Which cosmological models -- with dark energy or modified FRW dynamics?

Recent measurements of distant type Ia supernovae (SNIa) as well as other observations indicate that our universe is in accelerating phase of expansion. In principle there are two alternative explanation for such an acceleration. While in the first approach an unknown form of energy violating the strong energy condition is postulated, in second one some modification of FRW dynamics is postulated. The both approaches are in well agreement with present day observations which is the manifestation of the degeneracy problem appearing in observational cosmology. We use the Akaike (AIC) and Bayesian (BIC) information criteria of model selection to overcome this degeneracy and to determine a model with such a set of parameters which gives the most preferred fit to the SNIa data. We consider five representative evolutional scenarios in each of groups. Among dark energy proposal the $\Lambda$CDM model, CDM model with phantom field, CDM model with topological defect, model with Chaplygin gas, and the model with the linear dynamical equation of state parameter. As an alternative prototype scenarios we consider: brane world Dvali Gabadadze Porrati scenario, brane models in Randall-Sundrum scenario, Cardassian models with dust matter and radiation, bouncing model with the cosmological constant and metric-affine gravity (MAG) inspired cosmological models. Applying the model selection criteria we show that both AIC and BIC indicates that additional contribution arises from nonstandard FRW dynamics are not necessary to explain SNIa. Adopting the model selection information criteria we show that the AIC indicates the flat phantom model while BIC indicates both flat phantom and flat $\Lambda$CDM models.Comment: 17 pages 6 figure

Some observational aspects of the orientation of galaxies

We investigated the sample of galaxies belonging to the Tully groups of galaxies. We analyzed the orientation of galaxies inside the group. We did not found significant deviation from isotropy both in orientation of position angles and angles $\delta_D$ and $\eta$ giving the spatial orientation of galaxy planes. Moreover we analyzed consequences of different approximation of "true shape" of galaxies and showed possible influence of this problem for investigation of spatial orientation of galaxies. Implications of the obtained results for theory of galaxy formation was discussed as well.Comment: Acta Physica Polonica B (accepted), references correcte

Can the Stephani model be an alternative to FRW accelerating models?

A class of Stephani cosmological models as a prototype of non-homogeneous universe is considered. The non-homogeneity can lead to accelerated evolution which is now observed from the SNIa data. Three samples of type Ia supernovae obtained by Perlmutter at al., Tonry et al. and Knop et al. are taken into account. Different statistical methods (best fits as well as maximum likelihood method) to obtain estimates of the model parameters are used. Stephani model is considered as an alternative to the concordance of Lambda-CDM model in the explanation of the present acceleration of the universe. The model explains the acceleration of the universe at the same level of accuracy as the Lambda-CDM model. From the best fit analysis it follows that the Stephani model is characterized by higher value of nonrelativistic matter density parameter than the Lambda-CDM model. It is also shown that the obtained results are consistent with location of CMB peaks.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figure

Problems of Clustering of Radiogalaxies

We present the preliminary analysis of clustering of a sample of 1157 radio-identified galaxies from Machalski & Condon (1999). We found that for separations $2-15 h^{-1}$Mpc their redshift space autocorrelation function $\xi(s)$ can be approximated by the power law with the correlation length $\sim 3.75h^{-1}$Mpc and slope $\gamma \sim 1.8$. The correlation length for radiogalaxies is found to be lower and the slope steeper than the corresponding parameters of the control sample of optically observed galaxies. Analysis the projected correlation function $\Xi(r)$ displays possible differences in the clustering properties between active galactic nuclei (AGN) and starburst (SB) galaxies.Comment: Submitted: Proceedings of IAUS 290 "Feeding Compact Objects: Accretion on All Scales", C. M. Zhang, T. Belloni, M. Mendez & S. N. Zhang (eds.