2,151 research outputs found
Is the present expansion of the universe really accelerating?
The current observations are usually explained by an accelerating expansion
of the present universe. However, with the present quality of the supernovae Ia
data, the allowed parameter space is wide enough to accommodate the
decelerating models as well. This is shown by considering a particular example
of the dark energy equation-of-state ,
which is equivalent to modifying the \emph{geometrical curvature} index of
the standard cosmology by shifting it to where is a
constant. The resulting decelerating model is consistent with the recent CMB
observations made by WMAP, as well as, with the high redshift supernovae Ia
data including SN 1997ff at . It is also consistent with the newly
discovered supernovae SN 2002dc at and SN 2002dd at which
have a general tendency to improve the fit.Comment: Replaced with the accepted version to appear in MNRA
Modeling Repulsive Gravity with Creation
There is a growing interest in the cosmologists for theories with negative
energy scalar fields and creation, in order to model a repulsive gravity. The
classical steady state cosmology proposed by Bondi, Gold and Hoyle in 1948, was
the first such theory which used a negative kinetic energy creation field to
invoke creation of matter. We emphasize that creation plays very crucial role
in cosmology and provides a natural explanation to the various explosive
phenomena occurring in local (z<0.1) and extra galactic universe. We exemplify
this point of view by considering the resurrected version of this theory - the
quasi-steady state theory, which tries to relate creation events directly to
the large scale dynamics of the universe and supplies more natural explanations
of the observed phenomena. Although the theory predicts a decelerating universe
at the present era, it explains successfully the recent SNe Ia observations
(which require an accelerating universe in the standard cosmology), as we show
in this paper by performing a Bayesian analysis of the data.Comment: The paper uses an old SNeIa dataset. With the new improved data, for
example the updated gold sample (Riess et al, astro-ph/0611572), the fit
improves considerably (\chi^2/DoF=197/180 and a probability of
goodness-of-fit=18%
A Century of Cosmology
In the century since Einstein's anno mirabilis of 1905, our concept of the
Universe has expanded from Kapteyn's flattened disk of stars only 10 kpc across
to an observed horizon about 30 Gpc across that is only a tiny fraction of an
immensely large inflated bubble. The expansion of our knowledge about the
Universe, both in the types of data and the sheer quantity of data, has been
just as dramatic. This talk will summarize this century of progress and our
current understanding of the cosmos.Comment: Talk presented at the "Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology -
Einstein's Legacy" meeting in Munich, Nov 2005. Proceedings will be published
in the Springer-Verlag "ESO Astrophysics Symposia" series. 10 pages Latex
with 2 figure
The Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper Northern Sky Survey
The Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) has surveyed the distribution and
kinematics of ionized gas in the Galaxy above declination -30 degrees. The WHAM
Northern Sky Survey (WHAM-NSS) has an angular resolution of one degree and
provides the first absolutely-calibrated, kinematically-resolved map of the
H-Alpha emission from the Warm Ionized Medium (WIM) within ~ +/-100 km/s of the
Local Standard of Rest. Leveraging WHAM's 12 km/s spectral resolution, we have
modeled and removed atmospheric emission and zodiacal absorption features from
each of the 37,565 spectra. The resulting H-Alpha profiles reveal ionized gas
detected in nearly every direction on the sky with a sensitivity of 0.15 R (3
sigma). Complex distributions of ionized gas are revealed in the nearby spiral
arms up to 1-2 kpc away from the Galactic plane. Toward the inner Galaxy, the
WHAM-NSS provides information about the WIM out to the tangent point down to a
few degrees from the plane. Ionized gas is also detected toward many
intermediate velocity clouds at high latitudes. Several new H II regions are
revealed around early B-stars and evolved stellar cores (sdB/O). This work
presents the details of the instrument, the survey, and the data reduction
techniques. The WHAM-NSS is also presented and analyzed for its gross
properties. Finally, some general conclusions are presented about the nature of
the WIM as revealed by the WHAM-NSS.Comment: 42 pages, 14 figures (Fig 6-9 & 14 are full color); accepted for
publication in 2003, ApJ, 149; Original quality figures (as well as data for
the survey) are available at http://www.astro.wisc.edu/wham
Observations of fluorescent aerosol-cloud interactions in the free troposphere at the High-Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch
© 2016 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and re production in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. Published by Copernicus Publications.The fluorescent nature of aerosol at a high-altitude Alpine site was studied using a wide-band integrated bioaerosol (WIBS-4) single particle multi-channel ultraviolet - light-induced fluorescence (UV-LIF) spectrometer. This was supported by comprehensive cloud microphysics and meteorological measurements with the aims of cataloguing concentrations of bio-fluorescent aerosols at this high-altitude site and also investigating possible influences of UV-fluorescent particle types on cloud-aerosol processes. Analysis of background free tropospheric air masses, using a total aerosol inlet, showed there to be a minor increase in the fluorescent aerosol fraction during in-cloud cases compared to out-of-cloud cases. The size dependence of the fluorescent aerosol fraction showed the larger aerosol to be more likely to be fluorescent with 80% of 10 μm particles being fluorescent. Whilst the fluorescent particles were in the minority (NFl/NAll = 0.27 ± 0.19), a new hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis approach, Crawford et al. (2015) revealed the majority of the fluorescent aerosols were likely to be representative of fluorescent mineral dust. A minor episodic contribution from a cluster likely to be representative of primary biological aerosol particles (PBAP) was also observed with a wintertime baseline concentration of 0.1 ± 0.4 L-1. Given the low concentration of this cluster and the typically low ice-active fraction of studied PBAP (e.g. pseudomonas syringae), we suggest that the contribution to the observed ice crystal concentration at this location is not significant during the wintertime. © Author(s) 2016.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Upper limits on stray force noise for LISA
We have developed a torsion pendulum facility for LISA gravitational
reference sensor ground testing that allows us to put significant upper limits
on residual stray forces exerted by LISA-like position sensors on a
representative test mass and to characterize specific sources of disturbances
for LISA. We present here the details of the facility, the experimental
procedures used to maximize its sensitivity, and the techniques used to
characterize the pendulum itself that allowed us to reach a torque sensitivity
below 20 fNm /sqrt{Hz} from 0.3 to 10 mHz. We also discuss the implications of
the obtained results for LISA.Comment: To be published in Classical and Quantum Gravity, special issue on
Amaldi5 2003 conference proceedings (10 pages, 6 figures
Measuring random force noise for LISA aboard the LISA Pathfinder mission
The LTP (LISA Testflight Package), to be flown aboard the ESA / NASA LISA
Pathfinder mission, aims to demonstrate drag-free control for LISA test masses
with acceleration noise below 30 fm/s^2/Hz^1/2 from 1-30 mHz. This paper
describes the LTP measurement of random, position independent forces acting on
the test masses. In addition to putting an overall upper limit for all source
of random force noise, LTP will measure the conversion of several key
disturbances into acceleration noise and thus allow a more detailed
characterization of the drag-free performance to be expected for LISA.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. To be published in Classical and Quantum Gravity
with the proceedings of the 2003 Amaldi Meetin
Cosmology and Cosmogony in a Cyclic Universe
In this paper we discuss the properties of the quasi-steady state
cosmological model (QSSC) developed in 1993 in its role as a cyclic model of
the universe driven by a negative energy scalar field. We discuss the origin of
such a scalar field in the primary creation process first described by F. Hoyle
and J. V. Narlikar forty years ago. It is shown that the creation processes
which takes place in the nuclei of galaxies are closely linked to the high
energy and explosive phenomena, which are commonly observed in galaxies at all
redshifts.
The cyclic nature of the universe provides a natural link between the places
of origin of the microwave background radiation (arising in hydrogen burning in
stars), and the origin of the lightest nuclei (H, D, He and He). It
also allows us to relate the large scale cyclic properties of the universe to
events taking place in the nuclei of galaxies. Observational evidence shows
that ejection of matter and energy from these centers in the form of compact
objects, gas and relativistic particles is responsible for the population of
quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) and gamma-ray burst sources in the universe.
In the later parts of the paper we briefly discuss the major unsolved
problems of this integrated cosmological and cosmogonical scheme. These are the
understanding of the origin of the intrinsic redshifts, and the periodicities
in the redshift distribution of the QSOs.Comment: 51 pages including 1 figur
Yang-Mills condensate dark energy coupled with matter and radiation
The coincidence problem is studied for the dark energy model of effective
Yang-Mills condensate in a flat expanding universe during the matter-dominated
stage. The YMC energy is taken to represent the dark energy, which
is coupled either with the matter, or with both the matter and the radiation
components. The effective YM Lagrangian is completely determined by quantum
field theory up to 1-loop order. It is found that under very generic initial
conditions and for a variety of forms of coupling, the existence of the scaling
solution during the early stages and the subsequent exit from the scaling
regime are inevitable. The transition to the accelerating stage always occurs
around a redshift . Moreover, when the Yang-Mills
condensate transfers energy into matter or into both matter and radiation, the
equation of state of the Yang-Mills condensate can cross over -1 around
, and takes on a current value . This is consistent with
the recent preliminary observations on supernovae Ia. Therefore, the
coincidence problem can be naturally solved in the effective YMC dark energy
models.Comment: 24 pages, 18 figure
An absolute calibration system for millimeter-accuracy APOLLO measurements
Lunar laser ranging provides a number of leading experimental tests of
gravitation -- important in our quest to unify General Relativity and the
Standard Model of physics. The Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging
Operation (APOLLO) has for years achieved median range precision at the ~2 mm
level. Yet residuals in model-measurement comparisons are an order-of-magnitude
larger, raising the question of whether the ranging data are not nearly as
accurate as they are precise, or if the models are incomplete or
ill-conditioned. This paper describes a new absolute calibration system (ACS)
intended both as a tool for exposing and eliminating sources of systematic
error, and also as a means to directly calibrate ranging data in-situ. The
system consists of a high-repetition-rate (80 MHz) laser emitting short (< 10
ps) pulses that are locked to a cesium clock. In essence, the ACS delivers
photons to the APOLLO detector at exquisitely well-defined time intervals as a
"truth" input against which APOLLO's timing performance may be judged and
corrected. Preliminary analysis indicates no inaccuracies in APOLLO data beyond
the ~3 mm level, suggesting that historical APOLLO data are of high quality and
motivating continued work on model capabilities. The ACS provides the means to
deliver APOLLO data both accurate and precise below the 2 mm level.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit
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