Search results for "background radiation"
showing 10 items of 55 documents
Do we have any hope of detecting scattering between dark energy and baryons through cosmology?
2020
We consider the possibility that dark energy and baryons might scatter off each other. The type of interaction we consider leads to a pure momentum exchange, and does not affect the background evolution of the expansion history. We parametrize this interaction in an effective way at the level of Boltzmann equations. We compute the effect of dark energy-baryon scattering on cosmological observables, focusing on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropy power spectrum and the matter power spectrum. Surprisingly, we find that even huge dark energy-baryon cross-sections $\sigma_{xb} \sim {\cal O}({\rm b})$, which are generically excluded by non-cosmological probes such as col…
Flavor versus mass eigenstates in neutrino asymmetries: implications for cosmology
2017
We show that, if they exist, lepton number asymmetries ($L_\alpha$) of neutrino flavors should be distinguished from the ones ($L_i$) of mass eigenstates, since Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) bounds on the flavor eigenstates cannot be directly applied to the mass eigenstates. Similarly, Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) constraints on mass eigenstates do not directly constrain flavor asymmetries. Due to the difference of mass and flavor eigenstates, the cosmological constraint on the asymmetries of neutrino flavors can be much stronger than conventional expectation, but not uniquely determined unless at least the asymmetry of the heaviest neutrino is well constrained. Cosmological constrain…
New cosmological bounds on hot relics: Axions $\&$ Neutrinos
2020
Axions, if realized in nature, can be copiously produced in the early universe via thermal processes, contributing to the mass-energy density of thermal hot relics. In light of the most recent cosmological observations, we analyze two different thermal processes within a realistic mixed hot-dark-matter scenario which includes also massive neutrinos. Considering the axion-gluon thermalization channel we derive our most constraining bounds on the hot relic masses $m_a < 7.46$ eV and $\sum m_��< 0.114$ eV both at 95 per cent CL; while studying the axion-pion scattering, without assuming any specific model for the axion-pion interactions and remaining in the range of validity of the chira…
ESTIMATING SMALL ANGULAR SCALE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND ANISOTROPY WITH HIGH-RESOLUTIONN-BODY SIMULATIONS: WEAK LENSING
2010
We estimate the impact of weak lensing by strongly nonlinear cosmological structures on the cosmic microwave background. Accurate calculation of large l multipoles requires N-body simulations and ray-tracing schemes with both high spatial and temporal resolution. To this end, we have developed a new code that combines a gravitational Adaptive Particle-Particle, Particle-Mesh solver with a weak-lensing evaluation routine. The lensing deviations are evaluated while structure evolves during the simulation so that all evolution steps—rather than just a few outputs—are used in the lensing computations. The new code also includes a ray-tracing procedure that avoids periodicity effects in a univer…
Constraining dark matter late-time energy injection: decays and p-wave annihilations
2013
We use the latest cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations to provide updated constraints on the dark matter lifetime as well as on p-wave suppressed annihilation cross sections in the 1 MeV to 1 TeV mass range. In contrast to scenarios with an s-wave dominated annihilation cross section, which mainly affect the CMB close to the last scattering surface, signatures associated with these scenarios essentially appear at low redshifts ($z \lesssim 50$) when structure began to form, and thus manifest at lower multipoles in the CMB power spectrum. We use data from Planck, WMAP9, SPT and ACT, as well as Lyman-$\alpha$ measurements of the matter temperature at $z \sim 4$ to set a 95 % confide…
Higher-order coupled quintessence
2010
We study a coupled quintessence model in which the interaction with the dark-matter sector is a function of the quintessence potential. Such a coupling can arise from a field dependent mass term for the dark-matter field. The dynamical analysis of a standard quintessence potential coupled with the interaction explored here shows that the system possesses a late-time accelerated attractor. In light of these results, we perform a fit to the most recent Supernovae Ia, Cosmic Microwave Background, and Baryon Acoustic Oscillation data sets. Constraints arising from weak equivalence principle violation arguments are also discussed.
A fake Interacting Dark Energy detection?
2020
Models involving an interaction between the Dark Matter and the Dark Energy sectors have been proposed to alleviate the long standing Hubble constant tension. In this paper we analyze whether the constraints and potential hints obtained for these interacting models remain unchanged when using simulated Planck data. Interestingly, our simulations indicate that a dangerous fake detection for a non-zero interaction among the Dark Matter and the Dark Energy fluids could arise when dealing with current CMB Planck measurements alone. The very same hypothesis is tested against future CMB observations, finding that only cosmic variance limited polarization experiments, such as PICO or PRISM, could …
Constraining the primordial black hole abundance with 21-cm cosmology
2019
The discoveries of a number of binary black hole mergers by LIGO and VIRGO has reinvigorated the interest that primordial black holes (PBHs) of tens of solar masses could contribute non-negligibly to the dark matter energy density. Should even a small population of PBHs with masses $\gtrsim \mathcal{O}(M_\odot)$ exist, they could profoundly impact the properties of the intergalactic medium and provide insight into novel processes at work in the early Universe. We demonstrate here that observations of the 21cm transition in neutral hydrogen during the epochs of reionization and cosmic dawn will likely provide one of the most stringent tests of solar mass PBHs. In the context of 21cm cosmolog…
New limits on Early Dark Energy from the South Pole Telescope
2011
We present new limits on early dark energy (EDE) from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using data from the WMAP satellite on large angular scales and South Pole Telescope (SPT) on small angular scales. We find a strong upper limit on the EDE density of Omega_e < 0.018 at 95% confidence, a factor of three improvement over WMAP data alone. We show that adding lower-redshift probes of the expansion rate to the CMB data improves constraints on the dark energy equation of state, but not the EDE density. We also explain how the small-scale CMB temperature anisotropy constrains EDE.
A weakly random Universe?
2010
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation is characterized by well-established scales, the 2.7 K temperature of the Planckian spectrum and the $10^{-5}$ amplitude of the temperature anisotropy. These features were instrumental in indicating the hot and equilibrium phases of the early history of the Universe and its large scale isotropy, respectively. We now reveal one more intrinsic scale in CMB properties. We introduce a method developed originally by Kolmogorov, that quantifies a degree of randomness (chaos) in a set of numbers, such as measurements of the CMB temperature in some region. Considering CMB as a composition of random and regular signals, we solve the inverse problem of …