity of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy pattern,
based on the multivariate empirical distribution function of the spherical
harmonics a_lm of a CMB map. The present paper builds upon the same ideas and
proposes several improvements and extensions. More precisely, we exploit the
additional information on the random phases of the a_lm to provide further
tests based on the empirical distribution function. Also we take advantage of
the effect of rotations in improving the power of our procedures. The suggested
tests are implemented on physically motivated models of non-Gaussian fields;
Monte-Carlo simulations suggest that this approach may be very promising in the
analysis of non-Gaussianity generated by non-standard models of inflation. We
address also some experimentally meaningful situations, such as the presence of
instrumental noise and a galactic cut in the map.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Bayesian joint estimation of non-Gaussianity and the power spectrum
We propose a rigorous, non-perturbative, Bayesian framework which enables one
jointly to test Gaussianity and estimate the power spectrum of CMB
anisotropies. It makes use of the Hilbert space of an harmonic oscillator to
set up an exact likelihood function, dependent on the power spectrum and on a
set of parameters , which are zero for Gaussian processes. The latter
can be expressed as series of cumulants; indeed they perturbatively reduce to
cumulants. However they have the advantage that their variation is essentially
unconstrained. Any truncation(i.e.: finite set of ) therefore still
produces a proper distribution - something which cannot be said of the only
other such tool on offer, the Edgeworth expansion. We apply our method to Very
Small Array (VSA) simulations based on signal Gaussianity, showing that our
algorithm is indeed not biased.Comment: 11pages, 4 figures, submitted to MNRA
Large Scale Pressure Fluctuations and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect
The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect associated with pressure fluctuations of
the large scale structure gas distribution will be probed with current and
upcoming wide-field small angular scale cosmic microwave background
experiments. We study the generation of pressure fluctuations by baryons which
are present in virialized dark matter halos and by baryons present in small
overdensities. For collapsed halos, assuming the gas distribution is in
hydrostatic equilibrium with matter density distribution, we predict the
pressure power spectrum and bispectrum associated with the large scale
structure gas distribution by extending the dark matter halo approach which
describes the density field in terms of correlations between and within halos.
The projected pressure power spectrum allows a determination of the resulting
SZ power spectrum due to virialized structures. The unshocked photoionized
baryons present in smaller overdensities trace the Jeans-scale smoothed dark
matter distribution. They provide a lower limit to the SZ effect due to large
scale structure in the absence of massive collapsed halos. We extend our
calculations to discuss higher order statistics, such as bispectrum and
skewness in SZ data. The SZ-weak lensing cross-correlation is suggested as a
probe of correlations between dark matter and baryon density fields, while the
probability distribution functions of peak statistics of SZ halos in wide field
CMB data can be used as a probe of cosmology and non-Gaussian evolution of
large scale structure pressure fluctuations.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures; Revised with expanded discussions. Phys. Rev. D.
(in press
- …