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Marc Kamionkowski

Publications and source records attributed to Marc Kamionkowski.

At least 325 records · Page 18Linked to original sources
arXiv1999

The Cosmic Microwave Background and Particle Physics

In forthcoming years, connections between cosmology and particle physics will be made increasingly important with the advent of a new generation of cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. Here, we review a number of these links. Our primary focus is on new CMB tests of inflation. We explain how the inflationary predictions for the geometry of the Universe and primordial density perturbations will be tested by CMB temperature fluctuations, and how the gravitational waves predicted by inflation can be pursued with the CMB polarization. The CMB signatures of topological defects and primordial magnetic fields from cosmological phase transitions are also discussed. Furthermore, we review current and future CMB constraints on various types of dark matter (e.g. massive neutrinos, weakly interacting massive particles, axions, vacuum energy), decaying particles, the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, exotic cosmological topologies, and other new physics.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1999

The Angular Three-Point Correlation Function in the Quasilinear Regime

We calculate the normalized angular three-point correlation function (3PCF), $q$, as well as the normalized angular skewness, $s_3$, assuming the small-angle approximation, for a biased mass distribution in flat and open cold-dark-matter (CDM) models with Gaussian initial conditions. The leading-order perturbative results incorporate the explicit dependence on the cosmological parameters, the shape of the CDM transfer function, the linear evolution of the power spectrum, the form of redshift distribution function, and linear and nonlinear biasing, which may be evolving. Results are presented for different redshift distributions, including that appropriate for the APM Galaxy Survey, as well as for a survey with a mean redshift of $\bar{z} \simeq 1$ (such as the VLA FIRST Survey). Qualitatively, many of the results found for $s_3$ and $q$ are similar to those obtained in a related treatment of the spatial skewness and 3PCF (Buchalter & Kamionkowski 1999), such as a leading-order correction to the standard result for $s_3$ in the case of nonlinear bias (as defined for unsmoothed density fields), and the sensitivity of the configuration dependence of $q$ to both cosmological and biasing models. We show that since angular CFs are sensitive to clustering over a range of redshifts, the various evolutionary dependences included in our predictions imply that measurements of $q$ in a deep survey might better discriminate between models with different histories, such as evolving vs. non-evolving bias, that can have similar spatial CFs at low redshift. Our calculations employ a derived equation---valid for open, closed, and flat models---for obtaining the angular bispectrum from the spatial bispectrum in the small-angle approximation.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1999

The Power Spectrum, Bias Evolution, and the Spatial Three-Point Correlation Function

We calculate perturbatively the normalized spatial skewness, $S_3$, and full three-point correlation function (3PCF), $ζ$, induced by gravitational instability of Gaussian primordial fluctuations for a biased tracer-mass distribution in flat and open cold-dark-matter (CDM) models. We take into account the dependence on the shape and evolution of the CDM power spectrum, and allow the bias to be nonlinear and/or evolving in time, using an extension of Fry's (1996) bias-evolution model. We derive a scale-dependent, leading-order correction to the standard perturbative expression for $S_3$ in the case of nonlinear biasing, as defined for the unsmoothed galaxy and dark-matter fields, and find that this correction becomes large when probing positive effective power-spectrum indices. This term implies that the inferred nonlinear-bias parameter, as usually defined in terms of the smoothed density fields, might depend on the chosen smoothing scale. In general, we find that the dependence of $S_3$ on the biasing scheme can substantially outweigh that on the adopted cosmology. We demonstrate that the normalized 3PCF, $Q$, is an ill-behaved quantity, and instead investigate $Q_V$, the variance-normalized 3PCF. The configuration dependence of $Q_V$ shows similarly strong sensitivities to the bias scheme as $S_3$, but also exhibits significant dependence on the form of the CDM power spectrum. Though the degeneracy of $S_3$ with respect to the cosmological parameters and constant linear- and nonlinear-bias parameters can be broken by the full configuration dependence of $Q_V$, neither statistic can distinguish well between evolving and non-evolving bias scenarios. We show that this can be resolved, in principle, by considering the redshift dependence of $ζ$.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1998

The Cosmic Microwave Background: Beyond the Power Spectrum

Much recent work on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) has focussed on the angular power spectrum of temperature anisotropies and particularly on the recovery of cosmological parameters from acoustic peaks in the power spectrum. However, there is more that can conceivably be done with CMB measurements. Here I briefly survey a few such ideas: cross-correlation with other cosmic backgrounds as a probe of the density of the Universe; CMB polarization as a gravitational-wave detector; secondary anisotropies and the ionization history of the Universe; tests of alternative-gravity theories; polarization, the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, and cosmic variance; and tests for a neutrino mass.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1998

Possible Relics from New Physics in the Early Universe: Inflation, the Cosmic Microwave Background, and Particle Dark Matter

I review two different connections between particle theory and early-Universe cosmology: (1) Cosmic-microwave-background (CMB) tests of inflation and (2) particle dark matter. The inflationary predictions of a flat Universe and a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of primordial density perturbations will be tested precisely with forthcoming maps of the CMB temperature. A stochastic gravitational-wave background may be probed with a map of the CMB polarization. I also discuss some other uses of CMB maps. Particle theory has produced two very well-motivated candidates for the dark matter in the Universe: an axion and a supersymmetric particle. In both cases, there are a variety of experiments afoot to detect these particles. I review the properties of these dark-matter candidates and these detection techniques. Much of the material here has appeared before in astro-ph/9712215 and hep-ph/9710467, but the article here is updated and also expanded considerably.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1998

Three-Body Annihilation of Neutralinos Below Two-Body Thresholds

We calculate the cross section for s-wave neutralino annihilation to three-body final states below the W^+ W^- and t-bar t thresholds. Such three-body channels may dominate the annihilation cross section if the neutralino mass is not too much less than m_t and m_W respectively. Furthermore, because neutrinos produced in these channels are much more energetic than those from the $b\bar{b}$ or tau^+ tau^- channels, they can dominate the energetic-neutrino fluxes from neutralino annihilation in the Sun or Earth far below these thresholds and significantly enhance the neutrino signal in certain regions of the supersymmetric parameter space.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1998

New Tests of Inflation

Slow-roll inflation generically makes several predictions: a flat Universe, primordial adiabatic density perturbations, and a stochastic gravity-wave background. Each inflation model will further predict specific relations between the amplitudes and shapes of the spectrum of density perturbations and gravity waves. There are now excellent prospects for testing precisely these predictions with forthcoming cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization maps.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1998

The First Space-Based Gravitational-Wave Detectors

Gravitational waves provide a laboratory for general relativity and a window to energetic astrophysical phenomena invisible with electromagnetic radiation. Several terrestrial detectors are currently under construction, and a space-based interferometer is envisioned for launch early next century to detect test-mass motions induced by waves of relatively short wavelength. Very-long-wavelength gravitational waves can be detected using the plasma in the early Universe as test masses; the motion induced in the plasma by a wave is imprinted onto the cosmic microwave background (CMB). While the signature of gravitational waves on the CMB temperature fluctuations is not unique, the polarization pattern can be used to unambiguously detect gravitational radiation. Thus, forthcoming CMB polarization experiments, such as MAP and Planck, will be the first space-based gravitational-wave detectors.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1998

Cosmological-Parameter Determination With Cosmic Microwave Background Temperature Anisotropies and Polarization

Forthcoming cosmic microwave background experiments (CMB) will provide precise new tests of structure-formation theories. The geometry of the Universe may be determined robustly, and the classical cosmological parameters, such as the cosmological constant, baryon density, and Hubble constant, may be determined as well. In addition, the ``inflationary observables,'' which parameterize the shapes and amplitudes of the primordial spectra of density perturbations and long-wavelength gravitational waves produced by inflation, may also be measured and thus provide several new tests of inflation. Although most attention has focussed on the more easily observed temperature anisotropies, recent work has shown that the CMB polarization provides a wealth of unique information that may be especially important for determination of the inflationary observables. Secondary anisotropies at small angular scales produced by re-scattering of photons from partial reionization may be used to constrain the ionization history of the Universe.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1998

Cosmic Microwave Background Tests of Inflation

Inflation provides a unified paradigm for understanding the isotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the flatness problem, and the origin of large-scale structure. Although the physics responsible for inflation is not yet well understood, slow-roll inflation generically makes several predictions: a flat Universe, primordial adiabatic density perturbations, and a stochastic gravity-wave background. Inflation further predicts specific relations between the amplitudes and shapes of the spectrum of density perturbations and gravity waves. There are now excellent prospects for testing precisely these predictions with forthcoming CMB temperature and polarization maps. Here I discuss these new CMB tests of inflation.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1998

The Electron-Screening Correction for the Proton-Proton Reaction

We test the Salpeter formalism for the electron screening of the solar proton-proton fusion reaction by solving numerically the relevant Schrodinger equation. We evaluate exactly the square of the overlap integral of the two-proton wave function and the deuteron wave function and compare with the usual analytic approximation. The usual WKB solution agrees with the numerical result to $O(10^{-4})$. The WKB approximation should be even more precise for the other nuclear fusion reactions in the $pp$ chain and CNO cycles.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1997

Theory and Statistics of Weak Lensing from Large-Scale Mass Inhomogeneities

Weak lensing by large-scale mass inhomogeneities in the Universe induces correlations in the observed ellipticities of distant sources. We first review the harmonic analysis and statistics required of these correlations and discuss calculations for the predicted signal. We consider the ellipticity correlation function, the mean-square ellipticity, the ellipticity power spectrum, and a global maximum-likelihood analysis to isolate a weak-lensing signal from the data. Estimates for the sensitivity of a survey of a given area, surface density, and mean intrinsic source ellipticity are presented. We then apply our results to the FIRST radio-source survey. We predict an rms ellipticity of roughly 0.011 in $1^\circ \times 1^\circ$ pixels and 0.018 in $20' \times 20'$ pixels if the power spectrum is normalized to $σ_8 Ω^{0.53} = 0.6$, as indicated by the cluster abundance. The signal is significantly larger in some models if the power spectrum is normalized instead to the COBE anisotropy. The uncertainty in the predictions from imprecise knowledge of the FIRST redshift distribution is about 25% in the rms ellipticity. We show that FIRST should be able to make a statistically significant detection of a weak-lensing signal for cluster-abundance-normalized power spectra.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1997

WIMP and Axion Dark Matter

There is almost universal agreement among cosmologists that most of the matter in the Universe is dark, and there are very good reasons to believe that most of this dark matter must be nonbaryonic. The two leading candidates for this dark matter are axions and weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs), such as the neutralino in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model. I discuss the arguments for these two dark-matter candidates and review techniques for discovery of these dark-matter particles.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1997

Galactic Halo Models and Particle Dark-Matter Detection

Rates for detection of weakly-interacting massive-particle (WIMP) dark matter are usually carried out assuming the Milky Way halo is an isothermal sphere. However, it is possible that our halo is not precisely spherical; it may have some bulk rotation; and the radial profile may differ from that of an isothermal sphere. In this paper, we calculate detection rates in observationally consistent alternative halo models that produce the same halo contributions to the local and asymptotic rotation speeds to investigate the effects of theoretical uncertainty of the WIMP spatial and velocity distribution. We use self-consistent models to take into account the effects of various mass distributions on the local velocity distribution. The local halo density may be increased up to a factor of 2 by flattening or by an alternative radial profile (which may also decrease the density slightly). However, changes in the WIMP velocity distribution in these models produce only negligible changes in the WIMP detection rate. Reasonable bulk rotations lead to only an $O(10%)$ effect on event rates. We also show how the nuclear recoil spectrum in a direct-detection experiment could provide information on the shape and rotation of the halo.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1997

The Proton-Proton Reaction, Solar Neutrinos, and a Relativistic Field Theoretic Model of the Deuteron

In a series of recent papers, Ivanov et al. and Oberhummer et al. have calculated the rate for the $p + p \to d + e^+ + ν_e$ reaction with a zero-range four-fermion effective interaction and find a result 2.9 times higher than the standard value calculated from non-relativistic potential theory. Their procedure is shown to give a wrong answer because their assumed interaction disagrees with low-energy $pp$ scattering data.

astro-ph↗
arXiv1997

On the instability of the one-texture universe

The one-texture universe, introduced by Davis in 1987, is a homogeneous mapping of a scalar field with an $S^3$ vacuum into a closed universe. It has long been known to mathematicians that such solutions, although static, are unstable. We show by explicit construction that there is only one unstable mode, corresponding to collapse of the texture towards a single point, in the case where gravitational backreaction is neglected. We discuss the instability timescale in both static and expanding space-times; in the latter case it is of order of the present age of the universe, suggesting that, though unstable, the one-texture universe could survive to the present. The cosmic microwave background constrains the initial magnitude of this unstable perturbation to be less than of order 10^{-3}.

astro-ph↗