Search results for "Observational cosmology"
showing 10 items of 14 documents
Impact of cosmic inhomogeneities on SNe observations
2009
We study the impact of cosmic inhomogeneities on the interpretation of SNe observations. We build an inhomogeneous universe model that can confront supernova data and yet is reasonably well compatible with the Copernican Principle. Our model combines a relatively small local void, that gives apparent acceleration at low redshifts, with a meatball model that gives sizeable lensing (dimming) at high redshifts. Together these two elements, which focus on different effects of voids on the data, allow the model to mimic the concordance model.
The Gravity Lagrangian According to Solar System Experiments
2005
In this work we show that the gravity lagrangian f(R) at relatively low curvatures in both metric and Palatini formalisms is a bounded function that can only depart from the linearity within the limits defined by well known functions. We obtain those functions by analysing a set of inequalities that any f(R) theory must satisfy in order to be compatible with laboratory and solar system observational constraints. This result implies that the recently suggested f(R) gravity theories with nonlinear terms that dominate at low curvatures are incompatible with observations and, therefore, cannot represent a valid mechanism to justify the cosmic speed-up.
Harrison-Zel'dovich primordial spectrum is consistent with observations
2010
Inflation predicts primordial scalar perturbations with a nearly scale-invariant spectrum and a spectral index approximately unity (the Harrison--Zel'dovich (HZ) spectrum). The first important step for inflationary cosmology is to check the consistency of the HZ primordial spectrum with current observations. Recent analyses have claimed that a HZ primordial spectrum is excluded at more than 99% c.l.. Here we show that the HZ spectrum is only marginally disfavored if one considers a more general reionization scenario. Data from the Planck mission will settle the issue.
The THESEUS space mission concept: science case, design and expected performances
2018
THESEUS is a space mission concept aimed at exploiting Gamma-Ray Bursts for investigating the early Universe and at providing a substantial advancement of multi-messenger and time-domain astrophysics. These goals will be achieved through a unique combination of instruments allowing GRB and X-ray transient detection over a broad field of view (more than 1sr) with 0.5¿1 arcmin localization, an energy band extending from several MeV down to 0.3¿keV and high sensitivity to transient sources in the soft X-ray domain, as well as on-board prompt (few minutes) follow-up with a 0.7¿m class IR telescope with both imaging and spectroscopic capabilities. THESEUS will be perfectly suited for addressing …
Probing neutrino masses with future galaxy redshift surveys
2004
We perform a new study of future sensitivities of galaxy redshift surveys to the free-streaming effect caused by neutrino masses, adding the information on cosmological parameters from measurements of primary anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Our reference cosmological scenario has nine parameters and three different neutrino masses, with a hierarchy imposed by oscillation experiments. Within the present decade, the combination of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and CMB data from the PLANCK experiment will have a 2-sigma detection threshold on the total neutrino mass close to 0.2 eV. This estimate is robust against the inclusion of extra free parameters in the refer…
Updated CMB and x- and gamma-ray constraints on Majoron dark matter
2013
The Majoron provides an attractive dark matter candidate, directly associated with the mechanism responsible for spontaneous neutrino mass generation within the standard model SU(3)(c) circle times SU(2)(L) circle times U(1)(Y) framework. Here we update the cosmological and astrophysical constraints on Majoron dark matter coming from the cosmic microwave background and a variety of x- and gamma-ray observations.
Post-Newtonian constraints onf(R)cosmologies in metric and Palatini formalism
2005
We compute the complete post-Newtonian limit of both the metric and Palatini formulations of $f(R)$ gravities using a scalar-tensor representation. By comparing the predictions of these theories with laboratory and solar system experiments, we find a set of inequalities that any lagrangian $f(R)$ must satisfy. The constraints imposed by those inequalities allow us to find explicit bounds to the possible nonlinear terms of the lagrangian. We conclude that in both formalisms the lagrangian $f(R)$ must be almost linear in $R$ and that corrections that grow at low curvatures are incompatible with observations. This result shows that modifications of gravity at very low cosmic densities cannot b…
Observational Cosmology at High Redshift
2007
Summary. I offer a brief review of the evolution and present status of our observational knowledge of the high-redshift Universe. In particular, I focus on the different methods that have been devised to select distant objects, and the observational evidence in hand to support (or else) the standard evolutionary scenario. 1 How High is High? The study of objects at cosmological distances from us started in the 1960s with the discovery and identification of quasi-stellar radiosources. The explanation of the features observed in the optical spectra of these objects as highly redshifted hydrogen lines opened the door to the very distant Universe. For the next 30 years after the discovery of qu…
Non-Gaussian Signatures in the Lens Deformations of the CMB Sky. A New Ray-Tracing Procedure
2003
We work in the framework of an inflationary cold dark matter universe with cosmological constant, in which the cosmological inhomogeneities are considered as gravitational lenses for the CMB photons. This lensing deforms the angular distribution of the CMB maps in such a way that the induced deformations are not Gaussian. Our main goal is the estimation of the deviations with respect to Gaussianity appeared in the distribution of deformations. In the new approach used in this paper, matter is evolved with a particle-mesh N-body code and, then, an useful ray-tracing technique designed to calculate the correlations of the lens deformations induced by nonlinear structures is applied. Our appro…
A new stochastic approach to cumulative weak lensing
2009
We study the weak gravitational lensing effects caused by a stochastic distribution of dark matter halos. We develop a simple approach to calculate the magnification probability distribution function which allows us to easily compute the magnitude bias and dispersion for an arbitrary data sample and a given universe model. As an application we consider the effects of single-mass large-scale cosmic inhomogeneities to the SNe magnitude-redshift relation, and conclude that such structures could bias the PDF enough to affect the extraction of cosmological parameters from the limited size of present-day SNe data samples. We also release turboGL, a simple and very fast (<= 1s) Mathematica code…