Search results for "GRAVITATION"
showing 10 items of 743 documents
A Study of Gravitational Lens Chromaticity with the Hubble Space Telescope
2011
We report Hubble Space Telescope observations of 6 gravitational lenses with the Advanced Camera for Surveys. We measured the flux ratios between the lensed images in 6 filters from 8140\AA\ to 2200\AA. In 3 of the systems, HE0512$-$3329, B1600+434, and H1413+117, we were able to construct UV extinction curves partially overlapping the 2175\AA\ feature and characterize the properties of the dust relative to the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. In HE1104$-$1804 we detect chromatic microlensing and use it to study the physical properties of the quasar accretion disk. For a Gaussian model of the disk $\exp(-r^2/2 r_s^2)$, scaling with wavelength as $r_s \propto \lambda^p$, we estimate $r_s(\l…
On the viability of a certain vector-tensor theory of gravitation
2010
A certain vector-tensor theory is revisited. Our attention is focused on cosmology. Against previous suggestions based on preliminary studies, it is shown that, if the energy density of the vector field is large enough to play the role of the dark energy and its fluctuations are negligible, the theory is not simultaneously compatible with current observations on: supernovae, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy, and the power spectrum of the energy density fluctuations. However, for small enough energy densities of the vector field, the theory becomes compatible with all the above observations and, moreover, it leads to an interesting evolution of the so-called vector cosmologic…
Gravitational Wave Echo of Relaxion Trapping
2021
To solve the hierarchy problem, the relaxion must remain trapped in the correct minimum, even if the electroweak symmetry is restored after reheating. In this scenario, the relaxion starts rolling again until the backreaction potential, with its set of local minima, reappears. Depending on the time of barrier reappearance, Hubble friction alone may be insufficient to retrap the relaxion in a large portion of the parameter space. Thus, an additional source of friction is required, which might be provided by coupling to a dark photon.The dark photon experiences a tachyonic instability as the relaxion rolls, which slows down the relaxion by backreacting to its motion, and efficiently creates a…
THE AVERAGE SIZE AND TEMPERATURE PROFILE OF QUASAR ACCRETION DISKS
2014
We use multi-wavelength microlensing measurements of a sample of 10 image pairs from 8 lensed quasars to study the structure of their accretion disks. By using spectroscopy or narrow band photometry we have been able to remove contamination from the weakly microlensed broad emission lines, extinction and any uncertainties in the large-scale macro magnification of the lens model. We determine a maximum likelihood estimate for the exponent of the size versus wavelength scaling ($r_s\propto \lambda^p$ corresponding to a disk temperature profile of $T\propto r^{-1/p}$) of $p=0.75^{+0.2}_{-0.2}$, and a Bayesian estimate of $p=0.8\pm0.2$, which are significantly smaller than the prediction of thi…
Statistics of Microlensing Caustic Crossings in Q~2237+0305: Peculiar Velocity of the Lens Galaxy and Accretion Disk Size
2014
We use the statistics of caustic crossings induced by microlensing in the lens system Q~2237+0305 to study the lens galaxy peculiar velocity. We calculate the caustic crossing rates for a comprehensive family of stellar mass functions and find a dependence of the average number of caustic crossings with the effective transverse velocity and the average mass, $\langle n \rangle \propto {v_{eff} / \sqrt{\langle m \rangle}}$, equivalent to the theoretical prediction for the case of microlenses with identical masses. We explore the possibilities of the method to measure $v_{eff}$ using the $\sim$12 years of OGLE monitoring of the four images of Q 2237+0305. To determine a lower limit for $v_{ef…
Constraints on cosmological models from strong gravitational lensing systems
2012
Strong lensing has developed into an important astrophysical tool for probing both cosmology and galaxies (their structure, formation, and evolution). Using the gravitational lensing theory and cluster mass distribution model, we try to collect a relatively complete observational data concerning the Hubble constant independent ratio between two angular diameter distances $D_{ds}/D_s$ from various large systematic gravitational lens surveys and lensing by galaxy clusters combined with X-ray observations, and check the possibility to use it in the future as complementary to other cosmological probes. On one hand, strongly gravitationally lensed quasar-galaxy systems create such a new opportun…
Running couplings from adiabatic regularization
2019
We extend the adiabatic regularization method by introducing an arbitrary mass scale $\mu$ in the construction of the subtraction terms. This allows us to obtain, in a very robust way, the running of the coupling constants by demanding $\mu$-invariance of the effective semiclassical (Maxwell-Einstein) equations. In particular, we get the running of the electric charge of perturbative quantum electrodynamics. Furthermore, the method brings about a renormalization of the cosmological constant and the Newtonian gravitational constant. The running obtained for these dimensionful coupling constants has new relevant (non-logarithmic) contributions, not predicted by dimensional regularization.
GrailQuest and HERMES: hunting for gravitational wave electromagnetic counterparts and probing space-time quantum foam
2021
GrailQuest (Gamma-ray Astronomy International Laboratory for Quantum Exploration of Space-Time) is an ambitious astrophysical mission concept that uses a fleet of small satellites whose main objective is to search for a dispersion law for light propagation in vacuo. Within Quantum Gravity theories, different models for space-time quantization predict relative discrepancies of the speed of photons w.r.t. the speed of light that depend on the ratio of the photon energy to the Planck energy. This ratio is as small as 10-23 for photons in the γ- ray band (100 keV). Therefore, to detect this effect, light must propagate over enormous distances and the experiment must have extraordinary sensitivi…
Singularities in L^p-quasidisks
2021
We study planar domains with exemplary boundary singularities of the form of cusps. A natural question is how much elastic energy is needed to flatten these cusps; that is, to remove singularities. We give, in a connection of quasidisks, a sharp integrability condition for the distortion function to answer this question. peerReviewed
MOA-2011-BLG-293Lb: A test of pure survey microlensing planet detections
2012
Because of the development of large-format, wide-field cameras, microlensing surveys are now able to monitor millions of stars with sufficient cadence to detect planets. These new discoveries will span the full range of significance levels including planetary signals too small to be distinguished from the noise. At present, we do not understand where the threshold is for detecting planets. MOA-2011-BLG-293Lb is the first planet to be published from the new surveys, and it also has substantial followup observations. This planet is robustly detected in survey+followup data (Delta chi^2 ~ 5400). The planet/host mass ratio is q=5.3+/- 0.2*10^{-3}. The best fit projected separation is s=0.548+/-…