907 research outputs found
Newtonian Collapse of Scalar Field Dark Matter
In this letter, we develop a Newtonian approach to the collapse of galaxy
fluctuations of scalar field dark matter under initial conditions inferred from
simple assumptions. The full relativistic system, the so called
Einstein-Klein-Gordon, is reduced to the Schr\"odinger-Newton one in the weak
field limit. The scaling symmetries of the SN equations are exploited to track
the non-linear collapse of single scalar matter fluctuations. The results can
be applied to both real and complex scalar fields.Comment: 4 pages RevTex4 file, 4 eps figure
Dark energy and dark matter from an inhomogeneous dilaton
A cosmological scenario is proposed where the dark matter (DM) and dark
energy (DE) of the universe are two simultaneous manifestations of an
inhomogenous dilaton. The equation of state of the field is scale-dependent and
pressureless at galactic and larger scales and it has negative pressure as a DE
at very large scales. The dilaton drives an inflationary phase followed by a
kinetic energy-dominated one, as in the "quintessential inflation" model
introduced by Peebles & Vilenkin, and soon after the end of inflation particle
production seeds the first inhomogeneities that lead to galaxy formation. The
dilaton is trapped near the minimum of the potential where it oscillates like a
massive field, and the excess of kinetic energy is dissipated via the mechanism
of "gravitational cooling" first introduced by Seidel & Suen. The
inhomogeneities therefore behave like solitonic oscillations around the minimum
of the potential, known as "oscillatons", that we propose account for most DM
in galaxies. Those regions where the dilaton does not transform enough kinetic
energy into reheating or carry an excess of it from regions that have cooled,
evolve to the tail of the potential as DE, driving the acceleration of the
universe.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, uses revtex, submitted PR
Absolute Proper Motions to B~22.5: IV. Faint, Low Velocity White Dwarfs and the White Dwarf Population Density Law
The reduced proper motion diagram (RPMD) for a complete sample of faint stars
with high accuracy proper motions in the North Galactic Pole field SA57 is
investigated. Eight stars with very large reduced proper motions are identified
as faint white dwarf candidates. We discriminate these white dwarf candidates
from the several times more numerous QSOs based on proper motion and
variability.
We discuss the implausibility that these stars could be any kind of survey
contaminant. If {\it bona fide} white dwarfs, the eight candidates found here
represent a portion of the white dwarf population hitherto uninvestigated by
previous surveys by virtue of the faint magnitudes and low proper motions. The
newly discovered stars suggest a disk white dwarf scaleheight larger than the
values of 250-350 pc typically assumed in assessments of the local white dwarf
density. Both a <V/V_{max}> and a more complex maximum likelihood analysis of
the spatial distribution of our likely thin disk white dwarfs yield
scaleheights of 400-600 pc while at the same time give a reasonable match to
the local white dwarf volume density found in other surveys.
Our results could have interesting implications for white dwarfs as potential
MACHO objects. We can place some direct constraints (albeit weak ones) on the
contribution of halo white dwarfs to the dark matter of the Galaxy. Moreover,
the elevated scale height that we measure for the thin disk could alter the
interpretation of microlensing results to the extent of making white dwarfs
untenable as the dominant MACHO contributor. (Abridged)Comment: 38 pages, 5 figures, to appear in April Ap
Relativistic Hydrodynamic Evolutions with Black Hole Excision
We present a numerical code designed to study astrophysical phenomena
involving dynamical spacetimes containing black holes in the presence of
relativistic hydrodynamic matter. We present evolutions of the collapse of a
fluid star from the onset of collapse to the settling of the resulting black
hole to a final stationary state. In order to evolve stably after the black
hole forms, we excise a region inside the hole before a singularity is
encountered. This excision region is introduced after the appearance of an
apparent horizon, but while a significant amount of matter remains outside the
hole. We test our code by evolving accurately a vacuum Schwarzschild black
hole, a relativistic Bondi accretion flow onto a black hole, Oppenheimer-Snyder
dust collapse, and the collapse of nonrotating and rotating stars. These
systems are tracked reliably for hundreds of M following excision, where M is
the mass of the black hole. We perform these tests both in axisymmetry and in
full 3+1 dimensions. We then apply our code to study the effect of the stellar
spin parameter J/M^2 on the final outcome of gravitational collapse of rapidly
rotating n = 1 polytropes. We find that a black hole forms only if J/M^2<1, in
agreement with previous simulations. When J/M^2>1, the collapsing star forms a
torus which fragments into nonaxisymmetric clumps, capable of generating
appreciable ``splash'' gravitational radiation.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, submitted to PR
Shrinking a large dataset to identify variables associated with increased risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection in Western Kenya
Large datasets are often not amenable to analysis using traditional single-step approaches. Here, our general objective was to apply imputation techniques, principal component analysis (PCA), elastic net and generalized linear models to a large dataset in a systematic approach to extract the most meaningful predictors for a health outcome. We extracted predictors for Plasmodium falciparum infection, from a large covariate dataset while facing limited numbers of observations, using data from the People, Animals, and their Zoonoses (PAZ) project to demonstrate these techniques: data collected from 415 homesteads in western Kenya, contained over 1500 variables that describe the health, environment, and social factors of the humans, livestock, and the homesteads in which they reside. The wide, sparse dataset was simplified to 42 predictors of P. falciparum malaria infection and wealth rankings were produced for all homesteads. The 42 predictors make biological sense and are supported by previous studies. This systematic data-mining approach we used would make many large datasets more manageable and informative for decision-making processes and health policy prioritization
Global Search for New Physics with 2.0/fb at CDF
Data collected in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron are searched for
indications of new electroweak-scale physics. Rather than focusing on
particular new physics scenarios, CDF data are analyzed for discrepancies with
the standard model prediction. A model-independent approach (Vista) considers
gross features of the data, and is sensitive to new large cross-section
physics. Further sensitivity to new physics is provided by two additional
algorithms: a Bump Hunter searches invariant mass distributions for "bumps"
that could indicate resonant production of new particles; and the Sleuth
procedure scans for data excesses at large summed transverse momentum. This
combined global search for new physics in 2.0/fb of ppbar collisions at
sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV reveals no indication of physics beyond the standard model.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. Final version which appeared in Physical Review D
Rapid Communication
Observation of Orbitally Excited B_s Mesons
We report the first observation of two narrow resonances consistent with
states of orbitally excited (L=1) B_s mesons using 1 fb^{-1} of ppbar
collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV collected with the CDF II detector at the
Fermilab Tevatron. We use two-body decays into K^- and B^+ mesons reconstructed
as B^+ \to J/\psi K^+, J/\psi \to \mu^+ \mu^- or B^+ \to \bar{D}^0 \pi^+,
\bar{D}^0 \to K^+ \pi^-. We deduce the masses of the two states to be m(B_{s1})
= 5829.4 +- 0.7 MeV/c^2 and m(B_{s2}^*) = 5839.7 +- 0.7 MeV/c^2.Comment: Version accepted and published by Phys. Rev. Let
Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set
We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s
using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays
in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at
production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton
collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment
at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity.
We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the
B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2,
-1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in
agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model
value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by
other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012
Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset
corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected
during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV.
The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the
couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and
right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary
mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b,
leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing
transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W'
boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to
the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for
masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC
data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed
coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant
improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe
Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results
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