Search results for " Cosmology"
showing 10 items of 1486 documents
Limits on a muon flux from Kaluza-Klein dark matter annihilations in the Sun from the IceCube 22-string detector
2010
A search for muon neutrinos from Kaluza-Klein dark matter annihilations in the Sun has been performed with the 22-string configuration of the IceCube neutrino detector using data collected in 104.3 days of live-time in 2007. No excess over the expected atmospheric background has been observed. Upper limits have been obtained on the annihilation rate of captured lightest Kaluza-Klein particle (LKP) WIMPs in the Sun and converted to limits on the LKP-proton cross-sections for LKP masses in the range 250 -- 3000 GeV. These results are the most stringent limits to date on LKP annihilation in the Sun.
The overtone level spacing of a black hole quasinormal frequencies: a fingerprint of a local $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ symmetry
2023
The imaginary part of the quasinormal frequencies spectrum for a static and spherically symmetric black hole is analytically known to be equally spaced, both for the highly damped and the weakly damped families of quasinormal modes. Some interesting attempts have been made in the last twenty years to understand in simple ways this level spacing for the only case of highly damped quasinormal frequencies. Here, we show that the overtone level spacing, for both the highly damped and weakly damped families of quasinormal modes, can simply be understood as a fingerprint of a hidden local $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ symmetry, near different regions of the black hole spacetime, i.e. the near-horizon and th…
Painlevé-II approach to binary black hole merger dynamics: universality from integrability
2022
The binary black hole merger waveform is both simple and universal. Adopting an effective asymptotic description of the dynamics, we aim at accounting for such universality in terms of underlying (effective) integrable structures. More specifically, under a ``wave-mean flow'' perspective, we propose that fast degrees of freedom corresponding to the observed waveform would be subject to effective linear dynamics, propagating on a slowly evolving background subject to (effective) non-linear integrable dynamics. The Painlevé property of the latter would be implemented in terms of the so-called Painlevé-II transcendent, providing a structural link between i) orbital (in particular, EMRI) dynami…
Horizons in a binary black hole merger I: Geometry and area increase
2020
Recent advances in numerical relativity have revealed how marginally trapped surfaces behave when black holes merge. It is now known that interesting topological features emerge during the merger, and marginally trapped surfaces can have self-intersections. This paper presents the most detailed study yet of the physical and geometric aspects of this scenario. For the case of a head-on collision of non-spinning black holes, we study in detail the world tube formed by the evolution of marginally trapped surfaces. In the first of this two-part study, we focus on geometrical properties of the dynamical horizons, i.e. the world tube traced out by the time evolution of marginally outer trapped su…
On Einstein bilinear form
2012
From physical motivations and from geometrical interpretations of the Einstein equations, we give a justi cation of the non-triviality and non-degeneracy of Einstein bilinear form introduced in [1].
The Detailed Science Case for the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer, 2019 edition
2019
(Abridged) The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) is an end-to-end science platform for the design, execution and scientific exploitation of spectroscopic surveys. It will unveil the composition and dynamics of the faint Universe and impact nearly every field of astrophysics across all spatial scales, from individual stars to the largest scale structures in the Universe. Major pillars in the science program for MSE include (i) the ultimate Gaia follow-up facility for understanding the chemistry and dynamics of the distant Milky Way, including the outer disk and faint stellar halo at high spectral resolution (ii) galaxy formation and evolution at cosmic noon, via the type of revolutionary…
The Gaia-ESO Survey: The origin and evolution of s-process elements
2018
Context. Several works have found an increase of the abundances of the s-process neutron-capture elements in the youngest Galactic stellar populations. These trends provide important constraints on stellar and Galactic evolution and they need to be confirmed with large and statistically significant samples of stars spanning wide age and distance intervals. Aims. We aim to trace the abundance patterns and the time evolution of five s-process elements - two belonging to the first peak, Y and Zr, and three belonging to the second peak, Ba, La, and Ce - using the Gaia-ESO IDR5 results for open clusters and disc stars. Methods. From the UVES spectra of cluster member stars, we determined the ave…
Constraints on neutrino speed, weak equivalence principle violation, Lorentz invariance violation, and dual lensing from the first high-energy astrop…
2018
We derive stringent constraints on neutrino speed, weak equivalence principle violation, Lorentz invariance violation, and dual lensing from the first high-energy astrophysical neutrino source: TXS 0506+056. Observation of neutrino (IceCube-170922A) and photons in a similar time frame and from the same direction is used to derive these limits. We describe ways in which these constraints can be further improved by orders of magnitude.
The Gaia-ESO Survey : Probes of the inner disk abundance gradient
2016
The nature of the metallicity gradient inside the solar circle (R_GC < 8 kpc) is poorly understood, but studies of Cepheids and a small sample of open clusters suggest that it steepens in the inner disk. We investigate the metallicity gradient of the inner disk using a sample of inner disk open clusters that is three times larger than has previously been studied in the literature to better characterize the gradient in this part of the disk. We used the Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) [Fe/H] values and stellar parameters for stars in 12 open clusters in the inner disk from GES-UVES data. Cluster mean [Fe/H] values were determined based on a membership analysis for each cluster. Where necessary, dis…
The Gaia-ESO Survey: evidence of atomic diffusion in M67?
2018
Investigating the chemical homogeneity of stars born from the same molecular cloud at virtually the same time is very important for our understanding of the chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium and with it the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. One major cause of inhomogeneities in the abundances of open clusters is stellar evolution of the cluster members. In this work, we investigate variations in the surface chemical composition of member stars of the old open clusterM67 as a possible consequence of atomic diffusion effects taking place during the main-sequence phase. The abundances used are obtained from high-resolution UVES/FLAMES spectra within the framework of the Gaia-ESO S…