No Arabic abstract
Euclid is a European Space Agency medium class mission selected for launch in 2020 within the Cosmic Vision 2015 2025 program. The main goal of Euclid is to understand the origin of the accelerated expansion of the universe. Euclid will explore the expansion history of the universe and the evolution of cosmic structures by measuring shapes and redshifts of galaxies as well as the distribution of clusters of galaxies over a large fraction of the sky. Although the main driver for Euclid is the nature of dark energy, Euclid science covers a vast range of topics, from cosmology to galaxy evolution to planetary research. In this review we focus on cosmology and fundamental physics, with a strong emphasis on science beyond the current standard models. We discuss five broad topics: dark energy and modified gravity, dark matter, initial conditions, basic assumptions and questions of methodology in the data analysis. This review has been planned and carried out within Euclids Theory Working Group and is meant to provide a guide to the scientific themes that will underlie the activity of the group during the preparation of the Euclid mission.
Euclid is a European Space Agency medium class mission selected for launch in 2019 within the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme. The main goal of Euclid is to understand the origin of the accelerated expansion of the Universe. Euclid will explore the expansion history of the Universe and the evolution of cosmic structures by measuring shapes and redshifts of galaxies as well as the distribution of clusters of galaxies over a large fraction of the sky. Although the main driver for Euclid is the nature of dark energy, Euclid science covers a vast range of topics, from cosmology to galaxy evolution to planetary research. In this review we focus on cosmology and fundamental physics, with a strong emphasis on science beyond the current standard models. We discuss five broad topics: dark energy and modified gravity, dark matter, initial conditions, basic assumptions and questions of methodology in the data analysis. This review has been planned and carried out within Euclids Theory Working Group and is meant to provide a guide to the scientific themes that will underlie the activity of the group during the preparation of the Euclid mission.
The values of the fundamental constants such as $mu = m_P/m_e$, the proton to electron mass ratio and $alpha$, the fine structure constant, are sensitive to the product $sqrt{zeta_x^2(w+1)}$ where $zeta_x$ is a coupling constant between a rolling scalar field responsible for the acceleration of the expansion of the universe and the electromagnetic field with x standing for either $mu$ or $alpha$. The dark energy equation of state $w$ can assume values different than $-1$ in cosmologies where the acceleration of the expansion is due to a scalar field. In this case the value of both $mu$ and $alpha$ changes with time. The values of the fundamental constants, therefore, monitor the equation of state and are a valuable tool for determining $w$ as a function of redshift. In fact the rolling of the fundamental constants is one of the few definitive discriminators between acceleration due to a cosmological constant and acceleration due to a quintessence rolling scalar field. $w$ is often given in parameterized form for comparison with observations. In this manuscript the predicted evolution of $mu$, is calculated for a range of parameterized equation of state models and compared to the observational constraints on $Delta mu / mu$. We find that the current limits on $Delta mu / mu$ place significant constraints on linear equation of state models and on thawing models where $w$ deviates from $-1$ at late times. They also constrain non-dynamical models that have a constant $w$ not equal to $-1$. These constraints are an important compliment to geometric tests of $w$ in that geometric tests are sensitive to the evolution of the universe before the epoch of observation while fundamental constants are sensitive to the evolution of the universe after the observational epoch. Abstract truncated.
The concordance model in cosmology, $Lambda$CDM, is able to fit the main cosmological observations with a high level of accuracy. However, around 95% of the energy content of the Universe within this framework remains still unknown. In this work we focus on the dark matter component and we investigate the generalized dark matter (GDM) model, which allows for non-pressure-less dark matter and a non-vanishing sound speed and viscosity. We first focus on current observations, showing that GDM could alleviate the tension between cosmic microwave background and weak lensing observations. We then investigate the ability of the photometric Euclid survey (photometric galaxy clustering, weak lensing, and their cross-correlations) to constrain the nature of dark matter. We conclude that Euclid will provide us with very good constraints on GDM, enabling us to better understand the nature of this fluid, but a non-linear recipe adapted to GDM is clearly needed in order to correct for non-linearities and get reliable results down to small scales.
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation ground-based observatory for $gamma$-ray astronomy at energies above 30 GeV. Thanks to its unique capabilities, CTA observations will address a plethora of open questions in astrophysics ranging from the origin of cosmic messengers to the exploration of the frontiers of physics. In this note, we present a comprehensive sensitivity study to assess the potential of CTA to measure the $gamma$-ray absorption on the extragalactic background light (EBL), to constrain or detect intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMFs), and probe physics beyond the Standard Model such as axion-like particles (ALPs) and Lorentz invariance violation (LIV), which could modify the $gamma$-ray spectra features expected from EBL absorption. Our results suggest that CTA will have unprecedented sensitivity to detect IGMF signatures and will probe so-far unexplored regions of the LIV and ALP parameter space. Furthermore, an indirect measurement of the EBL and of its evolution will be performed with unrivaled precision.
An observational program focused on the high redshift ($2<z<6$) Universe has the opportunity to dramatically improve over upcoming LSS and CMB surveys on measurements of both the standard cosmological model and its extensions. Using a Fisher matrix formalism that builds upon recent advances in Lagrangian perturbation theory, we forecast constraints for future spectroscopic and 21-cm surveys on the standard cosmological model, curvature, neutrino mass, relativistic species, primordial features, primordial non-Gaussianity, dynamical dark energy, and gravitational slip. We compare these constraints with those achievable by current or near-future surveys such as DESI and Euclid, all under the same forecasting formalism, and compare our formalism with traditional linear methods. Our Python code FishLSS $-$ used to calculate the Fisher information of the full shape power spectrum, CMB lensing, the cross-correlation of CMB lensing with galaxies, and combinations thereof $-$ is publicly available.