4,496 research outputs found
Relevance of Ion-Channeling for Direct DM Detection
The channeling of the recoiling nucleus in crystalline detectors after a WIMP
collision would produce a larger scintillation or ionization signal in direct
detection experiments than otherwise expected. I present estimates of the
importance of this effect for the total direct detection rate and the daily
modulation of the signal using analytic models produced in the 1960's and 70's
to describe the effects of channeling and blocking in crystals.Comment: Talk given at the TAUP 2009 conference, Rome, Italy, July 1-5 2009. 3
pages, 4 figures. jpconf.cls and jpconf11.clo files need to typeset the tex
fil
Dynamical Critical Phenomena and Large Scale Structure of the Universe: the Power Spectrum for Density Fluctuations
As is well known, structure formation in the Universe at times after
decoupling can be described by hydrodynamic equations. These are shown here to
be equivalent to a generalization of the stochastic Kardar--Parisi--Zhang
equation with time-- dependent viscosity in epochs of dissipation. As a
consequence of the Dynamical Critical Scaling induced by noise and
fluctuations, these equations describe the fractal behavior (with a scale
dependent fractal dimension) observed at the smaller scales for the
galaxy--to--galaxy correlation function and the Harrison--Zel'dovich
spectrum at decoupling. By a Renormalization Group calculation of the
two--point correlation function between galaxies in the presence of (i) the
expansion of the Universe and (ii) non--equilibrium, we can account, from first
principles, for the main features of the observed shape of the power spectrum.Comment: 13 pages with 2 encapsulated PostScript figures included, gzipped tar
forma
Evidence of vorticity and shear at large angular scales in the WMAP data: a violation of cosmological isotropy?
Motivated by the large-scale asymmetry observed in the cosmic microwave
background sky, we consider a specific class of anisotropic cosmological models
-- Bianchi type VII_h -- and compare them to the WMAP first-year data on large
angular scales. Remarkably, we find evidence of a correlation which is ruled
out as a chance alignment at the 3sigma level. The best fit Bianchi model
corresponds to x=0.55, Omega_0=0.5, a rotation axis in the direction
(l,b)=(222degr,-62degr), shear (sigma/H)_0=2.4e-10 and a right--handed
vorticity (omega/H)_0=6.1e-10. Correcting for this component greatly reduces
the significance of the large-scale power asymmetry, resolves several anomalies
detected on large angular scales (ie. the low quadrupole amplitude and
quadrupole/octopole planarity and alignment), and can account for a
non--Gaussian "cold spot" on the sky. Despite the apparent inconsistency with
the best-fit parameters required in inflationary models to account for the
acoustic peaks, we consider the results sufficiently provocative to merit
further consideration.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; emulateapj.cls; ApJL accepted version plus fixed
error in vorticity calculation (sqrt(2) off in Table 1, abstract, and
conclusions); basic conclusions unchange
Joint Bayesian component separation and CMB power spectrum estimation
We describe and implement an exact, flexible, and computationally efficient
algorithm for joint component separation and CMB power spectrum estimation,
building on a Gibbs sampling framework. Two essential new features are 1)
conditional sampling of foreground spectral parameters, and 2) joint sampling
of all amplitude-type degrees of freedom (e.g., CMB, foreground pixel
amplitudes, and global template amplitudes) given spectral parameters. Given a
parametric model of the foreground signals, we estimate efficiently and
accurately the exact joint foreground-CMB posterior distribution, and therefore
all marginal distributions such as the CMB power spectrum or foreground
spectral index posteriors. The main limitation of the current implementation is
the requirement of identical beam responses at all frequencies, which restricts
the analysis to the lowest resolution of a given experiment. We outline a
future generalization to multi-resolution observations. To verify the method,
we analyse simple models and compare the results to analytical predictions. We
then analyze a realistic simulation with properties similar to the 3-yr WMAP
data, downgraded to a common resolution of 3 degree FWHM. The results from the
actual 3-yr WMAP temperature analysis are presented in a companion Letter.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures; version accepted for publication in ApJ -- only
minor changes, all clarifications. More information about the WMAP3 analysis
available at http://www.astro.uio.no/~hke under the Research ta
Power Spectrum of Primordial Inhomogeneity Determined from the 4-Year COBE DMR Sky Maps
Fourier analysis and power spectrum estimation of the cosmic microwave
background anisotropy on an incompletely sampled sky developed by Gorski (1994)
has been applied to the high-latitude portion of the 4-year COBE DMR 31.5, 53
and 90 GHz sky maps. Likelihood analysis using newly constructed Galaxy cuts
(extended beyond |b| = 20deg to excise the known foreground emission) and
simultaneously correcting for the faint high latitude galactic foreground
emission is conducted on the DMR sky maps pixelized in both ecliptic and
galactic coordinates. The Bayesian power spectrum estimation from the
foreground corrected 4-year COBE DMR data renders n ~ 1.2 +/- 0.3, and
Q_{rms-PS} ~ 15.3^{+3.7}_{-2.8} microK (projections of the two-parameter
likelihood). These results are consistent with the Harrison-Zel'dovich n=1
model of amplitude Q_{rms-PS} ~ 18 microK detected with significance exceeding
14sigma (dQ/Q < 0.07). (A small power spectrum amplitude drop below the
published 2-year results is predominantly due to the application of the new,
extended Galaxy cuts.)Comment: 9 pages of text in LaTeX, 1 postscript Table, 4 postscript figures (2
color plates), submitted to The Astrophysical Journal (Letters
A determination of the Spectra of Galactic components observed by WMAP
WMAP data when combined with ancillary data on free-free, synchrotron and
dust allow an improved understanding of the spectrum of emission from each of
these components. Here we examine the sky variation at intermediate latitudes
using a cross-correlation technique. In particular, we compare the observed
emission in 15 selected sky regions to three ``standard'' templates.
The free-free emission of the diffuse ionised gas is fitted by a well-known
spectrum at K and Ka band, but the derived emissivity corresponds to a mean
electron temperature of ~4000-5000K. This is inconsistent with estimates from
galactic HII regions. The origin of the discrepancy is unclear.
The anomalous emission associated with dust is clearly detected in most of
the 15 fields studied; it correlates well with the Finkbeiner et al. model 8
predictions (FDS8) at 94 GHz, with an effective spectral index between 20 and
60GHz of -2.85. Furthermore, the emissivity varies by a factor of ~2 from cloud
to cloud. A modestly improved fit to the anomalous dust at K-band is provided
by modulating the template by an estimate of the dust colour temperature,
specifically FDS8*T^n. We find a preferred value n~1.6.
The synchrotron emission steepens between GHz frequencies and the WMAP bands.
There are indications of spectral index variations across the sky but the
current data are not precise enough to accurately quantify this from region to
region. Our analysis of the WMAP data indicates strongly that the
dust-correlated emission at the low WMAP frequencies has a spectrum which is
compatible with spinning dust; we find no evidence for a synchrotron component
correlated with dust (abridged).Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, revised version uses cross-correlation method
rather than T-T method. Paper re-organised and sent back to refere
Channeling Effects in Direct Dark Matter Detectors
The channeling of the ion recoiling after a collision with a WIMP changes the
ionization signal in direct detection experiments, producing a larger signal
than otherwise expected. We give estimates of the fraction of channeled
recoiling ions in NaI (Tl), Si and Ge crystals using analytic models produced
since the 1960's and 70's to describe channeling and blocking effects. We find
that the channeling fraction of recoiling lattice nuclei is smaller than that
of ions that are injected into the crystal and that it is strongly temperature
dependent.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figures, To appear in the Proceedings of the sixth
International Workshop on the Dark Side of the Universe (DSU2010) Leon,
Guanajuato, Mexico 1-6 June 201
Oscillations of the static meson fields at finite baryon density
The spatial dependence of static meson correlation functions at finite baryon
density is studied in the Nambu -- Jona - Lasinio model. In contrast to the
finite temperature case, we find that the correlation functions at finite
density are not screened but exhibit long-range oscillations. The observed
phenomenon is analogous to the Friedel oscillations in a degenerate electron
gas
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