Reconstructing large-scale structure with neutral hydrogen surveys

Upcoming 21-cm intensity surveys will use the hyperfine transition in emission to map out neutral hydrogen in large volumes of the universe. Unfortunately, large spatial scales are completely contaminated with spectrally smooth astrophysical foregrounds which are orders of magnitude brighter than the signal. This contamination also leaks into smaller radial and angular modes to form a foreground wedge, further limiting the usefulness of 21-cm observations for different science cases, especially cross-correlations with tracers that have wide kernels in the radial direction. In this paper, we investigate reconstructing these modes within a forward modeling framework. Starting with an initial density field, a suitable bias parameterization and non-linear dynamics to model the observed 21-cm field, our reconstruction proceeds by {combining} the likelihood of a forward simulation to match the observations (under given modeling error and a data noise model) {with the Gaussian prior on initial conditions and maximizing the obtained posterior}. For redshifts z=2 and 4, we are able to reconstruct 21cm field with cross correlation, rc > 0.8 on all scales for both our optimistic and pessimistic assumptions about foreground contamination and for different levels of thermal noise. The performance deteriorates slightly at z=6. The large-scale line-of-sight modes are reconstructed almost perfectly. We demonstrate how our method also provides a technique for density field reconstruction for baryon acoustic oscillations, outperforming standard methods on all scales. We also describe how our reconstructed field can provide superb clustering redshift estimation at high redshifts, where it is otherwise extremely difficult to obtain dense spectroscopic samples, as well as open up a wealth of cross-correlation opportunities with projected fields (e.g. lensing) which are restricted to modes transverse to the line of sight

Inhomogeneous phase of a Gluon Plasma at finite temperature and density

By considering the non-perturbative effects associated with the fundamental modular region, a new phase of a Gluon Plasma at finite density is proposed. It corresponds to the transition from glueballs to non-perturbative gluons which condense at a non vanishing momentum. In this respect the proposed phase is analogous to the color superconducting LOFF phase for fermionic systems.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

A Variational Approach to the Spinless Relativistic Coulomb Problem

By application of a straightforward variational procedure we derive a simple, analytic upper bound on the ground-state energy eigenvalue of a semirelativistic Hamiltonian for (one or two) spinless particles which experience some Coulomb-type interaction.Comment: 7 pages, HEPHY-PUB 606/9

Electron cloud buildup and impedance effects on beam dynamics in the future circular e+e− collider and experimental characterization of thin TiZrV vacuum chamber coatings

The Future Circular Collider FCC-ee is a study toward a high luminosity electron-positron collider with a centre-of-mass energy from 91 GeV to 365 GeV. Due to the beam parameters and pipe dimensions, collective effects and electron cloud can be very critical aspects for the machine and can represent the main limitations to its performance. An estimation of the electron cloud build up in the main machine components and an impedance model are required to analyze the induced instabilities and to find solutions for their mitigation. Special attention has been given to the resistive wall impedance associated with a layer of nonevaporable getter (NEG) coating on the vacuum chamber required for electron cloud mitigation. The studies presented in this paper will show that minimizing the thickness of this coating layer is mandatory to increase the single bunch instability thresholds in the proposed lepton collider at 45.6 GeV. For this reason, NEG thin films with thicknesses below 250 nm have been investigated by means of numerical simulations to minimize the resistive wall impedance. In parallel, an extensive measurement campaign was performed at CERN to characterize these thin films, with the purpose of finding the minimum effective thickness satisfying vacuum and electron cloud requirements

Bispectrum-window convolution via Hankel transform

We present a method to perform the exact convolution of the model prediction for bispectrum multipoles in redshift space with the survey window function. We extend a widely applied method for the power spectrum convolution to the bispectrum, taking advantage of a 2D-FFTlog algorithm. As a preliminary test of its accuracy, we consider the toy model of a spherical window function in real space. This setup provides an analytical evaluation of the 3-point function of the window, and therefore it allows to isolate and quantify possible systematic errors of the method. We find that our implementation of the convolution in terms of a mixing matrix shows differences at the percent level in comparison to the measurements from a very large set of mock halo catalogs. It is also able to recover unbiased constraints on halo bias parameters in a likelihood analysis of a set of numerical simulations with a total volume of 100 h -3 Gpc3. For the level of accuracy required by these tests, the multiplication with the mixing matrix is performed in the time of one second or less

Three Questions on Lorentz Violation

We review the basics of the two most widely used approaches to Lorentz violation - the Stardard Model Extension and Noncommutative Field Theory - and discuss in some detail the example of the modified spectrum of the synchrotron radiation. Motivated by touching upon such a fundamental issue as Lorentz symmetry, we ask three questions: What is behind the search for Lorentz violation? Is String Theory a physical theory? Is there an alternative to Supersymmetry?Comment: 16 pages; invited luecture at DICE2006 - Piombino, Italy - September 200

Polyakov Loop and Gluon Quasiparticles in Yang-Mills Thermodynamics

We study the interpretation of Lattice data about the thermodynamics of the deconfinement phase of SU(3) Yang-Mills theory, in terms of gluon quasiparticles propagating in a background of a Polyakov loop. A potential for the Polyakov loop, inspired by the strong coupling expansion of the QCD action, is introduced; the Polyakov loop is coupled to tranverse gluon quasiparticles by means of a gas-like effective potential. This study is useful to identify the effective degrees of freedom propagating in the gluon medium above the critical temperature. A main general finding is that a dominant part of the phase transition dynamics is accounted for by the Polyakov loop dynamics, hence the thermodynamics can be described without the need for diverging or exponentially increasing quasiparticle masses as $T \rightarrow T_c$, at variance respect to standard quasiparticle models.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

One-Loop Renormalization and Asymptotic Behaviour of a Higher-Derivative Scalar Theory in Curved Spacetime

A higher-derivative, interacting, scalar field theory in curved spacetime with the most general action of sigma-model type is studied. The one-loop counterterms of the general theory are found. The renormalization group equations corresponding to two different, multiplicatively renormalizable variants of the same are derived. The analysis of their asymptotic solutions shows that, depending on the sign of one of the coupling constants, we can construct an asymptotically free theory which is also asymptotically conformal invariant at strong (or small) curvature. The connection that can be established between one of the multiplicatively renormalizable variants of the theory and the effective theory of the conformal factor, aiming at the description of quantum gravity at large distances, is investigated.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX file (some mistakes have been corrected and a reference has been added), UB-ECM-PF 94/

Diagnostic and prognostic value of three micrornas in environmental asbestiform fibers-associated malignant mesothelioma

Fluoro-edenite (FE) is an asbestiform fiber identified in Biancavilla (Sicily, Italy). Environmental exposure to FE has been associated with a higher incidence of malignant mesothelioma (MM). The present study aimed to validate the predicted diagnostic significance of hsa-miR-323a-3p, hsa-miR-101-3p, and hsa-miR-20b-5p on a subset of MM patients exposed to FE and matched with healthy controls. For this purpose, MM tissues vs. nonmalignant pleura tissues were analyzed through droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) to evaluate differences in the expression levels of the selected miRNAs and their MM diagnostic potential. In addition, further computational analysis has been performed to establish the correlation of these miRNAs with the available online asbestos exposure data and clinic-pathological parameters to verify the potential role of these miRNAs as prognostic tools. ddPCR results showed that the three analyzed miRNAs were significantly down-regulated in MM cases vs. controls. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed high specificity and sensitivity rates for both hsa-miR-323a-3p and hsa-miR-20b-5p, which thus acquire a diagnostic value for MM. In silico results showed a potential prognostic role of hsa-miR-101-3p due to a significant association of its higher expression and increased overall survival (OS) of MM patients