3,911 research outputs found
Analyze This! A Cosmological Constraint Package for CMBEASY
We introduce a Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation and data analysis package
that extends the CMBEASY software. We have taken special care in implementing
an adaptive step algorithm for the Markov Chain Monte Carlo in order to improve
convergence. Data analysis routines are provided which allow to test models of
the Universe against measurements of the cosmic microwave background,
supernovae Ia and large scale structure. We present constraints on cosmological
parameters derived from these measurements for a CDM cosmology and
discuss the impact of the different observational data sets on the parameters.
The package is publicly available as part of the CMBEASY software at
www.cmbeasy.org.Comment: Published version, JCAP style, 16 pages, 7 figures. The software is
available at http://www.cmbeasy.or
Mechanisms Affecting Recruitment of Yellow Perch in Lake Michigan
Report issued on: August 2001INHS Technical Report prepared for Great Lakes Fishery Trus
Early Dark Energy Cosmologies
We propose a novel parameterization of the dark energy density. It is
particularly well suited to describe a non-negligible contribution of dark
energy at early times and contains only three parameters, which are all
physically meaningful: the fractional dark energy density today, the equation
of state today and the fractional dark energy density at early times. As we
parameterize Omega_d(a) directly instead of the equation of state, we can give
analytic expressions for the Hubble parameter, the conformal horizon today and
at last scattering, the sound horizon at last scattering, the acoustic scale as
well as the luminosity distance. For an equation of state today w_0 < -1, our
model crosses the cosmological constant boundary. We perform numerical studies
to constrain the parameters of our model by using Cosmic Microwave Background,
Large Scale Structure and Supernovae Ia data. At 95% confidence, we find that
the fractional dark energy density at early times Omega_early < 0.06. This
bound tightens considerably to Omega_early < 0.04 when the latest Boomerang
data is included. We find that both the gold sample of Riess et. al. and the
SNLS data by Astier et. al. when combined with CMB and LSS data mildly prefer
w_0 < -1, but are well compatible with a cosmological constant.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; references added, matches published versio
Fermion absorption cross section of a Schwarzschild black hole
We study the absorption of massive spin-half particles by a small
Schwarzschild black hole by numerically solving the single-particle Dirac
equation in Painleve-Gullstrand coordinates. We calculate the absorption cross
section for a range of gravitational couplings Mm/m_P^2 and incident particle
energies E. At high couplings, where the Schwarzschild radius R_S is much
greater than the wavelength lambda, we find that the cross section approaches
the classical result for a point particle. At intermediate couplings we find
oscillations around the classical limit whose precise form depends on the
particle mass. These oscillations give quantum violations of the equivalence
principle. At high energies the cross section converges on the geometric-optics
value of 27 \pi R_S^2/4, and at low energies we find agreement with an
approximation derived by Unruh. When the hole is much smaller than the particle
wavelength we confirm that the minimum possible cross section approaches \pi
R_S^2/2.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
CMB power spectrum parameter degeneracies in the era of precision cosmology
Cosmological parameter constraints from the CMB power spectra alone suffer
several well-known degeneracies. These degeneracies can be broken by numerical
artefacts and also a variety of physical effects that become quantitatively
important with high-accuracy data e.g. from the Planck satellite. We study
degeneracies in models with flat and non-flat spatial sections, non-trivial
dark energy and massive neutrinos, and investigate the importance of various
physical degeneracy-breaking effects. We test the CAMB power spectrum code for
numerical accuracy, and demonstrate that the numerical calculations are
accurate enough for degeneracies to be broken mainly by true physical effects
(the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, CMB lensing and geometrical and other
effects through recombination) rather than numerical artefacts. We quantify the
impact of CMB lensing on the power spectra, which inevitably provides
degeneracy-breaking information even without using information in the
non-Gaussianity. Finally we check the numerical accuracy of sample-based
parameter constraints using CAMB and CosmoMC. In an appendix we document recent
changes to CAMB's numerical treatment of massive neutrino perturbations, which
are tested along with other recent improvements by our degeneracy exploration
results.Comment: 27 pages, 28 figures. Latest CAMB version available from
http://camb.info/. Reduced number of figures, plot legend corrected and minor
edits to match published versio
A new form of the Kerr solution
A new form of the Kerr solution is presented. The solution involves a time
coordinate which represents the local proper time for free-falling observers on
a set of simple trajectories. Many physical phenomena are particularly clear
when related to this time coordinate. The chosen coordinates also ensure that
the solution is well behaved at the horizon. The solution is well suited to the
tetrad formalism and a convenient null tetrad is presented. The Dirac
Hamiltonian in a Kerr background is also given and, for one choice of tetrad,
it takes on a simple, Hermitian form.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, no figures. Corrected and improved version. To appear
in Phys. Rev.
Quadratic Lagrangians and Topology in Gauge Theory Gravity
We consider topological contributions to the action integral in a gauge
theory formulation of gravity. Two topological invariants are found and are
shown to arise from the scalar and pseudoscalar parts of a single integral.
Neither of these action integrals contribute to the classical field equations.
An identity is found for the invariants that is valid for non-symmetric Riemann
tensors, generalizing the usual GR expression for the topological invariants.
The link with Yang-Mills instantons in Euclidean gravity is also explored. Ten
independent quadratic terms are constructed from the Riemann tensor, and the
topological invariants reduce these to eight possible independent terms for a
quadratic Lagrangian. The resulting field equations for the parity
non-violating terms are presented. Our derivations of these results are
considerably simpler that those found in the literature
New Techniques for Analysing Axisymmetric Gravitational Systems. 1. Vacuum Fields
A new framework for analysing the gravitational fields in a stationary,
axisymmetric configuration is introduced. The method is used to construct a
complete set of field equations for the vacuum region outside a rotating
source. These equations are under-determined. Restricting the Weyl tensor to
type D produces a set of equations which can be solved, and a range of new
techniques are introduced to simplify the problem. Imposing the further
condition that the solution is asymptotically flat yields the Kerr solution
uniquely. The implications of this result for the no-hair theorem are
discussed. The techniques developed here have many other applications, which
are described in the conclusions.Comment: 30 pages, no figure
Varying Alpha Monopoles
We study static magnetic monopoles in the context of varying alpha theories
and show that there is a group of models for which the t'Hooft-Polyakov
solution is still valid. Nevertheless, in general static magnetic monopole
solutions in varying alpha theories depart from the classical t'Hooft-Polyakov
solution with the electromagnetic energy concentrated inside the core seeding
spatial variations of the fine structure constant. We show that Equivalence
Principle constraints impose tight limits on the allowed variations of alpha
induced by magnetic monopoles which confirms the difficulty to generate
significant large-scale spatial variation of the fine structure constant found
in previous works. This is true even in the most favorable case where magnetic
monopoles are the source for these variations.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures; Version to be published in Phys. Rev.
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