28,819 research outputs found
Influence of Small-Scale Inhomogeneities on the Cosmological Consistency Tests
The current cosmological dark sector (dark matter plus dark energy) is
challenging our comprehension about the physical processes taking place in the
Universe. Recently, some authors tried to falsify the basic underlying
assumptions of such dark matter-dark energy paradigm. In this Letter, we show
that oversimplifications of the measurement process may produce false positives
to any consistency test based on the globally homogeneous and isotropic LCDM
model and its expansion history based on distance measurements. In particular,
when local inhomogeneity effects due to clumped matter or voids are taken into
account, an apparent violation of the basic assumptions ("Copernican
Principle") seems to be present. Conversely, the amplitude of the deviations
also probes the degree of reliability underlying the phenomenological
Dyer-Roeder procedure by confronting its predictions with the accuracy of the
weak lensing approach. Finally, a new method is devised to reconstruct the
effects of the inhomogeneities in a LCDM model, and some suggestions of how to
distinguish between clumpiness (or void) effects from different cosmologies are
discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures. Improved version accepted for publication as a
Letter in MNRA
Constraints on Cold Dark Matter Accelerating Cosmologies and Cluster Formation
We discuss the properties of homogeneous and isotropic flat cosmologies in
which the present accelerating stage is powered only by the gravitationally
induced creation of cold dark matter (CCDM) particles (). For
some matter creation rates proposed in the literature, we show that the main
cosmological functions such as the scale factor of the universe, the Hubble
expansion rate, the growth factor and the cluster formation rate are
analytically defined. The best CCDM scenario has only one free parameter and
our joint analysis involving BAO + CMB + SNe Ia data yields
() where
is the observed matter density parameter. In particular, this implies that the
model has no dark energy but the part of the matter that is effectively
clustering is in good agreement with the latest determinations from large scale
structure. The growth of perturbation and the formation of galaxy clusters in
such scenarios are also investigated. Despite the fact that both scenarios may
share the same Hubble expansion, we find that matter creation cosmologies
predict stronger small scale dynamics which implies a faster growth rate of
perturbations with respect to the usual CDM cosmology. Such results
point to the possibility of a crucial observational test confronting CCDM with
CDM scenarios trough a more detailed analysis involving CMB, weak
lensing, as well as the large scale structure.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication by Physical Rev.
Studying light propagation in a locally homogeneous universe through an extended Dyer-Roeder approach
Light is affected by local inhomogeneities in its propagation, which may
alter distances and so cosmological parameter estimation. In the era of
precision cosmology, the presence of inhomogeneities may induce systematic
errors if not properly accounted. In this vein, a new interpretation of the
conventional Dyer-Roeder (DR) approach by allowing light received from distant
sources to travel in regions denser than average is proposed. It is argued that
the existence of a distribution of small and moderate cosmic voids (or "black
regions") implies that its matter content was redistributed to the homogeneous
and clustered matter components with the former becoming denser than the cosmic
average in the absence of voids. Phenomenologically, this means that the DR
smoothness parameter (denoted here by ) can be greater than unity,
and, therefore, all previous analyses constraining it should be rediscussed
with a free upper limit. Accordingly, by performing a statistical analysis
involving 557 type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from Union2 compilation data in a
flat CDM model we obtain for the extended parameter,
(). The effects of are also
analyzed for generic CDM models and flat XCDM cosmologies. For both
models, we find that a value of greater than unity is able to
harmonize SNe Ia and cosmic microwave background observations thereby
alleviating the well-known tension between low and high redshift data. Finally,
a simple toy model based on the existence of cosmic voids is proposed in order
to justify why can be greater than unity as required by supernovae
data.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Title modified, results unchanged. It matches
version published as a Brief Report in Phys. Rev.
Hamilton-Jacobi Approach for Power-Law Potentials
The classical and relativistic Hamilton-Jacobi approach is applied to the
one-dimensional homogeneous potential, , where and
are continuously varying parameters. In the non-relativistic case, the
exact analytical solution is determined in terms of , and the total
energy . It is also shown that the non-linear equation of motion can be
linearized by constructing a hypergeometric differential equation for the
inverse problem . A variable transformation reducing the general problem
to that one of a particle subjected to a linear force is also established. For
any value of , it leads to a simple harmonic oscillator if , an
"anti-oscillator" if , or a free particle if E=0. However, such a
reduction is not possible in the relativistic case. For a bounded relativistic
motion, the first order correction to the period is determined for any value of
. For , it is found that the correction is just twice that one
deduced for the simple harmonic oscillator (), and does not depend on the
specific value of .Comment: 12 pages, Late
Quantized fields and gravitational particle creation in f(R) expanding universes
The problem of cosmological particle creation for a spatially flat,
homogeneous and isotropic Universes is discussed in the context of f(R)
theories of gravity. Different from cosmological models based on general
relativity theory, it is found that a conformal invariant metric does not
forbid the creation of massless particles during the early stages (radiation
era) of the Universe.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure
Spin-polarized transport in ferromagnetic multilayered semiconductor nanostructures
The occurrence of inhomogeneous spin-density distribution in multilayered
ferromagnetic diluted magnetic semiconductor nanostructures leads to strong
dependence of the spin-polarized transport properties on these systems. The
spin-dependent mobility, conductivity and resistivity in
(Ga,Mn)As/GaAs,(Ga,Mn)N/GaN, and (Si,Mn)/Si multilayers are calculated as a
function of temperature, scaled by the average magnetization of the diluted
magnetic semiconductor layers. An increase of the resistivity near the
transition temperature is obtained. We observed that the spin-polarized
transport properties changes strongly among the three materials.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure
Is CDM an effective CCDM cosmology?
We show that a cosmology driven by gravitationally induced particle
production of all non-relativistic species existing in the present Universe
mimics exactly the observed flat accelerating CDM cosmology with just
one dynamical free parameter. This kind of scenario includes the creation cold
dark matter (CCDM) model [Lima, Jesus & Oliveira, JCAP 011(2010)027] as a
particular case and also provides a natural reduction of the dark sector since
the vacuum component is not needed to accelerate the Universe. The new cosmic
scenario is equivalent to CDM both at the background and perturbative
levels and the associated creation process is also in agreement with the
universality of the gravitational interaction and equivalence principle.
Implicitly, it also suggests that the present day astronomical observations
cannot be considered the ultimate proof of cosmic vacuum effects in the evolved
Universe because CDM may be only an effective cosmology.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, changes in the abstract, introduction, new
references and typo correction
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