Kerr black hole parameters in terms of red/blue shifts of photons emitted by geodesic particles

We are motivated by the recently reported dynamical evidence of stars with short orbital periods moving around the center of the Milky Way and the corresponding hypothesis about the existence of a supermassive black hole hosted at its center. In this paper we show how the mass and rotation parameters of a Kerr black hole (assuming that the putative supermassive black hole is of this type), as well as the distance that separates the black hole from the Earth, can be estimated in a relativistic way in terms of i) the red and blue shifts of photons that are emitted by geodesic massive particles (stars and galactic gas) and travel along null geodesics towards a distant observer, and ii) the radius of these star/gas orbits. As a concrete example and as a first step towards a full relativistic analysis of the above mentioned star orbits around the center of our galaxy, we consider stable equatorial circular orbits of stars and express their corresponding red/blue shifts in terms of the metric parameters (mass and angular momentum per unit mass) and the orbital radii of both the emitter star (and/or galactic gas) and the distant observer. In principle, these expressions allow one to statistically estimate the mass and rotation parameters of the Kerr black hole, and the radius of our orbit, through a Bayesian fitting, i.e., with the aid of observational data: the red/blue shifts measured at certain points of stars orbits and their radii, with their respective errors, a task that we hope to perform in the near future. We also point to several astrophysical phenomena, like accretion discs of rotating black holes, binary systems and active galactic nuclei, among others, to which this formalism can be applied.

Testing the EoS of dark matter with cosmological observations

We explore the cosmological constraints on the parameter w_dm of the dark matter barotropic equation of state (EoS) to investigate the warmness of the dark matter fluid. The model is composed by the dark matter and dark energy fluids in addition to the radiation and baryon components. We constrain the values of w_dm using the latest cosmological observations that measure the expansion history of the Universe. When w_dm is estimated together with the parameter w_de of the barotropic EoS of dark energy we found that the cosmological data favor a value of w_dm = 0.006 +- 0.001, suggesting a -warm- dark matter, and w_de= -1.11 +- 0.03$ that corresponds to a phantom dark energy, instead of favoring a cold dark matter and a cosmological constant (w_dm = 0, w_de = -1). When w_dm is estimated alone but assuming w_de = -1, -1.1, -0.9, we found w_dm = 0.009 +- 0.002, 0.006 +- 0.002, 0.012 +- 0.002 respectively, where the errors are at 3 sigma (99.73%), i.e., w_dm > 0 with at least 99.73% of confidence level. When (w_dm, Omega_dm0) are constrained together, the best fit to data corresponds to (w_dm=0.005 +- 0.001, Omega_dm0 = 0.223 +- 0.008) and with the assumption of w_de = -1.1 instead of a cosmological constant (i.e., w_de = -1). With these results we found evidence of w_dm > 0 suggesting a -warm- dark matter, independent of the assumed value for w_{rm de}, but where values w_de < -1 are preferred by the observations instead of the cosmological constant. These constraints on w_dm are consistent with perturbative analyses done in previous works.

Reconstruction of the interaction term between dark matter and dark energy using SNe Ia, BAO, CMB, H(z) and X-ray gas mass fraction

Recently, in [1] we developed a parametric reconstruction method to a homogeneous, isotropic and spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmological model filled of a fluid of dark energy (DE) with constant equation of state (EOS) parameter interacting with dark matter (DM). The reconstruction method is based on expansions of the general interaction term and the relevant cosmological variables in terms of Chebyshev polynomials which form a complete set orthonormal functions. In this article, we reconstruct the interaction function expanding it in terms of only the first four Chebyshev polynomials and obtain the best estimation for the coefficients of the expansion assuming three models: (a) a DE equation of the state parameter w=-1 (an interacting cosmological Lambda), (b) a DE equation of the state parameter w = constant with a dark matter density parameter fixed, (c) a DE equation of the state parameter w = constant with a free constant dark matter density parameter to be estimated. In all the cases, the preliminary reconstruction shows that in the best scenario there exist the possibility of a crossing of the noninteracting line Q=0 in the recent past within the 1-sigma and 2-sigma errors from positive values at early times to negative values at late times. This means that, in this reconstruction, there is an energy transfer from DE to DM at early times and an energy transfer from DM to DE at late times. We conclude that this fact is an indication of the possible existence of a crossing behavior in a general interaction coupling between dark components. Finally, we conclude that in this scenario, the observations put strong constraints on the strength of the interaction so that its magnitude can not solve the coincidence problem or at least alleviate significantly.

Reconstruction of the interaction term between dark matter and dark energy using SNe Ia

We apply a parametric reconstruction method to a homogeneous, isotropic and spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmological model filled of a fluid of dark energy (DE) with constant equation of state (EOS) parameter interacting with dark matter (DM). The reconstruction method is based on expansions of the general interaction term and the relevant cosmological variables in terms of Chebyshev polynomials which form a complete set orthonormal functions. This interaction term describes an exchange of energy flow between the DE and DM within dark sector. To show how the method works we do the reconstruction of the interaction function expanding it in terms of only the first six Chebyshev polynomials and obtain the best estimation for the coefficients of the expansion assuming three models: (a) a DE equation of the state parameter $w =-1$ (an interacting cosmological $Lambda$), (b) a DE equation of the state parameter $w =$ constant with a dark matter density parameter fixed, (c) a DE equation of the state parameter $w =$ constant with a free constant dark matter density parameter to be estimated, and using the Union2 SNe Ia data set from The Supernova Cosmology Project (SCP) composed by 557 type Ia supernovae. In both cases, the preliminary reconstruction shows that in the best scenario there exist the possibility of a crossing of the noninteracting line Q=0 in the recent past within the $1sigma$ and $2sigma$ errors from positive values at early times to negative values at late times. This means that, in this reconstruction, there is an energy transfer from DE to DM at early times and an energy transfer from DM to DE at late times. We conclude that this fact is an indication of the possible existence of a crossing behavior in a general interaction coupling between dark components.

Reconstructing the interaction term between dark matter and dark energy

We apply a parametric reconstruction method to a homogeneous, isotropic and spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmological model filled of a fluid of dark energy (DE) with constant equation of state parameter interacting with dark matter (DM). The reconstruction method is based on expansions of the general interaction term and the relevant cosmological variables in terms of Chebyshev polynomials which form a complete set orthonormal functions. This interaction term describes an exchange of energy flow between the DE and DM within dark sector. To show how the method works we do the reconstruction of the interaction function expanding it in terms of only the first three Chebyshev polynomials and obtain the best estimation for the coefficients of the expansion as well as for the DE equation of the state constant parameter w using the type Ia Supernova SCP Union data set (307 SNe-Ia). The preliminary reconstruction shows that in the best scenario there is an energy transfer from DM to DE which worsen the problem of the cosmic coincidence in comparison with the LCDM model. We conclude that this fact is an indication of a serious drawback for the existence of such interaction between dark components.

Exploring a matter-dominated model with bulk viscosity to drive the accelerated expansion of the Universe

We explore the viability of a bulk viscous matter-dominated Universe to explain the present accelerated expansion of the Universe. The model is composed by a pressureless fluid with bulk viscosity of the form zeta = zeta_0 + zeta_1 * H where zeta_0 and zeta_1 are constants and H is the Hubble parameter. The pressureless fluid characterizes both the baryon and dark matter components. We study the behavior of the Universe according to this model analyzing the scale factor as well as some curvature scalars and the matter density. On the other hand, we compute the best estimated values of zeta_0 and zeta_1 using the type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) probe. We find that from all the possible scenarios for the Universe, the preferred one by the best estimated values of (zeta_0, zeta_1) is that of an expanding Universe beginning with a Big- Bang, followed by a decelerated expansion at early times, and with a smooth transition in recent times to an accelerated expansion epoch that is going to continue forever. The predicted age of the Universe is a little smaller than the mean value of the observational constraint coming from the oldest globular clusters but it is still inside of the confidence interval of this constraint. A drawback of the model is the violation of the local second law of thermodynamics in redshifts z >= 1. However, when we assume zeta_1 = 0, the simple model zeta = zeta_0 evaluated at the best estimated value for zeta_0 satisfies the local second law of thermodynamics, the age of the Universe is in perfect agreement with the constraint of globular clusters, and it also has a Big-Bang, followed by a decelerated expansion with the smooth transition to an accelerated expansion epoch in late times, that is going to continue forever.

Can a matter-dominated model with constant bulk viscosity drive the accelerated expansion of the universe?

We test a cosmological model which the only component is a pressureless fluid with a constant bulk viscosity as an explanation for the present accelerated expansion of the universe. We classify all the possible scenarios for the universe predicted by the model according to their past, present and future evolution and we test its viability performing a Bayesian statistical analysis using the SCP ``Union data set (307 SNe Ia), imposing the second law of thermodynamics on the dimensionless constant bulk viscous coefficient zeta and comparing the predicted age of the universe by the model with the constraints coming from the oldest globular clusters. The best estimated values found for zeta and the Hubble constant Ho are: zeta=1.922 pm 0.089 and Ho=69.62 pm 0.59 km/s/Mpc with a chi^2=314. The age of the universe is found to be 14.95 pm 0.42 Gyr. We see that the estimated value of Ho as well as of chi^2 are very similar to those obtained from LCDM model using the same SNe Ia data set. The estimated age of the universe is in agreement with the constraints coming from the oldest globular clusters. Moreover, the estimated value of zeta is positive in agreement with the second law of thermodynamics (SLT). On the other hand, we perform different forms of marginalization over the parameter Ho in order to study the sensibility of the results to the way how Ho is marginalized. We found that it is almost negligible the dependence between the best estimated values of the free parameters of this model and the way how Ho is marginalized in the present work. Therefore, this simple model might be a viable candidate to explain the present acceleration in the expansion of the universe.

Constraining a matter-dominated cosmological model with bulk viscosity proportional to the Hubble parameter

We present and constrain a cosmological model where the only component is a pressureless fluid with bulk viscosity as an explanation for the present accelerated expansion of the universe. We study the particular model of a bulk viscosity coefficient proportional to the Hubble parameter. The model is constrained using the SNe Ia Gold 2006 sample, the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) shift parameter R, the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) peak A and the Second Law of Thermodynamics (SLT). It was found that this model is in agreement with the SLT using only the SNe Ia test. However when the model is constrained using the three cosmological tests together (SNe+CMB+BAO) we found: 1.- The model violates the SLT, 2.- It predicts a value of H_0 approx 53 km sec^{-1} Mpc^{-1} for the Hubble constant, and 3.- We obtain a bad fit to data with a chi^2_{min} approx 532. These results indicate that this model is viable just if the bulk viscosity is triggered in recent times.