184 research outputs found
An analysis of cosmological perturbations in hydrodynamical and field representations
Density fluctuations of fluids with negative pressure exhibit decreasing time
behaviour in the long wavelength limit, but are strongly unstable in the small
wavelength limit when a hydrodynamical approach is used. On the other hand, the
corresponding gravitational waves are well behaved. We verify that the
instabilities present in density fluctuations are due essentially to the
hydrodynamical representation; if we turn to a field representation that lead
to the same background behaviour, the instabilities are no more present. In the
long wavelength limit, both approachs give the same results. We show also that
this inequivalence between background and perturbative level is a feature of
negative pressure fluid. When the fluid has positive pressure, the
hydrodynamical representation leads to the same behaviour as the field
representation both at the background and perturbative levels.Comment: Latex file, 18 page
Higher spin fields and the problem of cosmological constant
The cosmological evolution of free massless vector or tensor (but not gauge)
fields minimally coupled to gravity is analyzed. It is shown that there are
some unstable solutions for these fields in De Sitter background. The back
reaction of the energy-momentum tensor of such solutions to the original
cosmological constant exactly cancels the latter and the expansion regime
changes from the exponential to the power law one. In contrast to the
adjustment mechanism realized by a scalar field the gravitational coupling
constant in this model is time-independent and the resulting cosmology may
resemble the realistic one.Comment: 15 pages, Latex twic
Properties of cosmologies with dynamical pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons
We study observational constraints on cosmological models with a quintessence
field in the form of a dynamical pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson. After reviewing
the properties of the solutions, from a dynamical systems phase space analysis,
we consider the constraints on parameter values imposed by luminosity distances
from the 60 Type Ia supernovae published by Perlmutter et al., and also from
gravitational lensing statistics of distant quasars. In the case of the Type Ia
supernovae we explicitly allow for the possibility of evolution of the peak
luminosities of the supernovae sources, using simple empirical models which
have been recently discussed in the literature. We find weak evidence to
suggest that the models with supernovae evolution fit the data better in the
context of the quintessence models in question. If source evolution is a
reality then the greatest challenge facing these models is the tension between
current value of the expansion age, H_0 t_0, and the fraction of the critical
energy density, Omega_{phi0}, corresponding to the scalar field. Nonetheless
there are ranges of the free parameters which fit all available cosmological
data.Comment: 22 pages, RevTeX, 13 figures, epsf. v3: References added, plus a few
sentences to clarify some small points; v4: Typos fixe
New Constraints from High Redshift Supernovae and Lensing Statistics upon Scalar Field Cosmologies
We explore the implications of gravitationally lensed QSOs and high-redshift
SNe Ia observations for spatially flat cosmological models in which a
classically evolving scalar field currently dominates the energy density of the
Universe. We consider two representative scalar field potentials that give rise
to effective decaying (``quintessence'') models:
pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons () and an inverse
power-law potential (). We show that a
large region of parameter space is consistent with current data if . On the other hand, a higher lower bound for the matter density
parameter suggested by large-scale galaxy flows, ,
considerably reduces the allowed parameter space, forcing the scalar field
behavior to approach that of a cosmological constant.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PR
Cosmic Concordance and Quintessence
We present a comprehensive study of the observational constraints on
spatially flat cosmological models containing a mixture of matter and
quintessence --- a time varying, spatially inhomogeneous component of the
energy density of the universe with negative pressure. Our study also includes
the limiting case of a cosmological constant. Low red shift constraints include
the Hubble parameter, baryon fraction, cluster abundance, age of the universe,
bulk velocity and shape of the mass power spectrum; intermediate red shift
constraints are due to type 1a supernovae, gravitational lensing, the Ly-a
forest, and the evolution of large scale structure; high red shift constraints
are based on cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropy. Mindful of
systematic errors, we adopt a conservative approach in applying these
constraints. We determine that quintessence models in which the matter density
parameter is 0.2 \ls \Omega_m \ls 0.5 and the effective, density-averaged
equation of state is -1 \le w \ls -0.2, are consistent with the most
reliable, current low red shift and CMB observations at the level.
Factoring in the constraint due to type 1a SNe, the range for the equation of
state is reduced to -1 \le w \ls -0.4, where this range represents models
consistent with each observational constraint at the 2 level or better
(concordance analysis). A combined maximum likelihood analysis suggests a
smaller range, -1 \le w \ls -0.6. We find that the best-fit and
best-motivated quintessence models lie near , , and spectral index , with an effective equation of state for ``tracker'' quintessence and for ``creeper''
quintessence. (abstract shortened)Comment: revised to match ApJ version; 33 pages; 20 figures, 4 in color; uses
emulateapj.st
Cosmological constraints from lensing statistics and supernovae on the cosmic equation of state
We investigate observational constraints from lensing statistics and high-z
type Ia supernovae on flat cosmological models with nonrelativistic matter and
an exotic fluid with equation of state, . We show that
agreement with both tests at the 68% confidence level is possible if the
parameter is low () and with lower values of corresponding to higher .
We find that a conventional cosmological constant model with is the best fit model of the combined likelihood.Comment: 7 pages, 4 postscript figures, revtex, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Future supernova probes of quintessence
We investigate the potential of a future supernovae data set, as might be obtained by the proposed SNAP satellite, to discriminate between two possible explanations for the observed dimming of the high redshift type IA supernovae: namely, either (i) a cosmological evolution for which the expansion of the universe has been accelerating for a substantial range of redshifts z∼1; or (ii) an unexpected supernova luminosity evolution over such a redshift range. By evaluating Bayes factors we show that within the context of spatially flat model universes with a dark energy the future SNAP data set should be able to discriminate these two possibilities. Our calculations assume particular cosmological models with a quintessence field in the form of a dynamical pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson (PNGB), and a simple empirical model of the evolution of peak luminosities of the supernovae sources which has been recently discussed in the literature. We also show that the fiducial SNAP data set, simulated with the assumption of no source evolution, is able to discriminate the PNGB model from a number of other spatially flat quintessence models which have been widely studied in the literature, namely those with inverse power-law, simple exponential and double-exponential potentials.S. C. Cindy Ng and David L. Wiltshir
Cryo-EM structure of a helicase loading intermediate containing ORC-Cdc6-Cdt1-MCM2-7 bound to DNA
In eukaryotes, the Cdt1-bound replicative helicase core MCM2-7 is loaded onto DNA by the ORC-Cdc6 ATPase to form a prereplicative complex (pre-RC) with an MCM2-7 double hexamer encircling DNA. Using purified components in the presence of ATP-γS, we have captured in vitro an intermediate in pre-RC assembly that contains a complex between the ORC-Cdc6 and Cdt1-MCM2-7 heteroheptamers called the OCCM. Cryo-EM studies of this 14-subunit complex reveal that the two separate heptameric complexes are engaged extensively, with the ORC-Cdc6 N-terminal AAA+ domains latching onto the C-terminal AAA+ motor domains of the MCM2-7 hexamer. The conformation of ORC-Cdc6 undergoes a concerted change into a right-handed spiral with helical symmetry that is identical to that of the DNA double helix. The resulting ORC-Cdc6 helicase loader shows a notable structural similarity to the replication factor C clamp loader, suggesting a conserved mechanism of action
Thermodynamics of Decaying Vacuum Cosmologies
The thermodynamic behavior of vacuum decaying cosmologies is investigated
within a manifestly covariant formulation. Such a process corresponds to a
continuous irreversible energy flow from the vacuum component to the created
matter constituents. It is shown that if the specific entropy per particle
remains constant during the process, the equilibrium relations are preserved.
In particular, if the vacuum decays into photons, the energy density and
average number density of photons scale with the temperature as and . The temperature law is determined and a generalized
Planckian type form of the spectrum, which is preserved in the course of the
evolution, is also proposed. Some consequences of these results for decaying
vacuum FRW type cosmologies as well as for models with ``adiabatic'' photon
creation are discussed.Comment: 21 pages, uses LATE
- …