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F. R. Urban

Publications and source records attributed to F. R. Urban.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2017

General quadrupolar statistical anisotropy: Planck limits

Several early Universe scenarios predict a direction-dependent spectrum of primordial curvature perturbations. This translates into the violation of the statistical isotropy of cosmic microwave background radiation. Previous searches for statistical anisotropy mainly focussed on a quadrupolar direction-dependence characterised by a single multipole vector and an overall amplitude $g_*$. Generically, however, the quadrupole has a more complicated geometry described by two multipole vectors and $g_*$. This is the subject of the present work. In particular, we limit the amplitude $g_*$ for different shapes of the quadrupole by making use of Planck 2015 maps. We also constrain certain inflationary scenarios which predict this kind of more general quadrupolar statistical anisotropy.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2016

A signature of EeV protons of Galactic origin

We investigate signatures that would be produced in the spectrum and sky distribution of UHECR by a population of the Galactic sources of high-energy protons in the energy range around 1~EeV, i.e., around the diffusive-to-ballistic transition. In this regime, the CR flux has to be calculated numerically. We employ the approach that consists in backtracking anti-protons from Earth through the Galaxy and integrating the source emissivity along the trajectory. This approach makes evident two generic features of the transition region: sharp increase of the total flux as the energy decreases across the transition region, and its strong anisotropy (appearance of a bright compact spot) all the way until the onset of the diffusive regime. We then discuss and compare several methods to experimentally detect or constrain these features. We find that a few percent admixture of the Galactic protons can in principle be detected by the current UHECR experiments.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2016

Mapping UHECRs deflections through the turbulent galactic magnetic field with the latest RM data

We study the influence of the random part of the Galactic magnetic field on the propagation of ultra high-energy cosmic rays. Within very mild approximations about the properties of the electron density fluctuations in the Galaxy we are able to derive a clear and direct relation between the observed variance of rotation measures and the predicted cosmic ray deflections. Remarkably, this is obtained bypassing entirely the detailed knowledge of the magnetic properties of the turbulent plasma. Depending on the parameters of the electron density spectrum, we can either directly estimate the expected deflection, or constrain it from above. Thanks to the latest observational data on rotation measures, we build a direction-dependent map of such deflections. We find that over most of the sky the random deflections of 40 EeV protons do not exceed 1 to 2 degrees, and can be as large as 5 degrees close to the Galactic plane.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2016

The rotation measures of high luminosity sources as seen from the NVSS

We re-analyse the subset of the Faraday rotation measures data from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey catalogue for which redshift and spectral index information is available, in order to better elucidate the relations between these observables. We split this subset in two based on their radio luminosity, and find that higher power sources have a systematically higher residual rotation measure, once the regular field of the Milky Way is subtracted. This rotation measure stands well above the variances due to the turbulent field of our Galaxy and measurement errors, contrarily to low power sources. The effect is more pronounced as the energy threshold becomes more restrictive. If the two sets are merged one observes an apparent evolution of rotation measure with redshift, but our analysis shows that this can be interpreted as an artifact of the different intrinsic properties of brighter sources that are typically observed at larger distances.

astro-ph.GA↗
arXiv2014

Full sky harmonic analysis hints at large UHECR deflections

The full-sky multipole coefficients of the ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) flux have been measured for the first time by the Pierre Auger and Telescope Array collaborations using a joint data set with E > 10 EeV. We calculate these harmonic coefficients in the model where UHECR are protons and sources trace the local matter distribution, and compare our results with observations. We find that the expected power for low multipoles (dipole and quadrupole, in particular) is sytematically higher than in the data: the observed flux is too isotropic. We then investigate to which degree our predictions are influenced by UHECR deflections in the regular Galactic magnetic field (GMF). It turns out that the UHECR power spectrum coefficients $C_\ell$ are quite insensitive to the effects of the GMF, so it is unlikely that the discordance can be reconciled by tuning the GMF model. On the contrary, a sizeable fraction of uniformly distributed flux (representing for instance an admixture of heavy nuclei with considerably larger deflections) can bring simulations and observations to an accord.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2008

Natural extension of the Generalised Uncertainty Principle

We discuss a gedanken experiment for the simultaneous measurement of the position and momentum of a particle in de Sitter spacetime. We propose an extension of the so-called generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) which implies the existence of a minimum observable momentum. The new GUP is directly connected to the nonzero cosmological constant, which becomes a necessary ingredient for a more complete picture of the quantum spacetime.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2008

Dynamical vacuum energy via adjustment mechanism

A new mechanism of adjustment of vacuum energy down to the observed value from an initially huge one is considered. The mechanism is based on a very strong variation of the gravitational coupling constant in very early universe. The model predicts that the non--compensated remnant of vacuum energy changes very slowly at late stages of the cosmological evolution and is naturally close to the observed one. Asymptotically the effective vacuum energy tends to a negative value, so the cosmological expansion should stop and turn into contraction. There remains the problem of introduction of the usual matter into the model and therefore realising realistic cosmology.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2007

Gravitational particle production in braneworld cosmology

Gravitational particle production in time variable metric of an expanding universe is efficient only when the Hubble parameter $H$ is not too small in comparison with the particle mass. In standard cosmology, the huge value of the Planck mass $M_{Pl}$ makes the mechanism phenomenologically irrelevant. On the other hand, in braneworld cosmology the expansion rate of the early universe can be much faster and many weakly interacting particles can be abundantly created. Cosmological implications are discussed.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2007

Brane Cosmology and KK Gravitinos

The cosmology of KK gravitinos in models with extra dimensions is considered. The main result is that the production of such KK modes is not compatible with an epoch of non--standard expansion after inflation. This is so because the BBN constraint on the zero mode forces the reduced five dimensional Planck mass $M_5$ down to values much smaller than the usual four dimensional one, but this in turn implies many KK states available for a given temperature. Once these states are taken into account one finds that there is no $M_5$ for which the produced KK gravitinos satisfy BBN and overclosure constraints. This conclusion holds for both flat and warped models in which only gravity propagates in the full spacetime.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2005

Evaporation of charged bosonic condensate in cosmology

Cosmological evolution of equilibrium plasma with a condensate of U(1)-charged bosonic field is considered. It is shown that the evaporation of the condensate is very much different from naive expectations, discussed in the literature, as well as from evaporation of non-equilibrium neutral condensate. The charged condensate evaporates much slower than the decay of the corresponding bosons. The evaporation rate is close to that of the cosmological expansion. The plasma temperature, in contrast, drops much faster than usually, namely as the third power of the cosmological scale factor. As a result the universe becomes very cold and the cosmological charge asymmetry reaches a huge value.

hep-ph↗