A mathematical analysis of the evolution of perturbations in a modified Chaplygin gas model

One approach in modern cosmology consists in supposing that dark matter and dark energy are different manifestations of a single `quartessential' fluid. Following such idea, this work presents a study of the evolution of perturbations of density in a flat cosmological model with a modified Chaplygin gas acting as a single component. Our goal is to obtain properties of the model which can be used to distinguish it from another cosmological models which have the same solutions for the general evolution of the scale factor of the universe, without the construction of the power spectrum. Our analytical results, which alone can be used to uniquely characterize the specific model studied in our work, show that the evolution of the density contrast can be seen, at least in one particular case, as composed by a spheroidal wave function. We also present a numerical analysis which clearly indicates as one interesting feature of the model the appearence of peaks in the evolution of the density constrast.Comment: 21 pages, accepted for publication in General Relativity and Gravitatio

From cosmic deceleration to acceleration: new constraints from SN Ia and BAO/CMB

We use type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) data in combination with recent baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) and cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations to constrain a kink-like parametrization of the deceleration parameter ($q$). This $q$-parametrization can be written in terms of the initial ($q_i$) and present ($q_0$) values of the deceleration parameter, the redshift of the cosmic transition from deceleration to acceleration ($z_t$) and the redshift width of such transition ($\tau$). By assuming a flat space geometry, $q_i=1/2$ and adopting a likelihood approach to deal with the SN Ia data we obtain, at the 68% confidence level (C.L.), that: $z_t=0.56^{+0.13}_{-0.10}$, $\tau=0.47^{+0.16}_{-0.20}$ and $q_0=-0.31^{+0.11}_{-0.11}$ when we combine BAO/CMB observations with SN Ia data processed with the MLCS2k2 light-curve fitter. When in this combination we use the SALT2 fitter we get instead, at the same C.L.: $z_t=0.64^{+0.13}_{-0.07}$, $\tau=0.36^{+0.11}_{-0.17}$ and $q_0=-0.53^{+0.17}_{-0.13}$. Our results indicate, with a quite general and model independent approach, that MLCS2k2 favors Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati-like cosmological models, while SALT2 favors $\Lambda$CDM-like ones. Progress in determining the transition redshift and/or the present value of the deceleration parameter depends crucially on solving the issue of the difference obtained when using these two light-curve fitters.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figure

A measurement of lifetime differences in the neutral D-meson system

Using a high statistics sample of photoproduced charm particles from the FOCUS experiment at Fermilab, we compare the lifetimes of neutral D mesons decaying via D0 to K- pi+ and K- K+ to measure the lifetime differences between CP even and CP odd final states. These measurements bear on the phenomenology of D0 - D0bar mixing. If the D0 to K-pi+ is an equal mixture of CP even and CP odd eigenstates, we measure yCP = 0.0342 \pm 0.0139 \pm 0.0074.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Search for CP violation in D0 and D+ decays

A high statistics sample of photoproduced charm particles from the FOCUS (E831) experiment at Fermilab has been used to search for CP violation in the Cabibbo suppressed decay modes D+ to K-K+pi+, D0 to K-K+ and D0 to pi-pi+. We have measured the following CP asymmetry parameters: A_CP(K-K+pi+) = +0.006 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.005, A_CP(K-K+) = -0.001 +/- 0.022 +/- 0.015 and A_CP(pi-pi+) = +0.048 +/- 0.039 +/- 0.025 where the first error is statistical and the second error is systematic. These asymmetries are consistent with zero with smaller errors than previous measurements.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Measurements of the Sigma_c^0 and Sigma_c^{++} Mass Splittings

Using a high statistics sample of photoproduced charmed particles from the FOCUS experiment at Fermilab (FNAL-E831), we measure the mass splittings of the charmed baryons Sigma_c^0 and Sigma_c^{++}. We find M(Sigma_c^0 - Lambda_c^+) = 167.38 +/- 0.21 +/- 0.13 MeV/c^2 and M(Sigma_c^++ - Lambda_c^+) = 167.35 +/- 0.19 +/- 0.12 MeV/c^2 with samples of 362 +/- 36 and 461 +/- 39 events, respectively. We measure the isospin mass splitting M(Sigma_c^++ - Sigma_c^0) to be -0.03 +/- 0.28 +/- 0.11 Mev/c^2. The first errors are statistical and the second are systematic.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure