A novel approach in the WIMP quest: Cross-Correlation of Gamma-Ray Anisotropies and Cosmic Shear

Both cosmic shear and cosmological gamma-ray emission stem from the presence of Dark Matter (DM) in the Universe: DM structures are responsible for the bending of light in the weak lensing regime and those same objects can emit gamma-rays, either because they host astrophysical sources (active galactic nuclei or star-forming galaxies) or directly by DM annihilations (or decays, depending on the properties of the DM particle). Such gamma-rays should therefore exhibit strong correlation with the cosmic shear signal. In this Letter, we compute the cross-correlation angular power spectrum of cosmic shear and gamma-rays produced by the annihilation/decay of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) DM, as well as from astrophysical sources. We show that this observable provides novel information on the composition of the Extra-galactic Gamma-ray Background (EGB), since the amplitude and shape of the cross-correlation signal strongly depends on which class of source is responsible for the gamma-ray emission. If the DM contribution to the EGB is significant (at least in a definite energy range), although compatible with current observational bounds, its strong correlation with the cosmic shear makes such signal potentially detectable by combining Fermi-LAT data with forthcoming galaxy surveys, like Dark Energy Survey and Euclid. At the same time, the same signal would demonstrate that the weak lensing observables are indeed due to particle DM matter and not to possible modifications of General Relativity.Comment: 6 pages, 12 figures. v2: Matches version published in ApJ Lett. Text reorganized, appendix removed (part of the discussion is now in the main text), no major change

Cosmology with two compactification scales

We consider a (4+d)-dimensional spacetime broken up into a (4-n)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime (where n goes from 1 to 3) and a compact (n+d)-dimensional manifold. At the present time the n compactification radii are of the order of the Universe size, while the other d compactification radii are of the order of the Planck length.Comment: 16 pages, Latex2e, 7 figure

Mass - concentration relation and weak lensing peak counts

The statistics of peaks in weak lensing convergence maps is a promising tool to investigate both the properties of dark matter haloes and constrain the cosmological parameters. We study how the number of detectable peaks and its scaling with redshift depend upon the cluster dark matter halo profiles and use peak statistics to constrain the parameters of the mass - concentration (MC) relation. We investigate which constraints the Euclid mission can set on the MC coefficients also taking into account degeneracies with the cosmological parameters. To this end, we first estimate the number of peaks and its redshift distribution for different MC relations. We find that the steeper the mass dependence and the larger the normalisation, the higher is the number of detectable clusters, with the total number of peaks changing up to $40\%$ depending on the MC relation. We then perform a Fisher matrix forecast of the errors on the MC relation parameters as well as cosmological parameters. We find that peak number counts detected by Euclid can determine the normalization $A_v$, the mass $B_v$ and redshift $C_v$ slopes and intrinsic scatter $\sigma_v$ of the MC relation to an unprecedented accuracy being $\sigma(A_v)/A_v = 1\%$, $\sigma(B_v)/B_v = 4\%$, $\sigma(C_v)/C_v = 9\%$, $\sigma(\sigma_v)/\sigma_v = 1\%$ if all cosmological parameters are assumed to be known. Should we relax this severe assumption, constraints are degraded, but remarkably good results can be restored setting only some of the parameters or combining peak counts with Planck data. This precision can give insight on competing scenarios of structure formation and evolution and on the role of baryons in cluster assembling. Alternatively, for a fixed MC relation, future peaks counts can perform as well as current BAO and SNeIa when combined with Planck.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication on Astronomy & Astrophysic

The HH34 outflow as seen in [FeII]1.64um by LBT-LUCI

Dense atomic jets from young stars copiously emit in [FeII] IR lines, which can, therefore, be used to trace the immediate environments of embedded protostars. We want to investigate the morphology of the bright [FeII] 1.64um line in the jet of the source HH34 IRS and compare it with the most commonly used optical tracer [SII]. We analyse a 1.64um narrow-band filter image obtained with the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) LUCI instrument, which covers the HH34 jet and counterjet. A Point Spread Function (PSF) deconvolution algorithm was applied to enhance spatial resolution and make the IR image directly comparable to a [SII] HST image of the same source. The [FeII] emission is detected from both the jet, the (weak) counter-jet, and from the HH34-S and HH34-N bow shocks. The deconvolved image allows us to resolve jet knots close to about 1\arcsec from the central source. The morphology of the [FeII] emission is remarkably similar to that of the [SII] emission, and the relative positions of [FeII] and [SII] peaks are shifted according to proper motion measurements, which were previously derived from HST images. An analysis of the [FeII]/[SII] emission ratio shows that Fe gas abundance is much lower than the solar value with up to 90% of Fe depletion in the inner jet knots. This confirms previous findings on dusty jets, where shocks are not efficient enough to remove refractory species from grains.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, note accepted by A&

The effective Equation of State in Palatini f(R)f(R) cosmology

We investigate how the cosmological Equation of State can be used for scrutinizing extended theories of gravity, in particular, the Palatini $f(R)$ gravity. Specifically, the approach consists, at first, in investigating the effective Equation of State produced by a given model. Then, the inverse problem can also be considered in view of determining which models are compatible with a given effective Equation of State. We consider and solve some cases and show that, for example, power-law models are (the only models) capable of transforming barotropic Equations of State into effective barotropic ones. Moreover, the form of Equation of State is preserved (only) for $f(R)=R$, as expected. In this perspective, modified Equations of State are a feature capable of distinguishing Extended Gravity with respect to General Relativity. We also investigate quadratic and non-homogeneous effective Equations of State showing, in particular, that they contain the Starobinsky model and other ones.Comment: 19 page

Applicability of shape parameterizations for giant dipole resonance in warm and rapidly rotating nuclei

We investigate how well the shape parameterizations are applicable for studying the giant dipole resonance (GDR) in nuclei, in the low temperature and/or high spin regime. The shape fluctuations due to thermal effects in the GDR observables are calculated using the actual free energies evaluated at fixed spin and temperature. The results obtained are compared with Landau theory calculations done by parameterizing the free energy. We exemplify that the Landau theory could be inadequate where shell effects are dominating. This discrepancy at low temperatures and high spins are well reflected in GDR observables and hence insists on exact calculations in such cases.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Evidence of cross-correlation between the CMB lensing and the gamma-ray sky

We report the measurement of the angular power spectrum of cross-correlation between the unresolved component of the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray sky-maps and the CMB lensing potential map reconstructed by the Planck satellite. The matter distribution in the Universe determines the bending of light coming from the last scattering surface. At the same time, the matter density drives the growth history of astrophysical objects, including their capability at generating non-thermal phenomena, which in turn give rise to gamma-ray emissions. The Planck lensing map provides information on the integrated distribution of matter, while the integrated history of gamma-ray emitters is imprinted in the Fermi-LAT sky maps. We report here the first evidence of their correlation. We find that the multipole dependence of the cross-correlation measurement is in agreement with current models of the gamma-ray luminosity function for AGN and star forming galaxies, with a statistical evidence of 3.0$\sigma$. Moreover, its amplitude can in general be matched only assuming that these extra-galactic emitters are also the bulk contribution of the measured isotopic gamma-ray background (IGRB) intensity. This leaves little room for a big contribution from galactic sources to the IGRB measured by Fermi-LAT, pointing toward a direct evidence of the extragalactic origin of the IGRB.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. v2: analysis updated with Planck 2015 lensing map and 3FGL catalogue, conclusions strengthened; to appear in ApJ Letter

Rate-of-Return Dominance and Efficiency in an Experimental Economy.

One of the main challenges for monetary economics is to explain the use of assets that are dominated in rate-of-return as media of exchange. In this paper, we use experimental methods to study how a fiat money might come to be used in transactions when an identically marketable, dividend-bearing asset, a consol, is also available.EXPERIMENTS ; ECONOMICS ; MONEY