No Arabic abstract
Spherical collapse predicts that a single value of the turnaround density (average matter density within the scale on which a structure detaches from the Hubble flow) characterizes all cosmic structures at the same redshift. It has been recently shown by Korkidis et al. that this feature persists in complex non-spherical galaxy clusters identified in N-body simulations. Here we show that the low-redshift evolution of the turnaround density constrains the cosmological parameters, and that it can be used to derive a local constraint on $Omega_Lambda$ alone, independent of $Omega_m$. The turnaround density thus provides a promising new way to exploit upcoming large cosmological datasets.
We demonstrate that, in the context of the $Lambda$CDM model, it is in principle possible to measure the value of the cosmological constant by tracing, across cosmic time, the evolution of the turnaround radius of cosmic structures. The novelty of the presented method is that it is local, in the sense that it uses the effect of the cosmological constant on the relatively short scales of cosmic structures and not on the dynamics of the Universe at its largest scales. In this way, it can provide an important consistency check for the standard cosmological model and can give signs of new physics, beyond $Lambda$CDM.
We present a new approach for quantifying the abundance of galaxy clusters and constraining cosmological parameters using dynamical measurements. In the standard method, galaxy line-of-sight (LOS) velocities, $v$, or velocity dispersions are used to infer cluster masses, $M$, in order to quantify the halo mass function (HMF), $dn(M)/dlog(M)$, which is strongly affected by mass measurement errors. In our new method, the probability distribution of velocities for each cluster in the sample are summed to create a new statistic called the velocity distribution function (VDF), $dn(v)/dv$. The VDF can be measured more directly and precisely than the HMF and it can also be robustly predicted with cosmological simulations which capture the dynamics of subhalos or galaxies. We apply these two methods to mock cluster catalogs and forecast the bias and constraints on the matter density parameter $Omega_m$ and the amplitude of matter fluctuations $sigma_8$ in flat $Lambda$CDM cosmologies. For an example observation of 200 massive clusters, the VDF with (without) velocity errors constrains the parameter combination $sigma_8Omega_m^{0.29 (0.29)} = 0.587 pm 0.011 (0.583 pm 0.011)$ and shows only minor bias. However, the HMF with dynamical mass errors is biased to low $Omega_m$ and high $sigma_8$ and the fiducial model lies well outside of the forecast constraints, prior to accounting for Eddington bias. When the VDF is combined with constraints from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the degeneracy between cosmological parameters can be significantly reduced. Upcoming spectroscopic surveys that probe larger volumes and fainter magnitudes will provide a larger number of clusters for applying the VDF as a cosmological probe.
The standard model of particle physics is known to be intriguingly successful. However their rich phenomena represented by the phase transitions (PTs) have not been completely understood yet, including the possibility of the existence of unknown dark sectors. In this Letter, we investigate the measurement of the equation of state parameter $w$ and the sound speed $c_{rm s}$ of the PT plasma with use of the gravitational waves (GWs) of the universe. Though the propagation of GW is insensitive to $c_{rm s}$ in itself, the sound speed value affects the dynamics of primordial density (or scalar curvature) perturbations and the induced GW by their horizon reentry can then be an indirect probe both $w$ and $c_{rm s}$. We numerically reveal the concrete spectrum of the predicted induced GW with two simple examples of the scalar perturbation spectrum: the monochromatic and scale-invariant spectra. In the monochromatic case, we see that the resonant amplification and cancellation scales of the induced GW depend on the $c_{rm s}$ values at different time respectively. The scale-invariant case gives a more realistic spectrum and its specific shape will be compared with observations. In particular, the QCD phase transition corresponds with the frequency range of the pulsar timing array (PTA) observations. If the amplitude of primordial scalar power is in the range of $10^{-4}lesssim A_zetalesssim10^{-2}$, the induced GW is consistent with current observational constraints and detectable in the future observation in Square Kilometer Array. Futhermore the recent possible detection of stochastic GWs by NANOGrav 12.5 yr analysis~[1] can be explained by the induced GW if $A_zetasimsqrt{7}times10^{-3}$.
A range of cosmological observations demonstrate an accelerated expansion of the Universe, and the most likely explanation of this phenomenon is a cosmological constant. Given the importance of understanding the underlying physics, it is relevant to investigate alternative models. This article uses numerical simulations to test the consistency of one such alternative model. Specifically, this model has no cosmological constant, instead the dark matter particles have an extra force proportional to velocity squared, somewhat reminiscent of the magnetic force in electrodynamics. The constant strength of the force is the only free parameter. Since bottom-up structure formation creates cosmological structures whose internal velocity dispersions increase in time, this model may mimic the temporal evolution of the effect from a cosmological constant. It is shown that models with force linearly proportional to internal velocites, or models proportional to velocity to power three or more cannot mimic the accelerated expansion induced by a cosmological constant. However, models proportional to velocity squared are still consistent with the temporal evolution of a Universe with a cosmological model.
Bouncing models have been proposed by many authors as a completion, or even as an alternative to inflation for the description of the very early and dense Universe. However, most bouncing models contain a contracting phase from a very large and rarefied state, where dark energy might have had an important role as it has today in accelerating our large Universe. In that case, its presence can modify the initial conditions and evolution of cosmological perturbations, changing the known results already obtained in the literature concerning their amplitude and spectrum. In this paper, we assume the simplest and most appealing candidate for dark energy, the cosmological constant, and evaluate its influence on the evolution of cosmological perturbations during the contracting phase of a bouncing model, which also contains a scalar field with a potential allowing background solutions with pressure and energy density satisfying p = w*rho, w being a constant. An initial adiabatic vacuum state can be set at the end of domination by the cosmological constant, and an almost scale invariant spectrum of perturbations is obtained for w~0, which is the usual result for bouncing models. However, the presence of the cosmological constant induces oscillations and a running towards a tiny red-tilted spectrum for long wavelength perturbations.