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Adrià Gómez-Valent

Publications and source records attributed to Adrià Gómez-Valent.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Stringy Running Vacuum Model and current Tensions in Cosmology

We discuss the potential alleviation of both the Hubble and the growth of galactic structure data tensions observed in the current epoch of Cosmology in the context of the so-called Stringy Running Vacuum Model (RVM) of Cosmology. This is a gravitational field theory coupled to matter, which, at early eras, contains gravitational (Chern-Simons (CS) type) anomalies and torsion, arising from the fundamental degrees of freedom of the massless gravitational multiplet of an underlying microscopic string theory. The model leads to RVM type inflation without external inflatons, arising from the quartic powers of the Hubble parameter that characterise the vacuum energy density due to primordial-gravitational-wave-induced anomaly CS condensates, and dominate the inflationary era. In modern eras, of relevance to this work, the gravitational anomalies are cancelled by chiral matter, generated at the end of the RVM inflationary era, but cosmic radiation and other matter fields are still responsible for a RVM energy density with terms exhibiting a quadratic-power-of-Hubble-parameter dependence, but also products of the latter with logarithmic $H$-dependencies, arising from potential quantum-gravity and quantum-matter loop effects. In this work, such terms are examined phenomenologically from the point of view of the potential alleviation of the aforementioned current tensions in Cosmology. Using standard information criteria, we find that these tensions can be substantially alleviated in a way consistent not only with the data, but also with the underlying microscopic theory predictions, associated with the primordial dynamical breaking of supergravity that characterise a pre-RVM-inflationary phase of the model.

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String-inspired running-vacuum cosmology, quantum corrections and the current cosmological tensions

In the context of a string-inspired running vacuum model (RVM) of cosmology with anomalies and torsion-induced axion-like fields, we discuss quantum corrections to the corresponding energy density, in approximately de Sitter eras, during which the Hubble parameter $H(t)$ varies very slowly with the cosmic time $t$. Such corrections arise either from graviton loops in the corresponding gravitational theory, or from path integration of massive quantum matter fields. They depend logarithmically on $H(t)$, in the form $H^n\, {\rm ln}(H^2)$, $n \in 2Z^+$. In the modern eras, for which the $n=2$ terns are dominant, such corrections may contribute to an alleviation of the currently observed cosmological $H_0$ and structure-growth tensions. In particular, we argue that such an effect is accomplished for a (dynamically-broken) supergravity-based RVM cosmological model. In the current de-Sitter era, for this case, rather surprisingly, the quantum graviton corrections dominate those due to matter fields, provided the scale of the primordial (pre-RVM inflation) dynamical breaking of local supersymmetry lies near the reduced Planck scale, which is a natural assumption in the context of the model.

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Cosmic chronometers to calibrate the ladders and measure the curvature of the Universe. A model-independent study

We use the state-of-the-art data on cosmic chronometers (CCH) and the Pantheon+ compilation of supernovae of Type Ia (SNIa) to test the constancy of the SNIa absolute magnitude, $M$, and the robustness of the cosmological principle (CP) at $z\lesssim 2$ with a model-agnostic approach. We do so by reconstructing $M(z)$ and the curvature parameter $Ω_{k}(z)$ using Gaussian Processes. Moreover, we use CCH in combination with data on baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) from various galaxy surveys (6dFGS, BOSS, eBOSS, WiggleZ, DES Y3) to measure the sound horizon at the baryon-drag epoch, $r_d$, from each BAO data point and check their consistency. Given the precision allowed by the CCH, we find that $M(z)$, $Ω_k(z)$ and $r_d(z)$ are fully compatible (at $<68\%$ C.L.) with constant values. This justifies our final analyses, in which we put constraints on these constant parameters under the validity of the CP, the metric description of gravity and standard physics in the vicinity of the stellar objects, but otherwise in a model-independent way. If we exclude the SNIa contained in the host galaxies employed by SH0ES, our results read $M=(-19.314^{+0.086}_{-0.108})$ mag, $r_d=(142.3\pm 5.3)$ Mpc and $Ω_k=-0.07^{+0.12}_{-0.15}$, with $H_0=(71.5\pm 3.1)$ km/s/Mpc ($68\%$ C.L.). These values are independent from the main data sets involved in the $H_0$ tension, namely, the cosmic microwave background and the first two rungs of the cosmic distance ladder. If, instead, we also consider the SNIa in the host galaxies, calibrated with Cepheids, we measure $M=(-19.252^{+0.024}_{-0.036})$ mag, $r_d=(141.9^{+5.6}_{-4.9})$ Mpc, $Ω_k=-0.10^{+0.12}_{-0.15}$ and $H_0=(74.0^{+0.9}_{-1.0})$ km/s/Mpc.

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Constraining constant and tomographic coupled dark energy with low-redshift and high-redshift probes

We consider coupled dark energy (CDE) cosmologies, where dark matter particles feel a force stronger than gravity, due to the fifth force mediated by a scalar field which plays the role of dark energy. We perform for the first time a tomographic analysis of coupled dark energy, where the coupling strength is parametrized and constrained in different redshift bins. This allows us to verify which data can better constrain the strength of the coupling and how large the coupling can be at different epochs. First, we employ cosmic microwave background data from Planck, the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and South Pole Telescope (SPT), showing the impact of different choices that can be done in combining these datasets. Then, we use a range of low redshift probes to test CDE cosmologies, both for a constant and for a tomographic coupling. In particular, we use for the first time data from weak lensing (the KiDS-1000 survey), galaxy clustering (BOSS survey), and their combination, including 3x2pt galaxy-galaxy lensing cross-correlation data. We do not find evidence for nonzero coupling, either for a constant or tomographic case. A nonzero coupling is however still in agreement with current data. For CMB and background datasets, a tomographic coupling allows for $β$ values up to one order of magnitude larger than in previous works, in particular at $z<1$. The use of 3x2pt analysis then becomes important to constrain $β$ at low redshifts, even when coupling is allowed to vary: for 3x2pt we find, at $0.5 < z < 1$, $β=0.0180_{-0.011}^{+0.007}$, comparable to what CMB and background datasets would give for a constant coupling. This makes upcoming galaxy surveys potentially powerful probes to test CDE models at low redshifts. (abridged)

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Coupled and uncoupled early dark energy, massive neutrinos and the cosmological tensions

Some cosmological models with non-negligible dark energy fractions in particular windows of the pre-recombination epoch are capable of alleviating the Hubble tension quite efficiently, while keeping the good description of the data that are used to build the cosmic inverse distance ladder. There has been an intensive discussion in the community on whether these models enhance the power of matter fluctuations, leading {\it de facto} to a worsening of the tension with the large-scale structure measurements. We address this pivotal question in the context of several early dark energy (EDE) models, considering also in some cases a coupling between dark energy and dark matter, and the effect of massive neutrinos. We fit them using the Planck 2018 likelihoods, the supernovae of Type Ia from the Pantheon compilation and data on baryon acoustic oscillations. We find that ultra-light axion-like (ULA) EDE can actually alleviate the $H_0$ tension without increasing the values of $σ_{12}$ with respect to those found in the $Λ$CDM, whereas EDE with an exponential potential does not have any impact on the tensions. A coupling in the dark sector tends to enhance the clustering of matter, and the data limit a lot the influence of massive neutrinos, since the upper bounds on the sum of their masses are too close to those obtained in the standard model. We find that in the best case, namely ULA, the Hubble tension is reduced to $\sim 2σ$.

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A fast test to assess the impact of marginalization in Monte Carlo analyses, and its application to cosmology

Monte Carlo (MC) algorithms are commonly employed to explore high-dimensional parameter spaces constrained by data. All the statistical information obtained in the output of these analyses is contained in the Markov chains, which one needs to process and interpret. The marginalization technique allows us to digest these chains and compute the posterior distributions for the parameter subsets of interest. In particular, it lets us draw confidence regions in two-dimensional planes, and get the constraints for the individual parameters. It is very well known, though, that the marginalized results can suffer from volume effects, which can introduce a non-negligible bias into our conclusions. The impact of these effects are barely studied in the literature. In this paper we first illustrate the problem through a very clear and simple example in two dimensions, and suggest the use of the profile distributions (PDs) as a complementary tool to detect marginalization biases directly from the MC chains. We apply our method to four cosmological models: the standard $Λ$CDM, early dark energy, coupled dark energy and the Brans-Dicke model with a cosmological constant. We discuss the impact of the volume effects on each model and the cosmological tensions, using the full Planck 2018 likelihood, the Pantheon compilation of supernovae of Type Ia and data on baryon acoustic oscillations. Our test is very efficient and can be easily applied to any MC study. It allows us to estimate the PDs at a derisory computational cost not only for the main cosmological parameters, but also for the nuisance and derived ones, and to assess the need to perform a more in-depth analysis with the exact computation of the PDs.

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Cosmology Intertwined: A Review of the Particle Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology Associated with the Cosmological Tensions and Anomalies

In this paper we will list a few important goals that need to be addressed in the next decade, also 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 $σ_8$--$S_8$ 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 $5.0\,σ$ tension between the {\it 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 {\it Planck} CMB data with weak lensing measurements and redshift surveys, about the value of the matter energy density $Ω_m$, and the amplitude or rate of the growth of structure ($σ_8,fσ_8$). 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.[Abridged]

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Measuring the sound horizon and absolute magnitude of SNIa by maximizing the consistency between low-redshift data sets

The comoving sound horizon at the baryon drag epoch, $r_{d}$, encapsulates very important physical information about the pre-recombination era and serves as a cosmic standard ruler. On the other hand, the absolute magnitude of supernovae of Type Ia (SNIa), $M$, is pivotal to infer the distances to these standard candles. Having access to (at least) one of these two quantities is crucial to measure the Hubble parameter $H_0$ from BAO/SNIa data. In this work we present a new method to measure how long is the cosmic ruler and how bright are the standard candles independently from the main drivers of the $H_0$ tension, namely by avoiding (i) the use of CMB data; (ii) the calibration of SNIa in the first steps of the cosmic distance ladder; and (iii) the assumption of any concrete cosmological model. We only assume that SNIa can be safely employed as standard candles and $r_d$ as a standard ruler, together with the validity of the Cosmological Principle and the metric description of gravity, with photons propagating in null geodesics and the conservation of the photon number. Our method is based on the minimization of a loss function that represents the level of inconsistency between the low-redshift data sets employed in this study, to wit: SNIa, BAO and cosmic chronometers. In our main analysis we obtain: $r_d=(146.0^{+4.2}_{-5.1})$ Mpc, $M=-19.362^{+0.078}_{-0.067}$. The former is fully compatible with Planck's $Λ$CDM best-fit cosmology, but still leaves plenty of room for new physics before the decoupling, whereas our constraint on $M$ lies closer to the value preferred by the concordance model, although it is only $\sim 1.4σ$ below the SH0ES measurement.

astro-ph.CO↗

Early dark energy in the pre- and post-recombination epochs

Many quintessence models possess scaling or attractor solutions where the fraction of dark energy follows the dominant component in previous epochs of the expansion, or phase transitions may happen close to matter-radiation equality time. A non-negligible early dark energy (EDE) fraction around matter-radiation equality could contribute to alleviate the $H_0$ tension. We constrain the EDE fraction using two approaches: first, we use a fluid parameterization that mimics the plateaux of the dominant components in the past. An alternative tomographic approach constrains the EDE density in binned redshift intervals. This allows us to reconstruct $Ω_{de}(z)$ before and after the decoupling of the CMB photons. We have employed Planck data 2018, the Pantheon supernovae of Type Ia (SNIa), galaxy clustering data, the prior on the absolute magnitude of SNIa by SH0ES, and weak lensing (WL) data from KiDS+VIKING-450 and DES-Y1. When we use a minimal parameterization mimicking the background plateaux, EDE has only a small impact on current cosmological tensions. The constraints on the EDE fraction weaken considerably when its sound speed is allowed to vary. By means of our binned analysis we put very tight constraints on the EDE fraction around the CMB decoupling time, $\lesssim 0.4\%$ at $2σ$ c.l. We confirm previous results that a significant EDE fraction in the radiation-dominated epoch (RDE) loosens the $H_0$ tension, but tends to worsen the $σ_8$ one. The presence of EDE in the matter-dominated era helps to alleviate this issue. When the SH0ES prior and WL data are considered in the fitting analysis in combination with data from CMB, SNIa and baryon acoustic oscillations, the EDE fractions are constrained to be $\lesssim 2.6\%$ in the RDE epoch and $\lesssim 1.5\%$ in the redshift range $z\in (100,1000)$ at $2σ$ c.l. The tensions remain at $\sim 2-3σ$ c.l.

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Difficulties in reconciling non-negligible differences between the local and cosmological values of the gravitational coupling in extended Brans-Dicke theories

Recent studies by Solà Peracaula, Gómez-Valent, de Cruz Pérez and Moreno-Pulido (2019,2020) have pointed out the intriguing possibility that Brans-Dicke cosmology with constant vacuum energy density (BD-$Λ$CDM) may be able to alleviate the $H_0$ and $σ_8$ tensions that are found in the framework of the concordance cosmological model (GR-$Λ$CDM). The fitting analyses presented in these works indicate a preference for values of the effective gravitational coupling appearing in the Friedmann equation, $G$, about $4-9\%$ larger than Newton's constant (as measured on Earth), and mildy evolving with the expansion of the universe. The signal reaches the $\sim 3.5σ$ c.l. when the prior on $H_0$ from SH0ES and the angular diameter distances to strong gravitationally lensed quasars measured by H0LICOW are considered, and the $\sim 3σ$ c.l. when only the former is included. Thus, the improvement in the description of the cosmological datasets relies on the existence of a mechanism capable of screening the modified gravity effects at those scales where deviations from standard General Relativity (GR) are highly constrained, as in the Solar System. In this paper we explore several extensions of BD-$Λ$CDM that can leave the cosmological evolution basically unaltered at the background and linear perturbations level, while being able to screen the Brans-Dicke effects inside the regions of interest, leading to standard GR. We search for weak-field solutions around spherical static massive objects with no internal pressure and show that, unfortunately, these mechanisms can only explain very tiny departures of the effective cosmological gravitational coupling from the one measured locally. This might hinder the ability of BD-$Λ$CDM to alleviate the cosmological tensions.

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Cosmology Intertwined III: $f σ_8$ and $S_8$

The standard $Λ$ Cold Dark Matter cosmological model provides a wonderful fit to current cosmological data, but a few tensions and anomalies became statistically significant with 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 of the Planck data with weak lensing measurements and redshift surveys, about the value of the matter energy density $Ω_m$, and the amplitude or rate of the growth of structure ($σ_8,fσ_8$). We list a few interesting models for solving this tension, and we discuss the importance of trying to fit with a single model a full array of data and not just one parameter at a time.

astro-ph.CO↗

Cosmology Intertwined II: The Hubble Constant Tension

The current cosmological probes have provided a fantastic confirmation of the standard $Λ$ Cold Dark Matter cosmological model, that has been constrained with unprecedented accuracy. However, with the increase of the experimental sensitivity a few statistically significant tensions between different independent cosmological datasets emerged. While these tensions can be in portion the result of systematic errors, the persistence after several years of accurate analysis strongly hints at cracks in the standard cosmological scenario and the need for new physics. In this Letter of Interest we will focus on the $4.4σ$ tension between the Planck 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 will list a few interesting new physics models that could solve this tension and discuss how the next decade experiments will be crucial.

astro-ph.CO↗

Cosmology Intertwined I: Perspectives for the Next Decade

The standard $Λ$ Cold Dark Matter cosmological model provides an amazing description of a wide range of astrophysical and astronomical data. However, there are a few big open questions, that make the standard model look like a first-order approximation to a more realistic scenario that still needs to be fully understood. In this Letter of Interest we will list a few important goals that need to be addressed in the next decade, also taking into account the current discordances present between the different cosmological probes, as the Hubble constant $H_0$ value, the $σ_8 - S_8$ tension, and the anomalies present in the Planck results. Finally, we will 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 questions.

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Cosmology Intertwined IV: The Age of the Universe and its Curvature

A precise measurement of the curvature of the Universe is of primeval importance for cosmology since it could not only confirm the paradigm of primordial inflation but also help in discriminating between different early Universe scenarios. The recent observations, while broadly consistent with a spatially flat standard $Λ$ Cold Dark Matter ($Λ$CDM) model, are showing tensions that still allow (and, in some cases, even suggest) a few percent deviations from a flat universe. In particular, the Planck Cosmic Microwave Background power spectra, assuming the nominal likelihood, prefer a closed universe at more than 99\% confidence level. While new physics could be in action, this anomaly may be the result of an unresolved systematic error or just a statistical fluctuation. However, since a positive curvature allows a larger age of the Universe, an accurate determination of the age of the oldest objects provides a smoking gun in confirming or falsifying the current flat $Λ$CDM model.

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Boosting MonteCarlo sampling with a non-Gaussian fit

We propose a new method, called MonteCarlo Posterior Fit, to boost the MonteCarlo sampling of likelihood (posterior) functions. The idea is to approximate the posterior function by an analytical multidimensional non-Gaussian fit. The many free parameters of this fit can be obtained by a smaller sampling than is needed to derive the full numerical posterior. In the examples that we consider, based on supernovae and cosmic microwave background data, we find that one needs an order of magnitude smaller sampling than in the standard algorithms to achieve comparable precision. This method can be applied to a variety of situations and is expected to significantly improve the performance of the MonteCarlo routines in all the cases in which sampling is very time-consuming. Finally, it can also be applied to Fisher matrix forecasts, and can help solve various limitations of the standard approach.

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Update on Coupled Dark Energy and the $H_0$ tension

In this work we provide updated constraints on coupled dark energy (CDE) cosmology with Peebles-Ratra (PR) potential and constant coupling strength $β$. This modified gravity scenario introduces a fifth force between dark matter particles, mediated by a scalar field that plays the role of dark energy. The mass of the dark matter particles does not remain constant, but changes with time as a function of the scalar field. Here we focus on the phenomenological behavior of the model, and assess its ability to describe updated cosmological data sets that include the Planck 2018 cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature, polarization and lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, the Pantheon compilation of supernovae of Type Ia, data on $H(z)$ from cosmic chronometers, and redshift-space distortions. We also study which is the impact of the local measurement of $H_0$ from SH0ES and the strong-lensing time delay data from the H0LICOW collaboration on the parameter that controls the strength of the interaction in the dark sector. We find a peak corresponding to a coupling $β> 0$ and to a potential parameter $α> 0$, more or less evident depending on the data set combination. We show separately the impact of each data set and remark that it is especially CMB lensing the one data set that shifts the peak the most towards $Λ$CDM. When a model selection criterion based on the full Bayesian evidence is applied, however, $Λ$CDM is still preferred in all cases, due to the additional parameters introduced in the CDE model.

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Quantifying the evidence for the current speed-up of the Universe with low and intermediate-redshift data. A more model-independent approach

We reconstruct in this paper the deceleration and jerk parameters as functions of the cosmological redshift from data on cosmic chronometers (CCH), baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs), and the Pantheon+MCT compilation of supernovae of Type Ia (SnIa). The reconstruction is carried out with the Weighted Function Regression method, previously introduced by Gómez-Valent & Amendola (2018). It improves the usual cosmographic approach by automatically implementing Occam's razor criterion. This makes our procedure to be more free of model and parametrization dependencies than many other analyses in the literature. The reconstructed functions are fully compatible with the predictions for the concordance model. In addition, we also discuss the confidence level at which we can claim that the Universe (assumed to be flat, homogeneous and isotropic) is currently accelerating. According to Jeffreys' scale and jargon, we find moderate evidence in favor of such speed-up using the data on SnIa+CCH, and very strong one when we also use data on BAOs. The measured current value of the deceleration parameter in the latter case reads $q_0\sim -0.60\pm 0.10$, and for the deceleration-acceleration transition redshift we find $z_t\sim 0.8\pm 0.10$. The former is $\sim 6σ$ away from $0$. This is in stark contrast, for instance, with the $\sim 17σ$ that are found in the context of the flat $Λ$CDM even without including the BAOs data. This indicates that cosmography and Occam's razor criterion play a crucial role in this discussion, and that estimating the evidence for positive acceleration only in the framework of a particular cosmological model or parametrization is clearly insufficient.

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$H_0$ from cosmic chronometers and Type Ia supernovae, with Gaussian processes and the weighted polynomial regression method

We derive new constraints on the Hubble parameter $H_0$ using the available data on $H(z)$ from cosmic chronometers (CCH), and the Hubble rate data points from the supernovae of Type Ia (SnIa) of the Pantheon compilation and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) CANDELS and CLASH Multy-Cycle Treasury (MCT) programs. We employ two alternative techniques, Gaussian Processes (GPs) and the Weighted Polynomial Regression (WPR) method, to reconstruct the Hubble function, determine the derived values of $H_0$, and compare them with the local HST measurement provided by Riess {\it et al.} (2018), $H_0^{\rm HST}=(73.48\pm1.66)$ km/s/Mpc, and with the Planck+$Λ$CDM value, $H_0^{\rm P18}=(66.88\pm 0.92)$ km/s/Mpc. With GPs we obtain $H_0=(67.99\pm 1.94)$ km/s/Mpc, and with the WPR method $H_0=(68.90\pm 1.96)$ km/s/Mpc. Both are fully compatible at $<1σ$ c.l., and also with $H_0^{\rm P18}$. In contrast, they are in $\sim 2σ$ tension with $H_0^{\rm HST}$.

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