arXiv subjects

José Luis Bernal

Publications and source records attributed to José Luis Bernal.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Robustness of baryon acoustic oscillation constraints for early-Universe modifications to $Λ$CDM

Baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) provide a robust standard ruler, and can be used to constrain the expansion history of the Universe at low redshift. Standard BAO analyses return a model-independent measurement of the expansion rate and the comoving angular diameter distance as function of redshift, normalized by the sound horizon at radiation drag. However, this methodology relies on anisotropic distance distortions of a fixed, pre-computed template (obtained in a given fiducial cosmology) in order to fit the observations. Therefore, it may be possible that extensions to the consensus $Λ$CDM add contributions to the BAO feature that cannot be captured by the template fitting. We perform mock BAO fits to power spectra computed assuming cosmological models which modify the growth of perturbations prior to recombination in order to test the robustness of the standard BAO analysis. We find no significant bias in the BAO analysis for the models under study ($Λ$CDM with a free effective number of relativistic species, early dark energy, and a model with interactions between neutrinos and a fraction of the dark matter), even for cases which do not provide a good fit to \textit{Planck} measurements of the cosmic microwave background power spectra. This result supports the use of the standard BAO analysis and its measurements to perform cosmological parameter inference and to constrain exotic models. In addition, we provide a methodology to reproduce our study for different models and surveys, as well as discuss different options to handle eventual biases in the BAO measurements.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich tomography with line-intensity mapping

The kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect is a secondary cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy induced by the scattering of CMB photons off intervening electrons. Through cross-correlations with tracers of large-scale structure, the kSZ effect can be used to reconstruct the 3-dimensional radial-velocity field, a technique known as kSZ tomography. We explore the cross-correlation between the CMB and line-intensity fluctuations to retrieve the late-time kSZ signal across a wide redshift range. We focus on the CII emission line, and predict the signal-to-noise ratio of the kSZ tomography signal between redshifts $z=1-5$ for upcoming experiments. We show that while instruments currently under construction may reach a low-significance detection of kSZ tomography, next-generation experiments will achieve greater sensitivity, with a detection significance of $\mathcal{O}(10^2-10^3)$. Due to sample-variance cancellation, the cross-correlation between the reconstructed velocity field from kSZ tomography and intensity fluctuations can improve measurements of %the scale-dependent bias contributions from new physics to the power spectrum at large scales. To illustrate this improvement, we consider models of the early Universe that induce primordial local-type non-gaussianity and correlated compensated isocurvature perturbations. We show that with CMB-S4 and an AtLAST-like survey, the uncertainty on $f_{\rm NL}$ and $A_{\rm CIP}$ can be reduced by a factor of $\sim 3$, achieving $σ(f_{\rm NL}) \lesssim 1$. We further show that probing both low and high redshifts is crucial to break the degeneracy between the two parameters.

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arXiv2020

Inferring the Age of the Universe with Globular Clusters

We present an estimate of the absolute age of 68 galactic globular clusters obtained by exploiting the distribution of stars in the full color-magnitude diagram. In particular, we jointly estimate the absolute age, distance, reddening, metallicity ([Fe/H]) and [$α$/Fe] of each cluster, imposing priors motivated by independent observations; we also estimate possible systematics from stellar modeling. Our derived distances for the globular cluster sample are in agreement with those obtained from GAIA using main-sequence dwarf stars (where available), and the inferred ages are in good agreement with those previously published. The novelty of our approach is that, with the adopted priors, we are able to estimate robustly these parameters from the globular cluster color-magnitude diagram. We find that the average age of the oldest globular clusters is $t_{\rm GC}=13.32 \pm 0.1 {\rm (stat.)} \pm 0.5 {\rm (sys.)}$, at 68\% confidence level, including systematic uncertainties from stellar modeling. These measurements can be used to infer the age of the Universe, largely independently of the cosmological parameters: we find an age of the Universe $t_{\rm U}=13.5^{+0.16}_{-0.14} {\rm (stat.)} \pm 0.5 ({\rm sys.})$ at 68\% confidence level, accounting for the formation time of globular clusters and its uncertainty. This value is compatible with $13.8 \pm 0.02$ Gyr, the cosmological model-dependent value inferred by the Planck mission assuming the $Λ$CDM model.

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arXiv2020

Beware of commonly used approximations I: errors in forecasts

In the era of precision cosmology, establishing the correct magnitude of statistical errors in cosmological parameters is of crucial importance. However, widely used approximations in galaxy surveys analyses can lead to parameter uncertainties that are grossly mis-estimated, even in a regime where the theory is well understood (e.g., linear scales). These approximations can be introduced at three different levels: in the form of the likelihood, in the theoretical modelling of the observable and in the numerical computation of the observable. Their consequences are important both in data analysis through e.g., Markov Chain Monte Carlo parameter inference, and when survey instrument and strategy are designed and their constraining power on cosmological parameters is forecasted, for instance using Fisher matrix analyses. In this work, considering the galaxy angular power spectrum as the target observable, we report one example of approximation for each of such three categories: neglecting off-diagonal terms in the covariance matrix, neglecting cosmic magnification and using the Limber approximation on large scales. We show that these commonly used approximations affect the robustness of the analysis and lead, perhaps counter-intuitively, to unacceptably large mis-estimates of parameters errors (from few~$10\%$ up to few~$100\%$) and correlations. Furthermore, these approximations might even spoil the benefits of the nascent multi-tracer and multi-messenger cosmology. Hence we recommend that the type of analysis presented here should be repeated for every approximation adopted in survey design or data analysis, to quantify how it may affect the results. To this aim, we have developed \texttt{Multi\_CLASS}, a new extension of \texttt{CLASS} that includes the angular power spectrum for multiple (galaxy and other tracers such as gravitational waves) populations.

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arXiv2020

Beware of commonly used approximations II: estimating systematic biases in the best-fit parameters

Cosmological parameter estimation from forthcoming experiments promise to reach much greater precision than current constraints. As statistical errors shrink, the required control over systematic errors increases. Therefore, models or approximations that were sufficiently accurate so far, may introduce significant systematic biases in the parameter best-fit values and jeopardize the robustness of cosmological analyses. We present a general expression to estimate a priori the systematic error introduced in parameter inference due to the use of insufficiently good approximations in the computation of the observable of interest or the assumption of an incorrect underlying model. Although this methodology can be applied to measurements of any scientific field, we illustrate its power by studying the effect of modeling the angular galaxy power spectrum incorrectly. We also introduce Multi_CLASS, a new, public modification of the Boltzmann code CLASS, which includes the possibility to compute angular cross-power spectra for two different tracers. We find that significant biases in most of the cosmological parameters are introduced if one assumes the Limber approximation or neglects lensing magnification in modern galaxy survey analyses, and the effect is in general larger for the multi-tracer case, especially for the parameter controlling primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type, $f_{\rm NL}$.

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arXiv2020

Blind Observers of the Sky

The concept of blind analysis, a key procedure to remove the human-based systematic error called confirmation bias, has long been an integral part of data analysis in many research areas. In cosmology, blind analysis is recently making its entrance, as the field progresses into a fully fledged high-precision science. The credibility, reliability and robustness of results from future sky-surveys will dramatically increase if the effect of confirmation bias is kept under control by using an appropriate blinding procedure. Here, we present a catalog-level blinding scheme for galaxy clustering data apt to be used in future spectroscopic galaxy surveys. We shift the individual galaxy positions along the line of sight based on 1) a geometric shift mimicking the Alcock-Paczynski effect and 2) a perturbative shift akin to redshift-space distortions. This procedure has several advantages. After combining the two steps above, it is almost impossible to accidentally unblind. The procedure induces a shift in cosmological parameters without changing the galaxies' angular positions, hence without interfering with the effects of angular systematics. Since the method is applied at catalog level, there is no need to adopt several blinding schemes tuned to different summary statistics, likelihood choices or types of analyses. By testing the method on mock catalogs and the BOSS DR12 catalog we demonstrate its performance in blinding galaxy clustering data for relevant cosmological parameters sensitive to the background expansion rate and the growth rate of structures.

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arXiv2020

Early dark energy is not excluded by current large-scale structure data

We revisit the impact of early dark energy (EDE) on galaxy clustering using BOSS galaxy power spectra, analyzed using the effective field theory (EFT) of large-scale structure (LSS), and anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from Planck. Recent studies found that these data place stringent constraints on the maximum abundance of EDE allowed in the Universe. We argue here that their conclusions are a consequence of their choice of priors on the EDE parameter space, rather than any disagreement between the data and the model. For example, when considering EFT-LSS, CMB, and high-redshift supernovae data we find the EDE and $Λ$CDM models can provide statistically indistinguishable fits ($Δχ^2 = 0.12$) with a relatively large value for the maximum fraction of energy density in the EDE ($f_{\rm ede} = 0.09$) and Hubble constant ($H_0 = 71$ km/s/Mpc) in the EDE model. Moreover, we demonstrate that the constraining power added from the inclusion of EFT-LSS traces to the potential tension between the power-spectrum amplitudes $A_s$ derived from BOSS and from Planck that arises even within the context of $Λ$CDM. Until this is better understood, caution should be used when interpreting EFT-BOSS+Planck constraints to models beyond $Λ$CDM. These findings suggest that EDE still provides a potential resolution to the Hubble tension and that it is worthwhile to test the predictions of EDE with future data-sets and further study its theoretical possibilities.

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arXiv2020

Can Dark Matter be Geometry? A Case Study with Mimetic Dark Matter

We investigate the possibility of dark matter being a pure geometrical effect, rather than a particle or a compact object, by exploring a specific modified gravity model: mimetic dark matter. We present an alternative formulation of the theory, closer to the standard cosmological perturbation theory framework. We make manifest the presence of arbitrary parameters and extra functions, both at background level and at first order in perturbation theory. We present the full set of independent equations of motion for this model, and we discuss the amount of tuning needed to match predictions of the theory to actual data. By using the matter power spectrum and cosmic microwave background angular power spectra as benchmark observables, we explicitly show that since there is no natural mechanism to generate adiabatic initial conditions in this specific model, extra fine-tuning is required. We modify the publicly available Boltzmann code \texttt{CLASS} to make accurate predictions for the observables in mimetic dark matter. Our modified version of \texttt{CLASS} is available on GitHub. We have used mimetic dark matter as an illustration of how much one is allowed to change the initial conditions before contradicting observations when modifying the laws of gravity as described by General Relativity but we point out that modifying gravity without providing a natural mechanism to generate adiabatic initial conditions will always lead to highly fine-tuned models.

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arXiv2020

Antisymmetric cross-correlation of line-intensity maps as a probe of reionization

We present a new estimator for the cross-correlation signal between line intensity maps to probe the Epoch of Reionization. The proposed estimator is the hitherto neglected antisymmetric component of the cross-correlation, under the exchange of line-of-sight positions. We consider the cross-correlation between HI and CO fluctuations, and forecast the improvement in precision on reionization parameters when the antisymmetric contribution is accounted for. As a way to break the degeneracy between astrophysics and cosmology in the intensity mapping power spectrum, we study the ratio between the antisymmetric and symmetric components. While our results depend on the highly uncertain astrophysical modelling, we show that in most standard scenarios including the antisymmetric contribution as a complementary probe can lead to a significant gain in information.

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arXiv2019

Enlightening the dark ages with dark matter

Constraints on dark matter annihilation or decay offer unique insights into the nature of dark matter. We illustrate how surveys dedicated to detect the highly redshifted 21 cm signal from the dark ages will offer a new window into properties of particle dark matter. The 21 cm intensity mapping signal and its fluctuations are sensitive to energy injection from annihilation or decay of long-lived particles in a way that is complementary to other probes. We present forecasted constraints from forthcoming and next-generation radio surveys. We show that, while SKA might be capable of a detection for some cases, the most promising opportunity to detect dark matter in the 21 cm intensity mapping signal is with a futuristic radio array on the lunar far-side, with the potential to detect a signal many orders of magnitude weaker than current or maximal constraints from other probes.

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arXiv2019

Inflation and Dark Energy from spectroscopy at $z > 2$

The expansion of the Universe is understood to have accelerated during two epochs: in its very first moments during a period of Inflation and much more recently, at $z < 1$, when Dark Energy is hypothesized to drive cosmic acceleration. The undiscovered mechanisms behind these two epochs represent some of the most important open problems in fundamental physics. The large cosmological volume at $2 < z < 5$, together with the ability to efficiently target high-$z$ galaxies with known techniques, enables large gains in the study of Inflation and Dark Energy. A future spectroscopic survey can test the Gaussianity of the initial conditions up to a factor of ~50 better than our current bounds, crossing the crucial theoretical threshold of $σ(f_{NL}^{\rm local})$ of order unity that separates single field and multi-field models. Simultaneously, it can measure the fraction of Dark Energy at the percent level up to $z = 5$, thus serving as an unprecedented test of the standard model and opening up a tremendous discovery space.

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arXiv2019

Primordial Non-Gaussianity

Our current understanding of the Universe is established through the pristine measurements of structure in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the distribution and shapes of galaxies tracing the large scale structure (LSS) of the Universe. One key ingredient that underlies cosmological observables is that the field that sources the observed structure is assumed to be initially Gaussian with high precision. Nevertheless, a minimal deviation from Gaussianityis perhaps the most robust theoretical prediction of models that explain the observed Universe; itis necessarily present even in the simplest scenarios. In addition, most inflationary models produce far higher levels of non-Gaussianity. Since non-Gaussianity directly probes the dynamics in the early Universe, a detection would present a monumental discovery in cosmology, providing clues about physics at energy scales as high as the GUT scale.

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arXiv2019

Probing $Λ$CDM cosmology with the Evolutionary Map of the Universe survey

The Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) is an all-sky survey in radio-continuum which uses the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP). Using galaxy angular power spectrum and the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, we study the potential of EMU to constrain models beyond $Λ$CDM (i.e., local primordial non-Gaussianity, dynamical dark energy, spatial curvature and deviations from general relativity), for different design sensitivities. We also include a multi-tracer analysis, distinguishing between star-forming galaxies and galaxies with an active galactic nucleus, to further improve EMU's potential. We find that EMU could measure the dark energy equation of state parameters around 35\% more precisely than existing constraints, and that the constraints on $f_{\rm NL}$ and modified gravity parameters will improve up to a factor $\sim2$ with respect to Planck and redshift space distortions measurements. With this work we demonstrate the promising potential of EMU to contribute to our understanding of the Universe.

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arXiv2018

Hot Axions and the $H_0$ tension

Scattering and decay processes of thermal bath particles involving heavy leptons can dump hot axions in the primordial plasma around the QCD phase transition. We compute their relic density, parameterized by an effective number $ΔN_{\rm eff}$ of additional neutrinos. For couplings allowed by current bounds, production via scattering yields $ΔN_{\rm eff} \lesssim 0.6$ and $ΔN_{\rm eff} \lesssim 0.2$ for the cases of muon and tau, respectively. Flavor violating tau decays to a lighter lepton plus an axion give $ΔN_{\rm eff} \lesssim 0.3$. Such values of $ΔN_{\rm eff}$ can alleviate the tension between the direct local measurement of the Hubble constant $H_0$ and the inferred value from observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background, assuming $Λ$CDM. We analyze present cosmological data from the Planck collaboration and baryon acoustic oscillations with priors given in terms of the axion-lepton couplings. For axions coupled to muons, the tension can be alleviated below the 3$σ$ level. Future experiments will measure $ΔN_{\rm eff}$ with higher precision, providing an axion discovery channel and probing the role of hot axions in the $H_0$ tension.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Conservative cosmology: combining data with allowance for unknown systematics

When combining data sets to perform parameter inference, the results will be unreliable if there are unknown systematics in data or models. Here we introduce a flexible methodology, BACCUS: BAyesian Conservative Constraints and Unknown Systematics, which deals in a conservative way with the problem of data combination, for any degree of tension between experiments. We introduce hyperparameters that describe a bias in each model parameter for each class of experiments. A conservative posterior for the model parameters is then obtained by marginalization both over these unknown shifts and over the width of their prior. We contrast this approach with an existing hyperparameter method in which each individual likelihood is scaled, comparing the performance of each approach and their combination in application to some idealized models. Using only these rescaling hyperparameters is not a suitable approach for the current observational situation, in which internal null tests of the errors are passed, and yet different experiments prefer models that are in poor agreement. The possible existence of large shift systematics cannot be constrained with a small number of data sets, leading to extended tails on the conservative posterior distributions. We illustrate our method with the case of the $H_0$ tension between results from the cosmic distance ladder and physical measurements that rely on the standard cosmological model.

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arXiv2018

Signatures of primordial black holes as seeds of supermassive black holes

It is broadly accepted that Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs) are located in the centers of most massive galaxies, although there is still no convincing scenario for the origin of their massive seeds. It has been suggested that primordial black holes (PBHs) of masses $\gtrsim 10^{2} M_\odot$ may provide such seeds, which would grow to become SMBHs. We suggest an observational test to constrain this hypothesis: gas accretion around PBHs during the cosmic dark ages powers the emission of high energy photons which would modify the spin temperature as measured by 21cm Intensity Mapping (IM) observations. We model and compute their contribution to the standard sky-averaged signal and power spectrum of 21cm IM, accounting for its substructure and angular dependence for the first time. If PBHs exist, the sky-averaged 21cm IM signal in absorption would be higher, while we expect an increase in the power spectrum for $\ell~\gtrsim 10^2-10^3$. We also forecast PBH detectability and measurement errors in the abundance and Eddington ratios for different fiducial parameter configurations for various future experiments, ranging from SKA to a futuristic radio array on the dark side of the Moon. While the SKA could provide a detection, only a more ambitious experiment would provide accurate measurements.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter: Converting Constraints from Monochromatic to Extended Mass Distributions

The model in which Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) constitute a non-negligible fraction of the dark matter has (re)gained popularity after the first detections of binary black hole mergers. Most of the observational constraints to date have been derived assuming a single mass for all the PBHs, although some more recent works tried to generalize constraints to the case of extended mass functions. Here we derive a general methodology to obtain constraints for any PBH Extended Mass Distribution (EMD) and any observables in the desired mass range. Starting from those obtained for a monochromatic distribution, we convert them into constraints for EMDs by using an equivalent, effective mass $M_{\rm eq}$ that depends on the specific observable. We highlight how limits of validity of the PBH modelling affect the EMD parameter space. Finally, we present converted constraints on the total abundance of PBH from microlensing, stellar distribution in ultra-faint dwarf galaxies and CMB accretion for Lognormal and Power Law mass distributions, finding that EMD constraints are generally stronger than monochromatic ones.

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arXiv2017

Cosmological implications of Primordial Black Holes

The possibility that a relevant fraction of the dark matter might be comprised of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) has been seriously reconsidered after LIGO's detection of a $\sim 30 M_{\odot}$ binary black holes merger. Despite the strong interest in the model, there is a lack of studies on possible cosmological implications and effects on cosmological parameters inference. We investigate correlations with the other standard cosmological parameters using cosmic microwave background observations, finding significant degeneracies, especially with the tilt of the primordial power spectrum and the sound horizon at radiation drag. However, these degeneracies can be greatly reduced with the inclusion of small scale polarization data. We also explore if PBHs as dark matter in simple extensions of the standard $Λ$CDM cosmological model induces extra degeneracies, especially between the additional parameters and the PBH's ones. Finally, we present cosmic microwave background constraints on the fraction of dark matter in PBHs, not only for monochromatic PBH mass distributions but also for popular extended mass distributions. Our results show that extended mass distribution's constraints are tighter, but also that a considerable amount of constraining power comes from the high-$\ell$ polarization data. Moreover, we constrain the shape of such mass distributions in terms of the correspondent constraints on the PBH mass fraction.

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