arXiv subjects

Keita Fukushima

Publications and source records attributed to Keita Fukushima.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

EMPRESS. XV. A New Determination of the Primordial Helium Abundance Suggesting a Moderately Low $Y_\mathrm{P}$ Value

We present a new constraint on the primordial helium abundance, $Y_\mathrm{P}$, based on Subaru observations. A major source of uncertainty in previous $Y_\mathrm{P}$ determinations is the lack of extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs; $0.01-0.1\,Z_\odot$), which have metallicities a few to ten times lower than the metal-poor galaxies (MPGs; $0.1-0.4\,Z_\odot$) predominantly used in earlier studies, requiring substantial extrapolation to zero metallicity. Here, we perform Subaru near-infrared spectroscopy of 29 galaxies, including 14 EMPGs. By incorporating existing optical spectra, we derive He/H for each galaxy using photoionization modeling of helium and hydrogen emission lines, including the He \textsc{i} 10830Å\, line to break the density--temperature degeneracy. After carefully selecting galaxies with robust He/H determinations, and adding 58 galaxies from previous studies, we obtain $Y_\mathrm{P} = 0.2402^{+0.0040}_{-0.0040}$. This $Y_\mathrm{P}$ value is $\sim1σ$ lower than most of the previous estimates, but agrees with recent determinations using EMPGs and the CMB constraint from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) experiment. Our result indicates $N_\mathrm{eff} = 2.54^{+0.20}_{-0.25}$, showing a mild ($\sim2σ$) tension with the Standard Model and Planck results. These tensions may suggest a nonzero lepton asymmetry $(ξ_\mathrm{e}\neq0)$, which would alleviate the tension with $ξ_\mathrm{e} = 0.05^{+0.02}_{-0.03}$. More observations of EMPGs and further assessments of systematic uncertainties are essential to test the potential tension more rigorously.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

The AGORA High-resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project. X: Formation and Evolution of Galaxies at the High-redshift Frontier

Recent observations from JWST have revealed unexpectedly luminous galaxies, exhibiting stellar masses and luminosities significantly higher than predicted by theoretical models at Cosmic Dawn. In this study, we present a suite of cosmological zoom-in simulations targeting high-redshift ($z \geq 10$) galaxies with dark matter halo masses in the range $10^{10} - 10^{11}\ {\rm M}_{\odot}$ at $z=10$, using state-of-the-art galaxy formation simulation codes (Enzo, Ramses, Changa, Gadget-3, Gadget-4, and Gizmo). This study aims to evaluate the convergence of the participating codes and their reproducibility of high-redshift galaxies with the galaxy formation model calibrated at relatively low redshift, without additional physics for high-redshift environments. The subgrid physics follows the AGORA CosmoRun framework, with adjustments to resolution and initial conditions to emulate similar physical environments in the early universe. The participating codes show consistent results for key galaxy properties (e.g., stellar mass), but also reveal notable differences (e.g., metallicity), indicating that galaxy properties at high redshifts are highly sensitive to the feedback implementation of the simulation. Massive halos (${\rm M}_{\rm halo}\geq5\times10^{10}\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$ at $z=10$) succeed in reproducing observed stellar masses, metallicities, and UV luminosities at $10\leq z\leq12$ without requiring additional subgrid physics, but tend to underpredict those properties at higher redshift. We also find that varying the dust-to-metal ratio modestly affects UV luminosity of simulated galaxies, whereas the absence of dust significantly enhances it. In future work, higher-resolution simulations will be conducted to better understand the formation and evolution of galaxies at Cosmic Dawn.

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arXiv2026

Cosmic Himalayas in CROCODILE : Probing the Extreme Quasar Overdensities by Count-in-Cells analysis and Nearest Neighbor Distribution

The recently reported Cosmic Himalayas (CH) -- an extreme quasar overdensity at z~2 -- poses an apparent challenge to the Lambda CDM framework, with a reported significance of 16.9-sigma under Gaussian assumptions. Such an event appears improbably rare, with a formal probability of P ~ 10^-68. In this work, we investigate whether CH-like structures can naturally arise in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. Using the CROCODILE simulation, which self-consistently models galaxy-black hole coevolution, we examine quasar clustering through two complementary approaches: the count-in-cells (CIC) statistic, which probes large-scale overdensities, and the nearest-neighbor distribution (NND), sensitive to small-scale environments. CIC analysis reveals that the underlying distribution is heavy-tailed and non-Gaussian, and that conventional Gaussian-based evaluation substantially overestimates the significance of extreme events. When modeled with an asymmetric generalized normal distribution (AGND), the inferred rarity of the CH is substantially reduced and reconciled with standard Lambda CDM; for instance, regions appearing as 12-sigma outliers under Gaussian assumptions (P ~ 10^-33) are found to occur in the AGND regime with a probability of P ~ 10^-4. NND analysis further demonstrates that extreme overdense regions within the simulation can naturally sustain two-point correlation function values similar to those observed in the CH (r0 ~ 30 Mpc/h), suggesting that the strong clustering stems from sample selection biases and local environmental variations. These two analyses conclusively highlight the importance of adopting non-Gaussian statistics when quantifying extreme overdensities of quasars and establish that the CH is not an anomaly, but a natural outcome of structure formation in the Lambda CDM universe.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Probing the Cosmic Baryon Distribution and the Impact of Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback with Fast Radio Bursts in CROCODILE Simulation

We investigate the Missing Baryon problem using Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) to trace cosmic baryons. Our CROCODILE simulations, performed with the GADGET3/4-OSAKA smoothed particle hydrodynamics code, include star formation, supernova (SN) and active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback. We generate light cones from large-scale structure simulations to compute gas density profiles and dispersion measures (DMs) measurable by FRBs. Our results show that AGN feedback reduces central gas densities in halos, reshaping the boundary between the circumgalactic medium (CGM) and intergalactic medium (IGM). Zoom-in simulations reveal that AGN feedback significantly modulates the DM contributions from foreground halos along different sightlines. Using the DM-redshift (DM-z) relation up to z=1, we constrain the diffuse baryon mass fraction at z = 1 to f_diff = 0.865 (+0.101, -0.165) (fiducial) and f_diff = 0.856 (+0.101, -0.162) (NoBH), which include contributions from both IGM (f_IGM) and halos (f_Halos), serving as upper limits. We further separate and quantify the redshift evolution of f_CGM, f_IGM, and f_diff using both phase-based and structure-based definitions. From an observational perspective, we also distinguish the line-of-sight averaged quantity < f_{diff,obs} > from the intrinsic redshift-evolving f_diff(z), reflecting the statistical nature of FRB-based measurements. Our study provides a framework for understanding baryon distribution across cosmic structures, FRB host galaxies, and the role of AGN in shaping foreground DM contributions.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Association of cold gas, massive galaxies, and AGNs in a filamentary protocluster traced by triple narrow-band imaging

We investigate galaxy populations in the HS1700+64 protocluster at $z=2.30$, characterized by two prominent linear filaments traced by spatially extended Ly$α$ blobs. We conducted a wide area mapping of emission line galaxies across the protocluster using the unique combination of three matched narrow-band filters, corresponding to Ly$α$, H$α$, and [OIII] emission lines at $z=2.30$. We find that H$α$ emitters are strongly clustered at the intersection of the filaments, suggesting a protocluster core. In contrast, Ly$α$ emitters tend to avoid the dense region and the filaments, likely due to the resonant scattering of Ly$α$ photons by HII gas and/or enhanced dust attenuation in galaxies associated with these structures. These findings support a scenario in which cold gas flows via filaments and to the core, fed by the cold-stream mode accretion in the early phase of protocluster assembly, and promoting active star formation there. Further evidence of the scenario comes from the alignment of massive, evolved galaxies in those filaments traced by distant red galaxies, suggesting accelerated galaxy growth in the filaments in the early Universe. This study clearly shows observationally that accelerated galaxy formation takes place not only in the protocluster core but also in the associated surrounding filamentary structure. This underscores the critical role of large-scale filaments in efficiently accumulating the cold gas and channeling it to galaxies therein and to the protocluster core. Such vigorous gas assembly facilitates star formation activity and drives galaxy growth in the early stage of cluster formation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Probing Chemical Enrichment in Extremely Metal-Poor Galaxies

The chemical composition of galaxies offers vital insights into their formation and evolution. In particular, the relationship between helium abundance (He/H) and metallicity serves as a key diagnostic for estimating the primordial helium yield from Big Bang nucleosynthesis. We investigate the chemical enrichment history of low-metallicity galaxies, focusing especially on extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs), using one-zone chemical evolution models. Adopting elemental yields from Limongi and Chieffi (2018), our models reach He/H ~ 0.089 at (O/H) $\times 10^5<20$, yet they fall short of reproducing the elevated He/H values observed in low redshift dwarf galaxies. In contrast, the observed Fe/O ratios in EMPGs are successfully reproduced using both the Nomoto et al. (2013) and Limongi and Chieffi (2018) yield sets. To address the helium discrepancy, we incorporate supermassive stars (SMSs) as Pop III stars in our models. We find that SMSs can significantly enhance He/H, depending on the mass-loss prescription. When only 10 percent of the SMS mass is ejected, the model yields the steepest slope in the (O/H) $\times 10^5$ - He/H relation. Alternatively, if the entire outer envelope up to the CO core is expelled, the model can reproduce the high He/H ratios observed in high-redshift galaxies (He/H > 0.1). Additionally, these SMS-enriched models also predict elevated N/O ratios, in agreement with recent JWST observations of the early universe.

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arXiv2024

EMPRESS. X. Spatially resolved mass-metallicity relation in extremely metal-poor galaxies: evidence of episodic star-formation fueled by a metal-poor gas infall

Using the Subaru/FOCAS IFU capability, we examine the spatially resolved relationships between gas-phase metallicity, stellar mass, and star-formation rate surface densities (Sigma_* and Sigma_SFR, respectively) in extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) in the local universe. Our analysis includes 24 EMPGs, comprising 9,177 spaxels, which span a unique parameter space of local metallicity (12+log(O/H) = 6.9 to 7.9) and stellar mass surface density (Sigma_* ~ 10^5 to 10^7 Msun/kpc^2), extending beyond the range of existing large integral-field spectroscopic surveys. Through spatially resolved emission line diagnostics based on the [NII] BPT-diagram, we verify the absence of evolved active galactic nuclei in these EMPGs. Our findings reveal that, while the resolved mass-metallicity relation exhibits significant scatter in the low-mass regime, this scatter is closely correlated with local star-formation surface density. Specifically, metallicity decreases as Sigma_SFR increases for a given Sigma_*. Notably, half of the EMPGs show a distinct metal-poor horizontal branch on the resolved mass-metallicity relation. This feature typically appears at the peak clump with the highest Sigma_* and Sigma_SFR and is surrounded by a relatively metal-enriched ambient region. These findings support a scenario in which metal-poor gas infall fuels episodic star formation in EMPGs, consistent with the kinematic properties observed in these systems. In addition, we identify four EMPGs with exceptionally low central metallicities (12+log(O/H) <~ 7.2), which display only a metal-poor clump without a surrounding metal-rich region. This suggests that such ultra-low metallicity EMPGs, at less than a few percent of the solar metallicity, may serve as valuable analogs for galaxies in the early stages of galaxy evolution.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

EMPRESS. XII. Statistics on the Dynamics and Gas Mass Fraction of Extremely-Metal Poor Galaxies

We present demography of the dynamics and gas-mass fraction of 33 extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) with metallicities of $0.015-0.195~Z_\odot$ and low stellar masses of $10^4-10^8~M_\odot$ in the local universe. We conduct deep optical integral-field spectroscopy (IFS) for the low-mass EMPGs with the medium high resolution ($R=7500$) grism of the 8m-Subaru FOCAS IFU instrument by the EMPRESS 3D survey, and investigate H$α$ emission of the EMPGs. Exploiting the resolution high enough for the low-mass galaxies, we derive gas dynamics with the H$α$ lines by the fitting of 3-dimensional disk models. We obtain an average maximum rotation velocity ($v_\mathrm{rot}$) of $15\pm3~\mathrm{km~s^{-1}}$ and an average intrinsic velocity dispersion ($σ_0$) of $27\pm10~\mathrm{km~s^{-1}}$ for 15 spatially resolved EMPGs out of the 33 EMPGs, and find that all of the 15 EMPGs have $v_\mathrm{rot}/σ_0<1$ suggesting dispersion dominated systems. There is a clear decreasing trend of $v_\mathrm{rot}/σ_0$ with the decreasing stellar mass and metallicity. We derive the gas mass fraction ($f_\mathrm{gas}$) for all of the 33 EMPGs, and find no clear dependence on stellar mass and metallicity. These $v_\mathrm{rot}/σ_0$ and $f_\mathrm{gas}$ trends should be compared with young high-$z$ galaxies observed by the forthcoming JWST IFS programs to understand the physical origins of the EMPGs in the local universe.

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arXiv2023

Star Formation and Chemical Enrichment in Protoclusters

We examine star formation and chemical enrichment in protoclusters (PCs) using cosmological zoom-in hydrodynamic simulations. We find that the total star formation rate (SFR) in all PC ($>10^{14.4}\,h^{-1}$M$_\odot$) reaches $>10^4\,\mathrm{M}_\odot \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ at $z=3$, equivalent to the observed PCs. The SFR in the Core region accounts for about $30\%$ of the total star formation in the PC at $z\gtrsim1$, suggesting the importance of the outer regions to reveal the evolution of galaxy clusters. We find that the total SFR of PC is dominated by galaxies with $10^{10}\,\le\,(\mathrm{M}_\star/M_\odot)\,\le\,10^{11}$, while more massive galaxies dominate the SFR in the Core. For the chemical abundance evolution, we find that the higher-density region has a higher metallicity and faster evolution. We show that the [O/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] relation turns down in the Core at $z=3.4$ due to the enrichment of Fe by Type Ia supernovae. We find no environmental effects for the mass--metallicity relations (MZR) or $\log$(N/O) vs. $12+\log$(O/H) for galaxies. We find that the chemical enrichment in galaxy clusters proceeds faster in the high redshift Universe ($z>1$). Our work will benefit future tomographic observations, particularly using PCs as unique probes of accelerated structure formation and evolution in high-density regions of the universe.

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arXiv2023

EMPRESS. IX. Extremely Metal-Poor Galaxies are Very Gas-Rich Dispersion-Dominated Systems: Will JWST Witness Gaseous Turbulent High-z Primordial Galaxies?

We present kinematics of 6 local extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) with low metallicities ($0.016-0.098\ Z_{\odot}$) and low stellar masses ($10^{4.7}-10^{7.6} M_{\odot}$). Taking deep medium-high resolution ($R\sim7500$) integral-field spectra with 8.2-m Subaru, we resolve the small inner velocity gradients and dispersions of the EMPGs with H$α$ emission. Carefully masking out sub-structures originated by inflow and/or outflow, we fit 3-dimensional disk models to the observed H$α$ flux, velocity, and velocity-dispersion maps. All the EMPGs show rotational velocities ($v_{\rm rot}$) of 5--23 km s$^{-1}$ smaller than the velocity dispersions ($σ_{0}$) of 17--31 km s$^{-1}$, indicating dispersion-dominated ($v_{\rm rot}/σ_{0}=0.29-0.80<1$) systems affected by inflow and/or outflow. Except for two EMPGs with large uncertainties, we find that the EMPGs have very large gas-mass fractions of $f_{\rm gas}\simeq 0.9-1.0$. Comparing our results with other H$α$ kinematics studies, we find that $v_{\rm rot}/σ_{0}$ decreases and $f_{\rm gas}$ increases with decreasing metallicity, decreasing stellar mass, and increasing specific star-formation rate. We also find that simulated high-$z$ ($z\sim 7$) forming galaxies have gas fractions and dynamics similar to the observed EMPGs. Our EMPG observations and the simulations suggest that primordial galaxies are gas-rich dispersion-dominated systems, which would be identified by the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations at $z\sim 7$.

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arXiv2022

EMPRESS. VIII. A New Determination of Primordial He Abundance with Extremely Metal-Poor Galaxies: A Suggestion of the Lepton Asymmetry and Implications for the Hubble Tension

The primordial He abundance $Y_\mathrm{P}$ is a powerful probe of cosmology. Currently, $Y_\mathrm{P}$ is best determined by observations of metal-poor galaxies, while there are only a few known local extremely metal-poor ($<0.1 Z_\odot$) galaxies (EMPGs) having reliable He/H measurements with HeI$λ$10830 near-infrared (NIR) emission. Here we present deep Subaru NIR spectroscopy for 10 EMPGs. Combining the existing optical data, He/H values of 5 out of the 10 EMPGs are reliably derived by the Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. Adding the existing 3 EMPGs and 51 moderately metal-poor ($0.1-0.4 Z_\odot$) galaxies with reliable He/H estimates, we obtain $Y_\mathrm{P}=0.2370^{+0.0034}_{-0.0033}$ by linear regression in the $\mathrm{(He/H)}-\mathrm{(O/H)}$ plane, where we increase the number of EMPGs from 3 to 8 anchoring He/H of the most metal-poor gas in galaxies. Although our $Y_\mathrm{P}$ measurement and previous measurements are consistent, our result is slightly ($\sim 1σ$) smaller due to our EMPGs. With our $Y_\mathrm{P}$ and the existing primordial deuterium $D_\mathrm{P}$ measurement, we constrain the effective number of neutrino species $N_\mathrm{eff}$ and the baryon-to-photon ratio $η$ showing $\gtrsim 1-2σ$ tensions with the Standard Model and Planck Collaboration et al. (2020). Motivated by the tensions, we allow the degeneracy parameter of electron-neutrino $ξ_e$ to vary as well as $N_\mathrm{eff}$ and $η$. We obtain $ξ_e = 0.05^{+0.03}_{-0.02}$, $N_\mathrm{eff}=3.11^{+0.34}_{-0.31}$, and $η\times10^{10}=6.08^{+0.06}_{-0.06}$ from the $Y_\mathrm{P}$ and $D_\mathrm{P}$ measurements with a prior of $η$ taken from Planck Collaboration et al. (2020). Our constraints suggest a lepton asymmetry and allow for a high value of $N_\mathrm{eff}$ within the $1σ$ level, which could mitigate the Hubble tension.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

MSSM dark matter and a light slepton sector: The Incredible Bulk

Recent experimental results from the LHC have placed strong constraints on the masses of QCD-charged superpartners. The MSSM parameter space is also constrained by the measurement of the Higgs boson mass, and the requirement that the relic density of lightest neutralinos be consistent with observations. Although large regions of the MSSM parameter space can be excluded by these combined bounds, leptophilic versions of the MSSM can survive these constraints. In this paper we consider a scenario in which the requirements of minimal flavor violation, vanishing $CP$-violation, and mass universality are relaxed, specifically focusing on scenarios with light sleptons. We find a large region of parameter space, analogous to the original bulk region, for which the lightest neutralino is a thermal relic with an abundance consistent with that of dark matter. We find that these leptophilic models are constrained by measurements of the magnetic and electric dipole moments of the electron and muon, and that these models have interesting signatures at a variety of indirect detection experiments.

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arXiv2014

Bounds on self-interacting fermion dark matter from observations of old neutron stars

The existence of old neutron stars deeply constrains self-interacting fermion dark matter, which can form star-killing black holes. We quantify this constraint on dark matter-nucleon scattering, considering collapse scenarios that broaden bounds over intermediate masses. We then find the self- and co-annihilation rates necessary to lift these dark matter-nucleon scattering bounds. For Yukawa-coupled dark matter that fits dwarf galaxy halo profiles with a coupling $α= 10^{-1}-10^{-4}$, a scalar mediator mass $m_ϕ= 1-500$ MeV, and DM mass $m_X = 0.1-10^7$ GeV, we show that fermion dark matter is unconstrained if it self-annihilates at a rate greater than $10^{-40} ~ \rm{cm^3/s}$ or co-annihilates with baryons at a rate greater than $10^{-50} ~ \rm{cm^3/s}$.

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arXiv2013

Dipole Moment Bounds on Scalar Dark Matter Annihilation

We consider a scalar dark matter annihilations to light leptons mediated by charged exotic fermions. The interaction of this model also adds a correction to dipole moments of light leptons. In the simplified model, these processes will depend upon the same coupling constants. The tight experimental bounds on the dipole moments of light leptons will constrain the coupling constants. Consequently, this bound will then limit the annihilations. We will produce this dipole moment bounds on the annihilation. From this analysis, we report that the bound on annihilation to the electrons is $4.0\times10^{-7}\pb$ (g-2) + $8.8\times 10^{-15}\pb$ (EDM) and the muons is $5.6\times 10^{-4}\pb$ (g-2) + $180\pb$ (EDM), in the limit where the mediator is much heavier than dark matter. The parentheses indicate the dipole moment used to obtain the values. We note that only the annihilation to muons through a CP-violating (EDM) coupling is not excluded from indirect detection experiments.

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arXiv2013

Dipole Moment Bounds on Dark Matter Annihilation

We consider constraints on simplified models in which scalar dark matter annihilates to light charged leptons through the exchange of charged mediators. We find that loop diagrams will contribute corrections to the magnetic and electric dipole moments of the light charged leptons, and experimental constraints on these corrections place significant bounds on the dark matter annihilation cross section. In particular, annihilation to electrons with an observable cross section would be ruled out, while annihilation to muons is only permitted if the dominant contributions arise from CP-violating interactions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Constraints on Bosonic Dark Matter From Observations of Old Neutron Stars

Baryon interactions with bosonic dark matter are constrained by the potential for dark matter-rich neutron stars to collapse into black holes. We consider the effect of dark matter self-interactions and dark matter annihilation on these bounds, and treat the evolution of the black hole after formation. We show that, for non-annihilating dark matter, these bounds extend up to $m_X \sim 10^{5-7}$ GeV, depending on the strength of self-interactions. However, these bounds are completely unconstraining for annihilating bosonic dark matter with an annihilation cross-section of $<σ_a v> \gtrsim 10^{-38} {\rm cm^3 /s}$. Dark matter decay does not significantly affect these bounds. We thus show that bosonic dark matter accessible to near-future direct detection experiments must participate in an annihilation or self-interaction process to avoid black hole collapse constraints from very old neutron stars.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Bremsstrahlung signatures of dark matter annihilation in the Sun

The nonrelativistic annihilation of Majorana dark matter in the Sun to a pair of light fermions is chirality-suppressed. Annihilation to 3-body final states $\ell^+f^-V$, where $V=W,Z,γ$, and $\ell$ and $f$ are light fermions (that may be the same), becomes dominant since bremsstrahlung relaxes the chirality suppression. We evaluate the neutrino spectra at the source, including spin and helicity dependent effects, and assess the detectability of each significant bremsstrahlung channel at IceCube/DeepCore. We also show how to combine the sensitivities to the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section in individual channels, since typically several channels contribute in models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Detection Prospects for Majorana Fermion WIMPless Dark Matter

We consider both velocity-dependent and velocity-independent contributions to spin-dependent (SD) and spin-independent (SI) nuclear scattering (including one-loop corrections) of WIMPless dark matter, in the case where the dark matter candidate is a Majorana fermion. We find that spin-independent scattering arises only from the mixing of exotic squarks, or from velocity-dependent terms. Nevertheless (and contrary to the case of MSSM neutralino WIMPs), we find a class of models which cannot be detected through SI scattering, but can be detected at IceCube/DeepCore through SD scattering. We study the detection prospects for both SI and SD detection strategies for a large range of Majorana fermion WIMPless model parameters.

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