Non-adiabatic-like accelerated expansion of the late universe in entropic cosmology

In `entropic cosmology', instead of a cosmological constant $\Lambda$, an extra driving term is added to the Friedmann equation and the acceleration equation, taking into account the entropy and the temperature on the horizon of the universe. By means of the modified Friedmann and acceleration equations, we examine a non-adiabatic-like accelerated expansion of the universe in entropic cosmology. In this study, we consider a homogeneous, isotropic, and spatially flat universe, focusing on the single-fluid (single-component) dominated universe at late-times. To examine the properties of the late universe, we solve the modified Friedmann and acceleration equations, neglecting high-order corrections for the early universe. We derive the continuity (conservation) equation from the first law of thermodynamics, assuming non-adiabatic expansion caused by the entropy and temperature on the horizon. Using the continuity equation, we formulate the generalized Friedmann and acceleration equations, and propose a simple model. Through the luminosity distance, it is demonstrated that the simple model agrees well with both the observed accelerated expansion of the universe and a fine-tuned standard $\Lambda$CDM (lambda cold dark matter) model. However, we find that the increase of the entropy for the simple model is likely uniform, while the increase of the entropy for the standard $\Lambda$CDM model tends to be gradually slow especially after the present time. In other words, the simple model predicts that the present time is not a special time, unlike for the prediction of the standard $\Lambda$CDM model.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, revised. Appendices and References were added and revise

A Novel Pyrochlore Ruthenate: Ca2Ru2O7

Single crystals of a novel ruthenate, Ca2Ru2O7, were obtained. An X-ray diffraction study on a single crystal revealed that this material crystallizes in a pyrochlore structure with a lattice parameter, a = 10.197 Angstroms. The magnetic susceptibility above 30 K is the summation of a Curie-Weiss contribution and a constant term independent of temperature. The effective moment per Ru atom is only 0.36 Bohr magnetons, one order of magnitude smaller than that expected from a localized spin model with S=3/2 for Ru5+. Below 23 K, the localized spins freeze in a spin-glass state. The resistivity at room temperature is 2E-3 Ohm cm, comparable to that in metallic, highly correlated oxides.}Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, J. Phys. Soc. Jan., in pres

Studies of the motion and decay of axion walls bounded by strings

We discuss the appearance at the QCD phase transition, and the subsequent decay, of axion walls bounded by strings in N=1 axion models. We argue on intuitive grounds that the main decay mechanism is into barely relativistic axions. We present numerical simulations of the decay process. In these simulations, the decay happens immediately, in a time scale of order the light travel time, and the average energy of the radiated axions is $\simeq 7 m_a$ for $v_a/m_a \simeq 500$. $$ is found to increase approximately linearly with $\ln(v_a/m_a)$. Extrapolation of this behaviour yields $\sim 60 m_a$ in axion models of interest. We find that the contribution to the cosmological energy density of axions from wall decay is of the same order of magnitude as that from vacuum realignment, with however large uncertainties. The velocity dispersion of axions from wall decay is found to be larger, by a factor $10^3$ or so, than that of axions from vacuum realignment and string decay. We discuss the implications of this for the formation and evolution of axion miniclusters and for the direct detection of axion dark matter on Earth. Finally we discuss the cosmology of axion models with $N>1$ in which the domain wall problem is solved by introducing a small U$_{PQ}$(1) breaking interaction. We find that in this case the walls decay into gravitational waves.Comment: 37 pages, 10 figures, a minor mistake was corrected, several references and comments were adde

The Apparent and Intrinsic Shape of the APM Galaxy Clusters

We estimate the distribution of intrinsic shapes of APM galaxy clusters from the distribution of their apparent shapes. We measure the projected cluster ellipticities using two alternative methods. The first method is based on moments of the discrete galaxy distribution while the second is based on moments of the smoothed galaxy distribution. We study the performance of both methods using Monte Carlo cluster simulations covering the range of APM cluster distances and including a random distribution of background galaxies. We find that the first method suffers from severe systematic biases, whereas the second is more reliable. After excluding clusters dominated by substructure and quantifying the systematic biases in our estimated shape parameters, we recover a corrected distribution of projected ellipticities. We use the non-parametric kernel method to estimate the smooth apparent ellipticity distribution, and numerically invert a set of integral equations to recover the corresponding distribution of intrinsic ellipticities under the assumption that the clusters are either oblate or prolate spheroids. The prolate spheroidal model fits the APM cluster data best.Comment: 8 pages, including 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Dark matter and structure formation a review

This paper provides a review of the variants of dark matter which are thought to be fundamental components of the universe and their role in origin and evolution of structures and some new original results concerning improvements to the spherical collapse model. In particular, I show how the spherical collapse model is modified when we take into account dynamical friction and tidal torques

MAMBO Mapping of Spitzer c2d Small Clouds and Cores

AIMS: To study the structure of nearby (< 500 pc) dense starless and star-forming cores with the particular goal to identify and understand evolutionary trends in core properties, and to explore the nature of Very Low Luminosity Objects (< 0.1 L_sun; VeLLOs). METHODS: Using the MAMBO bolometer array, we create maps unusually sensitive to faint (few mJy per beam) extended (approx. 5 arcmin) thermal dust continuum emission at 1.2 mm wavelength. Complementary information on embedded stars is obtained from Spitzer, IRAS, and 2MASS. RESULTS: Our maps are very rich in structure, and we characterize extended emission features (``subcores'') and compact intensity peaks in our data separately to pay attention to this complexity. We derive, e.g., sizes, masses, and aspect ratios for the subcores, as well as column densities and related properties for the peaks. Combination with archival infrared data then enables the derivation of bolometric luminosities and temperatures, as well as envelope masses, for the young embedded stars. CONCLUSIONS: (abridged) Starless and star-forming cores occupy the same parameter space in many core properties; a picture of dense core evolution in which any dense core begins to actively form stars once it exceeds some fixed limit in, e.g., mass, density, or both, is inconsistent with our data. Comparison of various evolutionary indicators for young stellar objects in our sample (e.g., bolometric temperatures) reveals inconsistencies between some of them, possibly suggesting a revision of some of these indicators.Comment: Accepted to A&A. In total 46 pages, with 20 pages of tables, figures, and appendices. High-resolution version of this article at https://www.xythosondemand.com/home/harvard_iic/Users/jkauffma/Public/mambo_spitzer.pd

On the cosmological mass function theory

This paper provides, from one side, a review of the theory of the cosmological mass function from a theoretical point of view, starting from the seminal paper of Press & Shechter (1974) to the last developments (Del Popolo & Gambera (1998, 1999), Sheth & Tormen 1999 (ST), Sheth, Mo & Tormen 2001 (ST1), Jenkins et al. 2001 (J01), Shet & Tormen 2002 (ST2), Del Popolo 2002a, Yagi et al. 2004 (YNY)), and from another side some improvements on the multiplicity function models in literature. ...Comment: Astronomy Reports, in prin

Control of star formation by supersonic turbulence

Understanding the formation of stars in galaxies is central to much of modern astrophysics. For several decades it has been thought that stellar birth is primarily controlled by the interplay between gravity and magnetostatic support, modulated by ambipolar diffusion. Recently, however, both observational and numerical work has begun to suggest that support by supersonic turbulence rather than magnetic fields controls star formation. In this review we outline a new theory of star formation relying on the control by turbulence. We demonstrate that although supersonic turbulence can provide global support, it nevertheless produces density enhancements that allow local collapse. Inefficient, isolated star formation is a hallmark of turbulent support, while efficient, clustered star formation occurs in its absence. The consequences of this theory are then explored for both local star formation and galactic scale star formation. (ABSTRACT ABBREVIATED)Comment: Invited review for "Reviews of Modern Physics", 87 pages including 28 figures, in pres

Petri Nets Validation of Markovian Models of Emergency Department Arrivals

International audienceModeling of hospital’s Emergency Departments (ED) is vital for optimisation of health services offered to patients that shows up at an ED requiring treatments with different level of emergency. In this paper we present a modeling study whose contribution is twofold: first, based on a dataset relative to the ED of an Italian hospital, we derive different kinds of Markovian models capable to reproduce, at different extents, the statistical character of dataset arrivals; second, we validate the derived arrivals model by interfacing it with a Petri net model of the services an ED patient undergoes. The empirical assessment of a few key performance indicators allowed us to validate some of the derived arrival process model, thus confirming that they can be used for predicting the performance of an ED