1,653 research outputs found
Dynamics of a Dark Matter Field with a Quartic Self-Interaction Potential
It may prove useful in cosmology to understand the behavior of the energy
distribution in a scalar field that interacts only with gravity and with itself
by a pure quartic potential, because if such a field existed it would be
gravitationally produced, as a squeezed state, during inflation. It is known
that the mean energy density in such a field after inflation varies with the
expansion of the universe in the same way as radiation. I show that if the
field initially is close to homogeneous, with small energy density contrast
delta rho /rho and coherence length L, the energy density fluctuations behave
like acoustic oscillations in an ideal relativistic fluid for a time on the
order of L/|delta rho /rho|. This ends with the appearance of features that
resemble shock waves, but interact in a close to elastic way that reversibly
disturbs the energy distribution.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys Rev
Interaction between Faraday rotation and Cotton-Mouton effects in polarimetry modeling for NSTX
The evolution of electromagnetic wave polarization is modeled for propagation
in the major radial direction in the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX)
with retroreflection from the center stack of the vacuum vessel. This modeling
illustrates that the Cotton-Mouton effect-elliptization due to the magnetic
field perpendicular to the propagation direction-is shown to be strongly
weighted to the high-field region of the plasma. An interaction between the
Faraday rotation and Cotton-Mouton effects is also clearly identified.
Elliptization occurs when the wave polarization direction is neither parallel
nor perpendicular to the local transverse magnetic field. Since Faraday
rotation modifies the polarization direction during propagation, it must also
affect the resultant elliptization. The Cotton-Mouton effect also intrinsically
results in rotation of the polarization direction, but this effect is less
significant in the plasma conditions modeled. The interaction increases at
longer wavelength, and complicates interpretation of polarimetry measurements.Comment: Contributed paper published as part of the Proceedings of the 18th
Topical Conference on High-Temperature Plasma Diagnostics, Wildwood, New
Jersey, May, 201
Particle linear theory on a self-gravitating perturbed cubic Bravais lattice
Discreteness effects are a source of uncontrolled systematic errors of N-body
simulations, which are used to compute the evolution of a self-gravitating
fluid. We have already developed the so-called "Particle Linear Theory" (PLT),
which describes the evolution of the position of self-gravitating particles
located on a perturbed simple cubic lattice. It is the discrete analogue of the
well-known (Lagrangian) linear theory of a self-gravitating fluid. Comparing
both theories permits to quantify precisely discreteness effects in the linear
regime. It is useful to develop the PLT also for other perturbed lattices
because they represent different discretizations of the same continuous system.
In this paper we detail how to implement the PLT for perturbed cubic Bravais
lattices (simple, body and face-centered) in a cubic simulation box. As an
application, we will study the discreteness effects -- in the linear regime --
of N-body simulations for which initial conditions have been set-up using these
different lattices.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures and 4 tables. Minor corrections to match published
versio
Cosmological Higgs fields
We present a time-dependent solution to the coupled Einstein-Higgs equations
for general Higgs-type potentials in the context of flat FRW cosmological
models. Possible implications are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, no figures. Version to be published in Phys. Rev. Lett.
Changes: references and citations added; introduction partly modified;
expanded discussion of relations between parameters in the Higgs potentia
Cosmological Density Perturbations with a Scale-Dependent Newton's G
We explore possible cosmological consequences of a running Newton's constant
, as suggested by the non-trivial ultraviolet fixed point
scenario in the quantum field-theoretic treatment of Einstein gravity with a
cosmological constant term. In particular we focus here on what possible
effects the scale-dependent coupling might have on large scale cosmological
density perturbations. Starting from a set of manifestly covariant effective
field equations derived earlier, we systematically develop the linear theory of
density perturbations for a non-relativistic, pressure-less fluid. The result
is a modified equation for the matter density contrast, which can be solved and
thus provides an estimate for the growth index parameter in the
presence of a running . We complete our analysis by comparing the fully
relativistic treatment with the corresponding results for the non-relativistic
(Newtonian) case, the latter also with a weakly scale dependent .Comment: 54 pages, 4 figure
Imaging Polarimeter Arrays for Near-Millimeter Waves
An integrated-circuit antenna array has been developed that images both polarization and intensity. The array consists of a row of antennas that lean alternately left and right, creating two interlaced sub-arrays that respond to different polarizations. The arrays and the bismuth bolometer detectors are made by a photoresist shadowing technique that requires only one photolithographic mask. The array has measured polarization at a wavelength of 800 µm with an absolute accuracy of 0.8° and a relative precision of 7 arc min. and has demonstrated nearly diffraction-Iimited resolutiort of a 20° step in polarization
Testing the Warm Dark Matter paradigm with large-scale structures
We explore the impact of a LWDM cosmological scenario on the clustering
properties of large-scale structure in the Universe. We do this by extending
the halo model. The new development is that we consider two components to the
mass density: one arising from mass in collapsed haloes, and the second from a
smooth component of uncollapsed mass. Assuming that the nonlinear clustering of
dark matter haloes can be understood, then from conservation arguments one can
precisely calculate the clustering properties of the smooth component and its
cross-correlation with haloes. We then explore how the three main ingredients
of the halo calculations, the mass function, bias and density profiles are
affected by WDM. We show that, relative to CDM: the mass function is suppressed
by ~50%, for masses ~100 times the free-streaming mass-scale; the bias of low
mass haloes can be boosted by up to 20%; core densities of haloes can be
suppressed. We also examine the impact of relic thermal velocities on the
density profiles, and find that these effects are constrained to scales r<1
kpc/h, and hence of little importance for dark matter tests, owing to
uncertainties in the baryonic physics. We use our modified halo model to
calculate the non-linear matter power spectrum, and find significant
small-scale power in the model. However, relative to the CDM case, the power is
suppressed. We then calculate the expected signal and noise that our set of
LWDM models would give for a future weak lensing mission. We show that the
models should in principle be separable at high significance. Finally, using
the Fisher matrix formalism we forecast the limit on the WDM particle mass for
a future full-sky weak lensing mission like Euclid or LSST. With Planck priors
and using multipoles l<5000, we find that a lower limit of 2.6 keV should be
easily achievable.Comment: Replaced with version accepted for publication in PRD. Inclusion of:
new figure showing dependence of predictions on cut-off mass; new discussion
of mass function; updated refs. 18 pages, 10 Figure
Cosmological Baryon Sound Waves Coupled with the Primeval Radiation
The fluid equations for the baryon-electron system in an expanding universe
are derived from the Boltzmann equation. The effect of the Compton interaction
is taken into account properly in order to evaluate the photon-electron
collisional term. As an application, the acoustic motions of the
baryon-electron system after recombination are investigated. The effective
adiabatic index is computed for sound waves of various wavelengths,
assuming the perturbation amplitude is small. The oscillations are found to be
dumped when changes from between 1 (for an isothermal process) to 5/3
(for an adiabatic process).Comment: 20 pages, Revtex, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
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