Astrophysics

We explore a new paradigm to study dissipative dark matter models using gravitational-wave observations. We consider a dark atomic model which predicts the formation of binary black holes such as GW190425 while obeying constraints from large-scale structure, and improving on the missing satellite problem. Using LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave data from 12th September 2015 to 1st October 2019, we show that interpreting GW190425 as a dark matter black-hole binary limits the Chandrasekhar mass for dark matter to be below 1.4 M ⊙ at >99.9% confidence implying that the dark proton is heavier than 0.95 GeV, while also suggesting that the molecular energy-level spacing of dark molecules lies near 10 −3 eV and constraining the cooling rate of dark matter at low temperatures.

In this paper, we investigate the expected constraints on the Hubble constant from the gravitational-wave standard sirens, in a cosmological-model-independent way. In the framework of the well-known Hubble law, the GW signal from each detected binary merger in the local universe ( z<0.10 ) provides a measurement of luminosity distance D L and thus the Hubble constant H 0 . Focusing on the simulated data of gravitational waves from the third-generation gravitational wave detector (the Einstein Telescope, ET), combined with the redshifts determined from electromagnetic counter parts and host galaxies, one can expect the Hubble constant to be constrained at the precision of ∼ 10 −2 with 20 well-observed binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. Additional standard-siren measurements from other types of future gravitational-wave sources (NS-BH and BBH) will provide more precision constraints of this important cosmological parameter. Therefore, we obtain that future measurements of the luminosity distances of gravitational waves sources will be much more competitive than the current analysis, which makes it expectable more vigorous and convincing constraints on the Hubble constant in a cosmological-model-independent way.

We explore the boundary of dark matter haloes through their bias and velocity profiles. Using cosmological N -body simulations, we show that the bias profile exhibits a ubiquitous trough that can be interpreted as created by halo accretion that depletes material around the boundary. The inner edge of the active depletion region is marked by the location of the maximum mass inflow rate that separates a growing halo from the draining environment. This inner depletion radius can also be interpreted as the radius enclosing a highly complete population of splashback orbits, and matches the optimal exclusion radius in a halo model of the large-scale structure. The minimum of the bias trough defines a characteristic depletion radius, which is located within the infall region bounded by the inner depletion radius and the turnaround radius, while approaching the turnaround radius in low mass haloes that have stopped mass accretion. The characteristic depletion radius depends the most on halo mass and environment. It is approximately 2.5 times the virial radius and encloses an average density of ∼40 times the background density of the universe, independent on halo mass but dependent on other halo properties. The inner depletion radius is smaller by 10−20% and encloses an average density of ∼63 times the background density. These radii open a new window for studying the properties of haloes.

By the use of homotopy perturbation method-Padé (HPM-Padé) technique, a new analytical approximation of luminosity distance in the flat universe is proposed, which has the advantage of significant improvement for accuracy in approximating luminosity distance over cosmological redshift range within 0?�z??.5 . Then we confront the analytical expression of luminosity distance that is obtained by our new approach with the observational data, for the purpose of checking whether it works well. In order to probe the robustness of the proposed method, we also confront it to supernova type Ia and recent data on the Hubble expansion rate H(z) . Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) code emcee is used in the data fitting. The result indicates that it works fairly well.

Dust emission is the main foreground for cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. Its statistical characterization must be derived from the analysis of observational data because the precision required for a reliable component separation is far greater than what is currently achievable with physical models of the turbulent magnetized interstellar medium. This letter takes a significant step toward this goal by proposing a method that retrieves non-Gaussian statistical characteristics of dust emission from noisy Planck polarization observations at 353 GHz. We devised a statistical denoising method based on wavelet phase harmonics (WPH) statistics, which characterize the coherent structures in non-Gaussian random fields and define a generative model of the data. The method was validated on mock data combining a dust map from a magnetohydrodynamic simulation and Planck noise maps. The denoised map reproduces the true power spectrum down to scales where the noise power is an order of magnitude larger than that of the signal. It remains highly correlated to the true emission and retrieves some of its non-Gaussian properties. Applied to Planck data, the method provides a new approach to building a generative model of dust polarization that will characterize the full complexity of the dust emission. We also release PyWPH, a public Python package, to perform GPU-accelerated WPH analyses on images.

The precision measurement of the primordial helium abundance Y p is a powerful probe of the early Universe. The most common way to determine Y p is analyses of observations of metal-poor \HII regions found in blue compact dwarf galaxies. We present the spectroscopic sample of 100 \HII regions collected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The final analysed sample consists of our sample and HeBCD database from Izotov et al. 2007. We use a self-consistent procedure to determine physical conditions, current helium abundances, and metallicities of the \HII regions. From a regression to zero metallicity, we have obtained Y p =0.2462±0.0022 which is one of the most stringent constraints obtained with such methods up to date and is in a good agreement with the Planck result Y Planck p =0.2471±0.0003 . Using the determined value of Y p and the primordial deuterium abundance taken from Particle Data Group (Zyla et al. 2020) we put a constraint on the effective number of neutrino species N eff =2.95±0.16 which is consistent with the Planck one N eff =2.99±0.17 . Further increase of statistics potentially allows us to achieve Planck accuracy, which in turn will become a powerful tool for studying the self-consistency of the Standard Cosmological Model and/or physics beyond.

The quintessence field coupled to the cosmic neutrino background (CNB) has been widely discussed as an alternative mechanism to address the coincidence problem. As it is well known, it is possible to extend such models to obtain quintessential inflation, that is, to incorporate inflationary stage as well. Taking an alternative route, one can start from the well established inflationary models and obtain successful quintessence models at the expense of coupling with the CNB. To Follow this route, we use a slightly reformulated model addressed in PRD95, 123521 (2017). This particular model assumes Z 2 symmetry for both scalar field potential and coupling term, which then breaks down in course of the cosmological evolution. For our discussion, however, the Z 2 symmetry of the potential is not mandatory the model to work. The conventional mechanism of particle production by the oscillating inflaton field (and their subsequent thermalization) remains operative. It is plain to see that the proposed construction can be easily applied for many successful models of inflation to incorporate dark energy at the expense of coupling with the CNB. We address the issue of neutrino nuggets from the quantum field theory point of view. Namely, these nuggets are considered as bound states caused basically by the Yukawa force, which arises in the framework of linear perturbation theory due to exchange of virtual quanta of quintessence field between the neutrinos.

We present a theoretical study of an early dark energy (EDE) model. The equation of state ω(z) evolves during the thermal history in a framework of a Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker Universe, following an effective parametrization that is a function of redshift z . We explore the evolution of the system from the radiation domination era to the late times, allowing the EDE model to have a non-negligible contribution at high redshift (as opposed to the cosmological constant that only plays a role once the structure is formed) with a very little input to the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, and to do so, the equation of state mimics the radiation behaviour, but being subdominant in terms of its energy density. At late times, the equation of state of the dark energy model asymptotically tends to the fiducial value of the De Sitter domination epoch, providing an explanation for the accelerated expansion of the Universe at late times, emulating the effect of the cosmological constant. The proposed model has three free parameters, that we constrain using SNIa luminosity distances, along with the CMB shift parameter and the deceleration parameter calculated at the time of dark energy - matter equality. With full knowledge of the best fit for our model, we calculate different observables and compare these predictions with the standard Λ CDM model. Besides the general consent of the community with the cosmological constant, there is no fundamental reason to choose that particular candidate as dark energy. Here, we open the opportunity to consider a more dynamical model, that also accounts for the late accelerated expansion of the Universe.

Impacts of observational systematic errors on the lensing analysis of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization are investigated by numerical simulations. We model errors of gain, angle, and pointing in observation of the CMB polarization and simulate polarization fields modulated by the errors. We discuss the response of systematics-induced B -modes to amplitude and spatial scale of the imposed errors and show that the results of the lensing reconstruction and delensing analysis behave according to it. It is observed that error levels expected in the near future lead to no significant degradation in delensing efficiency.

Radio relics trace shock fronts generated in the intracluster medium (ICM) during cluster mergers. The particle acceleration mechanism at the shock fronts is not yet completely understood. We observed the Toothbrush relic with the Effelsberg and Sardinia Radio Telescope at 14.25 GHz and 18.6 GHz, respectively. Unlike previously claimed, the integrated spectrum of the relic closely follows a power law over almost three orders of magnitude in frequency, with a spectral index of α 18.6GHz 58MHz =−1.16±0.03 . Our finding is consistent with a power-law injection spectrum, as predicted by diffusive shock acceleration theory. The result suggests that there is only little magnetic field strength evolution downstream to the shock. From the lack of spectral steepening, we find that either the Sunyaev-Zeldovich decrement produced by the pressure jump is less extended than ∼ 600\,kpc along the line of sight or, conversely, that the relic is located far behind in the cluster. For the first time, we detect linearly polarized emission from the "brush" at 18.6 GHz. Compared to 8.3 GHz, the degree of polarization across the brush increases at 18.6 GHz, suggesting a strong Faraday depolarization towards lower frequencies. The observed depolarization is consistent with an intervening magnetized screen that arise from the dense ICM containing turbulent magnetic fields. The depolarization, corresponding to a standard deviation of the Rotation Measures as high as σ RM =212±23rad m −2 , suggests that the brush is located in or behind the ICM. Our findings indicate that the Toothbrush can be consistently explained by the standard scenario for relic formation