128 research outputs found
How flat is our Universe really?
Distance measurement provide no constraints on curvature independent of assumptions about the dark energy, raising the question, how flat is our Universe if we make no such assumptions? Allowing for general evolution of the dark energy equation of state with 20 free parameters that are allowed to cross the phantom divide, w(z) = -1, we show that while it is indeed possible to match the first peak in the Cosmic Microwave Background with non-flat models and arbitrary Hubble constant, H_0, the full WMAP7 and supernova data alone imply -0.12 < Omega_k < 0.01 (2sigma). If we add an H_0 prior, this tightens significantly to Omega_k = 0.002 pm 0.009 . These constitute the most conservative and model-independent constraints on curvature available today, and illustrate that the curvature-dynamics degeneracy is broken by current data, with a key role played by the Integrated Sachs Wolfe effect rather than the distance to the surface of last scattering. If one imposes a quintessence prior on the dark energy (-1 leq w(z) leq 1) then just the WMAP7 and supernova data alone force the Universe to near flatness: Omega_k = 0.013 pm 0.012. Finally, allowing for curvature, we find that all datasets are consistent with a Harrison-Zel'dovich spectral index, n_s = 1, at 2sigma, illustrating the interplay between early and late-universe constraints
Measuring primordial gravitational waves from CMB B-modes in cosmologies with generalized expansion histories
We evaluate our capability to constrain the abundance of primordial tensor
perturbations in cosmologies with generalized expansion histories in the epoch
of cosmic acceleration. Forthcoming satellite and sub-orbital experiments
probing polarization in the CMB are expected to measure the B-mode power in CMB
polarization, coming from PGWs on the degree scale, as well as gravitational
lensing on arcmin scales; the latter is the main competitor for the measurement
of PGWs, and is directly affected by the underlying expansion history,
determined by the presence of a DE component. In particular, we consider early
DE possible scenarios, in which the expansion history is substantially modified
at the epoch in which the CMB lensing is most relevant. We show that the
introduction of a parametrized DE may induce a variation as large as 30% in the
ratio of the power of lensing and PGWs on the degree scale. We find that
adopting the nominal specifications of upcoming satellite measurements the
constraining power on PGWs is weakened by the inclusion of the extra degrees of
freedom, resulting in a reduction of about 10% of the upper limits on r in
fiducial models with no GWs, as well as a comparable increase in the error bars
in models with non-zero r. Moreover, we find that the inclusion of sub-orbital
CMB experiments, capable of mapping the B-mode power up to the angular scales
affected by lensing, can restore the forecasted performances with a
cosmological constant. Finally, we show how the combination of CMB data with
Type Ia SNe, BAO and Hubble constant allows to constrain simultaneously r and
the DE quantities in the parametrization we consider, consisting of present
abundance and first redshift derivative of the energy density. We compare this
study with results obtained using the forecasted lensing potential measurement
precision from CMB satellite observations, finding consistent results.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication by JCAP. Modified
version after the referee's comment
Type Ia supernova Hubble diagram with near-infrared and optical observations
We main goal of this paper is to test whether the NIR peak magnitudes of SNe
Ia could be accurately estimated with only a single observation obtained close
to maximum light, provided the time of B band maximum and the optical stretch
parameter are known. We obtained multi-epoch UBVRI and single-epoch J and H
photometric observations of 16 SNe Ia in the redshift range z=0.037-0.183,
doubling the leverage of the current SN Ia NIR Hubble diagram and the number of
SNe beyond redshift 0.04. This sample was analyzed together with 102 NIR and
458 optical light curves (LCs) of normal SNe Ia from the literature. The
analysis of 45 well-sampled NIR LCs shows that a single template accurately
describes them if its time axis is stretched with the optical stretch
parameter. This allows us to estimate the NIR peak magnitudes even with one
observation obtained within 10 days from B-band maximum. We find that the NIR
Hubble residuals show weak correlation with DM_15 and E(B-V), and for the first
time we report a possible dependence on the J_max-H_max color. The intrinsic
NIR luminosity scatter of SNe Ia is estimated to be around 0.10 mag, which is
smaller than what can be derived for a similarly heterogeneous sample at
optical wavelengths. In conclusion, we find that SNe Ia are at least as good
standard candles in the NIR as in the optical. We showed that it is feasible to
extended the NIR SN Ia Hubble diagram to z=0.2 with very modest sampling of the
NIR LCs, if complemented by well-sampled optical LCs. Our results suggest that
the most efficient way to extend the NIR Hubble diagram to high redshift would
be to obtain a single observation close to the NIR maximum. (abridged)Comment: 39 pages, 15 figures, accepted by A&
Directional Dependence of ÎCDM Cosmological Parameters
We study hemispherical power asymmetry in the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 9 yr data. We analyze the combined V- and W-band sky maps, after application of the KQ85 mask, and find that the asymmetry is statistically significant at the 3.4Ï confidence level for â = 2-600, where the data are signal-dominated, with a preferred asymmetry direction (l, b) = (227, â27). Individual asymmetry axes estimated from six independent multipole ranges are all consistent with this direction. Subsequently, we estimate cosmological parameters on different parts of the sky and show that the parameters A_s, n_s , and Ω_b are the most sensitive to this power asymmetry. In particular, for the two opposite hemispheres aligned with the preferred asymmetry axis, we find n_s = 0.959 ± 0.022 and n_s = 0.989 ± 0.024, respectively
Exploring the spectroscopic diversity of type Ia supernovae with DRACULA: a machine learning approach
The existence of multiple subclasses of type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) has been
the subject of great debate in the last decade. One major challenge inevitably
met when trying to infer the existence of one or more subclasses is the time
consuming, and subjective, process of subclass definition. In this work, we
show how machine learning tools facilitate identification of subtypes of SNeIa
through the establishment of a hierarchical group structure in the continuous
space of spectral diversity formed by these objects. Using Deep Learning, we
were capable of performing such identification in a 4 dimensional feature space
(+1 for time evolution), while the standard Principal Component Analysis barely
achieves similar results using 15 principal components. This is evidence that
the progenitor system and the explosion mechanism can be described by a small
number of initial physical parameters. As a proof of concept, we show that our
results are in close agreement with a previously suggested classification
scheme and that our proposed method can grasp the main spectral features behind
the definition of such subtypes. This allows the confirmation of the velocity
of lines as a first order effect in the determination of SNIa subtypes,
followed by 91bg-like events. Given the expected data deluge in the forthcoming
years, our proposed approach is essential to allow a quick and statistically
coherent identification of SNeIa subtypes (and outliers). All tools used in
this work were made publicly available in the Python package Dimensionality
Reduction And Clustering for Unsupervised Learning in Astronomy (DRACULA) and
can be found within COINtoolbox (https://github.com/COINtoolbox/DRACULA).Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Estimating the tensor-to-scalar ratio and the effect of residual foreground contamination
We consider future balloon-borne and ground-based suborbital experiments
designed to search for inflationary gravitational waves, and investigate the
impact of residual foregrounds that remain in the estimated cosmic microwave
background maps. This is achieved by propagating foreground modelling
uncertainties from the component separation, under the assumption of a
spatially uniform foreground frequency scaling, through to the power spectrum
estimates, and up to measurement of the tensor to scalar ratio in the parameter
estimation step. We characterize the error covariance due to subtracted
foregrounds, and find it to be subdominant compared to instrumental noise and
sample variance in our simulated data analysis. We model the unsubtracted
residual foreground contribution using a two-parameter power law and show that
marginalization over these foreground parameters is effective in accounting for
a bias due to excess foreground power at low . We conclude that, at least
in the suborbital experimental setups we have simulated, foreground errors may
be modeled and propagated up to parameter estimation with only a slight
degradation of the target sensitivity of these experiments derived neglecting
the presence of the foregrounds.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in JCA
Fisher Matrix Preloaded -- Fisher4Cast
The Fisher Matrix is the backbone of modern cosmological forecasting. We
describe the Fisher4Cast software: a general-purpose, easy-to-use, Fisher
Matrix framework. It is open source, rigorously designed and tested and
includes a Graphical User Interface (GUI) with automated LATEX file creation
capability and point-and-click Fisher ellipse generation. Fisher4Cast was
designed for ease of extension and, although written in Matlab, is easily
portable to open-source alternatives such as Octave and Scilab. Here we use
Fisher4Cast to present new 3-D and 4-D visualisations of the forecasting
landscape and to investigate the effects of growth and curvature on future
cosmological surveys. Early releases have been available at
http://www.cosmology.org.za since May 2008 with 750 downloads in the first
year. Version 2.2 is made public with this paper and includes a Quick Start
guide and the code used to produce the figures in this paper, in the hope that
it will be useful to the cosmology and wider scientific communities.Comment: 30 Pages, 15 figures. Minor revisions to match published version,
with some additional functionality described to match the current version
(2.2) of the code. Software available at http://www.cosmology.org.za. Usage,
structure and flow of the software, as well as tests performed are described
in the accompanying Users' Manua
Is the Dynamics of Tracking Dark Energy Detectable?
We highlight the unexpected impact of nucleosynthesis and other early
universe constraints on the detectability of tracking quintessence dynamics at
late times, showing that such dynamics may well be invisible until the
unveiling of the Stage-IV dark energy experiments (DUNE, JDEM, LSST, SKA).
Nucleosynthesis forces |w'(0)| < 0.2 for the models we consider and strongly
limits potential deviations from LCDM. Surprisingly, the standard CPL
parametrisation, w(z) = w_0 + w_a z/(1+z), cannot match the nucleosynthesis
bound for minimally coupled tracking scalar fields. Given that such models are
arguably the best-motivated alternatives to a cosmological constant these
results may significantly impact future cosmological survey design and imply
that dark energy may well be dynamical even if we do not detect any dynamics in
the next decade.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Updated to match published versio
Effects of quantum gravity on the inflationary parameters and thermodynamics of the early universe
The effects of generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) on the inflationary
dynamics and the thermodynamics of the early universe are studied. Using the
GUP approach, the tensorial and scalar density fluctuations in the inflation
era are evaluated and compared with the standard case. We find a good agreement
with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data. Assuming that a quantum gas
of scalar particles is confined within a thin layer near the apparent horizon
of the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker universe which satisfies the
boundary condition, the number and entropy densities and the free energy
arising form the quantum states are calculated using the GUP approach. A
qualitative estimation for effects of the quantum gravity on all these
thermodynamic quantities is introduced.Comment: 15 graghes, 7 figures with 17 eps graph
Recommended from our members
Planck intermediate results: LI. Features in the cosmic microwave background temperature power spectrum and shifts in cosmological parameters
The six parameters of the standard ÎCDM model have best-fit values derived from the Planck temperature power spectrum that are shifted somewhat from the best-fit values derived from WMAP data. These shifts are driven by features in the Planck temperature power spectrum at angular scales that had never before been measured to cosmic-variance level precision. We have investigated these shifts to determine whether they are within the range of expectation and to understand their origin in the data. Taking our parameter set to be the optical depth of the reionized intergalactic medium, the baryon density Ï b , the matter density Ï m , the angular size of the sound horizon the spectral index of the primordial power spectrum, n s , and A s e -2Ï (where A s is the amplitude of the primordial power spectrum), we have examined the change in best-fit values between a WMAP-like large angular-scale data set (with multipole moment 800, or splitting at a different multipole, yields similar results. We examined the 800 power spectrum data and find that the features there that drive these shifts are a set of oscillations across a broad range of angular scales. Although they partly appear similar to the effects of enhanced gravitational lensing, the shifts in ÎCDM parameters that arise in response to these features correspond to model spectrum changes that are predominantly due to non-lensing effects; the only exception is, which, at fixed A s e -2Ï , affects the > 800 temperature power spectrum solely through the associated change in A s and the impact of that on the lensing potential power spectrum. We also ask, "what is it about the power spectrum at < 800 that leads to somewhat different best-fit parameters than come from the full range?" We find that if we discard the data at < 30, where there is a roughly 2Ï downward fluctuation in power relative to the model that best fits the full range, the < 800 best-fit parameters shift significantly towards the < 2500 best-fit parameters. In contrast, including < 30, this previously noted "low-deficit" drives n s up and impacts parameters correlated with n s , such as Ï m and H 0 . As expected, the < 30 data have a much greater impact on the < 800 best fit than on the < 2500 best fit. So although the shifts are not very significant, we find that they can be understood through the combined effects of an oscillatory-like set of high-residuals and the deficit in low-power, excursions consistent with sample variance that happen to map onto changes in cosmological parameters. Finally, we examine agreement between PlanckTT data and two other CMB data sets, namely the Planck lensing reconstruction and the TT power spectrum measured by the South Pole Telescope, again finding a lack of convincing evidence of any significant deviations in parameters, suggesting that current CMB data sets give an internally consistent picture of the ÎCDM model
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