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Kin-Wang Ng

Publications and source records attributed to Kin-Wang Ng.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Scalar field fluctuations in Schwarzschild-de Sitter space-time

We calculate quantum fluctuations of a free scalar field in the Schwarzschild-de Sitter space-time, adopting the planar coordinates that is pertinent to the presence of a black hole in an inflationary universe. In a perturbation approach, doing expansion in powers of a small black hole event horizon compared to the de Sitter cosmological horizon, we obtain time evolution of the quantum fluctuations and then derive the scalar power spectrum.

astro-ph.CO

Improved Dark Energy Detection through the Polarization-assisted WMAP-NVSS ISW Correlation

Integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect can be estimated by cross-correlating Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) sky with tracers of the local matter distribution. At late cosmic time, the dark energy induced decay of gravitation potential generates a cross-correlation signal on large angular scales. The dominant noise are the intrinsic CMB anisotropies from the inflationary epoch. In this Letter we use CMB polarization to reduce this intrinsic noise. We cross-correlate the microwave sky observed by Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) with the radio source catalog compiled by NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) to study the efficiency of the noise suppression . We find that the error bars are reduced about 5-12 %, improving the statistical power.

astro-ph.CO

Properties of the exact analytic solution of the growth factor and its applications

There have been the approximate analytic solution \cite{Silveria} and several approximate analytic forms \cite{0508156,Carroll,0303112} of the growth factor $D_{g}$ for the general dark energy models with the constant values of its equation of state $\omde$ after Heath found the exact integral form of the solution of $D_{g}$ for the Universe including the cosmological constant or the curvature term. Recently, we obtained the exact analytic solutions of the growth factor for both $\omde = -1$ or $-\fr{1}{3}$ \cite{SK1} and the general dark energy models with the constant equation of state $\omde$ \cite{SK3} independently. We compare the exact analytic solution of $D_{g}$ with the other well known approximate solutions. We also prove that the analytic solutions for $\omde = -1$ or $-\fr{1}{3}$ in Ref. \cite{SK1} are the specific solutions of the exact solutions of the growth factor for general $\omde$ models in Ref. \cite{SK3} even though they look quite different. We scrutinize the issue of using the well known parameterizations of the growth index and its parameter given in Ref. \cite{WS} to obtain the growth factor for general dark energy models. We also investigate the possible extensions of the exact solution of $D_{g}$ to the time-varying $\omde$ for the comparison with observations.

astro-ph.CO

Collapse of Vacuum Bubbles in a Vacuum

Motivated by the discovery of a plenitude of metastable vacua in a string landscape and the possibility of rapid tunneling between these vacua, we revisit the dynamics of a false vacuum bubble in a background de Sitter spacetime. We find that there exists a large parameter space that allows the bubble to collapse into a black hole or to form a wormhole. This may have interesting implications to inflationary physics.

hep-th

Quantum Stress Tensor Fluctuations of a Conformal Field and Inflationary Cosmology

We discuss the additional perturbation introduced during inflation by quantum stress tensor fluctuations of a conformally invariant field such as the photon. We consider both a kinematical model, which deals only with the expansion fluctuations of geodesics, and a dynamical model which treats the coupling of the stress tensor fluctuations to a scalar inflaton. In neither model do we find any growth at late times, in accordance with a theorem due to Weinberg. What we find instead is a correction which becomes larger the earlier one starts inflation. This correction is non-Gaussian and highly scale dependent, so the absence of such effects from the observed power spectra may imply a constraint on the total duration of inflation. We discuss different views about the validity of perturbation theory at very early times during which currently observable modes are transplanckian.

gr-qc

Growth index with the exact analytic solution of sub-horizon scale linear perturbation for dark energy models with constant equation of state

Three decades ago Heath found the integral form of the exact analytic growing mode solution of the linear density perturbation $δ$ on sub-horizon scales including the cosmological constant or the curvature term. Recently, we obtained the exact analytic form of this solution in our previous work \cite{SK}. Interestingly, we are able to extend this solution for general dark energy models with the constant equation of state $ω_{de}$ in a flat universe. This analytic solution provides the accurate and efficient tools for probing the properties of dark energy models such as the behavior of the growth factor and the growth index. We investigate the growth index and its parameter at any epoch with this exact solution for different dark energy models and find that the growth index is quite model dependent in the redshift space, $0.25 \leq z \leq 1.5$, so observations of the structure growth around this epoch would be very interesting. Also one may be able to rule out some dark energy models by using the analysis from this exact solution. Thus, the analytic solution for the growth factor provides the very useful tools for future observations to constrain the exact values of observational quantities at any epoch related to the growth factor in the dark energy models.

astro-ph.CO

Spherical collapse model with non-clustering dark energy

We investigate a spherical overdensity model for the non-clustering dark energy (DE) with the constant equation of state, w in a flat universe. In this case, the exact solution for the evolution of the scale factor is obtained for general w. We also obtain the exact (when w = - 1/3) and the approximate (when w neq -1/3) solutions for the ratio of the overdensity radius to its value at the turnaround epoch (y) for general cosmological parameters. Also the exact and approximate solutions of the overdensity at the turnaround epoch (zeta) are obtained for general w. Thus, we are able to obtain the non-linear overdensity Delta = 1 + delta at any epoch for the given DE model. The non-linear overdensity at the virial epoch (Delta_{vir}) is obtained by using the virial theorem and the energy conservation. The non-linear overdensity of every DE model converges to that of the Einstein de Sitter universe ~ 147 when z_{vir}increases. We find that the observed quantities at high redshifts are insensitive to the different w models. The low-redshift cluster (z_{vir} ~ 0.04, i.e., z_{ta} ~ 0.7) shows the most model dependent feature and it should be a suitable object for testing DE models. Also as Omo increases, the model dependence of the observed quantities decreases. The error in the approximate solutions is at most 2% for a wide range of the parameter space. Even though the analytic forms of y and ζare obtained for the constant w, they can be generalized to the slowly varying w. Thus, these analytic forms of the scale factor, y, and zeta provide a very accurate and useful tool for measuring the properties of DE.

astro-ph.CO

Affleck-Dine Baryogenesis, Split Supersymmetry, and Inflation

It is shown that, in the context of split supersymmetry, a simple model with a single complex scalar field can produce chaotic inflation and generate the observed amount of baryon asymmetry via the Affleck-Dine mechanism. While the inflaton quantum fluctuations give rise to curvature perturbation, we show that quantum fluctuations of the phase of the scalar field can produce baryonic isocurvature perturbation. Combining with constraints from WMAP data, all parameters in the model can be determined to within a narrow range.

hep-ph

Growth index with the cosmological constant

We obtain the exact analytic form of the growth index at present epoch ($a=1$) in a flat universe with the cosmological constant ({\it i.e.} the dark energy with its equation of state $ω_{de} = -1$). For the cosmological constant, we obtain the exact value of the current growth index parameter $γ= 0.5547$, which is very close to the well known value 6/11. We also obtain the exact analytic solution of the growth factor for $ω_{de}$ = -1/3 or -1. We investigate the growth index and its parameter at any epoch with this exact solution. In addition to this, we are able to find the exact $Ω_{m}^{0}$ dependence of those observable quantities. The growth index is quite sensitive to $Ω_{m}^{0}$ at $z = 0.15$, where we are able to use 2dF observation. If we adopt 2dF value of growth index, then we obtain the constrain $0.11 \leq Ω_{m}^{0} \leq 0.37$ for the cosmological constant model. Especially, the growth index is quite sensitive to $Ω_{m}^{0}$ around $z \leq 1$. We might be able to obtain interesting observations around this epoch. Thus, the analytic solution for this growth factor provides the very useful tools for future observations to constrain the exact values of observational quantities at any epoch related to growth factor for $ω_{de} = -1$ or -1/3.

astro-ph.CO

The Yuan-Tseh Lee Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy

The Yuan-Tseh Lee Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy (AMiBA) is the first interferometer dedicated to studying the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation at 3mm wavelength. The choice of 3mm was made to minimize the contributions from foreground synchrotron radiation and Galactic dust emission. The initial configuration of seven 0.6m telescopes mounted on a 6-m hexapod platform was dedicated in October 2006 on Mauna Loa, Hawaii. Scientific operations began with the detection of a number of clusters of galaxies via the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. We compare our data with Subaru weak lensing data in order to study the structure of dark matter. We also compare our data with X-ray data in order to derive the Hubble constant.

astro-ph

Effects of a pre-inflation radiation-dominated epoch to CMB anisotropy

We consider that the pre-inflation era is radiation-dominated, transiting smoothly to the inflationary era. We work out in detail the dynamics of inflaton fluctuations across the phase transition and the proper choices of initial vacuum states. It is found that this phase transition can suppress long-wavelength quantum fluctuations of inflaton. This may attribute to the large-scale CMB anisotropy a lower power than predicted in the standard $Λ$CDM model. In constraining this transitional effect by WMAP anisotropy data, we use the WMAP best-fit scale-invariant $Λ$CDM model with the density power spectrum replaced by the one found in this work. We find that the transition occurs at least about 10 e-folds before the comoving scales comparable to our present horizon size cross the Hubble radius during inflation.

astro-ph

Can Strong Gravitational Lensing Constrain Dark Energy?

We discuss the ratio of the angular diameter distances from the source to the lens, $D_{ds}$, and to the observer at present, $D_{s}$, for various dark energy models. It is well known that the difference of $D_s$s between the models is apparent and this quantity is used for the analysis of Type Ia supernovae. However we investigate the difference between the ratio of the angular diameter distances for a cosmological constant, $(D_{ds}/D_{s})^Λ$ and that for other dark energy models, $(D_{ds}/D_{s})^{\rm{other}}$ in this paper. It has been known that there is lens model degeneracy in using strong gravitational lensing. Thus, we investigate the model independent observable quantity, Einstein radius ($θ_E$), which is proportional to both $D_{ds}/D_s$ and velocity dispersion squared, $σ_v^2$. $D_{ds}/D_s$ values depend on the parameters of each dark energy model individually. However, $(D_{ds}/D_s)^Λ - (D_{ds}/D_{s})^{\rm{other}}$ for the various dark energy models, is well within the error of $σ_v$ for most of the parameter spaces of the dark energy models. Thus, a single strong gravitational lensing by use of the Einstein radius may not be a proper method to investigate the property of dark energy. However, better understanding to the mass profile of clusters in the future or other methods related to arc statistics rather than the distances may be used for constraints on dark energy.

astro-ph

Possible Constraints on the Duration of Inflationary Expansion from Quantum Stress Tensor Fluctuations

We discuss the effect of quantum stress tensor fluctuations in deSitter spacetime upon the expansion of a congruence of timelike geodesics. We treat a model in which the expansion fluctuations begin on a given hypersurface in deSitter spacetime, and find that this effect tends to grow, in contrast to the situation in flat spacetime. This growth potentially leads to observable consequences in inflationary cosmology in the form of density perturbations which depend upon the duration of the inflationary period. In the context of our model, the effect may be used to place upper bounds on this duration.

gr-qc

Cosmological constant from gauge fields on extra dimensions

We present a new model of dark energy which could explain the observed accelerated expansion of our Universe. We show that a five-dimensional Einstein-Yang-Mills theory defined in a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe compactified on a circle possesses degenerate vacua in four dimensions. The present Universe could be trapped in one of these degenerate vacua. With the natural requirement that the size of the extra dimension could be of the GUT scale or smaller, the energy density difference between the degenerate vacua and the true ground state can provide us with just the right amount of dark energy to account for the observed expansion rate of our Universe.

hep-ph

Quantum noise and large-scale cosmic microwave background anisotropy

We propose a new source for the cosmological density perturbation which is passive fluctuations of the inflaton driven dynamically by a colored quantum noise as a result of its coupling to other massive quantum fields. The created fluctuations grow with time during inflation before horizon-crossing. However, the larger-scale modes cross out the horizon earlier, thus resulting in a suppression of their density perturbation as compared with those on small scales. By using current observed CMB data to constrain the parameters introudced, we find that a significant contribution from the noise-driven perturbation to the density perturbation is still allowed. It in turn gives rise to a suppression of the large-scale CMB anisotropy that may be relevant to the observed low quadrupole in the WMAP CMB anisotropy data. We also briefly discuss the implications to the energy scale of inflation and the spectral index and non-Gaussianity of the density perturbation.

astro-ph

Effect on cosmic microwave background polarization of coupling of quintessence to pseudoscalar formed from the electromagnetic field and its dual

We present the full set of power spectra of cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropies due to the coupling between quintessence and pseudoscalar of electromagnetism. This coupling induces the rotation of the polarization plane of CMB photons, thus resulting in non-vanishing B mode and parity-violating TB and EB modes. Using the 2003 flight of BOOMERANG (B03) data, we give the most stringent constraint on the coupling strength. In some cases, the rotation-induced B mode can confuse the hunting for the gravitational lensing induced B mode.

astro-ph

Constraints on the coupled quintessence from cosmic microwave background anisotropy and matter power spectrum

We discuss the evolution of linear perturbations in a quintessence model in which the scalar field is non-minimally coupled to cold dark matter. We consider the effects of this coupling on both cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies and matter perturbations. Due to the modification of the scale of cold dark matter as $ρ_{c} = ρ_{c}^{(0)} a^{-3 + ξ}$, we can shift the turnover in the matter power spectrum even without changing the present energy densities of matter and radiation. This can be used to constrain the strength of the coupling. We find that the phenomenology of this model is consistent with current observations up to the coupling power $n_{c} \leq 0.01$ while adopting the current parameters measured by WMAP. Upcoming cosmic microwave background observations continuing to focus on resolving the higher peaks may put strong constraints on the strength of the coupling.

astro-ph

Nonequilibrium Effects and Baryogenesis

Possible effects due to nonequilibrium dynamics in the Affleck-Dine mechanism of baryogenesis are examined. Using the closed-time-path formalism, the quantum fluctuation and the back reaction of the Affleck-Dine scalar field are incorporated self-consistently into the dynamical equations of the system. It is found that such nonequilibrium effects can significantly affect the amount of baryon asymmetry that can be generated. In particular, it is possible to generate the observed baryon asymmetry with suitable initial conditions. The methodology described in this paper as well as some of the results obtained are quite general, and can be applied to any complex scalar field in a cosmological background.

hep-ph