Searching for planar signatures in WMAP

We search for planar deviations of statistical isotropy in the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data by applying a recently introduced angular-planar statistics both to full-sky and to masked temperature maps, including in our analysis the effect of the residual foreground contamination and systematics in the foreground removing process as sources of error. We confirm earlier findings that full-sky maps exhibit anomalies at the planar ($l$) and angular ($\ell$) scales $(l,\ell)=(2,5),(4,7),$ and $(6,8)$, which seem to be due to unremoved foregrounds since this features are present in the full-sky map but not in the masked maps. On the other hand, our test detects slightly anomalous results at the scales $(l,\ell)=(10,8)$ and $(2,9)$ in the masked maps but not in the full-sky one, indicating that the foreground cleaning procedure (used to generate the full-sky map) could not only be creating false anomalies but also hiding existing ones. We also find a significant trace of an anomaly in the full-sky map at the scale $(l,\ell)=(10,5)$, which is still present when we consider galactic cuts of 18.3% and 28.4%. As regards the quadrupole ($\ell=2$), we find a coherent over-modulation over the whole celestial sphere, for all full-sky and cut-sky maps. Overall, our results seem to indicate that current CMB maps derived from WMAP data do not show significant signs of anisotropies, as measured by our angular-planar estimator. However, we have detected a curious coherence of planar modulations at angular scales of the order of the galaxy's plane, which may be an indication of residual contaminations in the full- and cut-sky maps.Comment: 15 pages with pdf figure

Non-linear dark energy clustering

We consider a dark energy fluid with arbitrary sound speed and equation of state and discuss the effect of its clustering on the cold dark matter distribution at the non-linear level. We write the continuity, Euler and Poisson equations for the system in the Newtonian approximation. Then, using the time renormalization group method to resum perturbative corrections at all orders, we compute the total clustering power spectrum and matter power spectrum. At the linear level, a sound speed of dark energy different from that of light modifies the power spectrum on observationally interesting scales, such as those relevant for baryonic acoustic oscillations. We show that the effect of varying the sound speed of dark energy on the non-linear corrections to the matter power spectrum is below the per cent level, and therefore these corrections can be well modelled by their counterpart in cosmological scenarios with smooth dark energy. We also show that the non-linear effects on the matter growth index can be as large as 10-15 per cent for small scales.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures. Improved presentation. References added. Matches published version in JCA

Coupled dark matter-dark energy in light of near Universe observations

Cosmological analysis based on currently available observations are unable to rule out a sizeable coupling among the dark energy and dark matter fluids. We explore a variety of coupled dark matter-dark energy models, which satisfy cosmic microwave background constraints, in light of low redshift and near universe observations. We illustrate the phenomenology of different classes of dark coupling models, paying particular attention in distinguishing between effects that appear only on the expansion history and those that appear in the growth of structure. We find that while a broad class of dark coupling models are effectively models where general relativity (GR) is modified --and thus can be probed by a combination of tests for the expansion history and the growth of structure--, there is a class of dark coupling models where gravity is still GR, but the growth of perturbations is, in principle modified. While this effect is small in the specific models we have considered, one should bear in mind that an inconsistency between reconstructed expansion history and growth may not uniquely indicate deviations from GR. Our low redshift constraints arise from cosmic velocities, redshift space distortions and dark matter abundance in galaxy voids. We find that current data constrain the dimensionless coupling to be |xi|<0.2, but prospects from forthcoming data are for a significant improvement. Future, precise measurements of the Hubble constant, combined with high-precision constraints on the growth of structure, could provide the key to rule out dark coupling models which survive other tests. We shall exploit as well weak equivalence principle violation arguments, which have the potential to highly disfavour a broad family of coupled models.Comment: 34 pages, 6 figures; changes to match published versio

An overview of the current status of CMB observations

In this paper we briefly review the current status of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations, summarising the latest results obtained from CMB experiments, both in intensity and polarization, and the constraints imposed on the cosmological parameters. We also present a summary of current and future CMB experiments, with a special focus on the quest for the CMB B-mode polarization.Comment: Latest CMB results have been included. References added. To appear in "Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics V", Proceedings of the VIII Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA) held in Santander, 7-11 July, 200