Self-interacting dark matter and Higgs bosons in the SU(3)_C x SU(3)_L x U(1)_N model with right-handed neutrinos

We investigate the possibility that dark matter could be made from CP-even and CP- odd Higgs bosons in the SU(3)_C X SU(3)_L X U(1)_N (3-3-1) model with right-handed neutrinos. This self-interacting dark matters are stable without imposing of new symmetry and should be weak-interacting.Comment: 7 pages, Latex, To appear in Europhys. Let

Crinkles in the last scattering surface: Non-Gaussianity from inhomogeneous recombination

The perturbations in the electron number density during recombination contributes to the Cosmic Microwave Background bispectrum through second order terms. Perturbations in the electron density can be a factor of ~5 larger than the baryon density fluctuations on large scales as shown in the calculations by Novosyadlyj. This raises the possibility that the contribution to bispectrum arising from perturbations in the optical depth may be non-negligible. We calculate this bispectrum and find it to peak for squeezed triangles and of peak amplitude of the order of primordial non-Gaussianity of local type with fNL of 0.05 ~ -1 depending on the l-modes being considered. This is because the shape of the bispectrum is different from the primordial one although it peaks for squeezed configurations, similar to the local type primordial non-Gaussianity.Comment: minor typos fixed, acknowledgement and reference adde

Halo detection via large-scale Bayesian inference

We present a proof-of-concept of a novel and fully Bayesian methodology designed to detect halos of different masses in cosmological observations subject to noise and systematic uncertainties. Our methodology combines the previously published Bayesian large-scale structure inference algorithm, HADES, and a Bayesian chain rule (the Blackwell-Rao Estimator), which we use to connect the inferred density field to the properties of dark matter halos. To demonstrate the capability of our approach we construct a realistic galaxy mock catalogue emulating the wide-area 6-degree Field Galaxy Survey, which has a median redshift of approximately 0.05. Application of HADES to the catalogue provides us with accurately inferred three-dimensional density fields and corresponding quantification of uncertainties inherent to any cosmological observation. We then use a cosmological simulation to relate the amplitude of the density field to the probability of detecting a halo with mass above a specified threshold. With this information we can sum over the HADES density field realisations to construct maps of detection probabilities and demonstrate the validity of this approach within our mock scenario. We find that the probability of successful of detection of halos in the mock catalogue increases as a function of the signal-to-noise of the local galaxy observations. Our proposed methodology can easily be extended to account for more complex scientific questions and is a promising novel tool to analyse the cosmic large-scale structure in observations.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS following moderate correction

Bayesian Power Spectrum Analysis of the First-Year WMAP data

We present the first results from a Bayesian analysis of the WMAP first year data using a Gibbs sampling technique. Using two independent, parallel supercomputer codes we analyze the WMAP Q, V and W bands. The analysis results in a full probabilistic description of the information the WMAP data set contains about the power spectrum and the all-sky map of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies. We present the complete probability distributions for each C_l including any non-Gaussianities of the power spectrum likelihood. While we find good overall agreement with the previously published WMAP spectrum, our analysis uncovers discrepancies in the power spectrum estimates at low l multipoles. For example we claim the best-fit Lambda-CDM model is consistent with the C_2 inferred from our combined Q+V+W analysis with a 10% probability of an even larger theoretical C_2. Based on our exact analysis we can therefore attribute the "low quadrupole issue" to a statistical fluctuation.Comment: 5 pages. 4 figures. For additional information and data see http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~iodwyer/research#wma

Bayesian analysis of the low-resolution polarized 3-year WMAP sky maps

We apply a previously developed Gibbs sampling framework to the foreground corrected 3-yr WMAP polarization data and compute the power spectrum and residual foreground template amplitude posterior distributions. We first analyze the co-added Q- and V-band data, and compare our results to the likelihood code published by the WMAP team. We find good agreement, and thus verify the numerics and data processing steps of both approaches. However, we also analyze the Q- and V-bands separately, allowing for non-zero EB cross-correlations and including two individual foreground template amplitudes tracing synchrotron and dust emission. In these analyses, we find tentative evidence of systematics: The foreground tracers correlate with each of the Q- and V-band sky maps individually, although not with the co-added QV map; there is a noticeable negative EB cross-correlation at l <~ 16 in the V-band map; and finally, when relaxing the constraints on EB and BB, noticeable differences are observed between the marginalized band powers in the Q- and V-bands. Further studies of these features are imperative, given the importance of the low-l EE spectrum on the optical depth of reionization tau and the spectral index of scalar perturbations n_s.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to ApJ