arXiv subjects

G. Piccinelli

Publications and source records attributed to G. Piccinelli.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2015

A non-perturbative study of the evolution of cosmic magnetised sources

We undertake a hydrodynamical study of a mixture of tightly coupled primordial radiation, neutrinos, baryons, electrons and positrons, together with a gas of already decoupled dark matter WIMPS and an already existing "frozen" magnetic field in the infinite conductivity regime. Considering this cosmic fluid as the source of a homogeneous but anisotropic Bianchi I model, we describe its interaction with the magnetic field by means of suitable equations of state that are appropriate for the particle species of the mixture between the end of the leptonic era and the beginning of the radiation-dominated epoch. Fulfilment of observational bounds on the magnetic field intensity yields a "near FLRW" (but strictly non-perturbative) evolution of the geometric, kinematic and thermodynamical variables. This evolution is roughly comparable to the weak field approximation in linear perturbations on a spatially flat FLRW background of sources in which the frozen magnetic fields are coherent over very large supra-horizon scales. Our approach and results may provide interesting guidelines in potential situations in which non-perturbative methods are required to study the interaction between magnetic fields and the cosmic fluid.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2003

The effects of Non-Gaussian initial conditions on the structure and substructure of Cold Dark Matter halos

We study the structure and substructure of halos obtained in N-body simulations for a Lambda Cold Dark Matter (LCDM) cosmology with non-Gaussian initial conditions (NGICs). The initial statistics are lognormal in the gravitational potential field with positive (LNp) and negative (LNn) skewness; the sign of the skewness is conserved by the density field, and the power spectrum is the same for all the simulations. Our aim is not to test a given non-Gaussian statistics, but to explore the generic effect of positive- and negative-skew statistics on halo properties. From our low-resolution simulations, we find that LNp (LNn) halos are systematically more (less) concentrated than their Gaussian counterparts. This result is confirmed by our Milky Way- and cluster-sized halos resimulated with high-resolution. In addition, they show inner density profiles that depend on the statistics: the innermost slopes of LNp (LNn) halos are steeper (shallower) than those obtained from the corresponding Gaussian halos. A subhalo population embedded in LNp halos is more susceptible to destruction than its counterpart inside Gaussian halos. On the other hand, subhalos in LNn halos tend to survive longer than subhalos in Gaussian halos. The spin parameter probability distribution of LNp (LNn) halos is skewed to smaller (larger) values with respect to the Gaussian case. Our results show how the statistics of the primordial density field can influence some halo properties, opening this the possibility to constrain, although indirectly, the primordial statistics at small scale.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Axially asymmetric fermion scattering off electroweak phase transition bubble walls with hypermagnetic fields

We show that in the presence of large scale primordial hypermagnetic fields, it is possible to generate an axial asymmetry for a first order electroweak phase transition. This happens during the reflection and transmission of fermions off the true vacuum bubbles, due to the chiral nature of the fermion coupling with the background field in the symmetric phase. We derive and solve the Dirac equation for such fermions and compute the reflection and transmission coefficients for the case when these fermions move from the symmetric to the symmetry broken phase. We also comment on the possible implications of such axial charge segregation processes for baryon number generation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1999

General Scalar Fields as Quintessence

We study the cosmological evolution of scalar fields with arbitrary potentials in the presence of a barotropic fluid (matter or radiation) without making any assumption on which term dominates. We determine what kind of potentials V(phi) permits a quintessence interpretation of the scalar field phi and to obtain interesting cosmological results. We show that all model dependence is given in terms of lambda= - V'/V only and we study all possible asymptotic limits: lambda approaching zero, a finite constant or infinity. We determine the equation of state dynamically for each case. For the first class of potentials, the scalar field quickly dominates the universe behaviour, with an inflationary equation of state allowing for a quintessence interpretation. The second case gives the extensively studied exponential potential. While in the last case, when lambda approaches infinity, if it does not oscillate then the energy density redshifts faster than the barotropic fluid but if lambda oscillates then the energy density redshift depends on the specific potential.

hep-ph↗