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Author (up) Mena, O.; Palomares-Ruiz, S.; Villanueva-Domingo, P.; Witte, S.J.
Title Constraining the primordial black hole abundance with 21-cm cosmology Type Journal Article
Year 2019 Publication Physical Review D Abbreviated Journal Phys. Rev. D
Volume 100 Issue 4 Pages 043540 - 23pp
Keywords
Abstract The discoveries of a number of binary black hole mergers by LIGO and VIRGO have reinvigorated the interest that primordial black holes (PBHs) of tens of solar masses could contribute non-negligibly to the dark matter energy density. Should even a small population of PBHs with masses greater than or similar to O(M-circle dot) exist, they could profoundly impact the properties of the intergalactic medium and provide insight into novel processes at work in the early Universe. We demonstrate here that observations of the 21-cm transition in neutral hydrogen during the epochs of reionization and cosmic dawn will likely provide one of the most stringent tests of solar mass PBHs. In the context of 21-cm cosmology, PBHs give rise to three distinct observable effects: (i) the modification to the primordial power spectrum (and thus also the halo mass function) induced by Poisson noise, (ii) a uniform heating and ionization of the intergalactic medium via x-rays produced during accretion, and (iii) a local modification to the temperature and density of the ambient medium surrounding isolated PBHs. Using a four-parameter astrophysical model, we show that experiments like SKA and HERA could potentially improve upon existing constraints derived using observations of the cosmic microwave background by more than 1 order of magnitude.
Address [Mena, Olga; Palomares-Ruiz, Sergio; Villanueva-Domingo, Pablo; Witte, Samuel J.] Univ Valencia, CSIC, Inst Fis Corpuscular IFIC, Apartado Correos 22085, E-46071 Valencia, Spain
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Amer Physical Soc Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2470-0010 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes WOS:000483047300003 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration no
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 4122
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Author (up) Mena, O.; Palomares-Ruiz, S.; Vincent, A.C.
Title Flavor Composition of the High-Energy Neutrino Events in IceCube Type Journal Article
Year 2014 Publication Physical Review Letters Abbreviated Journal Phys. Rev. Lett.
Volume 113 Issue 9 Pages 091103 - 5pp
Keywords
Abstract The IceCube experiment has recently reported the observation of 28 high-energy (> 30 TeV) neutrino events, separated into 21 showers and 7 muon tracks, consistent with an extraterrestrial origin. In this Letter, we compute the compatibility of such an observation with possible combinations of neutrino flavors with relative proportion (alpha(e:)alpha(mu):alpha tau)(circle plus). Although the 7: 21 track-to-shower ratio is naively favored for the canonical (1:1:1)(circle plus) at Earth, this is not true once the atmospheric muon and neutrino backgrounds are properly accounted for. We find that, for an astrophysical neutrino E-2 energy spectrum, (1:1:1)(circle plus). at Earth is disfavored at 81% C. L. If this proportion does not change, 6 more years of data would be needed to exclude (1:1:1)(circle plus) at Earth at 3 sigma C.L. Indeed, with the recently released 3-yr data, that flavor composition is excluded at 92% C. L. The best fit is obtained for (1:0:0)(circle plus). at Earth, which cannot be achieved from any flavor ratio at sources with averaged oscillations during propagation. If confirmed, this result would suggest either a misunderstanding of the expected background events or a misidentification of tracks as showers, or even more compellingly, some exotic physics which deviates from the standard scenario.
Address [Mena, Olga; Palomares-Ruiz, Sergio; Vincent, Aaron C.] Univ Valencia, CSIC, Inst Fis Corpuscular IFIC, E-46071 Valencia, Spain, Email: omena@ific.uv.es;
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Amer Physical Soc Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0031-9007 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes WOS:000341292800005 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration no
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 1920
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Author (up) Mena, O.; Razzaque, S.
Title Hints of an axion-like particle mixing in the GeV gamma-ray blazar data? Type Journal Article
Year 2013 Publication Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Abbreviated Journal J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.
Volume 11 Issue 11 Pages 023 - 12pp
Keywords axions; active galactic nuclei
Abstract Axion-Like Particles (ALPs), if exist in nature, are expected to mix with photons in the presence of an external magnetic field. The energy range of photons which undergo strong mixing with ALPs depends on the ALP mass, on its coupling with photons as well as on the external magnetic field and particle density configurations. Recent observations of blazars by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope in the 0.1-300 GeV energy range show a break in their spectra in the 1-10 GeV range. We have modeled this spectral feature for the flat-spectrum radio quasar 3C454.3 during its November 2010 outburst, assuming that a significant fraction of the gamma rays convert to ALPs in the large scale jet of this blazar. Using theoretically motivated models for the magnetic field and particle density con figurations in the kiloparsec scale jet, outside the broad-line region, we find an ALP mass m(a) similar to (1 – 3).10(-7) eV and coupling g(a gamma) similar to (1 – 3).10(-10) GeV-1 after performing an illustrative statistical analysis of spectral data in four different epochs of emission. The precise values of m(a) and g(a gamma) depend weakly on the assumed particle density con figuration and are consistent with the current experimental bounds on these quantities. We apply this method and ALP parameters found from fitting 3C454.3 data to another flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS1222+216 (4C+21.35) data up to 400 GeV, as a consistency check, and found good fit. We find that the ALP-photon mixing effect on the GeV spectra may not be washed out for any reasonable estimate of the magnetic field in the intergalactic media.
Address [Mena, Olga] Univ Valencia, CSIC, IFIC, E-46071 Valencia, Spain, Email: omena@ific.uv.es;
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Iop Publishing Ltd Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1475-7516 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes WOS:000327843900024 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration yes
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 1673
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Author (up) Mena, O.; Razzaque, S.; Villaescusa-Navarro, F.
Title Signatures of photon and axion-like particle mixing in the gamma-ray burst jet Type Journal Article
Year 2011 Publication Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Abbreviated Journal J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.
Volume 02 Issue 2 Pages 030 - 16pp
Keywords axions; magnetic fields; gamma ray bursts theory; gamma ray burst experiments
Abstract Photons couple to Axion-Like Particles (ALPs) or more generally to any pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson in the presence of an external electromagnetic field. Mixing between photons and ALPs in the strong magnetic field of a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) jet during the prompt emission phase can leave observable imprints on the gamma-ray polarization and spectrum. Mixing in the intergalactic medium is not expected to modify these signatures for ALP mass > 10(-14) eV and/or for < nG magnetic field. We show that the depletion of photons due to conversion to ALPs changes the linear degree of polarization from the values predicted by the synchrotron model of gamma ray emission. We also show that when the magnetic field orientation in the propagation region is perpendicular to the field orientation in the production region, the observed synchrotron spectrum becomes steeper than the theoretical prediction and as detected in a sizable fraction of GRB sample. Detection of the correlated polarization and spectral signatures from these steep-spectrum GRBs by gamma-ray polarimeters can be a very powerful probe to discover ALPs. Measurement of gamma-ray polarization from GRBs in general, with high statistics, can also be useful to search for ALPs.
Address [Mena, Olga; Villaescusa-Navarro, F.] Univ Valencia, CSIC, IFIC, E-46071 Valencia, Spain, Email: omena@ific.uv.es
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Iop Publishing Ltd Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1475-7516 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes ISI:000287859800031 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration yes
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 559
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Author (up) Mosbech, M.R.; Boehm, C.; Hannestad, S.; Mena, O.; Stadler, J.; Wong, Y.Y.Y.
Title The full Boltzmann hierarchy for dark matter-massive neutrino interactions Type Journal Article
Year 2021 Publication Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Abbreviated Journal J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.
Volume 03 Issue 3 Pages 066 - 31pp
Keywords cosmological perturbation theory; dark matter theory; neutrino properties; particle physics – cosmology connection
Abstract The impact of dark matter-neutrino interactions on the measurement of the cosmological parameters has been investigated in the past in the context of massless neutrinos exclusively. Here we revisit the role of a neutrino-dark matter coupling in light of ongoing cosmological tensions by implementing the full Boltzmann hierarchy for three massive neutrinos. Our tightest 95% CL upper limit on the strength of the interactions, parameterized via u(chi) = sigma(0)/sigma(Th) (m(chi)/100GeV)(-1), is u(chi) <= 3.34 . 10(-4), arising from a combination of Planck TTTEEE data, Planck lensing data and SDSS BAO data. This upper bound is, as expected, slightly higher than previous results for interacting massless neutrinos, due to the correction factor associated with neutrino masses. We find that these interactions significantly relax the lower bounds on the value of sigma 8 that is inferred in the context of Lambda CDM from the Planck data, leading to agreement within 1-2 sigma with weak lensing estimates of sigma 8, as those from KiDS1000. However, the presence of these interactions barely affects the value of the Hubble constant H-0.
Address [Mosbech, Markus R.; Boehm, Celine] Univ Sydney, Sch Phys, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia, Email: mmos6302@uni.sydney.edu.au;
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Iop Publishing Ltd Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1475-7516 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes WOS:000636717400061 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration yes
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 4783
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Author (up) Nunes, R.C.; Vagnozzi, S.; Kumar, S.; Di Valentino, E.; Mena, O.
Title New tests of dark sector interactions from the full-shape galaxy power spectrum Type Journal Article
Year 2022 Publication Physical Review D Abbreviated Journal Phys. Rev. D
Volume 105 Issue 12 Pages 123506 - 18pp
Keywords
Abstract We explore the role of redshift-space galaxy clustering data in constraining nongravitational interactions between dark energy (DE) and dark matter (DM), for which state-of-the-art limits have so far been obtained from late-time background measurements. We use the joint likelihood for prereconstruction full-shape (FS) galaxy power spectrum and postreconstruction Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) measurements from the BOSS DR12 sample, alongside Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data from Planck: from this dataset combination we infer H0 1/4 68.02+0.49 and the 2?? lower limit ?? > ???0.12, among the strongest limits ever reported on the DM-DE coupling strength ?? for the particular model considered. Contrary to what has been observed for the ??CDM model and simple extensions thereof, we find that the CMB + FS combination returns tighter constraints compared to the CMB + BAO one, suggesting that there is valuable additional information contained in the broadband of the power spectrum. We test this finding by running additional CMB-free analyses and removing sound horizon information, and discuss the important role of the equality scale in setting constraints on DM-DE interactions. Our results reinforce the critical role played by redshift-space galaxy clustering measurements in the epoch of precision cosmology, particularly in relation to tests of nonminimal dark sector extensions of the ??CDM model.
Address [Nunes, Rafael C.] Univ Fed Rio Grande Do Sul, Inst Fis, BR-91501970 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, Email: rafadcnunes@gmail.com;
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Amer Physical Soc Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2470-0010 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes WOS:000813312800005 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration yes
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 5269
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Author (up) Palomares-Ruiz, S.; Vincent, A.C.; Mena, O.
Title Spectral analysis of the high-energy IceCube neutrinos Type Journal Article
Year 2015 Publication Physical Review D Abbreviated Journal Phys. Rev. D
Volume 91 Issue 10 Pages 103008 - 28pp
Keywords
Abstract A full energy and flavor-dependent analysis of the three-year high-energy IceCube neutrino events is presented. By means of multidimensional fits, we derive the current preferred values of the high-energy neutrino flavor ratios, the normalization and spectral index of the astrophysical fluxes, and the expected atmospheric background events, including a prompt component. A crucial assumption resides on the choice of the energy interval used for the analyses, which significantly biases the results. When restricting ourselves to the similar to 30 TeV-3 PeV energy range, which contains all the observed IceCube events, we find that the inclusion of the spectral information improves the fit to the canonical flavor composition at Earth, (1: 1: 1)(circle plus), with respect to a single-energy bin analysis. Increasing both the minimum and the maximum deposited energies has dramatic effects on the reconstructed flavor ratios as well as on the spectral index. Imposing a higher threshold of 60 TeV yields a slightly harder spectrum by allowing a larger muon neutrino component, since above this energy most atmospheric tracklike events are effectively removed. Extending the high-energy cutoff to fully cover the Glashow resonance region leads to a softer spectrum and a preference for tau neutrino dominance, as none of the expected electron (anti) neutrino induced showers have been observed so far. The lack of showers at energies above 2 PeV may point to a broken power-law neutrino spectrum. Future data may confirm or falsify whether the recently discovered high-energy neutrino fluxes and the long-standing detected cosmic rays have a common origin.
Address [Palomares-Ruiz, Sergio; Mena, Olga] Univ Valencia, CSIC, Inst Fis Corpuscular IFIC, E-46071 Valencia, Spain
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Amer Physical Soc Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1550-7998 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes WOS:000355173100001 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration yes
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 2242
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Author (up) Pandolfi, S.; Cooray, A.; Giusarma, E.; Kolb, E.W.; Melchiorri, A.; Mena, O.; Serra, P.
Title Harrison-Zel'dovich primordial spectrum is consistent with observations Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Physical Review D Abbreviated Journal Phys. Rev. D
Volume 81 Issue 12 Pages 123509 - 6pp
Keywords
Abstract Inflation predicts primordial scalar perturbations with a nearly scale-invariant spectrum and a spectral index approximately unity [the Harrison-Zel'dovich (HZ) spectrum]. The first important step for inflationary cosmology is to check the consistency of the HZ primordial spectrum with current observations. Recent analyses have claimed that a HZ primordial spectrum is excluded at more than 99% c. l. Here we show that the HZ spectrum is only marginally disfavored if one considers a more general reionization scenario. Data from the Planck mission will settle the issue.
Address [Pandolfi, Stefania] Univ Roma La Sapienza, ICRA, I-00185 Rome, Italy
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Amer Physical Soc Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1550-7998 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes ISI:000278555900003 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration yes
Call Number IFIC @ elepoucu @ Serial 426
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Author (up) Pandolfi, S.; Giusarma, E.; Kolb, E.W.; Lattanzi, M.; Melchiorri, A.; Mena, O.; Pena, M.; Cooray, A.; Serra, P.
Title Impact of general reionization scenarios on extraction of inflationary parameters Type Journal Article
Year 2010 Publication Physical Review D Abbreviated Journal Phys. Rev. D
Volume 82 Issue 12 Pages 123527 - 10pp
Keywords
Abstract Determination of whether the Harrison-Zel'dovich spectrum for primordial scalar perturbations is consistent with observations is sensitive to assumptions about the reionization scenario. In light of this result, we revisit constraints on inflationary models using more general reionization scenarios. While the bounds on the tensor-to-scalar ratio are largely unmodified, when different reionization schemes are addressed, hybrid models are back into the inflationary game. In the general reionization picture, we reconstruct both the shape and amplitude of the inflaton potential. We discuss how relaxing the simple reionization restriction affects the reconstruction of the potential through the changes in the constraints on the spectral index, the tensor-to-scalar ratio and the running of the spectral index. We also find that the inclusion of other Cosmic Microwave Background data in addition to the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy probe data excludes the very flat potentials typical of models in which the inflationary evolution reaches a late-time attractor, as a consequence of the fact that the running of the spectral index is constrained to be different from zero at 99% confidence level.
Address [Pandolfi, Stefania; Lattanzi, Massimiliano; Melchiorri, Alessandro] Univ Roma La Sapienza, Dept Phys, I-00185 Rome, Italy
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Amer Physical Soc Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1550-7998 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes ISI:000286744800007 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration yes
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 530
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author (up) Pompa, F.; Capozzi, F.; Mena, O.; Sorel, M.
Title Absolute nu Mass Measurement with the DUNE Experiment Type Journal Article
Year 2022 Publication Physical Review Letters Abbreviated Journal Phys. Rev. Lett.
Volume 129 Issue 12 Pages 121802 - 6pp
Keywords
Abstract Time of flight delay in the supernova neutrino signal offers a unique tool to set model-independent constraints on the absolute neutrino mass. The presence of a sharp time structure during a first emission phase, the so-called neutronization burst in the electron neutrino flavor time distribution, makes this channel a very powerful one. Large liquid argon underground detectors will provide precision measurements of the time dependence of the electron neutrino fluxes. We derive here a new v mass sensitivity attainable at the future DUNE far detector from a future supernova collapse in our galactic neighborhood, finding a sub-eV reach under favorable scenarios. These values are competitive with those expected for laboratory direct neutrino mass searches.
Address [Pompa, Federica; Capozzi, Francesco; Mena, Olga; Sorel, Michel] Univ Valencia, Inst Fis Corpuscular IFIC, CSIC, Parc Cientif UV, c Catedrat Jose Beltran 2, Paterna 46980, Spain, Email: federica.pompa@ific.uv.es;
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Amer Physical Soc Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0031-9007 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes WOS:000861178800003 Approved no
Is ISI yes International Collaboration no
Call Number IFIC @ pastor @ Serial 5366
Permanent link to this record