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Girones, Z., Marchetti, A., Mena, O., Pena-Garay, C., & Rius, N. (2010). Cosmological data analysis of f(R) gravity models. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 11(11), 004–18pp.
Abstract: A class of well-behaved modified gravity models with long enough matter domination epoch and a late-time accelerated expansion is confronted with SNIa, CMB, SDSS, BAO and H(z) galaxy ages data, as well as current measurements of the linear growth of structure. We show that the combination of geometrical probes and growth data exploited here allows to rule out f(R) gravity models, in particular, the logarithmic of curvature model. We also apply solar system tests to the models in agreement with the cosmological data. We find that the exponential of the inverse of the curvature model satisfies all the observational tests considered and we derive the allowed range of parameters. Current data still allows for small deviations of Einstein gravity. Future, high precision growth data, in combination with expansion history data, will be able to distinguish tiny modifications of standard gravity from the Lambda CDM model.
Keywords: modified gravity; cosmological parameters from LSS
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Giare, W., Renzi, F., Melchiorri, A., Mena, O., & Di Valentino, E. (2022). Cosmological forecasts on thermal axions, relic neutrinos, and light elements. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 511(1), 1373–1382.
Abstract: One of the targets of future cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillation measurements is to improve the current accuracy in the neutrino sector and reach a much better sensitivity on extra dark radiation in the early Universe. In this paper, we study how these improvements can be translated into constraining power for well-motivated extensions of the standard model of elementary particles that involve axions thermalized before the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) phase transition by scatterings with gluons. Assuming a fiducial Lambda cold dark matter cosmological model, we simulate future data for Stage-IV CMB-like and Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)-like surveys and analyse a mixed scenario of axion and neutrino hot dark matter. We further account also for the effects of these QCD axions on the light element abundances predicted by big bang nucleosynthesis. The most constraining forecasted limits on the hot relic masses are m(a) less than or similar to 0.92 eV and n-ary sumation m(nu) less than or similar to 0.12 eV at 95 per cent Confidence Level, showing that future cosmic observations can substantially improve the current bounds, supporting multimessenger analyses of axion, neutrino, and primordial light element properties.
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Di Valentino, E., Giusarma, E., Mena, O., Melchiorri, A., & Silk, J. (2016). Cosmological limits on neutrino unknowns versus low redshift priors. Phys. Rev. D, 93(8), 083527–11pp.
Abstract: Recent cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropy measurements from the Planck mission have significantly improved previous constraints on the neutrino masses as well as the bounds on extended models with massless or massive sterile neutrino states. However, due to parameter degeneracies, additional low redshift priors are mandatory in order to sharpen the CMB neutrino bounds. We explore here the role of different priors on low redshift quantities, such as the Hubble constant, the cluster mass bias, and the reionization optical depth tau. Concerning current priors on the Hubble constant and the cluster mass bias, the bounds on the neutrino parameters may differ appreciably depending on the choices adopted in the analyses. With regard to future improvements in the priors on the reionization optical depth, a value of tau = 0.05 +/- 0.01, motivated by astrophysical estimates of the reionization redshift, would lead to Sigma m(nu) < 0.0926 eV at 90% C.L., when combining the full Planck measurements, baryon acoustic oscillation, and Planck clusters data, thereby opening the window to unravel the neutrino mass hierarchy with existing cosmological probes.
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Carbone, C., Mena, O., & Verde, L. (2010). Cosmological parameters degeneracies and non-Gaussian halo bias. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 07(7), 020–17pp.
Abstract: We study the impact of the cosmological parameters uncertainties on the measurements of primordial non-Gaussianity through the large-scale non-Gaussian halo bias effect. While this is not expected to be an issue for the standard Lambda CDM model, it may not be the case for more general models that modify the large-scale shape of the power spectrum. We consider the so-called local non-Gaussianity model, parametrized by the f(NL) non-Gaussianity parameter which is zero for a Gaussian case, and make forecasts on f(NL) from planned surveys, alone and combined with a Planck CMB prior. In particular, we consider EUCLID- and LSST-like surveys and forecast the correlations among f(NL) and the running of the spectral index alpha(s), the dark energy equation of state w, the effective sound speed of dark energy perturbations c(s)(2), the total mass of massive neutrinos M-nu = Sigma m(nu), and the number of extra relativistic degrees of freedom N-nu(rel). Neglecting CMB information on f(NL) and scales k > 0.03h/Mpc, we find that, if N-nu(rel) is assumed to be known, the uncertainty on cosmological parameters increases the error on f(NL) by 10 to 30% depending on the survey. Thus the f(NL) constraint is remarkable robust to cosmological model uncertainties. On the other hand, if N-nu(rel) is simultaneously constrained from the data, the f(NL) error increases by similar to 80%. Finally, future surveys which provide a large sample of galaxies or galaxy clusters over a volume comparable to the Hubble volume can measure primordial non-Gaussianity of the local form with a marginalized 1-sigma error of the order Delta f(NL) similar to 2 – 5, after combination with CMB priors for the remaining cosmological parameters. These results are competitive with CMB bispectrum constraints achievable with an ideal CMB experiment.
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Gariazzo, S., Escudero, M., Diamanti, R., & Mena, O. (2017). Cosmological searches for a noncold dark matter component. Phys. Rev. D, 96(4), 043501–11pp.
Abstract: We explore an extended cosmological scenario where the dark matter is an admixture of cold and additional noncold species. The mass and temperature of the noncold dark matter particles are extracted from a number of cosmological measurements. Among others, we consider tomographic weak lensing data and Milky Way dwarf satellite galaxy counts. We also study the potential of these scenarios in alleviating the existing tensions between local measurements and cosmic microwave background ( CMB) estimates of the S-8 parameter, with S-8 = sigma(8)root Omega(m), and of the Hubble constant H-0. In principle, a subdominant, noncold dark matter particle with a mass m(X) similar to keV, could achieve the goals above. However, the preferred ranges for its temperature and its mass are different when extracted from weak lensing observations and from Milky Way dwarf satellite galaxy counts, since these two measurements require suppressions of the matter power spectrum at different scales. Therefore, solving simultaneously the CMB-weak lensing tensions and the small scale crisis in the standard cold dark matter picture via only one noncold dark matter component seems to be challenging.
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Di Valentino, E. et al, & Mena, O. (2021). Cosmology intertwined III: f sigma(8) and S-8. Astropart Phys., 131, 102604–6pp.
Abstract: The standard A Cold Dark Matter cosmological model provides a wonderful fit to current cosmological data, but a few statistically significant tensions and anomalies were found in the latest data analyses. While these anomalies could be due to the presence of systematic errors in the experiments, they could also indicate the need for new physics beyond the standard model. In this Letter of Interest we focus on the tension between Planck data and weak lensing measurements and redshift surveys, in the value of the matter energy density Omega(m), and the amplitude sigma(8) (or the growth rate f sigma(8)) of cosmic structure. We list a few promising models for solving this tension, and discuss the importance of trying to fit multiple cosmological datasets with complete physical models, rather than fitting individual datasets with a few handpicked theoretical parameters.
Keywords: cosmological tensions; cosmological parameters
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Abdalla, E. et al, & Mena, O. (2022). Cosmology intertwined: A review of the particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology associated with the cosmological tensions and anomalies. J. High Energy Astrophys., 34, 49–211.
Abstract: The standard Lambda Cold Dark Matter (Lambda CDM) cosmological model provides a good description of a wide range of astrophysical and cosmological data. However, there are a few big open questions that make the standard model look like an approximation to a more realistic scenario yet to be found. In this paper, we list a few important goals that need to be addressed in the next decade, taking into account the current discordances between the different cosmological probes, such as the disagreement in the value of the Hubble constant H-0, the sigma(8)-S-8 tension, and other less statistically significant anomalies. While these discordances can still be in part the result of systematic errors, their persistence after several years of accurate analysis strongly hints at cracks in the standard cosmological scenario and the necessity for new physics or generalisations beyond the standard model. In this paper, we focus on the 5.0 sigma tension between the Planck CMB estimate of the Hubble constant H-0 and the SH0ES collaboration measurements. After showing the H-0 evaluations made from different teams using different methods and geometric calibrations, we list a few interesting new physics models that could alleviate this tension and discuss how the next decade's experiments will be crucial. Moreover, we focus on the tension of the Planck CMB data with weak lensing measurements and redshift surveys, about the value of the matter energy density Omega(m), and the amplitude or rate of the growth of structure (sigma(8), f sigma(8)). We list a few interesting models proposed for alleviating this tension, and we discuss the importance of trying to fit a full array of data with a single model and not just one parameter at a time. Additionally, we present a wide range of other less discussed anomalies at a statistical significance level lower than the H-0-S-8 tensions which may also constitute hints towards new physics, and we discuss possible generic theoretical approaches that can collectively explain the non-standard nature of these signals. Finally, we give an overview of upgraded experiments and next-generation space missions and facilities on Earth that will be of crucial importance to address all these open questions.
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Gariazzo, S., & Mena, O. (2019). Cosmology-marginalized approaches in Bayesian model comparison: The neutrino mass as a case study. Phys. Rev. D, 99(2), 021301–6pp.
Abstract: We propose here a novel method which singles out the a priori unavoidable dependence on the underlying cosmological model when extracting parameter constraints, providing robust limits which only depend on the considered dataset. Interestingly, when dealing with several possible cosmologies and interpreting the Bayesian preference in terms of the Gaussian statistical evidence, the preferred model is much less favored than when only two cases are compared. As a working example, we apply our approach to the cosmological neutrino mass bounds, which play a fundamental role not only in establishing the contribution of relic neutrinos to the dark matter of the Universe but also in the planning of future experimental searches of the neutrino character and of the neutrino mass ordering.
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Lopez Honorez, L., Reid, B. A., Mena, O., Verde, L., & Jimenez, R. (2010). Coupled dark matter-dark energy in light of near universe observations. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 09(9), 029–36pp.
Abstract: Cosmological analysis based on currently available observations are unable to rule out a sizeable coupling among the dark energy and dark matter fluids. We explore a variety of coupled dark matter-dark energy models, which satisfy cosmic microwave background constraints, in light of low redshift and near universe observations. We illustrate the phenomenology of different classes of dark coupling models, paying particular attention in distinguishing between effects that appear only on the expansion history and those that appear in the growth of structure. We find that while a broad class of dark coupling models are effectively models where general relativity (GR) is modified – and thus can be probed by a combination of tests for the expansion history and the growth of structure -, there is a class of dark coupling models where gravity is still GR, but the growth of perturbations is, in principle modified. While this effect is small in the specific models we have considered, one should bear in mind that an inconsistency between reconstructed expansion history and growth may not uniquely indicate deviations from GR. Our low redshift constraints arise from cosmic velocities, redshift space distortions and dark matter abundance in galaxy voids. We find that current data constrain the dimensionless coupling to be vertical bar xi vertical bar < 0.2, but prospects from forthcoming data are for a significant improvement. Future, precise measurements of the Hubble constant, combined with high-precision constraints on the growth of structure, could provide the key to rule out dark coupling models which survive other tests. We shall exploit as well weak equivalence principle violation arguments, which have the potential to highly disfavour a broad family of coupled models.
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Archidiacono, M., Lopez-Honorez, L., & Mena, O. (2014). Current constraints on early and stressed dark energy models and future 21 cm perspectives. Phys. Rev. D, 90(12), 123016–10pp.
Abstract: Despite the great progress of current cosmological measurements, the nature of the dominant component of the Universe, coined dark energy, is still an open question. Early dark energy is a possible candidate which may also alleviate some fine-tuning issues of the standard paradigm. Using the latest available cosmological data, we find that the 95% C.L. upper bound on the early dark energy density parameter is Tau(eDE) < 0.009. On the other hand, the dark energy component may be a stressed and inhomogeneous fluid. If this is the case, the effective sound speed and the viscosity parameters are unconstrained by current data. Future omniscopelike 21 cm surveys, combined with present cosmic microwave background data, could be able to distinguish between standard quintessence scenarios from other possible models with 2 sigma significance, assuming a non-negligible early dark energy contribution. The precision achieved on the Omega(eDE) parameter from these 21 cm probes could be below O(10%).
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