Supernovae, CMB, and Gravitational Leakage into Extra Dimensions

We discuss observational constraints coming from CMB and type Ia supernovae, for the model of accelerated universe produced by gravitational leakage into extra dimensions. Our fits indicate that the model is currently in agreement with the data. We also give the equations governing the evolution of cosmological perturbations. Future observations will be able to severely constrain the model.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, typos corrected and minor changes before publicatio

The Increasing use of Prereduced Iron Ores in Electric Arc Furnaces

Datas about the increasing use of prereduced iron ores, around the world, in electric arc furnaces.Development of continuous charging system such of these of HyLSA (Mexico), Contimelt (Steko- Luigi) Korf (Georgetown, USA and Hamburg, Germany), TAMSA-TECH1NT (Mexico). Comments about continuous melting: necessity of rea-ching optimal conditions to melt prereducea iron ores i.e. high electrical power, low electrode consumption, low refractory wear of the lining of the furnace. Possibilit-ies, advantage and a difficulties of utilization of electrical intensity in the arcs or shadowing the arcs in the slag. Equipment used for IRSID experiments: 6 t 3000 kVA elec-tric arc furnace with special continuous charging devices. Operating charging and melting pratice with shadowing of the radiation from the arcs bthrough, first, a solid mass of prereduced iron• ores in the center of the furnace and, second, the boiling slag. Main results with a number of samples of prereduced iron ore. Relation between available electrical energy PE and useful power Pu needed to melt and heat metal and slag and to cover the metallurgical reactions. Comparison between scrap and prereduced iron ores charging and melting. Application to commercial plants extrapolation of our tests and operating procedure with recommendation for large scale furnaces.Automation of electric arc furnaces : principles, operating procedures. The next step could be the continuous arc steelmaking furnace

Constraining the Λ\LambdaCDM and Galileon models with recent cosmological data

The Galileon theory belongs to the class of modified gravity models that can explain the late-time accelerated expansion of the Universe. In previous works, cosmological constraints on the Galileon model were derived, both in the uncoupled case and with a disformal coupling of the Galileon field to matter. There, we showed that these models agree with the most recent cosmological data. In this work, we used updated cosmological data sets to derive new constraints on Galileon models, including the case of a constant conformal Galileon coupling to matter. We also explored the tracker solution of the uncoupled Galileon model. After updating our data sets, especially with the latest \textit{Planck} data and BAO measurements, we fitted the cosmological parameters of the $\Lambda$CDM and Galileon models. The same analysis framework as in our previous papers was used to derive cosmological constraints, using precise measurements of cosmological distances and of the cosmic structure growth rate. We showed that all tested Galileon models are as compatible with cosmological data as the $\Lambda$CDM model. This means that present cosmological data are not accurate enough to distinguish clearly between both theories. Among the different Galileon models, we found that a conformal coupling is not favoured, contrary to the disformal coupling which is preferred at the $2.3\sigma$ level over the uncoupled case. The tracker solution of the uncoupled Galileon model is also highly disfavoured due to large tensions with supernovae and \textit{Planck}+BAO data. However, outside of the tracker solution, the general uncoupled Galileon model, as well as the general disformally coupled Galileon model, remain the most promising Galileon scenarios to confront with future cosmological data. Finally, we also discuss constraints coming from Lunar Laser Ranging experiment and gravitational wave speed of propagation.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, published version in A&

Experimental constraints on the uncoupled Galileon model from SNLS3 data and other cosmological probes

The Galileon model is a modified gravity theory that may provide an explanation for the accelerated expansion of the Universe. This model does not suffer from instabilities or ghost problems (normally associated with higher-order derivative theories), restores local General Relativity -- thanks to the Vainshtein screening effect -- and predicts late time acceleration of the expansion. In this paper, we derive a new definition of the Galileon parameters that allows us to avoid having to choose initial conditions for the Galileon field, and then test this model against precise measurements of the cosmological distances and the rate of growth of cosmic structures. We observe a small tension between the constraints set by growth data and those from distances. However, we find that the Galileon model remains consistent with current observations and is still competitive with the \Lambda CDM model, contrary to what was concluded in recent publications.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysic

First experimental constraints on the disformally coupled Galileon model

The Galileon model is a modified gravity model that can explain the late-time accelerated expansion of the Universe. In a previous work, we derived experimental constraints on the Galileon model with no explicit coupling to matter and showed that this model agrees with the most recent cosmological data. In the context of braneworld constructions or massive gravity, the Galileon model exhibits a disformal coupling to matter, which we study in this paper. After comparing our constraints on the uncoupled model with recent studies, we extend the analysis framework to the disformally coupled Galileon model and derive the first experimental constraints on that coupling, using precise measurements of cosmological distances and the growth rate of cosmic structures. In the uncoupled case, with updated data, we still observe a low tension between the constraints set by growth data and those from distances. In the disformally coupled Galileon model, we obtain better agreement with data and favour a non-zero disformal coupling to matter at the $2.5\sigma$ level. This gives an interesting hint of the possible braneworld origin of Galileon theory.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, updated versio

Photometry of supernovae in an image series : methods and application to the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS)

We present a technique to measure lightcurves of time-variable point sources on a spatially structured background from imaging data. The technique was developed to measure light curves of SNLS supernovae in order to infer their distances. This photometry technique performs simultaneous PSF photometry at the same sky position on an image series. We describe two implementations of the method: one that resamples images before measuring fluxes, and one which does not. In both instances, we sketch the key algorithms involved and present the validation using semi-artificial sources introduced in real images in order to assess the accuracy of the supernova flux measurements relative to that of surrounding stars. We describe the methods required to anchor these PSF fluxes to calibrated aperture catalogs, in order to derive SN magnitudes. We find a marginally significant bias of 2 mmag of the after-resampling method, and no bias at the mmag accuracy for the non-resampling method. Given surrounding star magnitudes, we determine the systematic uncertainty of SN magnitudes to be less than 1.5 mmag, which represents about one third of the current photometric calibration uncertainty affecting SN measurements. The SN photometry delivers several by-products: bright star PSF flux mea- surements which have a repeatability of about 0.6%, as for aperture measurements; we measure relative astrometric positions with a noise floor of 2.4 mas for a single-image bright star measurement; we show that in all bands of the MegaCam instrument, stars exhibit a profile linearly broadening with flux by about 0.5% over the whole brightness range.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 20 page

Can hyperbolic phase of Brans-Dicke field account for Dark Matter?

We show that the introduction of a hyperbolic phase for Brans-Dicke (BD) field results in a flat vacuum cosmological solution of Hubble parameter H and fractional rate of change of BD scalar field, F which asymptotically approach constant values. At late stages, hyperbolic phase of BD field behaves like dark matter

The SkyMapper Transient Survey

The SkyMapper 1.3 m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory has now begun regular operations. Alongside the Southern Sky Survey, a comprehensive digital survey of the entire southern sky, SkyMapper will carry out a search for supernovae and other transients. The search strategy, covering a total footprint area of ~2000 deg2 with a cadence of $\leq 5$ days, is optimised for discovery and follow-up of low-redshift type Ia supernovae to constrain cosmic expansion and peculiar velocities. We describe the search operations and infrastructure, including a parallelised software pipeline to discover variable objects in difference imaging; simulations of the performance of the survey over its lifetime; public access to discovered transients; and some first results from the Science Verification data.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures; submitted to PAS

Scaling attractors for quintessence in flat universe with cosmological term

For evolution of flat universe, we classify late time and future attractors with scaling behavior of scalar field quintessence in the case of potential, which, at definite values of its parameters and initial data, corresponds to exact scaling in the presence of cosmological constant.Comment: 11 pages, 16 eps-figures, revtex4, reference with comment adde