178 research outputs found
Constraints on the SZ Power Spectrum on Degree Angular Scales in WMAP Data
The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect has a distinct spectral signature that
allows its separation from fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background
(CMB) and foregrounds. Using CMB anisotropies measured in Wilkinson Microwave
Anisotropy Probe's five-year maps, we constrain the SZ fluctuations at large,
degree angular scales corresponding to multipoles in the range from 10 to 400.
We provide upper bounds on SZ fluctuations at multipoles greater than 50, and
find evidence for a hemispherically asymmetric signal at ten degrees angular
scales. The amplitude of the detected signal cannot be easily explained with
the allowed number density and temperature of electrons in the Galactic halo.
We have failed to explain the excess signal as a residual from known Galactic
foregrounds or instrumental uncertainties such as 1/f-noise.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Simple typos fixe
Tensors, non-Gaussianities, and the future of potential reconstruction
We present projections for reconstruction of the inflationary potential
expected from ESA's upcoming Planck Surveyor CMB mission. We focus on the
effects that tensor perturbations and the presence of non-Gaussianities have on
reconstruction efforts in the context of non-canonical inflation models. We
consider potential constraints for different combinations of
detection/null-detection of tensors and non-Gaussianities. We perform Markov
Chain Monte Carlo and flow analyses on a simulated Planck-precision data set to
obtain constraints. We find that a failure to detect non-Gaussianities
precludes a successful inversion of the primordial power spectrum, greatly
affecting uncertainties, even in the presence of a tensor detection. In the
absence of a tensor detection, while unable to determine the energy scale of
inflation, an observable level of non-Gaussianities provides correlations
between the errors of the potential parameters, suggesting that constraints
might be improved for suitable combinations of parameters. Constraints are
optimized for a positive detection of both tensors and non-Gaussianities.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX; V2: version submitted to JCA
Non-Gaussianity from violation of slow-roll in multiple inflation
Multiple inflation is a model based on N=1 supergravity wherein there are
sudden changes in the mass of the inflaton because it couples to 'flat
direction' scalar fields which undergo symmetry breaking phase transitions as
the universe cools. The resulting brief violations of slow-roll evolution
generate a non-gaussian signal which we find to be oscillatory and yielding
f_NL ~ 5-20. This is potentially detectable by e.g. Planck but would require
new bispectrum estimators to do so. We also derive a model-independent result
relating the period of oscillations of a phase transition during inflation to
the period of oscillations in the primordial curvature perturbation generated
by the inflaton.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures; Clarifying comments and references added;
Accepted for publication in JCA
Isocurvature modes and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
The measurement of Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations from galaxy surveys is well
known to be a robust and powerful tool to constrain dark energy. This method
relies on the knowledge of the size of the acoustic horizon at radiation drag
derived from Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy measurements. In this paper
we quantify the effect of non-standard initial conditions in the form of an
isocurvature component on the determination of dark energy parameters from
future BAO surveys. In particular, if there is an isocurvature component (at a
level still allowed by present data) but it is ignored in the CMB analysis, the
sound horizon and cosmological parameters determination is biased, and, as a
consequence, future surveys may incorrectly suggest deviations from a
cosmological constant. In order to recover an unbiased determination of the
sound horizon and dark energy parameters, a component of isocurvature
perturbations must be included in the model when analyzing CMB data.
Fortunately, doing so does not increase parameter errors significantly.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figure
Update of axion CDM energy density
We improve the estimate of the axion CDM energy density by considering the
new values of current quark masses, the QCD phase transition effect and a
possible anharmonic effect.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. References are added. A factor is correcte
The CMB Bispectrum
We use a separable mode expansion estimator with WMAP data to estimate the
bispectrum for all the primary families of non-Gaussian models. We review the
late-time mode expansion estimator methodology which can be applied to any
non-separable primordial and CMB bispectrum model, and we demonstrate how the
method can be used to reconstruct the CMB bispectrum from an observational map.
We extend the previous validation of the general estimator using local map
simulations. We apply the estimator to the coadded WMAP 5-year data,
reconstructing the WMAP bispectrum using multipoles and
orthonormal 3D eigenmodes. We constrain all popular nearly scale-invariant
models, ensuring that the theoretical bispectrum is well-described by a
convergent mode expansion. Constraints from the local model \fnl=54.4\pm
29.4 and the equilateral model \fnl=143.5\pm 151.2 (\Fnl = 25.1\pm 26.4)
are consistent with previously published results. (Here, we use a nonlinearity
parameter \Fnl normalised to the local case, to allow more direct comparison
between different models.) Notable new constraints from our method include
those for the constant model \Fnl = 35.1 \pm 27.4 , the flattened model \Fnl
= 35.4\pm 29.2, and warm inflation \Fnl = 10.3\pm 27.2. We investigate
feature models surveying a wide parameter range in both the scale and phase,
and we find no significant evidence of non-Gaussianity in the models surveyed.
We propose a measure \barFnl for the total integrated bispectrum and find
that the measured value is consistent with the null hypothesis that CMB
anisotropies obey Gaussian statistics. We argue that this general bispectrum
survey with the WMAP data represents the best evidence for Gaussianity to date
and we discuss future prospects, notably from the Planck satellite
Optimal limits on f_{NL}^{local} from WMAP 5-year data
We have applied the optimal estimator for f_{NL}^{local} to the 5 year WMAP
data. Marginalizing over the amplitude of foreground templates we get -4 <
f_{NL}^{local} < 80 at 95% CL. Error bars of previous (sub-optimal) analyses
are roughly 40% larger than these. The probability that a Gaussian simulation,
analyzed using our estimator, gives a result larger in magnitude than the one
we find is 7%. Our pipeline gives consistent results when applied to the three
and five year WMAP data releases and agrees well with the results from our own
sub-optimal pipeline. We find no evidence of any residual foreground
contamination.Comment: [v1] 21 pages, 7 figures. [v2] minor changes matching published
versio
Neutrinos and Future Concordance Cosmologies
We review the free parameters in the concordance cosmology, and those which
might be added to this set as the quality of astrophysical data improves. Most
concordance parameters encode information about otherwise unexplored aspects of
high energy physics, up to the GUT scale via the "inflationary sector," and
possibly even the Planck scale in the case of dark energy. We explain how
neutrino properties may be constrained by future astrophysical measurements.
Conversely, future neutrino physics experiments which directly measure these
parameters will remove uncertainty from fits to astrophysical data, and improve
our ability to determine the global properties of our universe.Comment: Proceedings of paper given at Neutrino 2008 meeting (by RE
Primordial Black Holes, Eternal Inflation, and the Inflationary Parameter Space after WMAP5
We consider constraints on inflation driven by a single, minimally coupled
scalar field in the light of the WMAP5 dataset, as well as ACBAR and the
SuperNova Legacy Survey. We use the Slow Roll Reconstruction algorithm to
derive optimal constraints on the inflationary parameter space. The scale
dependence in the slope of the scalar spectrum permitted by WMAP5 is large
enough to lead to viable models where the small scale perturbations have a
substantial amplitude when extrapolated to the end of inflation. We find that
excluding parameter values which would cause the overproduction of primordial
black holes or even the onset of eternal inflation leads to potentially
significant constraints on the slow roll parameters. Finally, we present a more
sophisticated approach to including priors based on the total duration of
inflation, and discuss the resulting restrictions on the inflationary parameter
space.Comment: v2: version published in JCAP. Minor clarifications and references
adde
Isocurvature fluctuations in Affleck-Dine mechanism and constraints on inflation models
We reconsider the Affleck-Dine mechanism for baryogenesis and show that the
baryonic isocurvature fluctuations are generated in many inflation models in
supergravity. The inflationary scale and the reheating temperature must satisfy
certain constraints to avoid too large baryonic isocurvature fluctuations.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur
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