Non-linear Matter Spectra in Coupled Quintessence

We consider cosmologies in which a dark-energy scalar field interacts with cold dark matter. The growth of perturbations is followed beyond the linear level by means of the time-renormalization-group method, which is extended to describe a multi-component matter sector. Even in the absence of the extra interaction, a scale-dependent bias is generated as a consequence of the different initial conditions for baryons and dark matter after decoupling. The effect is enhanced significantly by the extra coupling and can be at the 2-3 percent level in the range of scales of baryonic acoustic oscillations. We compare our results with N-body simulations, finding very good agreement.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, typo correcte

Early Dark Energy Cosmologies

We propose a novel parameterization of the dark energy density. It is particularly well suited to describe a non-negligible contribution of dark energy at early times and contains only three parameters, which are all physically meaningful: the fractional dark energy density today, the equation of state today and the fractional dark energy density at early times. As we parameterize Omega_d(a) directly instead of the equation of state, we can give analytic expressions for the Hubble parameter, the conformal horizon today and at last scattering, the sound horizon at last scattering, the acoustic scale as well as the luminosity distance. For an equation of state today w_0 < -1, our model crosses the cosmological constant boundary. We perform numerical studies to constrain the parameters of our model by using Cosmic Microwave Background, Large Scale Structure and Supernovae Ia data. At 95% confidence, we find that the fractional dark energy density at early times Omega_early < 0.06. This bound tightens considerably to Omega_early < 0.04 when the latest Boomerang data is included. We find that both the gold sample of Riess et. al. and the SNLS data by Astier et. al. when combined with CMB and LSS data mildly prefer w_0 < -1, but are well compatible with a cosmological constant.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; references added, matches published versio

Averaging Robertson-Walker Cosmologies

The cosmological backreaction arises when one directly averages the Einstein equations to recover an effective Robertson-Walker cosmology, rather than assuming a background a priori. While usually discussed in the context of dark energy, strictly speaking any cosmological model should be recovered from such a procedure. We apply the Buchert averaging formalism to linear Robertson-Walker universes containing matter, radiation and dark energy and evaluate numerically the discrepancies between the assumed and the averaged behaviour, finding the largest deviations for an Einstein-de Sitter universe, increasing rapidly with Hubble rate to a 0.01% effect for h=0.701. For the LCDM concordance model, the backreaction is of the order of Omega_eff~4x10^-6, with those for dark energy models being within a factor of two or three. The impacts at recombination are of the order of 10^-8 and those in deep radiation domination asymptote to a constant value. While the effective equations of state of the backreactions in Einstein-de Sitter, concordance and quintessence models are generally dust-like, a backreaction with an equation of state w_eff<-1/3 can be found for strongly phantom models.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, ReVTeX. Updated to version accepted by JCA

Cosmological Backreaction from Perturbations

We reformulate the averaged Einstein equations in a form suitable for use with Newtonian gauge linear perturbation theory and track the size of the modifications to standard Robertson-Walker evolution on the largest scales as a function of redshift for both Einstein de-Sitter and Lambda CDM cosmologies. In both cases the effective energy density arising from linear perturbations is of the order of 10^-5 the matter density, as would be expected, with an effective equation of state w ~ -1/19. Employing a modified Halofit code to extend our results to quasilinear scales, we find that, while larger, the deviations from Robertson-Walker behaviour remain of the order of 10^-5.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures; replaced by version accepted by JCA

The moderating effects of religiosity on the relationship between stressful life events and delinquent behavior

Previous research has shown that many forms of strain are positively related to delinquency. Evidence also suggests that religiosity buffers the effects of strain on offending, but this issue requires further research. Using data from a national sample of adolescents, this study examined whether or not religiosity conditioned the relationship between strain and delinquency. This study also looked at the ability of social support, self-esteem, and depression to moderate the influence of strain on delinquent behavior. The findings here lend support to general strain theory in that strain had a direct positive effect on delinquency, yet there was little evidence that the relationship was moderated by religiosity or other conditioning variables. The roles of moderating variables on strain across genders were also considered. Originally published in Journal of Criminal Justice Vol. 36, No. 6 2008

Neutrino clustering in growing neutrino quintessence

A growing neutrino mass can stop the dynamical evolution of a dark energy scalar field, thus explaining the 'why now' problem. We show that such models lead to a substantial neutrino clustering on the scales of superclusters. Nonlinear neutrino lumps form at redshift z \sim 1 and could partially drag the clustering of dark matter. If observed, large scale non-linear structures could be an indication for a new attractive 'cosmon force' stronger than gravity.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Quantification of myocardial deformation in children by cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking: determination of reference values for left ventricular strain and strain rate

Background: The objective assessment of global and regional cardiac function in children has shown to be clinically relevant but is challenging to conduct. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has emerged as a valuable diagnostic modality especially in patients with cardiomyopathy or congenital heart disease. However, data on the normal cardiac deformation in children assessed by CMR is lacking at present. Thus, the aim of this study was to provide reference values for cardiac strain and strain rate in children and adolescents derived from CMR feature tracking (FT) measurements. Methods: In this binational study, eighty children and adolescents (age 0.4–18.0 years, 41 male, 39 female) free from cardiac diseases from two centers underwent CMR in 1.5 T whole-body scanners in supine position. Global peak radial, circumferential and longitudinal systolic strains as well as the corresponding early peak diastolic strain rates were assessed applying FT on short axis as well as 3- and 4-chamber views of standard cine steady-state free precession images. Results: The difference between genders yielded no significance for all assessed strains. Yet, all strains showed a significant parabolic relation to age and an even stronger one to body surface area (BSA). Therefore, BSA-specific reference values were determined using a polynomial regression model. The apical cardiac segments featured significant higher peak circumferential but lower peak radial systolic strains than the midventricular and basal segments (all p < 0.001). Conclusions: The assessment of cardiac deformation by CMR-FT is feasible in children. This is the first CMR study providing specific reference values for FT-derived strain and strain rate in the pediatric age range