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Mangano, G., Miele, G., Pastor, S., Pisanti, O., & Sarikas, S. (2011). Constraining the cosmic radiation density due to lepton number with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 03(3), 035–18pp.
Abstract: The cosmic energy density in the form of radiation before and during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) is typically parameterized in terms of the effective number of neutrinos N-eff. This quantity, in case of no extra degrees of freedom, depends upon the chemical potential and the temperature characterizing the three active neutrino distributions, as well as by their possible non-thermal features. In the present analysis we determine the upper bounds that BBN places on N-eff from primordial neutrino-antineutrino asymmetries, with a careful treatment of the dynamics of neutrino oscillations. We consider quite a wide range for the total lepton number in the neutrino sector, eta(nu) = eta(nu e) + eta(nu mu) + eta(nu tau) and the initial electron neutrino asymmetry eta(in)(nu e), solving the corresponding kinetic equations which rule the dynamics of neutrino (antineutrino) distributions in phase space due to collisions, pair processes and flavor oscillations. New bounds on both the total lepton number in the neutrino sector and the nu(e)-(nu) over bar (e) asymmetry at the onset of BBN are obtained fully exploiting the time evolution of neutrino distributions, as well as the most recent determinations of primordial H-2/H density ratio and He-4 mass fraction. Note that taking the baryon fraction as measured by WMAP, the H-2/H abundance plays a relevant role in constraining the allowed regions in the eta(nu)-eta(in)(nu e) plane. These bounds fix the maximum contribution of neutrinos with primordial asymmetries to N-eff as a function of the mixing parameter theta(13), and point out the upper bound N-eff less than or similar to 3.4. Comparing these results with the forthcoming measurement of N-eff by the Planck satellite will likely provide insight on the nature of the radiation content of the universe.
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Maji, R., & Park, W. I. (2024). Supersymmetric U(1)B-L flat direction and NANOGrav 15 year data. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 01(1), 015–19pp.
Abstract: We show that, when connected with monopoles, the flat D-flat direction breaking the local U(1)B-L symmetry as an extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model can be responsible for the signal of a stochastic gravitational wave background recently reported by NANOGrav collaborations, while naturally satisfying constraints at high frequency band. Thanks to the flatness of the direction, a phase of thermal inflation arises naturally. The reheating temperature is quite low, and suppresses signals at frequencies higher than the characteristic frequency set by the reheating temperature. Notably, forthcoming spaced based experiments such as LISA can probe the cutoff frequency, providing an indirect clue of the scale of soft SUSY-breaking mass parameter.
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Magalhaes, R. B., Ribeiro, G. P., Lima, H. C. D. J., Olmo, G. J., & Crispino, L. C. B. (2024). Singular space-times with bounded algebraic curvature scalars. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 114–34pp.
Abstract: We show that the absence of unbounded algebraic curvature invariants constructed from polynomials of the Riemann tensor cannot guarantee the absence of strong singularities. As a consequence, it is not sufficient to rely solely on the analysis of such scalars to assess the regularity of a given space-time. This conclusion follows from the analysis of incomplete geodesics within the internal region of asymmetric wormholes supported by scalar matter which arise in two distinct metric-affine gravity theories. These wormholes have bounded algebraic curvature scalars everywhere, which highlights that their finiteness does not prevent the emergence of pathologies (singularities) in the geodesic structure of space-time. By analyzing the tidal forces in the internal wormhole region, we find that the angular components are unbounded along incomplete radial time-like geodesics. The strength of the singularity is determined by the evolution of Jacobi fields along such geodesics, finding that it is of strong type, as volume elements are torn apart as the singularity is approached. Lastly, and for completeness, we consider the wormhole of the quadratic Palatini theory and present an analysis of the tidal forces in the entire space-time.
Keywords: gravity; modified gravity; Wormholes
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Lopez-Honorez, L., Mena, O., Moline, A., Palomares-Ruiz, S., & Vincent, A. C. (2016). The 21 cm signal and the interplay between dark matter annihilations and astrophysical processes. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 08(8), 004–40pp.
Abstract: Future dedicated radio interferometers, including HERA and SKA, are very promising tools that aim to study the epoch of reionization and beyond via measurements of the 21 cm signal from neutral hydrogen. Dark matter (DM) annihilations into charged particles change the thermal history of the Universe and, as a consequence, affect the 21 cm signal. Accurately predicting the effect of DM strongly relies on the modeling of annihilations inside halos. In this work, we use up-to-date computations of the energy deposition rates by the products from DM annihilations, a proper treatment of the contribution from DM annihilations in halos, as well as values of the annihilation cross section allowed by the most recent cosmological measurements from the Planck satellite. Given current uncertainties on the description of the astrophysical processes driving the epochs of reionization, X-ray heating and Lyman-alpha pumping, we find that disentangling DM signatures from purely astrophysical effects, related to early-time star formation processes or late-time galaxy X-ray emissions, will be a challenging task. We conclude that only annihilations of DM particles with masses of similar to 100 MeV, could leave an unambiguous imprint on the 21 cm signal and, in particular, on the 21cm power spectrum. This is in contrast to previous, more optimistic results in the literature, which have claimed that strong signatures might also be present even for much higher DM masses. Additional measurements of the 21cm signal at different cosmic epochs will be crucial in order to break the strong parameter degeneracies between DM annihilations and astrophysical effects and undoubtedly single out a DM imprint for masses different from similar to 100 MeV.
Keywords: dark matter theory; intergalactic media; reionization
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Lopez-Honorez, L., Mena, O., Palomares-Ruiz, S., & Vincent, A. C. (2013). Constraints on dark matter annihilation from CMB observations before Planck. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 07(7), 046–26pp.
Abstract: We compute the bounds on the dark matter (DM) annihilation cross section using the most recent Cosmic Microwave Background measurements from WMAP9, SPT'11 and ACT'10. We consider DM with mass in the MeV-TeV range annihilating 100% into either an e(+)e(-) or a mu(+)mu(-) pair. We consider a realistic energy deposition model, which includes the dependence on the redshift, DM mass and annihilation channel. We exclude the canonical thermal relic abundance cross section (<sigma nu > = 3 x 10(-26) cm(3)s(-1)) for DM masses below 30 GeV and 15 GeV for the e(+)e(-) and mu(+)mu(-) channels, respectively. A priori, DM annihilating in halos could also modify the reionization history of the Universe at late times. We implement a realistic halo model taken from results of state-of-the-art N-body simulations and consider a mixed reionization mechanism, consisting on reionization from DM as well as from first stars. We find that the constraints on DM annihilation remain unchanged, even when large uncertainties on the halo model parameters are considered.
Keywords: dark matter theory; CMBR theory
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