Lloyd Knox

Report of the Dark Energy Task Force

Dark energy appears to be the dominant component of the physical Universe, yet there is no persuasive theoretical explanation for its existence or magnitude. The acceleration of the Universe is, along with dark matter, the observed phenomenon that most directly demonstrates that our theories of fundamental particles and gravity are either incorrect or incomplete. Most experts believe that nothing short of a revolution in our understanding of fundamental physics will be required to achieve a full understanding of the cosmic acceleration. For these reasons, the nature of dark energy ranks among the very most compelling of all outstanding problems in physical science. These circumstances demand an ambitious observational program to determine the dark energy properties as well as possible.

Multifrequency Analysis of 21 Centimeter Fluctuations from the Era of Reionization

We study the prospects for extracting detailed statistical properties of the neutral hydrogen distribution during the era of reionization using the brightness temperature fluctuations from redshifted 21 cm line emission. Detection of this signal is complicated by contamination from foreground sources such as diffuse Galactic synchrotron and free-free emission at low radio frequencies, extragalactic free-free emission from ionized regions, and radio point sources. We model these foregrounds to determine the extent to which 21 cm fluctuations can be detected with upcoming experiments. We find that not only the level of correlation from one frequency to another but also the functional form of the foreground correlations has a substantial impact on foreground removal. We calculate how well the angular power spectra of the 21 cm fluctuations can be determined. We also show that the large-scale bias of the neutral hydrogen gas distribution with respect to the density field can be determined with high precision and used to distinguish between different reionization histories.

CMB-S4 Science Book, First Edition

This book lays out the scientific goals to be addressed by the next-generation ground-based cosmic microwave background experiment, CMB-S4, envisioned to consist of dedicated telescopes at the South Pole, the high Chilean Atacama plateau and possibly a northern hemisphere site, all equipped with new superconducting cameras. CMB-S4 will dramatically advance cosmological studies by crossing critical thresholds in the search for the B-mode polarization signature of primordial gravitational waves, in the determination of the number and masses of the neutrinos, in the search for evidence of new light relics, in constraining the nature of dark energy, and in testing general relativity on large scales.

Limit on the detectability of the energy scale of inflation.

We show that the polarization of the cosmic microwave background can be used to detect gravity waves from inflation if the energy scale of inflation is above 2x10(15) GeV. These gravity waves generate polarization patterns with a curl, whereas (to first order in perturbation theory) density perturbations do not. The limiting noise arises from the second-order generation of curl from density perturbations, or rather residuals from its subtraction. We calculate optimal sky coverage and detectability limits as a function of detector sensitivity and observing time.

Impact of Inhomogeneous Reionization on Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy

It is likely that the reionization of the Universe did not occur homogeneously. Using a model that associates ionized patches with overdense regions, we find that the resulting cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy power spectrum peaks at angular scales corresponding to the extent of the ionized regions, and has a width that reflects the correlations between them. There is considerable uncertainty in the amplitude. Neglecting inhomogeneous reionization in the determination of cosmological parameters from high resolution CMB maps may cause significant systematic error. {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}

21 cm Tomography with Foregrounds

Twenty-one centimeter tomography is emerging as a powerful tool to explore the reionization epoch and cosmological parameters, but it will only be as good as our ability to accurately model and remove astrophysical foreground contamination. Previous treatments of this problem have focused on the angular structure of the signal and foregrounds and what can be achieved with limited spectral resolution (channel widths in the 1 MHz range). In this paper we introduce and evaluate a blind method to extract the multifrequency 21 cm signal by taking advantage of the smooth frequency structure of the Galactic and extragalactic foregrounds. We find that 21 cm tomography is typically limited by foregrounds on scales of k 1 h Mpc-1 and is limited by noise on scales of k 1 h Mpc-1, provided that the experimental channel width can be made substantially smaller than 0.1 MHz. Our results show that this approach is quite promising even for scenarios with rather extreme contamination from point sources and diffuse Galactic emission, which bodes well for upcoming experiments such as LOFAR, MWA, PAST, and SKA.Twenty-one centimeter tomography is emerging as a powerful tool to explore the end of the cosmic dark ages and the reionization epoch, but it will only be as good as our ability to accurately model and remove astrophysical foreground contamination. Previous treatments of this problem have focused on the angular structure of the signal and foregrounds and what can be achieved with limited spectral resolution (bandwidths in the 1 MHz range). In this paper we introduce and evaluate a ``blind method to extract the multifrequency 21cm signal by taking advantage of the smooth frequency structure of the Galactic and extragalactic foregrounds. We find that 21 cm tomography is typically limited by foregrounds on scales

How massless neutrinos affect the cosmic microwave background damping tail

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Determining neutrino mass from the cosmic microwave background alone

Mpc and limited by noise on scales

Probing the Reionization History of the Universe using the Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization

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Small-Scale Cosmic Microwave Background Temperature and Polarization Anisotropies Due to Patchy Reionization

Mpc, provided that the experimental bandwidth can be made substantially smaller than 0.1 MHz. Our results show that this approach is quite promising even for scenarios with rather extreme contamination from point sources and diffuse Galactic emission, which bodes well for upcoming experiments such as LOFAR, MWA, PAST, and SKA.