H_0 and Odds on Cosmology

Recent observations by the Hubble Space Telescope of Cepheids in the Virgo cluster imply a Hubble Constant $H_0=80\pm17$\ km/sec/Mpc. We attempt to clarify some issues of interpretation of these results for determining the global cosmological parameters $\Omega$ and $\Lambda$. Using the formalism of Bayesian model comparison, the data suggest a universe with a nonzero cosmological constant $\Lambda>0$, but vanishing curvature: $\Omega+\Lambda=1$.Comment: 8 Pages, uuencoded postscript. Submitted to ApJLett. Also available at file://ftp.cita.utoronto.ca/cita/andrew/papers/odds.p

Sparsely Sampling the Sky: A Bayesian Experimental Design Approach

The next generation of galaxy surveys will observe millions of galaxies over large volumes of the universe. These surveys are expensive both in time and cost, raising questions regarding the optimal investment of this time and money. In this work we investigate criteria for selecting amongst observing strategies for constraining the galaxy power spectrum and a set of cosmological parameters. Depending on the parameters of interest, it may be more efficient to observe a larger, but sparsely sampled, area of sky instead of a smaller contiguous area. In this work, by making use of the principles of Bayesian Experimental Design, we will investigate the advantages and disadvantages of the sparse sampling of the sky and discuss the circumstances in which a sparse survey is indeed the most efficient strategy. For the Dark Energy Survey (DES), we find that by sparsely observing the same area in a smaller amount of time, we only increase the errors on the parameters by a maximum of 0.45%. Conversely, investing the same amount of time as the original DES to observe a sparser but larger area of sky we can in fact constrain the parameters with errors reduced by 28%

Cosmological constraints on pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons

Particle physics models with pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons (PNGBs) are characterized by two mass scales: a global spontaneous symmetry breaking scale, f, and a soft (explicit) symmetry breaking scale, Lambda. General model insensitive constraints were studied on this 2-D parameter space arising from the cosmological and astrophysical effects of PNGBs. In particular, constraints were studied arising from vacuum misalignment and thermal production of PNGBs, topological defects, and the cosmological effects of PNGB decay products, as well as astrophysical constraints from stellar PNGB emission. Bounds on the Peccei-Quinn axion scale, 10(exp 10) GeV approx. = or less than f sub pq approx. = or less than 10(exp 10) to 10(exp 12) GeV, emerge as a special case, where the soft breaking scale is fixed at Lambda sub QCD approx. = 100 MeV

Applications of Wavelets to the Analysis of Cosmic Microwave Background Maps

We consider wavelets as a tool to perform a variety of tasks in the context of analyzing cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps. Using Spherical Haar Wavelets we define a position and angular-scale-dependent measure of power that can be used to assess the existence of spatial structure. We apply planar Daubechies wavelets for the identification and removal of points sources from small sections of sky maps. Our technique can successfully identify virtually all point sources which are above 3 sigma and more than 80% of those above 1 sigma. We discuss the trade-offs between the levels of correct and false detections. We denoise and compress a 100,000 pixel CMB map by a factor of about 10 in 5 seconds achieving a noise reduction of about 35%. In contrast to Wiener filtering the compression process is model independent and very fast. We discuss the usefulness of wavelets for power spectrum and cosmological parameter estimation. We conclude that at present wavelet functions are most suitable for identifying localized sources.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to MNRA

Streaming velocities as a dynamical estimator of Omega

It is well known that estimating the pairwise velocity of galaxies, v_{12}, from the redshift space galaxy correlation function is difficult because this method is highly sensitive to the assumed model of the pairwise velocity dispersion. Here we propose an alternative method to estimate v_{12} directly from peculiar velocity samples, which contain redshift-independent distances as well as galaxy redshifts. In contrast to other dynamical measures which determine beta = sigma_8 x Omega^{0.6}, our method can provide an estimate of (sigma_8)^2 x Omega^{0.6} for a range of sigma_8 (here Omega is the cosmological mass density parameter while sigma_8 is the standard normalization parameter for the spectrum of matter density fluctuations). We demonstrate how to measure this quantity from realistic catalogues.Comment: 8 pages of text, 4 figures Subject headings: Cosmology: theory - observation - peculiar velocities: large scale flows Last name of one of the authors was misspelled. It is now corrected. Otherwise the manuscript is identical to its original versio

Evidence for a low-density Universe from the relative velocities of galaxies

The motions of galaxies can be used to constrain the cosmological density parameter Omega and the clustering amplitude of matter on large scales. The mean relative velocity of galaxy pairs, estimated from the Mark III survey, indicates that Omega = 0.35 +0.35/-0.25. If the clustering of galaxies is unbiased on large scales, Omega = 0.35 +/- 0.15, so that an unbiased Einstein-de Sitter model (Omega = 1) is inconsistent with the data.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the Jan.7 issue of ``Science''; In the original version, the title appeared twice. This problem has now been corrected. No other changes were mad

Measuring Omega with Galaxy Streaming Velocities

The mean pairwise velocity of galaxies has traditionally been estimated from the redshift space galaxy correlation function. This method is notorious for being highly sensitive to the assumed model of the pairwise velocity dispersion. Here we propose an alternative method to estimate the streaming velocity directly from peculiar velocity samples, which contain redshift-independent distances as well as galaxy redshifts. This method can provide an estimate of $\Omega^{0.6}\sigma_8^2$ for a range of $\sigma_8$ where $\Omega$ is the cosmological density parameter, while $\sigma_8$ is the standard normalization for the power spectrum of density fluctuations. We demonstrate how to measure this quantity from realistic catalogues and identify the main sources of bias and errorsComment: Proceedings of New Worlds in Astroparticle Physics, 6 pages, 2 figure

The Drell-Yan process and Deep Inelastic Scattering from the lattice

We report on measurements of the h_1 structure function, relevant to calculating cross-sections for the Drell-Yan process. This is a quantity which can not be measured in Deep Inelastic Scattering, it gives additional information on the spin carried by the valence quarks, as well as insights on how relativistic the quarks are.Comment: 3 pages, Latex, 3 figures, espcrc2.sty included, Talk presented at LATTICE96(phenomenology