arXiv subjects

David Shlivko

Publications and source records attributed to David Shlivko.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Anti-Ultralocality and Plateau Models of Inflation

Anti-ultralocality refers to the growth of spatial gradient terms relative to velocity terms in the coupled Einstein--scalar field equations. It is a characteristic feature of decelerated expansion before the onset of inflation. Previous numerical relativity studies have shown that anti-ultralocality prevents the onset of inflation in models with power-law inflaton potentials. In this paper, we show that models with plateau-shaped inflaton potentials, which are considered to be the simplest way to generate a tensor-to-scalar ratio below current observational upper limits, are especially vulnerable to anti-ultralocality effects. The reasons are the flatness of the plateau and the energy density gap of $\sim 10$ orders of magnitude between the Planck density and the plateau potential energy. To study the problem, we develop a protocol for assessing the viability of inflationary models in general, and we apply it to a plateau potential using a previously validated numerical relativity code. We find that, starting from generic initial conditions, the growth of gradient terms in the Einstein equations relative to non-gradient terms either prevents inflation from lasting for enough $e$-folds or triggers a phase of quantum runaway. We show that the fine-tuning of initial conditions necessary to avoid these issues becomes more severe as the energy scale of inflation is made smaller, disfavoring common approaches for reducing the tensor-to-scalar ratio.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2026

Phantom-Crossing Dark Energy and the $\Omega_m$ Tug-of-War

Recent analyses combining data from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), and Type Ia supernovae (SN) have revealed a tentative observational preference for phantom crossing in the dark energy equation of state $w$. We argue that this preference is a natural consequence of the $\Omega_m$ tensions that arise when these datasets are individually fit to $\Lambda$CDM, specifically because of the ordering $\Omega_m^\mathrm{BAO} < \Omega_m^\mathrm{CMB} < \Omega_m^\mathrm{SN}$. We show both theoretically and empirically that models with phantom crossing can shift all of these inferred $\Omega_m$ values toward mutual alignment. In contrast, quintessence theories restricted to $w \geq -1$ can alleviate the tensions with SN data but only at the cost of exacerbating the BAO-CMB discrepancy. We therefore conclude that it is the BAO and CMB measurements - not the SN data - that drive the preference for phantom crossing over quintessence in joint analyses. Moreover, we point out that SN data exhibit greater tensions with the other datasets when fit to phantom-crossing models than when fit to quintessence, causing the preference for phantom crossing to be weaker in joint CMB+BAO+SN analyses than in analyses of CMB+BAO data alone.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Thawing Quintessence: Priors, evidence, and likely trajectories

We perform a Bayesian comparison between thawing quintessence and a cosmological constant, incorporating theoretically motivated priors on the phenomenological Pad\'e-w parameters used to model thawing dynamics. We find that thawing quintessence is consistently preferred over a cosmological constant when combining BAO data from DESI DR2 and CMB data from Planck+ACT with any of the major supernova compilations, including the recently updated DES-Dovekie sample. This preference is not sensitive to our choice of prior, but it is contingent on the inclusion of supernovae in the analysis. We comment on the consistency between various information criteria and Bayesian evidence ratios, finding that the Deviance Information Criterion (DIC) tracks the Bayesian evidence more reliably than either the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) or the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC). Finally, we use observational likelihoods to identify which thawing trajectories are compatible with the available data, independently of theoretical priors.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Optimal parameterizations for observational constraints on thawing dark energy

Time-varying dark energy is often modeled in observational analyses through generic parameterizations of its equation of state $w(z)$, which typically use two free parameters $\{w_0, w_a\}$ to span a broad range of behaviors as a function of redshift. However, this broad range of behaviors can only approximately capture the dynamics of any given microphysical theory of dark energy. A complementary approach is to use targeted parameterizations designed to model specific classes of dynamical dark energy with greater precision. Focusing on the class of thawing dark energy, we quantify and compare the precision with which nineteen generic and targeted parameterizations can capture the dynamics of physically motivated thawing quintessence theories. We find that a targeted parameterization derived from a Pad\'e expansion of $w$ is the most reliable of these, producing accurate reconstructions of $w(z)$, the expansion history $H(z)$, and cosmological parameters such as $H_0$ and $\Omega_m$ for a broad range of microphysical theories.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Assessing observational constraints on dark energy

Observational constraints on time-varying dark energy ({\it e.g.}, quintessence) are commonly presented on a $w_0$-$w_a$ plot that assumes the equation of state of dark energy strictly satisfies $w(z)= w_0+ w_a z/(1+z)$ as a function of the redshift $z$. Recent observations favor a sector of the $w_0$-$w_a$ plane in which $w_0 > -1$ and $w_0+w_a< -1$, suggesting that the equation of state underwent a transition from violating the null energy condition (NEC) at large $z$ to obeying it at small $z$. In this paper, we demonstrate that this impression is misleading by showing that simple quintessence models satisfying the NEC for all $z$ predict an observational preference for the same sector. We also find that quintessence models that best fit observational data can predict a value for the dark energy equation of state at present that is significantly different from the best-fit value of $w_0$ obtained assuming the parameterization above. In addition, the analysis reveals an approximate degeneracy of the $w_0$-$w_a$ parameterization that explains the eccentricity and orientation of the likelihood contours presented in recent observational studies.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Trans-Planckian censorship constraints on properties and cosmological applications of axion-like fields

We use the Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjecture (TCC) to constrain the decay constants $f$ characterizing a set of N identical axion-like fields with cosine potentials, improving upon the precision of other Swampland conjectures and existing string-theoretic arguments. We find that consistency with the TCC requires any such set of axion-like fields to satisfy $f\sqrt{N} \lesssim 0.6M_{pl}$, where $M_{pl}$ is the reduced Planck mass. We show that this bound makes models of axion-driven inflation incapable of simultaneously producing the required number of e-foldings and the observed scalar spectral tilt. In contrast, we find that models of axion quintessence can be simultaneously compatible with the TCC and observational data, provided that the axions' initial field values are set near the maxima of their potentials to within roughly $\pm \fracπ{5}f$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Kinetically-driven ekpyrosis

We explore the possibility of a scalar field driving ekpyrotic contraction through a non-canonical kinetic energy density rather than a negative potential. We find that this kinetically-driven ekpyrosis ("k-ekpyrosis") can be achieved in a variety of models, including scalar field theories with power-law, polynomial, or DBI-like kinetic terms in the action. Of these examples, the ekpyrotic phase is best sustained in power-law models, which can generate large and constant equation-of-state parameters, followed by DBI-like models, which can exhibit dynamical attractors toward similarly large equations of state. We show that for a broad class of theories including these examples, phases of k-ekpyrosis are accompanied by preceding or concurrent phases of superluminality.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Simulation of Cryogenic Buffer Gas Beams

The cryogenic buffer gas beam (CBGB) is an important tool in the study of cold and ultracold molecules. While there are known techniques to enhance desired beam properties, such as high flux, low velocity, or reduced divergence, they have generally not undergone detailed numerical optimization. Numerical simulation of buffer gas beams is challenging, as the relevant dynamics occur in regions where the density varies by orders of magnitude, rendering standard numerical methods unreliable or intractable. Here, we present a hybrid approach to simulating CBGBs that combines gas dynamics methods with particle tracing. The simulations capture important properties such as velocities and divergence across an assortment of designs, including two-stage slowing cells and de Laval nozzles. This approach should therefore be a useful tool for optimizing CBGB designs across a wide range of applications.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2019

Characterization of Exoplanet Atmospheres with the Optical Coronagraph on WFIRST

WFIRST-CGI is a NASA technology demonstration mission that is charged with demonstrating key technologies for future exo-Earth imaging missions in space. In the process, it will obtain images and low-resolution spectra of a handful to a dozen extrasolar planets and possibly protoplanetary disks. Its unprecedented contrast levels in the optical will provide astronomers with their first direct look at mature, Jupiter sized planets at moderate separations. This paper addresses the question: what science can be done with such data? An analytic noise model, which is informed by the ongoing engineering developments, is used to compute maximum achievable signal-to-noise ratios and scientifically viable integration times for hypothetical star planet systems, as well as to investigate the constraining power of various combinations of WFIRST-CGI photometric and spectral observations. This work introduces two simple models for planetary geometric albedos, which are inspired largely by the solar system's gas giants. The first planet model is a hybrid Jupiter-Neptune model, which separately treats the short and long wavelengths where chromophores and methane dominate absorption, respectively. The second planet model fixes cloud and haze properties in CoolTLusty to match Jupiter's albedo spectrum, it then perturbs only the metallicity. MCMC retrievals performed on simulated observations are used to assess the precision with which planet model parameters can be measured subject to different exposure times and observing cases. Fit results for both models' parameterizations of geometric albedo spectra demonstrate that a rough indication of the metallicity or methane content should be possible for some WFIRST-CGI targets. We conclude that real observations will likely be able to differentiate between extreme cases using these models, but will lack the precision necessary to uncover subtle trends.

astro-ph.EP↗