5,156 research outputs found
Dark energy and dark matter from cosmological observations
The present status of our knowledge about the dark matter and dark energy is
reviewed. Bounds on the content of cold and hot dark matter from cosmological
observations are discussed in some detail. I also review current bounds on the
physical properties of dark energy, mainly its equation of state and effective
speed of sound.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Lepton-Photon 2005 proceedings,
added figure and typos correcte
Partial order and a -topology in a set of finite quantum systems
A `whole-part' theory is developed for a set of finite quantum systems
with variables in . The partial order `subsystem'
is defined, by embedding various attributes of the system (quantum
states, density matrices, etc) into their counterparts in the supersystem
(for ). The compatibility of these embeddings is studied. The
concept of ubiquity is introduced for quantities which fit with this structure.
It is shown that various entropic quantities are ubiquitous. The sets of
various quantities become -topological spaces with the divisor topology,
which encapsulates fundamental physical properties. These sets can be converted
into directed-complete partial orders (dcpo), by adding `top elements'. The
continuity of various maps among these sets is studied
What it takes to measure a fundamental difference between dark matter and baryons: the halo velocity anisotropy
Numerous ongoing experiments aim at detecting WIMP dark matter particles from
the galactic halo directly through WIMP-nucleon interactions. Once such a
detection is established a confirmation of the galactic origin of the signal is
needed. This requires a direction-sensitive detector. We show that such a
detector can measure the velocity anisotropy beta of the galactic halo.
Cosmological N-body simulations predict the dark matter anisotropy to be
nonzero, beta~0.2. Baryonic matter has beta=0 and therefore a detection of a
nonzero beta would be strong proof of the fundamental difference between dark
and baryonic matter. We estimate the sensitivity for various detector
configurations using Monte Carlo methods and we show that the strongest signal
is found in the relatively few high recoil energy events. Measuring beta to the
precision of ~0.03 will require detecting more than 10^4 WIMP events with
nuclear recoil energies greater than 100 keV for a WIMP mass of 100 GeV and a
32S target. This number corresponds to ~10^6 events at all energies. We discuss
variations with respect to input parameters and we show that our method is
robust to the presence of backgrounds and discuss the possible improved
sensitivity for an energy-sensitive detector.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, accepted by JCAP. Matches accepted versio
Probing neutrino decays with the cosmic microwave background
We investigate in detail the possibility of constraining neutrino decays with
data from the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). Two generic decays
are considered \nu_H -> \nu_L \phi and \nu_H -> \nu_L \nu_L_bar \nu_L. We have
solved the momentum dependent Boltzmann equation in order to account for
possible relativistic decays. Doing this we estimate that any neutrino with
mass m > 1 eV decaying before the present should be detectable with future CMBR
data. Combining this result with other results on stable neutrinos, any
neutrino mass of the order 1 eV should be detectable.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Stringent neutron-star limits on large extra dimensions
Supernovae (SNe) are copious sources for Kaluza-Klein gravitons which are
generic for theories with large extra dimensions. These massive particles are
produced with average velocities ~0.5 c so that many of them are
gravitationally retained by the SN core. Every neutron star thus has a halo of
KK gravitons which decay into nu bar-nu, e^+e^- and gamma gamma on time scales
\~10^9 years. The EGRET gamma-flux limits (E_gamma ~ 100 MeV) for nearby
neutron stars constrain the fundamental scale for n=2 extra dimensions to M
>500 TeV, and M>30 TeV for n=3. The upcoming GLAST satellite is a factor ~30
more sensitive and thus may detect KK decays, for example at the nearby neutron
star RX J185635--3754. The requirement that neutron stars are not excessively
heated by KK decays implies M>1700 TeV for n=2, and M>60 TeV for n=3.Comment: Minor changes, matches version to appear in PR
A comparative health economic evaluation of two treatments for grass pollen induced allergic rhinoconjunctivitis
Strong constraint on large extra dimensions from cosmology
We have studied cosmological constraints on the number and radii of possible
large extra dimensions. If such dimensions exist, Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes are
copiously produced at high temperatures in the early universe, and can
potentially lead to unacceptable cosmological effects. We show that during
reheating, large numbers of KK modes are produced. These modes are not diluted
completely by the entropy production during reheating because they are produced
non-relativistically. This means that the modes produced during reheating can
easily be the dominant component. For instance, for two extra dimensions the
bound on their radii from considering only the thermally produced KK modes is R
< 1.1 x 10^-4 mm. If the modes produced during reheating are also accounted
for, the bound is strengthened to R < 2.2 x 10^-5 mm. This bound is stronger
than all other known astrophysical or laboratory limits.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, matches version to appear in Phys Rev
Cosmological limit on the neutrino mass
We have performed a careful analysis of constraints on the neutrino mass from
current cosmological data. Combining data from the cosmic microwave background
and the 2dF galaxy survey yields an upper limit on the sum of the three
neutrino mass eigenstates of \sum m_nu < 3 eV (95% conf.), without including
additional priors. Including data from SNIa observations, Big Bang
nucleosynthesis, and HST Hubble key project data on H_0 tightens the limit to
\sum m_nu < 2.5 eV (95% conf.). We also perform a Fisher matrix analysis which
illustrates the cosmological parameter degeneracies affecting the determination
of \sum m_nu.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, uses Revtex
On the Representation Theory of an Algebra of Braids and Ties
We consider the algebra introduced by F. Aicardi and J.
Juyumaya as an abstraction of the Yokonuma-Hecke algebra. We construct a tensor
space representation for and show that this is faithful. We use
it to give a basis for and to classify its irreducible
representations.Comment: 24 pages. Final version. To appear in Journal of Algebraic
Combinatorics
Neutrino masses and cosmic radiation density: Combined analysis
We determine the range of neutrino masses and cosmic radiation content
allowed by the most recent CMB and large-scale structure data. In contrast to
other recent works, we vary these parameters simultaneously and provide
likelihood contours in the two-dimensional parameter space of N_eff}, the usual
effective number of neutrino species measuring the radiation density, and \sum
m_nu. The allowed range of \sum m_nu and N_eff has shrunk significantly
compared to previous studies. The previous degeneracy between these parameters
has disappeared, largely thanks to the baryon acoustic oscillation data. The
likelihood contours differ significantly if \sum m_nu resides in a single
species instead of the standard case of being equally distributed among all
flavors. For \sum m_nu=0 we find 2.7 < N_eff < 4.6 at 95% CL while \sum m_nu <
0.62 eV at 95% CL for the standard radiation content.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure
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