arXiv: 14 Febrauary 2012

Dark matter density profiles of the halos embedding early-type galaxies: characterizing halo contraction and dark matter annihilation strength

Authors: Kyu-Hyun Chae, Andrey V. Kravtsov, Joshua A. Frieman, Mariangela Bernardi

arXiv:1202.2716v1

 Identifying dark matter and characterizing its distribution in the inner region of halos embedding galaxies are inter-related problems of broad importance. We devise a new procedure of determining dark matter distribution in halos. We first make a self-consistent bivariate statistical match of stellar mass and velocity dispersion with halo mass as demonstrated here for the first time. Then, selecting early-type galaxy-halo systems we perform Jeans dynamical modeling with the aid of observed statistical properties of stellar mass profiles and velocity dispersion profiles. Dark matter density profiles derived specifically using Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies and halos from up-to-date cosmological dissipationless simulations deviate significantly from the dissipationless profle of Navarro-Frenk-White or Einasto in terms of inner density slope and/or concentration. From these dark matter profiles we find that dark matter density is enhanced in the inner region of most early-type galactic halos providing an independent dynamical evidence for halo contraction. The main characteristics of halo contraction are: (1) the mean dark matter density within the effective radius has increased by a factor from ~1 for clusters with M_vir > 10^{15} M_solar to ~4-5 for galaxies with M_vir < 10^{12} M_solar where M_vir is the halo virial mass, and (2) the enhancement is more frequently realized by steepened density slope than increased concentration compared with the fiducial NFW profile. Based on our results we predict that halos of nearby elliptical and lenticular galaxies can be promising targets for $\gamma$-ray emission from dark matter annihilation.

 

 Spherical Collapse in covariant Galileon theory

Authors: Emilio Bellini, Nicola Bartolo, Sabino Matarrese

arXiv:1202.2712v1

In this paper we study the evolution of a spherical matter overdensity in the context of the recently introduced Galileon field theory. Our analysis considers the complete covariant Lagrangian in four dimensions. This theory is composed by a potential and a standard kinetic term, a cubic kinetic term and two additional terms that include the coupling between the Galileon and the metric, to preserve the original properties of Galileons also in curved space-times. Here we extend previous studies, which considered both the quintessence and the cubic terms, by focussing on the role of the last two terms. The background evolution we consider is driven by a tracker solution. Studying scalar perturbations in the non-linear regime, we find constraints on the parameter of the model. We will show how the new terms contribute to the collapse phase and how they modify physical parameters, such as the linearized density contrast and the virial overdensity. The results show that the Galileon modifies substantially the dynamics of the collapse, thus making it possible to observationally constrain the parameters of this theory.

 

Shallow Dark Matter Cusps in Galaxy Clusters

Authors: Chervin F. P. Laporte, Simon D. M. White, Thorsten Naab, Mateusz Ruszkowski, Volker Springel

arXiv:1202.2357v1

We study the evolution of the stellar and dark matter components in a galaxy cluster of $10^{15} \, \rm{M_{\odot}}$ from $z=3$ to the present epoch using the high-resolution collisionless simulations of Ruszkowski & Springel (2009). At $z=3$ the dominant progenitor halos were populated with spherical model galaxies with and without accounting for adiabatic contraction. We apply a weighting scheme which allows us to change the relative amount of dark and stellar material assigned to each simulation particle in order to produce luminous properties which agree better with abundance matching arguments and observed bulge sizes at $z=3$. This permits the study of the effect of initial compactness on the evolution of the mass-size relation. We find that for more compact initial stellar distributions the size of the final Brightest Cluster Galaxy grows with mass according to $r\propto M^{2}$, whereas for more extended initial distributions, $r\propto M$. Our results show that collisionless mergers in a cosmological context can reduce the strength of inner dark matter cusps with changes in logarithmic slope of 0.3 to 0.5 at fixed radius. Shallow cusps such as those found recently in several strong lensing clusters thus do not necessarily conflict with CDM, but may rather reflect on the initial structure of the progenitor galaxies, which was shaped at high redshift by their formation process.

 

 On Modified Gravity

Authors: Ivan Dimitrijevic, Branko Dragovich, Jelena Grujic, Zoran Rakic

arXiv:1202.2352v1

 We consider some aspects of nonlocal modified gravity, where nonlocality is of the type $R \mathcal{F}(\Box) R$. In particular, using ansatz of the form $\Box R = c R^\gamma,$ we find a few special cosmological solutions for the spatially flat FLRW metric. There are singular and nonsingular bounce solutions. For late cosmic time, scalar curvature R(t) is in low regime and scale factor a(t) is decelerated.

 

 

arXiv: 13 February 2012

Title: Why Do Stars Form In Clusters? An Analytic Model for Stellar Correlation Functions

Authors: Philip F. Hopkins (Berkeley)

arXiv:1202.2122v1

Recently, we have shown that if the ISM is governed by super-sonic turbulent flows, the excursion-set formalism can be used to calculate the statistics of self-gravitating objects over a wide range of scales. On the largest self-gravitating scales ('first crossing'), these correspond to GMCs, and on the smallest non-fragmenting self-gravitating scales ('last crossing'), to protostellar cores. Here, we extend this formalism to rigorously calculate the auto and cross-correlation functions of cores (and by extension, young stars) as a function of spatial separation and mass, in analogy to the cosmological calculation of halo clustering. We show that this generically predicts that star formation is very strongly clustered on small scales: stars form in clusters, themselves inside GMCs. Outside the binary-star regime, the projected correlation function declines as a weak power-law, until a characteristic scale which corresponds to the characteristic mass scale of GMCs. On much larger scales the clustering declines such that star formation is not strongly biased on galactic scales, relative to the actual dense gas distribution. The precise correlation function shape depends on properties of the turbulent spectrum, but its qualitative behavior is quite general. The predictions agree well with observations of young star and core autocorrelation functions over ~4 dex in radius. Clustered star formation is a generic consequence of supersonic turbulence if most of the power in the velocity field, hence the contribution to density fluctuations, comes from large scales. The distribution of self-gravitating masses near the sonic length is then imprinted by fluctuations on larger scales. We similarly show that the fraction of stars formed in 'isolated' modes should be small (<~10%).

 

 The Creation of the World - According to Science

Authors: Ram Brustein, Judy Kupferman

arXiv:1202.0623v1

 How was the world created? People have asked this ever since they could ask anything, and answers have come from all sides: from religion, tradition, philosophy, mysticism... and science. While this does not seem like a problem amenable to scientific measurement, it has led scientists to come up with fascinating ideas and observations: the Big Bang, the concept of inflation, the fact that most of the world is made up of dark matter and dark energy which we can not perceive, and more.
Of course scientists cannot claim to know the definitive truth. But we can approach the question from a scientific viewpoint and see what we find out. How do we do that? First, we look to the data. Thanks to modern technology, we have much more information than did people of previous ages who asked the same question. Then we can use scientific methods and techniques to analyze the data, organize them in a coherent way and try and extract an answer. This process and its main findings will be described in the article.

 

 

arXiv: 10 Febrauary 2012

Perturbations in Massive Gravity Cosmology

Authors: Marco Crisostomi, Denis Comelli, Luigi Pilo

arXiv:1202.1986v1

 We study cosmological perturbations for a ghost free massive gravity theory formulated with a dynamical extra metric that is needed to massive deform GR. In this formulation FRW background solutions fall in two branches. In the dynamics of perturbations around the first branch solutions, no extra degree of freedom with respect to GR ispresent at linearized level, likewise what is found in the Stuckelberg formulation of massive gravity where the extra metric isflat and non dynamical. In the first branch, perturbations are probably strongly coupled. On the contrary, for perturbations around the second branch solutions all expected degrees of freedom propagate. While tensor and vector perturbations of the physical metric that couples with matter follow closely the ones of GR, scalars develop an exponential Jeans-like instability on sub-horizon scales. On the other hand, around a de Sitter background there is no instability. We argue that one could get rid of the instabilities by introducing a mirror dark matter sector minimally coupled to only the second metric.

 

 

arXiv: 9 Febraury 2012

 Dark Matter Detection with Polarized Detectors

Authors: Chi-Ting Chiang, Marc Kamionkowski, Gordan Z. Krnjaic

arXiv:1202.1807v1

 We consider the prospects to use polarized dark-matter detectors to discriminate between various dark-matter models. If WIMPs are Dirac particles, with a particle-antiparticle asymmetry, and if those particles have neutrino-like parity-violating interactions with ordinary matter, then the recoil-direction and recoil-energy distributions of nuclei in detectors will depend on the orientation of the initial nuclear spin with respect to the velocity of the detector through the Galactic halo. If, however, WIMPS are scalars, Majorana fermions, or are matter-antimatter symmetric, no such signal can arise. Since the amplitude of this polarization modulation is fixed by the detector speed through the halo, in units of the speed of light, exposures several times larger than those of current experiments will be required to be probe this effect.

 

Measure and Probability in Cosmology

Authors: Joshua S. Schiffrin, Robert M. Wald

arXiv:1202.1818v1

General relativity has a Hamiltonian formulation, which formally provides a canonical (Liouville) measure on the space of solutions. In ordinary statistical physics, the Liouville measure is used to compute probabilities of macrostates, and it would seem natural to use the similar measure arising in general relativity to compute probabilities in cosmology, such as the probability that the universe underwent an era of inflation. Indeed, a number of authors have used the restriction of this measure to the space of homogeneous and isotropic universes with scalar field matter (minisuperspace)---namely, the Gibbons-Hawking-Stewart measure---to make arguments about the likelihood of inflation. We argue here that there are at least four major difficulties with using the measure of general relativity to make probability arguments in cosmology: (1) Equilibration does not occur on cosmological length scales. (2) Even in the minisuperspace case, the measure of phase space is infinite and the computation of probabilities depends very strongly on how the infinity is regulated. (3) The inhomogeneous degrees of freedom must be taken into account (we illustrate how) even if one is interested only in universes that are very nearly homogeneous. The measure depends upon how the infinite number of degrees of freedom are truncated, and how one defines "nearly homogeneous." (4) In a universe where the second law of thermodynamics holds, one cannot make use of our knowledge of the present state of the universe to "retrodict" the likelihood of past conditions.

 

 

arXiv: 8 Febraury 2012

 The Fine Structure Constant and the CMB Damping Scale

Authors: Eloisa Menegoni, Maria Archidiacono, Erminia Calabrese, Silvia Galli, C. J. A. P. Martins, Alessandro Melchiorri

arXiv:1202.1476v1

 The recent measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies at arcminute angular scales performed by the ACT and SPT experiments are probing the damping regime of CMB fluctuations. The analysis of these datasets unexpectedly suggests that the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom is larger than the standard value of Neff = 3.04, and inconsistent with it at more than two standard deviations. In this paper we study the role of a mechanism that could affect the shape of the CMB angular fluctuations at those scales, namely a change in the recombination process through variations in the fine structure constant. We show that the new CMB data significantly improve the previous constraints on variations of {\alpha}, with {\alpha}/{\alpha}0 = 0.984 \pm 0.005, i.e. hinting also to a more than two standard deviation from the current, local, value {\alpha}0. A significant degeneracy is present between {\alpha} and Neff, and when variations in the latter are allowed the constraints on {\alpha} are relaxed and again consistent with the standard value. Deviations of either parameter from their standard values would imply the presence of new, currently unknown physics.

 

Early structure formation from cosmic string loops

Authors: Benjamin Shlaer, Alexander Vilenkin, Abraham Loeb

arXiv:1202.1346v1

 We examine the effects of cosmic strings on structure formation and on the ionization history of the universe. While Gaussian perturbations from inflation are known to provide the dominant contribution to the large scale structure of the universe, density perturbations due to strings are highly non-Gaussian and can produce nonlinear structures at very early times. This could lead to early star formation and reionization of the universe. We improve on earlier studies of these effects by accounting for high loop velocities and for the filamentary shape of the resulting halos. We find that for string energy scales G\mu > 10^{-7} the effect of strings on the CMB temperature and polarization power spectra can be significant and is likely to be detectable by the Planck satellite. We mention shortcomings of the standard cosmological model of galaxy formation which may be remedied with the addition of cosmic strings, and comment on other possible observational implications of early structure formation by strings.

 

A new probe of the small-scale primordial power spectrum: astrometric microlensing by ultracompact minihalos

Authors: Fangda Li (UToronto), Adrienne L. Erickcek (CITA/Perimeter Institute), Nicholas M. Law (Dunlap Institute)

arXiv:1202.1284v1

The dark matter enclosed in a density perturbation with a large initial amplitude (delta-rho/rho > 1e-3) collapses shortly after recombination and forms an ultracompact minihalo (UCMH). Their high central densities make UCMHs especially suitable for detection via astrometric microlensing: as the UCMH moves, it changes the apparent position of background stars. A UCMH with a mass larger than a few solar masses can produce a distinctive astrometric microlensing signal that is detectable by the space astrometry mission Gaia. If Gaia does not detect gravitational lensing by any UCMHs, then it establishes an upper limit on their abundance and constrains the amplitude of the primordial power spectrum for k~3500 Mpc^{-1}. These constraints complement the upper bound on the amplitude of the primordial power spectrum derived from limits on gamma-ray emission from UCMHs because the astrometric microlensing signal produced by an UCMH is maximized if the dark-matter annihilation rate is too low to affect the UCMH's density profile. If dark matter annihilation within UCMHs is not detectable, a search for UCMHs by Gaia could constrain the amplitude of the primordial power spectrum to be less than 1e-5; this bound is three orders of magnitude stronger than the bound derived from the absence of primordial black holes.   Cores in warm dark matter haloes: a Catch 22 problem Authors: Andrea V. Maccio', Sinziana Paduroiu, Donnino Anderhalden, Aurel Schneider, Ben Moore arXiv:1202.1282v1  The free streaming of warm dark matter particles dampens the fluctuation spectrum, flattens the mass function of haloes and imprints a fine grained phase density limit for dark matter structures. The phase space density limit is expected to imprint a constant density core at the halo center on the contrary to what happens for cold dark matter. We explore these effects using high resolution simulations of structure formation in different warm dark matter scenarios. We find that the size of the core we obtain in simulated haloes is in good agreement with theoretical expectations based on Liouville's theorem. However, our simulations show that in order to create a significant core, (r_c~1 kpc), in a dwarf galaxy (M~1e10 Msun), a thermal candidate with a mass as low as 0.1 keV is required. This would fully prevent the formation of the dwarf galaxy in the first place. For candidates satisfying large scale structure constrains (m_wdm larger than 1-2 keV) the expected size of the core is of the order of 40 (80) pc for a dark matter halo with a mass of 1e10 (1e8) Msun. We conclude that "standard" warm dark matter is not viable solution for explaining the presence of cored density profiles in low mass galaxies.

arXiv:1202.1284v1

arXiv: 30 January 2012

 The Cluster and Large Scale Environments of Quasars at z<0.9

Authors: Kathryn A. Harris

arXiv:1201.5746v1

 In this thesis, I present an investigation into the environments of quasars with respect to galaxy clusters, and environment evolution with redshift and luminosity. The orientation of the quasar with respect to the major axis of the closest cluster was calculated, introducing new information to previous work. The aim of this work was i.) to study the large scale environment over a large redshift range, ii.) to study the evolution as well as any change in environment with quasar luminosity and redshift, and iii.) to study the orientation of a quasar with respect to a galaxy cluster.
There is a deficit of quasars lying close to cluster centres for 0.4<z<0.8, indicating a preference for less dense environments, in agreement with previous work. These is no change with redshift (over 0<z<1.2) in the positions of the quasars as a function of absolute quasar magnitude, nor preferred orientation between the quasar and the cluster major axis for bright or faint quasars.
Spectra of a selection of 680 star forming galaxies, red galaxies, and AGN were taken, and used to study the environments of quasars with respect to star-forming galaxies and galaxy clusters. The objects were classified (33 classed as AGN), and star formation rates calculated. Three AGN and 10 star forming galaxies lie at the same redshift (z=0.29) as three galaxy clusters. The three galaxy clusters have the same orientation angle and may be part of a filament along with the star forming galaxies and AGN.
A number of high redshift quasars showed evidence of ultra-strong UV FeII emission in their spectra in the direction of three LQGs in the redshift range 1.1<z<1.6, including the Clowes-Campusano Large Quasar Group (CCLQG). Though there has been no previous indication that the LQG environment is unique, the high level of iron emission may indicate a difference in environment.

 

The 21cm Signature of a Cosmic String Loop

Authors: Michael Pagano, Robert Brandenberger (McGill University)

arXiv:1201.5695v1

 Cosmic string loops lead to nonlinear baryon overdensities at early times, even before the time which in the standard LCDM model corresponds to the time of reionization. These overdense structures lead to signals in 21cm redshift surveys at large redshifts. In this paper, we calculate the amplitude and shape of the string loop-induced 21cm brightness temperature. We find that a string loop leads to a roughly elliptical region in redshift space with extra 21cm emission. The excess brightness temperature for strings with a tension close to the current upper bound can be as high as 1 degree K for string loops generated at early cosmological times (times comparable to the time of equal matter and radiation) and observed at a redshift of z + 1 = 30. The angular extent of these predicted "bright spots" is of the order 0.1 degree for a value of the string tension equal to the current upper bound. These signals should be detectable in upcoming high redshift 21cm surveys.