arXiv subjects

Kimmo Kainulainen

Publications and source records attributed to Kimmo Kainulainen.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Accurate Modeling of Weak Lensing with the sGL Method

We revise and extend the stochastic approach to cumulative weak lensing (hereafter the sGL method) first introduced in Ref. [1]. Here we include a realistic halo mass function and density profiles to model the distribution of mass between and within galaxies, galaxy groups and galaxy clusters. We also introduce a modeling of the filamentary large-scale structures and a method to embed halos into these structures. We show that the sGL method naturally reproduces the weak lensing results for the Millennium Simulation. The strength of the sGL method is that a numerical code based on it can compute the lensing probability distribution function for a given inhomogeneous model universe in a few seconds. This makes it a useful tool to study how lensing depends on cosmological parameters and its impact on observations. The method can also be used to simulate the effect of a wide array of systematic biases on the observable PDF. As an example we show how simple selection effects may reduce the variance of observed PDF, which could possibly mask opposite effects from very large scale structures. We also show how a JDEM-like survey could constrain the lensing PDF relative to a given cosmological model. The updated turboGL code is available at turboGL.org.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Large-scale inhomogeneities may improve the cosmic concordance of supernovae

We reanalyze the supernovae data from the Union Compilation including the weak lensing effects caused by inhomogeneities. We compute the lensing probability distribution function for each background solution described by the parameters Omega_M, Omega_L and w in the presence of inhomogeneities, approximately modeled with a single-mass population of halos. We then perform a likelihood analysis in the space of FLRW-parameters and compare our results with the standard approach. We find that the inclusion of lensing can move the best-fit model significantly towards the cosmic concordance of the flat LCDM model, improving the agreement with the constraints coming from the cosmic microwave background and baryon acoustic oscillations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Naturality, unification and dark matter

We consider a model where electroweak symmetry breaking is driven by Technicolor dynamics with minimal particle content required for walking coupling and saturation of global anomalies. Furthermore, the model features three additional Weyl fermions singlet under Technicolor interactions, which provide for a one-loop unification of the Standard Model gauge couplings. Among these extra matter fields exists a possible candidate for weakly interacting dark matter. We evaluate the relic densities and find that they are sufficient to explain the cosmological observations and avoid the experimental limits from earth-based searches. Hence, we establish a non-supersymmetric framework where hierarchy and naturality problems are solved, coupling constant unification is achieved and a plausible dark matter candidate exists.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Coherent quasiparticle approximation cQPA and nonlocal coherence

We show that the dynamical Wigner functions for noninteracting fermions and bosons can have complex singularity structures with a number of new solutions accompanying the usual mass-shell dispersion relations. These new shell solutions are shown to encode the information of the quantum coherence between particles and antiparticles, left and right moving chiral states and/or between different flavour states. Analogously to the usual derivation of the Boltzmann equation, we impose this extended phase space structure on the full interacting theory. This extension of the quasiparticle approximation gives rise to a self-consistent equation of motion for a density matrix that combines the quantum mechanical coherence evolution with a well defined collision integral giving rise to decoherence. Several applications of the method are given, for example to the coherent particle production, electroweak baryogenesis and study of decoherence and thermalization.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

Superweakly interacting dark matter from the Minimal Walking Technicolor

We study a superweakly interacting dark matter particle motivated by minimal walking technicolor theories. Our WIMP is a mixture of a sterile state and a state with the charges of a standard model fourth family neutrino. We show that the model can give the right amount of dark matter over a range of the WIMP mass and mixing angle. We compute bounds on the model parameters from the current accelerator data including the oblique corrections to the precision electroweak parameters, as well as from cryogenic experiments, Super-Kamiokande and from the IceCube experiment. We show that consistent dark matter solutions exist which satisfy all current constraints. However, almost the entire parameter range of the model lies within the the combined reach of the next generation experiments.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

A new stochastic approach to cumulative weak lensing

We study the weak gravitational lensing effects caused by a stochastic distribution of dark matter halos. We develop a simple approach to calculate the magnification probability distribution function which allows us to easily compute the magnitude bias and dispersion for an arbitrary data sample and a given universe model. As an application we consider the effects of single-mass large-scale cosmic inhomogeneities to the SNe magnitude-redshift relation, and conclude that such structures could bias the PDF enough to affect the extraction of cosmological parameters from the limited size of present-day SNe data samples. We also release turboGL, a simple and very fast (<= 1s) Mathematica code based on the method here presented.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Impact of cosmic inhomogeneities on SNe observations

We study the impact of cosmic inhomogeneities on the interpretation of SNe observations. We build an inhomogeneous universe model that can confront supernova data and yet is reasonably well compatible with the Copernican Principle. Our model combines a relatively small local void, that gives apparent acceleration at low redshifts, with a meatball model that gives sizeable lensing (dimming) at high redshifts. Together these two elements, which focus on different effects of voids on the data, allow the model to mimic the concordance model.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

SNe observations in a meatball universe with a local void

We study the impact of cosmic inhomogeneities on the interpretation of observations. We build an inhomogeneous universe model without dark energy that can confront supernova data and yet is reasonably well compatible with the Copernican Principle. Our model combines a relatively small local void, that gives apparent acceleration at low redshifts, with a meatball model that gives sizeable lensing (dimming) at high redshifts. Together these two elements, which focus on different effects of voids on the data, allow the model to mimic the concordance model.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Kinetic theory for scalar fields with nonlocal quantum coherence

We derive quantum kinetic equations for scalar fields undergoing coherent evolution either in time (coherent particle production) or in space (quantum reflection). Our central finding is that in systems with certain space-time symmetries, quantum coherence manifests itself in the form of new spectral solutions for the dynamical 2-point correlation function. This spectral structure leads to a consistent approximation for dynamical equations that describe coherent evolution in presence of decohering collisions. We illustrate the method by solving the bosonic Klein problem and the bound states for the nonrelativistic square well potential. We then compare our spectral phase space definition of particle number to other definitions in the nonequilibrium field theory. Finally we will explicitly compute the effects of interactions to coherent particle production in the case of an unstable field coupled to an oscillating background.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Kinetic transport theory with quantum coherence

We derive transport equations for fermions and bosons in spatially or temporally varying backgrounds with special symmetries, by use of the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism. In a noninteracting theory the coherence information is shown to be encoded in new singular shells for the 2-point function. Imposing this phase space structure to the interacting theory leads to a a self-consistent equation of motion for a physcial density matrix, including coherence and a well defined collision integral. The method is applied e.g. to demonstrate how an initially coherent out-of-equlibrium state approaches equlibrium through decoherence and thermalization.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

On the stability of spherically symmetric spacetimes in metric f(R) gravity

We consider stability properties of spherically symmetric spacetimes of stars in metric f(R) gravity. We stress that these not only depend on the particular model, but also on the specific physical configuration. Typically configurations giving the desired $γ_{\rm PPN} \approx 1$ are strongly constrained, while those corresponding to $γ_{\rm PPN} \approx 1/2$ are less affected. Furthermore, even when the former are found strictly stable in time, the domain of acceptable static spherical solutions typically shrinks to a point in the phase space. Unless a physical reason to prefer such a particular configuration can be found, this poses a naturalness problem for the currently known metric f(R) models for accelerating expansion of the Universe.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

Towards a kinetic theory for fermions with quantum coherence

A new density matrix and corresponding quantum kinetic equations are introduced for fermions undergoing coherent evolution either in time (coherent particle production) or in space (quantum reflection). A central element in our derivation is finding new spectral solutions for the 2-point Green's functions written in the Wigner representation, that are carrying the information of the quantum coherence. Physically observable density matrix is then defined from the bare singular 2-point function by convoluting it with the extrenous information about the state of the system. The formalism is shown to reproduce familiar results from the Dirac equation approach, like Klein problem and nonlocal reflection from a mass wall. The notion of the particle number in the presence of quantum coherence is shown to be particularily transparent in the current picture. We extend the formalism to the case of mixing fields and show how the usual flavour mixing and oscillation of neutrinos emerges again from a singular shell structure. Finally, we show how the formalism can be extended to include decohering interactions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Quantum kinetic theory for fermions in temporally varying backrounds

We derive quantum kinetic equations for fermions in a homogeneous time-dependent background in presence of decohering collisions, by use of the Schwinger-Keldysh CTP-formalism. The quantum coherence (between particles and antiparticles) is found to arise from new spectral solutions for the dynamical 2-point correlation function in the mean field limit. The physical density matrix $ρ$ and its dynamics is shown to be necessarily dependent on the extrenous information on the system, and expressions that relate $ρ$ to fundamental coherence functions and fermionic particle and antiparticle numbers are derived. For an interacting system we demonstrate how smooth decoherence effects are induced by collisions. As special applications we study the production of unstable particles during the preheating stage of the inflation and an evolution of an initially quantum $ρ$ towards a statistical limit including decoherence and thermalisation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Spherically symmetric spacetimes in f(R) gravity theories

We study both analytically and numerically the gravitational fields of stars in f(R) gravity theories. We derive the generalized Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov equations for these theories and show that in metric f(R) models the Parameterized Post-Newtonian parameter $γ_{\rm PPN} = 1/2$ is a robust outcome for a large class of boundary conditions set at the center of the star. This result is also unchanged by introduction of dark matter in the Solar System. We find also a class of solutions with $γ_{\rm PPN} \approx 1$ in the metric $f(R)=R-μ^4/R$ model, but these solutions turn out to be unstable and decay in time. On the other hand, the Palatini version of the theory is found to satisfy the Solar System constraints. We also consider compact stars in the Palatini formalism, and show that these models are not inconsistent with polytropic equations of state. Finally, we comment on the equivalence between f(R) gravity and scalar-tensor theories and show that many interesting Palatini f(R) gravity models can not be understood as a limiting case of a Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory with $ω\to -3/2$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

The interior spacetimes of stars in Palatini f(R) gravity

We study the interior spacetimes of stars in the Palatini formalism of f(R) gravity and derive a generalized Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff and mass equation for a static, spherically symmetric star. We show that matching the interior solution with the exterior Schwarzschild-De Sitter solution in general gives a relation between the gravitational mass and the density profile of a star, which is different from the one in General Relativity. These modifications become neglible in models for which $δF(R) \equiv \partial f/\partial R - 1$ is a decreasing function of R however. As a result, both Solar System constraints and stellar dynamics are perfectly consistent with $f(R) = R - μ^4/R$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2006

The WIMP of a Minimal Technicolor Theory

We consider the possibility that a massive fourth family neutrino, predicted by a recently proposed minimal technicolor theory, could be the source of the dark matter in the universe. The model has two techniflavors in the adjoint representation of an SU(2) techicolor gauge group and its consistency requires the existence of a fourth family of leptons. By a suitable hypercharge assignement the techniquarks together with the new leptons look like a conventional fourth standard model family. We show that the new (Majorana) neutrino N can be the dark matter particle if $m_N \sim 100-500$ GeV and the expansion rate of the Universe at early times is dominated by an energy component scaling as $ρ_ϕ\sim a^{-6}$ (kination), with $ρ_ϕ/ρ_{\rm rad} \sim 10^{-6}$ during the nucleosynthesis era.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Dark Energy, Scalar-Tensor Gravity and Large Extra Dimensions

We explore in detail a dilatonic scalar-tensor theory of gravity inspired by large extra dimensions, where a radion field from compact extra dimensions gives rise to quintessence in our 4-dimensional world. We show that the model can give rise to other types of cosmologies as well, some more akin to $k$-essence and possibly variants of phantom dark energy. In our model the field (or radius) stabilization arises from quantum corrections to the effective 4D Ricci scalar. We then show that various constraints nearly determine the model parameters, and give an example of a quintessence-type cosmology consistent with observations. We show that the upcoming SNAP-experiment would easily distinguish the present model from a constant $Λ$ model with an \emph{equal} amount of dark energy, but that the SNAP-data alone will not be able distinguish it from a $Λ$ model with about 5% less dark energy.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Kinetic approach to electroweak baryogenesis

After a short review of baryogenesis mechanisms, we focus on the charge transport mechanism at the electroweak scale, effective at strong electroweak phase transitions. Starting from the one-loop Schwinger-Dyson equations for fermions coupled to bosons, we present a derivation of the relevant kinetic equations in the on-shell and gradient approximations, relevant for the thick wall baryogenesis regime. We then discuss the CP-violating source from the semiclassical force in the flow term, and compare it with the source arising in the collision term of the kinetic equation. Finally, we summarize the results concerning the chargino mediated baryogenesis in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model.

hep-ph↗