arXiv subjects

Inês S. Albuquerque

Publications and source records attributed to Inês S. Albuquerque.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Phenomenology of Horndeski Gravity under Positivity Bounds

A set of conditions that any effective field theory needs to satisfy in order to allow for the existence of a viable UV completion has recently gained attention in the cosmological context under the name of $\textit{positivity bounds}$. In this paper we revisit the derivation of such bounds for Horndeski gravity and translate them into a complete set of viability conditions in the language of effective field theory of dark energy. We implement the latter into $\texttt{EFTCAMB}$ and explore the large scale structure phenomenology of Horndeski gravity under positivity bounds. We build a statistically significant sample of viable Horndeski models, and derive the corresponding predictions for the background evolution, in terms of $w_{\rm DE}$, and the dynamics of linear perturbations, in terms of the phenomenological functions $μ$ and $Σ$, associated to clustering and weak lensing, respectively. We find that the addition of positivity bounds to the traditional no-ghost and no-gradient conditions considerably tightens the theoretical constraints on all these functions. The most significant feature is a strengthening of the correlation $μ\simeqΣ$, and a related tight constraint on the luminal speed of gravitational waves $c^2_T\simeq1$. In anticipation of a more complete formulation of positivity conditions in cosmology, this work demonstrates the strong potential of such bounds in shaping the viable parameter space of scalar-tensor theories.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Spherical collapse and halo abundance in shift-symmetric Galileon theory

We present the nonlinear growth of bound cosmological structures using the spherical collapse approach in the shift-symmetric Galileon theories. In particular, we focus on the class of models belonging to the Kinetic Gravity Braiding by adopting a general parametrization of the action encoding a large set of models by means of four free parameters: two defining the background evolution and two affecting the perturbations. For the latter we identify their specific signatures on the linearised critical density contrast, nonlinear effective gravitational coupling and the virial overdensity and how they drive their predictions away from $Λ$CDM. We then use the results of the spherical collapse model to predict the evolution of the halo mass function. We find that the shift-symmetric model predicts a larger number of objects compared to $Λ$CDM for masses $M \gtrsim 10^{14} h^{-1} \mathrm{M}_\odot$ and such number increases for larger deviations from the standard model. Therefore, the shift-symmetric model shows detectable signatures which can be used to distinguish it from the standard scenario.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Constraining cosmological scaling solutions of a Galileon field

We study a Lagrangian with a cubic Galileon term and a standard scalar-field kinetic contribution with two exponential potentials. In this model the Galileon field generates scaling solutions in which the density of the scalar field $ϕ$ scales in the same manner as the matter density at early-time. These solutions are of high interest because the scalar field can then be compatible with the energy scale of particle physics and can alleviate the coincidence problem. The phenomenology of linear perturbations is thoroughly discussed, including all the relevant effects on the observables. Additionally, we use cosmic microwave background temperature-temperature and lensing power spectra by Planck 2018, the baryon acoustic oscillations measurements from the 6dF galaxy survey and SDSS and supernovae type Ia data from Pantheon in order to place constraints on the parameters of the model. We find that despite its interesting phenomenology, the model we investigate does not produce a better fit to data with respect to $Λ$CDM, and it does not seem to be able to ease the tension between high and low redshift data.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

A designer approach to $f(Q)$ gravity and cosmological implications

We investigate the evolution of linear perturbations in the Symmetric Teleparallel Gravity, namely $f(Q)$ gravity, for which we design the $f(Q)$ function to match specific expansion histories. We consider different evolutions of the effective dark energy equation of state, $w_Q(a)$, which includes $w_Q=-1$, a constant $w_Q \neq -1$ and a fast varying equation of state. We identify clear patterns in the effective gravitational coupling, which accordingly modifies the linear growth of large scale structures. We provide theoretical predictions for the product of the growth rate $\tilde{f}$ and the root mean square of matter fluctuations $σ_8$, namely $\tilde{f}σ_8$ and for the sign of the cross-correlation power spectrum of the galaxy fluctuations and the cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropies. These properties can be used to distinguish the $f(Q)$ gravity from the standard cosmological model using accurate cosmological observations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2015

Efficient monitoring of blood-stage infection in a malaria rodent model by the rotating-crystal magneto-optical method

Global research efforts have been focused on the simultaneous improvement of the efficiency and sensitivity of malaria diagnosis in resource-limited settings and for the active case detection of asymptomatic infections. A recently developed magneto-optical (MO) method allows the high-sensitivity detection of malaria pigment (hemozoin) crystals in blood via their magnetically induced rotational motion. The evaluation of the method using synthetic $β$-hematin crystals and P. falciparum in vitro cultures implies its potential for in-field diagnosis. Here, we study the performance of the method in monitoring the in vivo onset and progression of the blood stage infection using a malaria mouse model. We found that the MO method can detect the first generation of intraerythrocytic parasites at the ring stage 61-66 hours after sporozoite injection demonstrating better sensitivity than light microscopy and flow cytometry. MO measurements performed after treatment of severe P. berghei infections show that the clearance period of hemozoin in mice is approx. 5 days which indicates the feasibility of the detection of later reinfections as well. Being label and reagent-free, cost-effective and rapid, together with the demonstrated sensitivity, we believe that the MO method is a suitable candidate for in-depth clinical evaluation in endemic settings.

physics.bio-ph↗