22,940 research outputs found
New coupled quintessence cosmology
A component of dark energy has been recently proposed to explain the current
acceleration of the Universe. Unless some unknown symmetry in Nature prevents
or suppresses it, such a field may interact with the pressureless component of
dark matter, giving rise to the so-called models of coupled quintessence. In
this paper we propose a new cosmological scenario where radiation and baryons
are conserved, while the dark energy component is decaying into cold dark
matter (CDM). The dilution of CDM particles, attenuated with respect to the
usual scaling due to the interacting process, is characterized by a
positive parameter , whereas the dark energy satisfies the equation
of state (). We carry out a joint statistical
analysis involving recent observations from type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic
oscillation peak, and Cosmic Microwave Background shift parameter to check the
observational viability of the coupled quintessence scenario here proposed.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Minor corrections to match published versio
Is the transition redshift a new cosmological number?
Observations from Supernovae Type Ia (SNe Ia) provided strong evidence for an
expanding accelerating Universe at intermediate redshifts. This means that the
Universe underwent a transition from deceleration to acceleration phases at a
transition redshift of the order unity whose value in principle depends
on the cosmology as well as on the assumed gravitational theory. Since
cosmological accelerating models endowed with a transition redshift are
extremely degenerated, in principle, it is interesting to know whether the
value of itself can be observationally used as a new cosmic
discriminator. After a brief discussion of the potential dynamic role played by
the transition redshift, it is argued that future observations combining SNe
Ia, the line-of-sight (or "radial") baryon acoustic oscillations, the
differential age of galaxies, as well as the redshift drift of the spectral
lines may tightly constrain , thereby helping to narrow the parameter
space for the most realistic models describing the accelerating Universe.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures. Some discussions about how to estimate the
transition redshift have been added. New data by Planck and H(z) data have
been mentioned. New references have been adde
An accurate formula for the period of a simple pendulum oscillating beyond the small-angle regime
A simple approximation formula is derived here for the dependence of the
period of a simple pendulum on amplitude that only requires a pocket calculator
and furnishes an error of less than 0.25% with respect to the exact period. It
is shown that this formula describes the increase of the pendulum period with
amplitude better than other simple formulas found in literature. A good
agreement with experimental data for a low air-resistance pendulum is also
verified and it suggests, together with the current availability/precision of
timers and detectors, that the proposed formula is useful for extending the
pendulum experiment beyond the usual small-angle oscillations.Comment: 15 pages and 4 figures. to appear in American Journal of Physic
Constraints on Cold Dark Matter Accelerating Cosmologies and Cluster Formation
We discuss the properties of homogeneous and isotropic flat cosmologies in
which the present accelerating stage is powered only by the gravitationally
induced creation of cold dark matter (CCDM) particles (). For
some matter creation rates proposed in the literature, we show that the main
cosmological functions such as the scale factor of the universe, the Hubble
expansion rate, the growth factor and the cluster formation rate are
analytically defined. The best CCDM scenario has only one free parameter and
our joint analysis involving BAO + CMB + SNe Ia data yields
() where
is the observed matter density parameter. In particular, this implies that the
model has no dark energy but the part of the matter that is effectively
clustering is in good agreement with the latest determinations from large scale
structure. The growth of perturbation and the formation of galaxy clusters in
such scenarios are also investigated. Despite the fact that both scenarios may
share the same Hubble expansion, we find that matter creation cosmologies
predict stronger small scale dynamics which implies a faster growth rate of
perturbations with respect to the usual CDM cosmology. Such results
point to the possibility of a crucial observational test confronting CCDM with
CDM scenarios trough a more detailed analysis involving CMB, weak
lensing, as well as the large scale structure.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication by Physical Rev.
- …