Cannibalism hinders growth: Cannibal Dark Matter and the S8S_8 tension

Many models of dark matter have been proposed in attempt to ease the $S_8$ tension between weak lensing and CMB experiments. One such exciting possibility is cannibalistic dark matter (CanDM), which has exothermal number-changing interactions allowing it to stay warm far into its non-relativistic regime. Here we investigate the cosmological implications of CanDM and how it impacts CMB anisotropies and the matter power spectrum, by implementing the model within a linear Einstein-Boltzmann solver. We show that CanDM suppresses the small scale matter power spectrum in a way very similar to light Warm Dark Matter or Hot Dark Matter. However, unlike in those models, the suppression may happen while the CanDM model still remains compatible with CMB constraints. We put strong constraints on the interaction strength of CanDM as a function of its abundance for both constant and temperature-dependent thermally-averaged cross sections. We find that the CanDM model can easily solve the $S_8$ tension (but has no impact on the Hubble tension). Indeed, it can accommodate values of $S_8$ of the order of 0.76 while being compatible with CMB+BAO data. However, as long as the $S_8$ tension remains moderate, the overall $\chi^2$ improvement is relatively small given the number of extra free parameters, and the CanDM model is not significantly preferred.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables. Comments are welcome (we don't bite

FlexKnot and Gaussian Process for 21 cm global signal analysis and foreground separation

The cosmological 21 cm signal is one of the most promising avenues to study the Epoch of Reionization. One class of experiments aiming to detect this signal is global signal experiments measuring the sky-averaged 21 cm brightness temperature as a function of frequency. A crucial step in the interpretation and analysis of such measurements is separating foreground contributions from the remainder of the signal, requiring accurate models for both components. Current models for the signal (non-foreground) component, which may contain cosmological and systematic contributions, are incomplete and unable to capture the full signal. We propose two new methods for extracting this component from the data: Firstly, we employ a foreground-orthogonal Gaussian Process to extract the part of the signal that cannot be explained by the foregrounds. Secondly, we use a FlexKnot parameterization to model the full signal component in a free-form manner, not assuming any particular shape or functional form. This method uses Bayesian model selection to find the simplest signal that can explain the data. We test our methods on both, synthetic data and publicly available EDGES low-band data. We find that the Gaussian Process can clearly capture the foreground-orthogonal signal component of both data sets. The FlexKnot method correctly recovers the full shape of the input signal used in the synthetic data and yields a multi-modal distribution of different signal shapes that can explain the EDGES observations.Comment: 18 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Towards Automated Circuit Discovery for Mechanistic Interpretability

Recent work in mechanistic interpretability has reverse-engineered nontrivial behaviors of transformer models. These contributions required considerable effort and researcher intuition, which makes it difficult to apply the same methods to understand the complex behavior that current models display. At their core however, the workflow for these discoveries is surprisingly similar. Researchers create a data set and metric that elicit the desired model behavior, subdivide the network into appropriate abstract units, replace activations of those units to identify which are involved in the behavior, and then interpret the functions that these units implement. By varying the data set, metric, and units under investigation, researchers can understand the functionality of each neural network region and the circuits they compose. This work proposes a novel algorithm, Automatic Circuit DisCovery (ACDC), to automate the identification of the important units in the network. Given a model's computational graph, ACDC finds subgraphs that explain a behavior of the model. ACDC was able to reproduce a previously identified circuit for Python docstrings in a small transformer, identifying 6/7 important attention heads that compose up to 3 layers deep, while including 91% fewer the connections

Joint analysis constraints on the physics of the first galaxies with low frequency radio astronomy data

Observations of the first billion years of cosmic history are currently limited. We demonstrate, using a novel machine learning technique, the synergy between observations of the sky-averaged 21-cm signal from neutral hydrogen and interferometric measurements of the corresponding spatial fluctuations. By jointly analysing data from SARAS3 (redshift $z\approx15-25$) and limits from HERA ($z\approx8$ and $10$), we show that such a synergetic analysis provides tighter constraints on the astrophysics of galaxies 200 million years after the Big Bang than can be achieved with the individual data sets. Although our constraints are weak, this is the first time data from a sky-averaged 21-cm experiment and power spectrum experiment have been analysed together. In synergy, the two experiments leave only $64.9^{+0.3}_{-0.1}$ % of the explored broad theoretical parameter space to be consistent with the joint data set, in comparison to $92.3^{+0.3}_{-0.1}$ % for SARAS3 and $79.0^{+0.5}_{-0.2}$ % for HERA alone. We use the joint analysis to constrain star formation efficiency, minimum halo mass for star formation, X-ray luminosity of early emitters and the radio luminosity of early galaxies. The joint analysis disfavours at 68 % confidence a combination of galaxies with X-ray emission that is $\lesssim 33$ and radio emission that is $\gtrsim 32$ times as efficient as present day galaxies. We disfavour at 95 % confidence scenarios in which power spectra are $\geq126$ mK$^{2}$ at $z=25$ and the sky-averaged signals are $\leq-277$ mK.Comment: Submitte

Improved Constraints on the 21 cm EoR Power Spectrum and the X-Ray Heating of the IGM with HERA Phase I Observations

We report the most sensitive upper limits to date on the 21 cm epoch of reionization power spectrum using 94 nights of observing with Phase I of the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA). Using similar analysis techniques as in previously reported limits (HERA Collaboration 2022a), we find at 95% confidence that $\Delta^2(k = 0.34$ $h$ Mpc$^{-1}$) $\leq 457$ mK$^2$ at $z = 7.9$ and that $\Delta^2 (k = 0.36$ $h$ Mpc$^{-1}) \leq 3,496$ mK$^2$ at $z = 10.4$, an improvement by a factor of 2.1 and 2.6 respectively. These limits are mostly consistent with thermal noise over a wide range of $k$ after our data quality cuts, despite performing a relatively conservative analysis designed to minimize signal loss. Our results are validated with both statistical tests on the data and end-to-end pipeline simulations. We also report updated constraints on the astrophysics of reionization and the cosmic dawn. Using multiple independent modeling and inference techniques previously employed by HERA Collaboration (2022b), we find that the intergalactic medium must have been heated above the adiabatic cooling limit at least as early as $z = 10.4$, ruling out a broad set of so-called "cold reionization" scenarios. If this heating is due to high-mass X-ray binaries during the cosmic dawn, as is generally believed, our result's 99% credible interval excludes the local relationship between soft X-ray luminosity and star formation and thus requires heating driven by evolved low-metallicity stars.Comment: 57 pages, 37 figures. Updated to match the accepted ApJ version. Corresponding author: Joshua S. Dillo

HERA Phase I Limits on the Cosmic 21 cm Signal: Constraints on Astrophysics and Cosmology during the Epoch of Reionization

Recently, the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) has produced the experiment's first upper limits on the power spectrum of 21 cm fluctuations at z ~ 8 and 10. Here, we use several independent theoretical models to infer constraints on the intergalactic medium (IGM) and galaxies during the epoch of reionization from these limits. We find that the IGM must have been heated above the adiabatic-cooling threshold by z ~ 8, independent of uncertainties about IGM ionization and the radio background. Combining HERA limits with complementary observations constrains the spin temperature of the z ~ 8 neutral IGM to 27 K $\langle {\overline{T}}_{S}\rangle$ 630 K (2.3 K $\langle {\overline{T}}_{S}\rangle$ 640 K) at 68% (95%) confidence. They therefore also place a lower bound on X-ray heating, a previously unconstrained aspects of early galaxies. For example, if the cosmic microwave background dominates the z ~ 8 radio background, the new HERA limits imply that the first galaxies produced X-rays more efficiently than local ones. The z ~ 10 limits require even earlier heating if dark-matter interactions cool the hydrogen gas. If an extra radio background is produced by galaxies, we rule out (at 95% confidence) the combination of high radio and low X-ray luminosities of L r,ν /SFR > 4 × 1024 W Hz-1 ${M}_{\odot }^{-1}$ yr and L X /SFR 39 erg s-1 ${M}_{\odot }^{-1}$ yr. The new HERA upper limits neither support nor disfavor a cosmological interpretation of the recent Experiment to Detect the Global EOR Signature (EDGES) measurement. The framework described here provides a foundation for the interpretation of future HERA results

Constraining reionization: Evidence from 21 cm limits and predictions for fast radio bursts

In this thesis, I explore multiple constraints on the properties of early galaxies, the reionization history, and the global 21 cm signal. Specifically, I use upper limits on the 21 cm power spectrum measured by the HERA interferometer, current and future measurements of the global 21 cm signal, and forecasts for high redshift Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). Firstly, I examine the influence of cosmic reionization on FRBs. They are recently discovered extra-galactic sources of strong radio signals, and the dispersion measure of these signals is sensitive to the ionization state of the intergalactic medium. This analysis has previously only been done for specific reionization models; I propose using a model-independent parameterization of reionization. I employ synthetic data of future FRB measurements at high redshifts z>5 to show that (i) the model-independent method removes a significant bias in the inferred optical depth, and (ii) that the observation of high-z FRBs can facilitate direct and model-independent measurements of the reionization history and associated cosmological parameters. Secondly, I use Bayesian methods for a model-independent parameterization of the sky-averaged 21 cm signal. One of the biggest challenges in that field is identifying the cosmological signal among other systematic contributions and foregrounds. In my work, I compare two model-independent methods to fit the 21 cm signal and to separate out the foregrounds: (i) a Gaussian Process modelling the foreground-orthogonal component of the data, and (ii) a spline-based FlexKnot interpolation utilising Bayesian evidence to find the simplest signal (agnostic of its cosmological or systematic nature) that fits the data. I apply these methods to both, a synthetic validation data set and the EDGES observations. I find that both methods fully recover the foreground-orthogonal component of the signal and that the FlexKnot method is able to separate the signal from the foreground in the synthetic data. Using this novel analysis I discover a set of four different shapes that can explain the EDGES observations, only one of which resembles the originally reported absorption signal. Finally, I derive constraints on the astrophysical properties of early galaxies using 21 cm power spectrum observations from the HERA telescope. I derive a likelihood function to compare the data with cosmological models, develop a neural network emulator to speed up the computation of those cosmological models and analyze the measurements of two HERA data releases. I derive constraints on astrophysical parameters based on semi-numerical models, in particular focusing on models with non-standard radio backgrounds. The main constraint I find is that early galaxies cannot simultaneously produce low X-ray and high radio emissions, as such scenarios would produce a signal larger than the upper limits set by HERA.I thank the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) for funding part of my PhD under grant ST/T505985/1, and the Institute of Astronomy for a maintenance award

What it takes to measure Reionization with Fast Radio Bursts

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are recently discovered extra-galactic radio transients which are now used as novel cosmological probes. We show how the Bursts' Dispersion Measure can model-independently probe the history of Hydrogen reionization. Using a FlexKnot free-form parameterization to reconstruct the reionization history we predict an 11% accuracy constraint on the CMB optical depth, and 4% accuracy on the midpoint of reionization, to be achieved with 100 FRBs originating from redshifts z>5.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures. Contribution to the 2022 Cosmology session of the 56th Rencontres de Moriond, based on arXiv:2107.14242 (Heimersheim, Sartorio, Fialkov, Lorimer

What it Takes to Measure Reionization with Fast Radio Bursts

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are extra-galactic radio transients which exhibit a distance-dependent dispersion of their signal, and thus can be used as cosmological probes. In this article we, for the first time, apply a model-independent approach to measure reionization from synthetic FRB data assuming these signals are detected beyond redshift 5. This method allows us to constrain the full shape of the reionization history as well as the CMB optical depth $\tau$ while avoiding the problems of commonly used model-based techniques. 100 localized FRBs, originating from redshifts 5-15, could constrain (at 68% confidence level) the CMB optical depth to within 11%, and the midpoint of reionization to 4%, surpassing current state-of-the-art CMB bounds and quasar limits. Owing to the higher numbers of expected FRBs at lower redshifts, the $\tau$ constraints are asymmetric (+14%, -7%) providing a much stronger lower limit. Finally, we show that the independent constraints on reionization from FRBs will improve limits on other cosmological parameters such as the amplitude of the power spectrum of primordial fluctuations

handley-lab/anesthetic: v2.5.0

<h2>What's Changed</h2> <ul> <li>implement axes logscales by @lukashergt in https://github.com/handley-lab/anesthetic/pull/328</li> </ul> <p><strong>Full Changelog</strong>: https://github.com/handley-lab/anesthetic/compare/v2.4.2...v2.5.0</p&gt