595 research outputs found
Constraints on cosmic hemispherical power anomalies from quasars
Recent analyses of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps from the WMAP
satellite have uncovered evidence for a hemispherical power anomaly, i.e. a
dipole modulation of the CMB power spectrum at large angular scales with an
amplitude of +/-14 percent. Erickcek et al have put forward an inflationary
model to explain this anomaly. Their scenario is a variation on the curvaton
scenario in which the curvaton possesses a large-scale spatial gradient that
modulates the amplitude of CMB fluctuations. We show that this scenario would
also lead to a spatial gradient in the amplitude of perturbations sigma_8, and
hence to a dipole asymmetry in any highly biased tracer of the underlying
density field. Using the high-redshift quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey, we find an upper limit on such a gradient of |nabla
sigma_8|/sigma_8<0.027/r_{lss} (99% posterior probability), where r_{lss} is
the comoving distance to the last-scattering surface. This rules out the
simplest version of the curvaton spatial gradient scenario.Comment: matches JCAP accepted version (minor revisions
Non-detection of a statistically anisotropic power spectrum in large-scale structure
We search a sample of photometric luminous red galaxies (LRGs) measured by
the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) for a quadrupolar anisotropy in the
primordial power spectrum, in which P(\vec{k}) is an isotropic power spectrum
P(k) multiplied by a quadrupolar modulation pattern. We first place limits on
the 5 coefficients of a general quadrupole anisotropy. We also consider
axisymmetric quadrupoles of the form P(\vec{k}) = P(k){1 +
g_*[(\hat{k}\cdot\hat{n})^2-1/3]} where \hat{n} is the axis of the anisotropy.
When we force the symmetry axis \hat{n} to be in the direction (l,b)=(94
degrees,26 degrees) identified in the recent Groeneboom et al. analysis of the
cosmic microwave background, we find g_*=0.006+/-0.036 (1 sigma). With uniform
priors on \hat{n} and g_* we find that -0.41<g_*<+0.38 with 95% probability,
with the wide range due mainly to the large uncertainty of asymmetries aligned
with the Galactic Plane. In none of these three analyses do we detect evidence
for quadrupolar power anisotropy in large scale structure.Comment: 23 pages; 10 figures; 3 tables; replaced with version published in
JCAP (added discussion of scale-varying quadrupolar anisotropy
The sensitivity of BAO Dark Energy Constraints to General Isocurvature Perturbations
Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) surveys will be a leading method for
addressing the dark energy challenge in the next decade. We explore in detail
the effect of allowing for small amplitude admixtures of general isocurvature
perturbations in addition to the dominant adiabatic mode. We find that
non-adiabatic initial conditions leave the sound speed unchanged but instead
excite different harmonics. These harmonics couple differently to Silk damping,
altering the form and evolution of acoustic waves in the baryon-photon fluid
prior to decoupling. This modifies not only the scale on which the sound waves
imprint onto the baryon distribution, which is used as the standard ruler in
BAO surveys, but also the shape, width and height of the BAO peak. We discuss
these effects in detail and show how more general initial conditions impact our
interpretation of cosmological data in dark energy studies. We find that the
inclusion of these additional isocurvature modes leads to an increase in the
Dark Energy Task Force Figure of merit by 140% and 60% for the BOSS and ADEPT
experiments respectively when considered in conjunction with Planck data. We
also show that the incorrect assumption of adiabaticity has the potential to
bias our estimates of the dark energy parameters by () for a
single correlated isocurvature mode, and up to () for three
correlated isocurvature modes in the case of the BOSS (ADEPT) experiment. We
find that the use of the large scale structure data in conjunction with CMB
data improves our ability to measure the contributions of different modes to
the initial conditions by as much as 100% for certain modes in the fully
correlated case.Comment: 20 pages, 17 figure
Alignment of galaxy spins in the vicinity of voids
We provide limits on the alignment of galaxy orientations with the direction
to the void center for galaxies lying near the edges of voids. We locate
spherical voids in volume limited samples of galaxies from the Sloan Digital
Sky Survey using the HB inspired void finder and investigate the orientation of
(color selected) spiral galaxies that are nearly edge-on or face-on. In
contrast with previous literature, we find no statistical evidence for
departure from random orientations. Expressed in terms of the parameter c,
introduced by Lee & Pen to describe the strength of such an alignment, we find
that c<0.11(0.13) at 95% (99.7%) confidence limit within a context of a toy
model that assumes a perfectly spherical voids with sharp boundaries.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; v2 discussion expanded, references fixed, matches
version accepted by JCA
The Dark Matter Density in the Solar Neighborhood reconsidered
Both the gas flaring and the dip in the rotation curve, which was recently
reconfirmed with precise measurements using the VERA VLBI array in Japan,
suggest doughnut-like substructure in the dark matter (DM) halo. A global fit
to all available data shows that the data are indeed best described by an NFW
DM profile complemented by two doughnut-like DM substructures with radii of 4.2
and 12.4 kpc, which coincide with the local dust ring and the Monocerus ring of
stars, respectively. Both regions have been suggested as regions with tidal
streams from "shredded" satellites. If real, the radial extensions of these
nearby ringlike structures enhance the local dark matter density by a factor of
four to about 1.3 GeV/cm.
It is shown that i) this higher DM density is perfectly consistent with the
local gravitational potential determining the surface density and the local
matter density (Oort limit), ii) previous determinations of the surface density
were biased by the assumption of a smoothly varying DM halo and iii) the
s-shaped gas flaring is explained. Such a possible enhancement of the local DM
density is of great interest for direct DM searches and would change the
directional dependence for indirect DM searches.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, extended version, accepted for publication in
JCA
A New Type of Dark Energy Model
In this paper, we propose a general form of the equation of state (EoS) which
is the function of the fractional dark energy density . At least,
five related models, the cosmological constant model, the holographic dark
energy model, the agegraphic dark energy model, the modified holographic dark
energy model and the Ricci scalar holographic dark energy model are included in
this form. Furthermore, if we consider proper interactions, the interactive
variants of those models can be included as well. The phase-space analysis
shows that the scaling solutions may exist both in the non-interacting and
interacting cases. And the stability analysis of the system could give out the
attractor solution which could alleviate the coincidence problem.Comment: Minor modifications, references adde
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