23,418 research outputs found
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
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
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
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