Search results for "cosmic background radiation"
showing 10 items of 47 documents
Current constraints on early and stressed dark energy models and future 21 cm perspectives
2014
Despite the great progress of current cosmological measurements, the nature of the dominant component of the universe, coined dark energy, is still an open question. Early Dark Energy is a possible candidate which may also alleviate some fine tuning issues of the standard paradigm. Using the latest available cosmological data, we find that the 95% CL upper bound on the early dark energy density parameter is $\Omega_{\textrm{eDE}}$. On the other hand, the dark energy component may be a stressed and inhomogeneous fluid. If this is the case, the effective sound speed and the viscosity parameters are unconstrained by current data. Future omniscope-like $21$cm surveys, combined with present CMB …
A(4)-based neutrino masses with Majoron decaying dark matter
2010
We propose an A(4) flavor-symmetric SU(3) circle times SU(2) circle times U(1) seesaw model where lepton number is broken spontaneously. A consistent two-zero texture pattern of neutrino masses and mixing emerges from the interplay of type-I and type-II seesaw contributions, with important phenomenological predictions. We show that, if the Majoron becomes massive, such seesaw scenario provides a viable candidate for decaying dark matter, consistent with cosmic microwave background lifetime constraints that follow from current WMAP observations. We also calculate the subleading one-loop-induced decay into photons which leads to a monoenergetic emission line that may be observed in future x-r…
Constraints on massive sterile neutrino species from current and future cosmological data
2011
Sterile massive neutrinos are a natural extension of the Standard Model of elementary particles. The energy density of the extra sterile massive states affects cosmological measurements in an analogous way to that of active neutrino species. We perform here an analysis of current cosmological data and derive bounds on the masses of the active and the sterile neutrino states as well as on the number of sterile states. The so-called (3+2) models with three sub-eV active massive neutrinos plus two sub-eV massive sterile species is well within the 95% CL allowed regions when considering cosmological data only. If the two extra sterile states have thermal abundances at decoupling, Big Bang Nucle…
Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies from second order gravitational perturbations
1997
This paper presents a complete analysis of the effects of second order gravitational perturbations on Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies, taking explicitly into account scalar, vector and tensor modes. We also consider the second order perturbations of the metric itself obtaining them, for a universe dominated by a collision-less fluid, in the Poisson gauge, by transforming the known results in the synchronous gauge. We discuss the resulting second order anisotropies in the Poisson gauge, and analyse the possible relevance of the different terms. We expect that, in the simplest scenarios for structure formation, the main effect comes from the gravitational lensing by scalar perturbati…
Unveiling ν secrets with cosmological data: Neutrino masses and mass hierarchy
2017
Using some of the latest cosmological datasets publicly available, we derive the strongest bounds in the literature on the sum of the three active neutrino masses, $M_\nu$, within the assumption of a background flat $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. In the most conservative scheme, combining Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data, as well as the up-to-date constraint on the optical depth to reionization ($\tau$), the tightest $95\%$ confidence level (C.L.) upper bound we find is $M_\nu0.06\,{\rm eV}$ from oscillations data would raise the quoted upper bounds by ${\cal O}(0.1\sigma)$ and would not affect our conclusions.
X-ray photons from late-decaying majoron dark matter
2008
An attractive way to generate neutrino masses as required to account for current neutrino oscillation data involves the spontaneous breaking of lepton number. The resulting majoron may pick up a mass due to gravity. If its mass lies in the kilovolt scale, the majoron can play the role of late-decaying Dark Matter (LDDM), decaying mainly to neutrinos. In general the majoron has also a sub-dominant decay to two photons leading to a mono-energetic emission line which can be used as a test of the LDDM scenario. We compare expected photon emission rates with observations in order to obtain model independent restrictions on the relevant parameters. We also illustrate the resulting sensitivities w…
Screening of long-range leptonic forces by cosmic background neutrinos.
1995
The absence of dispersion effects of the SN~1987A neutrino pulse has been used to constrain novel long-range forces between neutrinos and galactic baryonic or non-baryonic matter. If these forces are mediated by vector bosons, screening effects by the cosmic neutrino background invalidate the SN~1987A limits and other related arguments.
The evolution of the large-scale emission in Fanaroff-Riley type I jets
2011
Recent observations in X-rays and gamma-rays of nearby Fanaroff-Riley type I (FR I) radio galaxies have raised the question of the origin of the emission detected in the termination structures of their jets. The study of these structures can give information on the conditions for particle acceleration and radiation at the front shocks. In addition, an evolutionary scenario can help to disentangle the origin of the detected X-ray emission in young FR I sources, like some gigahertz peaked spectrum active galactic nuclei. This work focuses on the nature and detectability of the radiation seen from the termination regions of evolving FR I jets. We use the results of a relativistic, two-dimensio…
Relic neutrinos, thermal axions, and cosmology in early 2014
2014
We present up to date cosmological bounds on the sum of active neutrino masses as well as on extended cosmological scenarios with additional thermal relics, as thermal axions or sterile neutrino species. Our analyses consider all the current available cosmological data in the beginning of year 2014, including the very recent and most precise Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) measurements from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. In the minimal three active neutrino scenario, we find Sum m_nu < 0.22 eV at 95% CL from the combination of CMB, BAO and Hubble Space Telescope measurements of the Hubble constant. A non zero value for the sum of the three active neutrino masses of about …
A self-consistent approach to the reflection component in 4U 1705-44
2010
High-resolution spectroscopy has recently revealed in many neutron-star Low-Mass X-ray binaries that the shape of the broad iron line observed in the 6.4-6.97 keV range is consistently well fitted by a relativistically smeared line profile. We show here spectral fitting results using a newly developed self-consistent reflection model on XMM-Newton data of the LMXB 4U 1705-44 during a period when the source was in a bright soft state. This reflection model adopts a blackbody prescription for the shape of the impinging radiation field, that we physically associate with the boundary layer emission. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.