60 research outputs found
Neutrino mass in cosmology: status and prospects
I give an overview of the effects of neutrino masses in cosmology, focussing
on the role they play in the evolution of cosmological perturbations. I discuss
how recent observations of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies and the
large-scale matter distribution can probe neutrino masses with greater
precision than current laboratory experiments. I describe several new
techniques that will be used to probe cosmology in the future, as well as
recent advances in the computation of the nonlinear matter power spectrum and
related observables.Comment: 41 pages, 5 figures, written for the Annual Review of Nuclear and
Particle Science in January 2011. Publisher limits the number of references.
Apologies if I missed your
Weak and Strong Lensing Statistics
After a brief introduction to gravitational lensing theory, a rough overview
of the types of gravitational lensing statistics that have been performed so
far will be given. I shall then concentrate on recent results of galaxy-galaxy
lensing, which indicate that galactic halos extend much further than can be
probed via rotation of stars and gas.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, talk given at the ISSI-Workshop "Matter in the
Universe", 19-23 March 2001 Bern (Switzerland
The Herschel Exploitation of Local Galaxy Andromeda (HELGA) II: Dust and Gas in Andromeda
We present an analysis of the dust and gas in Andromeda, using Herschel
images sampling the entire far-infrared peak. We fit a modified-blackbody model
to ~4000 quasi-independent pixels with spatial resolution of ~140pc and find
that a variable dust-emissivity index (beta) is required to fit the data. We
find no significant long-wavelength excess above this model suggesting there is
no cold dust component. We show that the gas-to-dust ratio varies radially,
increasing from ~20 in the center to ~70 in the star-forming ring at 10kpc,
consistent with the metallicity gradient. In the 10kpc ring the average beta is
~1.9, in good agreement with values determined for the Milky Way (MW). However,
in contrast to the MW, we find significant radial variations in beta, which
increases from 1.9 at 10kpc to ~2.5 at a radius of 3.1kpc and then decreases to
1.7 in the center. The dust temperature is fairly constant in the 10kpc ring
(ranging from 17-20K), but increases strongly in the bulge to ~30K. Within
3.1kpc we find the dust temperature is highly correlated with the 3.6 micron
flux, suggesting the general stellar population in the bulge is the dominant
source of dust heating there. At larger radii, there is a weak correlation
between the star formation rate and dust temperature. We find no evidence for
'dark gas' in M31 in contrast to recent results for the MW. Finally, we
obtained an estimate of the CO X-factor by minimising the dispersion in the
gas-to-dust ratio, obtaining a value of (1.9+/-0.4)x10^20 cm^-2 [K kms^-1]^-1.Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures. Submitted to ApJ April 2012; Accepted July 201
The detection of the imprint of filaments on cosmic microwave background lensing
Galaxy redshift surveys, such as 2dF, SDSS, 6df, GAMA and VIPERS, have shown
that the spatial distribution of matter forms a rich web, known as the cosmic
web. The majority of galaxy survey analyses measure the amplitude of galaxy
clustering as a function of scale, ignoring information beyond a small number
of summary statistics. Since the matter density field becomes highly
non-Gaussian as structure evolves under gravity, we expect other statistical
descriptions of the field to provide us with additional information. One way to
study the non-Gaussianity is to study filaments, which evolve non-linearly from
the initial density fluctuations produced in the primordial Universe. In our
study, we report the first detection of CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background)
lensing by filaments and we apply a null test to confirm our detection.
Furthermore, we propose a phenomenological model to interpret the detected
signal and we measure how filaments trace the matter distribution on large
scales through filament bias, which we measure to be around 1.5. Our study
provides a new scope to understand the environmental dependence of galaxy
formation. In the future, the joint analysis of lensing and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich
observations might reveal the properties of `missing baryons', the vast
majority of the gas which resides in the intergalactic medium and has so far
evaded most observations
Probing the Universe with Weak Lensing
Gravitational lenses can provide crucial information on the geometry of the
Universe, on the cosmological scenario of formation of its structures as well
as on the history of its components with look-back time. In this review, I
focus on the most recent results obtained during the last five years from the
analysis of the weak lensing regime. The interest of weak lensing as a probe of
dark matter and the for study of the coupling between light and mass on scales
of clusters of galaxies, large scale structures and galaxies is discussed
first. Then I present the impact of weak lensing for the study of distant
galaxies and of the population of lensed sources as function of redshift.
Finally, I discuss the potential interest of weak lensing to constrain the
cosmological parameters, either from pure geometrical effects observed in
peculiar lenses, or from the coupling of weak lensing with the CMB.Comment: To appear Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysiscs Vol. 37. Latex
and psfig.sty. Version without figure, 54 pages, 73Kb. Complete version
including 13 figures (60 pages) available on ftp.iap.fr anonymous account in
/pub/from_users/mellier/AnnualReview ; file ARAAmellier.ps.gz 1.6 M
The Cosmological Constant
This is a review of the physics and cosmology of the cosmological constant.
Focusing on recent developments, I present a pedagogical overview of cosmology
in the presence of a cosmological constant, observational constraints on its
magnitude, and the physics of a small (and potentially nonzero) vacuum energy.Comment: 50 pages. Submitted to Living Reviews in Relativity
(http://www.livingreviews.org/), December 199
Cluster Lenses
Clusters of galaxies are the most recently assembled, massive, bound
structures in the Universe. As predicted by General Relativity, given their
masses, clusters strongly deform space-time in their vicinity. Clusters act as
some of the most powerful gravitational lenses in the Universe. Light rays
traversing through clusters from distant sources are hence deflected, and the
resulting images of these distant objects therefore appear distorted and
magnified. Lensing by clusters occurs in two regimes, each with unique
observational signatures. The strong lensing regime is characterized by effects
readily seen by eye, namely, the production of giant arcs, multiple-images, and
arclets. The weak lensing regime is characterized by small deformations in the
shapes of background galaxies only detectable statistically. Cluster lenses
have been exploited successfully to address several important current questions
in cosmology: (i) the study of the lens(es) - understanding cluster mass
distributions and issues pertaining to cluster formation and evolution, as well
as constraining the nature of dark matter; (ii) the study of the lensed objects
- probing the properties of the background lensed galaxy population - which is
statistically at higher redshifts and of lower intrinsic luminosity thus
enabling the probing of galaxy formation at the earliest times right up to the
Dark Ages; and (iii) the study of the geometry of the Universe - as the
strength of lensing depends on the ratios of angular diameter distances between
the lens, source and observer, lens deflections are sensitive to the value of
cosmological parameters and offer a powerful geometric tool to probe Dark
Energy. In this review, we present the basics of cluster lensing and provide a
current status report of the field.Comment: About 120 pages - Published in Open Access at:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/j183018170485723/ . arXiv admin note:
text overlap with arXiv:astro-ph/0504478 and arXiv:1003.3674 by other author
f(R) theories
Over the past decade, f(R) theories have been extensively studied as one of
the simplest modifications to General Relativity. In this article we review
various applications of f(R) theories to cosmology and gravity - such as
inflation, dark energy, local gravity constraints, cosmological perturbations,
and spherically symmetric solutions in weak and strong gravitational
backgrounds. We present a number of ways to distinguish those theories from
General Relativity observationally and experimentally. We also discuss the
extension to other modified gravity theories such as Brans-Dicke theory and
Gauss-Bonnet gravity, and address models that can satisfy both cosmological and
local gravity constraints.Comment: 156 pages, 14 figures, Invited review article in Living Reviews in
Relativity, Published version, Comments are welcom
The Evolution of Compact Binary Star Systems
We review the formation and evolution of compact binary stars consisting of
white dwarfs (WDs), neutron stars (NSs), and black holes (BHs). Binary NSs and
BHs are thought to be the primary astrophysical sources of gravitational waves
(GWs) within the frequency band of ground-based detectors, while compact
binaries of WDs are important sources of GWs at lower frequencies to be covered
by space interferometers (LISA). Major uncertainties in the current
understanding of properties of NSs and BHs most relevant to the GW studies are
discussed, including the treatment of the natal kicks which compact stellar
remnants acquire during the core collapse of massive stars and the common
envelope phase of binary evolution. We discuss the coalescence rates of binary
NSs and BHs and prospects for their detections, the formation and evolution of
binary WDs and their observational manifestations. Special attention is given
to AM CVn-stars -- compact binaries in which the Roche lobe is filled by
another WD or a low-mass partially degenerate helium-star, as these stars are
thought to be the best LISA verification binary GW sources.Comment: 105 pages, 18 figure
The restorative role of annexin A1 at the bloodâbrain barrier
Annexin A1 is a potent anti-inflammatory molecule that has been extensively studied in the peripheral immune
system, but has not as yet been exploited as a therapeutic target/agent. In the last decade, we have undertaken the
study of this molecule in the central nervous system (CNS), focusing particularly on the primary interface between the
peripheral body and CNS: the bloodâbrain barrier. In this review, we provide an overview of the role of this molecule
in the brain, with a particular emphasis on its functions in the endothelium of the bloodâbrain barrier, and the protective
actions the molecule may exert in neuroinflammatory, neurovascular and metabolic disease. We focus on the
possible new therapeutic avenues opened up by an increased understanding of the role of annexin A1 in the CNS
vasculature, and its potential for repairing bloodâbrain barrier damage in disease and aging
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