The Scalar Sector in 331 Models

We calculate the exact tree-level scalar mass matrices resulting from symmetry breaking using the most general gauge-invariant scalar potential of the 331 model, both with and without the condition that lepton number is conserved. Physical masses are also obtained in some cases, as well as couplings to standard and exotic gauge bosons.Comment: LaTex, 15 page

Derivation of Distances with the Tully-Fisher Relation: The Antlia Cluster

The Tully-Fisher relation is a correlation between the luminosity and the HI 21cm line width in spiral galaxies (LLW relation). It is used to derive galaxy distances in the interval 7 to 100 Mpc. Closer, the Cepheids, TRGB and Surface Brightness Fluctuation methods give a better accuracy. Further, the SNIa are luminous objects still available for distance measurement purposes, though with a dramatically lower density grid of measurements on the sky. Galaxies in clusters are all at the same distance from the observer. Thus the distance of the cluster derived from a large number of galaxies (N) has an error reduced according to the square root of N. However, not all galaxies in a cluster are suitable for the LLW measurement. The selection criteria we use are explained hereafter; the important point being to avoid Malmquist bias and to not introduce any systematics in the distance measurement.Comment: Moriond0

Cosmological fluctuation growth in bimetric MOND

I look at the growth of weak density inhomogeneities of nonrelativistic matter, in bimetric-MOND (BIMOND) cosmology. I concentrate on matter-twin-matter-symmetric versions of BIMOND, and assume that, on average, the universe is symmetrically populated in the two sectors. MOND effects are absent in an exactly symmetric universe, apart from the appearance of a cosmological constant, Lambda~(a0/c)^2. MOND effects-local and cosmological-do enter when density inhomogeneities that differ in the two sectors appear and develop. MOND later takes its standard form in systems that are islands dominated by pure matter. I derive the nonrelativistic equations governing small-scale fluctuation growth. The equations split into two uncoupled systems, one for the sum, the other for the difference, of the fluctuations in the two sectors. The former is governed strictly by Newtonian dynamics. The latter is governed by MOND dynamics, which entails stronger gravity, and nonlinearity even for the smallest of perturbations. These cause the difference to grow faster than the sum, conducing to matter-twin-matter segregation. The nonlinearity also causes interaction between nested perturbations on different scales. Because matter and twin matter (TM) repel each other in the MOND regime, matter inhomogeneities grow not only by their own self gravity, but also through shepherding by flanking TM overdensitie. The relative importance of gravity and pressure in the MOND system depends also on the strength of the perturbation. The development of structure in the universe, in either sector, thus depends crucially on two initial fluctuation spectra: that of matter alone and that of the matter-TM difference. I also discuss the back reaction on cosmology of BIMOND effects that appear as "phantom matter" resulting from inhomogeneity differences between the two sectors.Comment: 14 pages. Some clarifications added. Version published in Phys. Rev.

The Velocity Field from Type Ia Supernovae Matches the Gravity Field from Galaxy Surveys

We compare the peculiar velocities of nearby SNe Ia with those predicted by the gravity fields of full sky galaxy catalogs. The method provides a powerful test of the gravitational instability paradigm and strong constraints on the density parameter beta = Omega^0.6/b. For 24 SNe Ia within 10,000 km/s we find the observed SNe Ia peculiar velocities are well modeled by the predictions derived from the 1.2 Jy IRAS survey and the Optical Redshift Survey (ORS). Our best $\beta$ is 0.4 from IRAS, and 0.3 from the ORS, with beta>0.7 and beta<0.15 ruled out at 95% confidence levels from the IRAS comparison. Bootstrap resampling tests show these results to be robust in the mean and in its error. The precision of this technique will improve as additional nearby SNe Ia are discovered and monitored.Comment: 16 pages (LaTex), 3 postscript figure

The LCO/Palomar 10,000 km/sec Cluster Survey. I. Properties of the Tully-Fisher Relation

The first results from a Tully-Fisher (TF) survey of cluster galaxies are presented. The galaxies are drawn from fifteen Abell clusters that lie in the redshift range 9000-12,000 km/sec and are distributed uniformly around the celestial sky. The data set consists of R-band CCD photometry and long- slit H-alpha spectroscopy. The rotation curves (RCs) are characterized by a turnover radius (r_t) and an asymptotic velocity v_a, while the surface brightness profiles are characterized in terms of an effective exponential surface brightness I_e and a scale length r_e. The TF scatter is minimized when the rotation velocity is measured at 2.0 +/- 0.2 r_e; a significantly larger scatter results when the rotation velocity is measured at > 3 or < 1.5 scale lengths. This effect demonstrates that RCs do not have a universal form, as has been suggested by Persic, Salucci, and Stel. In contrast to previous studies, a modest but statistically significant surface-brightness dependence of the TF relation is found, log v = const + 0.28*log L + 0.14*log I_e. This indicates a stronger parallel between the TF relation and the FP relations of elliptical galaxies than has previously been recognized. Future papers in this series will consider the implications of this cluster sample for deviations from Hubble flow on 100-200 Mpc scales.Comment: 35 pages, 8 figures, uses aaspp4.sty. Submitted to ApJ. Also available at http://astro.stanford.edu/jeff

The Bulge-Halo Connection in Galaxies: A Physical Interpretation of the Vcirc-sigma_0 Relation

We explore the dependence of the ratio of a galaxy's circular velocity, Vcirc, to its central velocity dispersion, sigma_0, on morphology, or equivalently total light concentration. Such a dependence is expected if light traces the mass. Over the full range of galaxy types, masses and brightnesses, and assuming that the gas velocity traces the circular velocity, we find that galaxies obey the relation log(Vcirc/sigma_0)= 0.63-0.11*C28 where C28=5log(r80/r20) and the radii are measured at 80 percent and 20 percent of the total light. Massive galaxies scatter about the Vcirc = sqrt(2)*sigma_0 line for isothermal stellar systems. Disk galaxies follow the simple relation Vcirc/sigma_0=2(1-B/T), where B/T is the bulge-to-total light ratio. For pure disks, C28~2.8, B/T -> 0, and Vcirc~=2*sigma_0. Self-consistent equilibrium galaxy models from Widrow & Dubinski (2005) constrained to match the size-luminosity and velocity-luminosity relations of disk galaxies fail to match the observed Vcirc/sigma_0 distribution. Furthermore, the matching of dynamical models for Vcirc(r)/sigma(r) with observations of dwarf and elliptical galaxies suffers from limited radial coverage and relatively large error bars; for dwarf systems, however, kinematical measurements at the galaxy center and optical edge suggest Vcirc(Rmax) > 2*sigma_0 (in contrast with past assumptions that Vcirc = sqrt(2)*sigma_0 for dwarfs.) The Vcirc-sigma_0-C28 relation has direct implications for galaxy formation and dynamical models, galaxy scaling relations, the mass function of galaxies, and the links between respective formation and evolution processes for a galaxy's central massive object, bulge, and dark matter halo.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL. Current version matches ApJL page requiremen

Self-Regulated Growth of Supermassive Black Holes in Galaxies as the Origin of the Optical and X-ray Luminosity Functions of Quasars

We postulate that supermassive black-holes grow in the centers of galaxies until they unbind the galactic gas that feeds them. We show that the corresponding self-regulation condition yields a correlation between black-hole mass (Mbh) and galaxy velocity dispersion (sigma) as inferred in the local universe, and recovers the observed optical and X-ray luminosity functions of quasars at redshifts up to z~6 based on the hierarchical evolution of galaxy halos in a Lambda-CDM cosmology. With only one free parameter and a simple algorithm, our model yields the observed evolution in the number density of optically bright or X-ray faint quasars between 2<z<6 across 3 orders of magnitude in bolometric luminosity and 3 orders of magnitude in comoving density per logarithm of luminosity. The self-regulation condition identifies the dynamical time of galactic disks during the epoch of peak quasar activity (z~2.5) as the origin of the inferred characteristic quasar lifetime of ~10 million years. Since the lifetime becomes comparable to the Salpeter e-folding time at this epoch, the model also implies that the Mbh-sigma relation is a product of feedback regulated accretion during the peak of quasar activity. The mass-density in black-holes accreted by that time is consistent with the local black-hole mass density of ~(0.8-6.3) times 10^5 solar masses per cubic Mpc, which we have computed by combining the Mbh-sigma relation with the measured velocity dispersion function of SDSS galaxies (Sheth et al.~2003). Applying a similar self-regulation principle to supernova-driven winds from starbursts, we find that the ratio between the black hole mass and the stellar mass of galactic spheroids increases with redshift as (1+z)^1.5 although the Mbh-sigma relation is redshift-independent.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Ap

Our Peculiar Motion Away from the Local Void

The peculiar velocity of the Local Group of galaxies manifested in the Cosmic Microwave Background dipole is found to decompose into three dominant components. The three components are clearly separated because they arise on distinct spatial scales and are fortuitously almost orthogonal in their influences. The nearest, which is distinguished by a velocity discontinuity at ~7 Mpc, arises from the evacuation of the Local Void. We lie in the Local Sheet that bounds the void. Random motions within the Local Sheet are small. Our Galaxy participates in the bulk motion of the Local Sheet away from the Local Void. The component of our motion on an intermediate scale is attributed to the Virgo Cluster and its surroundings, 17 Mpc away. The third and largest component is an attraction on scales larger than 3000 km/s and centered near the direction of the Centaurus Cluster. The amplitudes of the three components are 259, 185, and 455 km/s, respectively, adding collectively to 631 km/s in the reference frame of the Local Sheet. Taking the nearby influences into account causes the residual attributed to large scales to align with observed concentrations of distant galaxies and reduces somewhat the amplitude of motion attributed to their pull. On small scales, in addition to the motion of our Local Sheet away from the Local Void, the nearest adjacent filament, the Leo Spur, is seen to be moving in a direction that will lead to convergence with our filament. Finally, a good distance to an isolated galaxy within the Local Void reveals that this dwarf system has a motion of at least 230 km/s away from the void center. Given the velocities expected from gravitational instability theory in the standard cosmological paradigm, the distance to the center of the Local Void must be at least 23 Mpc from our position. The Local Void is large!Comment: Tentatively scheduled for Astrophysical Journal, 676 (March 20), 2008. 18 figures, 3 tables including web link for 2 tables, web links to 2 video

Ultralight Scalars and Spiral Galaxies

We study some possible astrophysical implications of a very weakly coupled ultralight dilaton-type scalar field. Such a field may develop an (approximately stable) network of domain walls. The domain wall thickness is assumed to be comparable with the thickness of the luminous part of the spiral galaxies. The walls provide trapping for galactic matter. This is used to motivate the very existence of the spiral galaxies. A zero mode existing on the domain wall is a massless scalar particle confined to 1+2 dimensions. At distances much larger than the galaxy/wall thickness, the zero-mode exchange generates a logarithmic potential, acting as an additional term with respect to Newton's gravity. The logarithmic term naturally leads to constant rotational velocities at the periphery. We estimate the scalar field coupling to the matter energy-momentum tensor needed to fit the observable flat rotational curves of the spiral galaxies. The value of this coupling turns out to be reasonable -- we find no contradiction with the existing data.Comment: 19 pages, 2 eps figures; extra references and two important Comments adde

The Balance of Dark and Luminous Mass in Rotating Galaxies

A fine balance between dark and baryonic mass is observed in spiral galaxies. As the contribution of the baryons to the total rotation velocity increases, the contribution of the dark matter decreases by a compensating amount. This poses a fine-tuning problem for \LCDM galaxy formation models, and may point to new physics for dark matter particles or even a modification of gravity.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX. Phys. Rev. Letters, in pres