Cosmology

About: Cosmology is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 18004 publications have been published within this topic receiving 631028 citations. The topic is also known as: physical cosmology & cosmologies.

Dark Energy Survey Year 1 results: cosmological constraints from cosmic shear

Abstract: We use 26×106 galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 1 shape catalogs over 1321 deg2 of the sky to produce the most significant measurement of cosmic shear in a galaxy survey to date. We constrain cosmological parameters in both the flat ΛCDM and the wCDM models, while also varying the neutrino mass density. These results are shown to be robust using two independent shape catalogs, two independent photo-z calibration methods, and two independent analysis pipelines in a blind analysis. We find a 3.5% fractional uncertainty on σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.5=0.782-0.027+0.027 at 68% C.L., which is a factor of 2.5 improvement over the fractional constraining power of our DES Science Verification results. In wCDM, we find a 4.8% fractional uncertainty on σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.5=0.777-0.038+0.036 and a dark energy equation-of-state w=-0.95-0.39+0.33. We find results that are consistent with previous cosmic shear constraints in σ8—Ωm, and we see no evidence for disagreement of our weak lensing data with data from the cosmic microwave background. Finally, we find no evidence preferring a wCDM model allowing w≠-1. We expect further significant improvements with subsequent years of DES data, which will more than triple the sky coverage of our shape catalogs and double the effective integrated exposure time per galaxy.

Pulsar timing measurements and the search for gravitational waves

Abstract: Pulse arrival time measurements of pulsars may be used to search for gravitational waves with periods on the order of 1 to 10 years and dimensionless amplitudes approx.10/sup -11/. The analysis of published data on pulsar regularity sets an upper limit to the energy density of a stochastic background of gravitational waves, with periods approx.1 year, which is comparable to the closure density of the universe.

A measurement of the damping tail of the cosmic microwave background power spectrum with the south pole telescope

Abstract: We present a measurement of the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using data from the South Pole Telescope (SPT). The data consist of 790 square degrees of sky observed at 150 GHz during 2008 and 2009. Here we present the power spectrum over the multipole range 650 < ‘ < 3000, where it is dominated by primary CMB anisotropy. We combine this power spectrum with the power spectra from the seven-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data release to constrain cosmological models. We nd that the SPT and WMAP data are consistent with each other and, when combined, are well t by a spatially at, CDM cosmological model. The SPT+WMAP constraint on the spectral index of scalar uctuations is ns = 0:9663 0:0112. We detect, at 5 signicance, the eect of gravitational lensing on the CMB power spectrum, and nd its amplitude to be consistent with the CDM cosmological model. We explore a number of extensions beyond the CDM model. Each extension is tested independently, although there are degeneracies between some of the extension parameters. We constrain the tensorto-scalar ratio to be r < 0:21 (95% CL) and constrain the running of the scalar spectral index to be dns=d lnk = 0:024 0:013. We strongly detect the eects of primordial helium and neutrinos on the CMB; a model without helium is rejected at 7.7 , while a model without neutrinos is rejected at 7.5 . The primordial helium abundance is measured to be Yp = 0:296 0:030, and the eective number of relativistic species is measured to be Ne = 3:85 0:62. The constraints on these models are strengthened when the CMB data are combined with measurements of the Hubble constant and the baryon acoustic oscillation feature. Notable improvements include ns = 0:9668 0:0093, r < 0:17 (95% CL), and Ne = 3:86 0:42. The SPT+WMAP data show a mild preference for low power in the CMB damping tail, and while this preference may be accommodated by models that have a negative spectral running, a high primordial helium abundance, or a high eective number of relativistic species, such models are disfavored by the abundance of low-redshift galaxy clusters. Subject headings: cosmology { cosmology:cosmic microwave background { cosmology: observations { large-scale structure of universe

Axions, Domain Walls, and the Early Universe

Abstract: Axion models have a spontaneously broken Z{A) symmetry. The resulting discretely degenerate vacua and domain-wall solitons are incompatible with the standard cosmology. It is possible, however, to introduce a small Z(N) breaking interaction into axion models without upsetting the Peccei-Quinn mechanism. In that case the domain walls disappear a certain time after their formation in the early universe. Their. presence for a limited time period might lead to galaxy formation.

Precision Determination of the Mass Function of Dark Matter Halos

Abstract: The predicted mass function of dark matter halos is essential in connecting observed galaxy-cluster counts and models of galaxy clustering to the properties of the primordial density field. We determine the mass function in the concordance ΛCDM cosmology, as well as its uncertainty, using sixteen 10243 particle nested-volume dark matter simulations spanning a mass range of over 5 orders of magnitude. Using the nested volumes and single-halo tests, we find and correct for a systematic error in the friends-of-friends halo-finding algorithm. We find a fitting form and full error covariance for the mass function that successfully describes the simulations' mass function and is well behaved outside the simulations' resolutions. Estimated forecasts of uncertainty in cosmological parameters from future cluster-count surveys receive a negligible contribution from remaining statistical uncertainties in the central cosmology multiplicity function. There exists a potentially nonnegligible cosmological dependence (nonuniversality) of the halo multiplicity function.