arXiv subjects

Marc Kamionkowski

Publications and source records attributed to Marc Kamionkowski.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Unlocking New Physics with Joint Power Spectrum and Voxel Intensity Distribution Forecasts in Line-Intensity Mapping

The power spectrum and voxel intensity distribution (VID) are two summary statistics that can be applied to condense the information encoded in line-intensity maps. The information contained in both summary statistics is highly complementary, and their combination allows for a major increase in precision of parameter estimation from line-intensity mapping (LIM) surveys. Until recently, combination of these statistics required simulation-based estimations of their covariance. In this work we leverage an analytical model of covariance between these observables to run a joint Fisher forecast focusing on the CO(1-0) rotational line targeted by the COMAP survey and a wider, shallower hypothetical iteration. We consider a generalized phenomenological non-CDM model, models with axion dark matter, and local primordial non-Gaussianity, to highlight where a combined analysis of the power spectrum and VID can be most useful. Our results demonstrate improvements in sensitivity to beyond-$Λ$CDM physics over analyses using either the power spectrum or VID on their own, by factors ranging from 2 to 50, showcasing the potential of joint analyses in unlocking new insights into fundamental physics with LIM surveys.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Unveiling Neutrino Halos with CMB Lensing

The existence of a cosmic neutrino background has been inferred indirectly from cosmological surveys through its effect on the linear-theory evolution of primordial density perturbations, as well as from measurements of the primordial abundances of light elements. Constraints on the masses of the three neutrino species imply that at least two of them move non-relativistically today. As a consequence, non-linear evolution of density perturbations results in the formation of neutrino halos around dark-matter halos. We study whether these neutrino halos can be detected in the foreseeable future through measurements of weak gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background, thus providing, possibly, the first beyond-linear-theory signature of cosmic neutrinos.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

21-cm fluctuations from primordial magnetic fields

The fluid forces associated with primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) generate small-scale fluctuations in the primordial density field, which add to the $\mathrm{ΛCDM}$ linear matter power spectrum on small scales. These enhanced small-scale fluctuations lead to earlier formation of galactic halos and stars and thus affect cosmic reionization. We study the consequences of these effects on 21 cm observables using the semi-numerical code 21cmFAST v3.1.3. We find the excess small-scale structure generates strong stellar radiation backgrounds in the early Universe, resulting in altered 21 cm global signals and power spectra commensurate with earlier reionization. We restrict the allowed PMF models using the CMB optical depth to reionization. Lastly, we probe parameter degeneracies and forecast experimental sensitivities with an information matrix analysis subject to the CMB optical depth bound. Our forecasts show that interferometers like HERA are sensitive to PMFs of order $\sim \mathrm{pG}$, nearly an order of magnitude stronger than existing and next-generation experiments.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Insights from HST into Ultra-Massive Galaxies and Early-Universe Cosmology

The early-science observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed an excess of ultra-massive galaxy candidates that appear to challenge the standard cosmological model ($Λ$CDM). Here, we argue that any modifications to $Λ$CDM that can produce such ultra-massive galaxies in the early Universe would also affect the UV galaxy luminosity function (UV LF) inferred from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The UV LF covers the same redshifts ($z\approx 7-10$) and host-halo masses $(M_\mathrm{h}\approx 10^{10}-10^{12}\, M_\odot$) as the JWST candidates, but tracks star-formation rate rather than stellar mass. We consider beyond-$Λ$CDM power-spectrum enhancements and show that any departure large enough to reproduce the abundance of ultra-massive JWST candidates is in conflict with the HST data. Our analysis, therefore, severely disfavors a cosmological explanation for the JWST abundance problem. Looking ahead, we determine the maximum allowable stellar-mass function and provide projections for the high-$z$ UV LF given our constraints on cosmology from current HST data.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Hints of tensions in the cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization quadrupoles

The large-angular-scale falloff in the autocorrelation function for the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature has long intrigued cosmologists and fueled speculation about suppressed superhorizon power. Here we highlight an inconsistency between the temperature quadrupole and the more recently obtained E-mode polarization quadrupole from Planck PR3. The temperature quadrupole arises primarily at the CMB surface of last scatter, while the polarization primarily from the epoch of reionization, but the two still probe comparable distance scales. Although the temperature quadrupole is intriguingly low (much greater than a $1σ$ fluctuation) compared with that expected in the standard $Λ$CDM cosmological model, the polarization quadrupole turns out to be somewhat high, at the $1σ$ level. We calculate the joint probability distribution function for both and find a slight tension: the observed pair of quadrupoles is inconsistent at a $2.3σ$ confidence level. The problem is robust to simple changes to the cosmological model. If the high polarization quadrupole survives further scrutiny, then this result disfavors, at comparable significance, new superhorizon physics. The full-sky coverage and pristine foreground subtraction of the LiteBIRD satellite will be ideal to help resolve this question.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Spectra of axions emitted from main sequence stars

We compute the detailed energy spectra of axions with two-photon coupling produced in stellar cores over a wide range of stellar masses. We focus on main sequence stars and base our calculations on the stellar interior profiles from MESA, for which we provide simple fits in an appendix. The obtained stellar axion spectra, combined with recent models of star formation history and stellar initial mass function, enable us to estimate the properties of the diffuse axion background sourced by all the stars in the universe. The fluxes of this stellar axion background and its decay photons are subdominant to but can in principle be disentangled from those expected from the Sun and the early universe based on their different spectral and spatial profiles.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

The Sigma-8 Tension is a Drag

Measurements of weak gravitational lensing at low redshifts ($z\lesssim 0.5-1$), quantified by the parameter $S_8$, favor weaker matter clustering than that expected from the standard $Λ$CDM cosmological model with parameters determined by cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements. However, the amplitude of matter clustering at higher redshifts, as probed by lensing of the CMB, is consistent with $Λ$CDM. This apparent paradox suggests a connection between the $S_8$ tension and the transition from matter to dark-energy domination. Here we show that the tension can be resolved by introducing a friction between dark matter and dark energy without altering the tightly constrained expansion history. The low-$S_8$ measurements favor (at $\gtrsim3σ$, in this one parameter model) a non-zero drag leading to a suppression of low-redshift power right around the transition from matter to dark-energy domination. We suggest ways to further probe the scenario.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Subtracting Compact Binary Foregrounds to Search for Subdominant Gravitational-Wave Backgrounds in Next-Generation Ground-Based Observatories

Stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds (SGWBs) derive from the superposition of numerous individually unresolved gravitational-wave (GW) signals. Detecting SGWBs provides us with invaluable information about astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics. In this paper, we study SGWBs from binary black-hole (BBH) and binary neutron-star (BNS) coalescences in a network of next-generation ground-based GW observatories (Cosmic Explorer and Einstein Telescope) and determine how well they can be measured; this then limits how well we can observe other subdominant astrophysical and cosmological SGWBs. We simulate all-Universe populations of BBHs and BNSs and calculate the corresponding SGWBs, which consist of a superposition of (i) undetected signals, and (ii) the residual background from imperfect removal of resolved sources. The sum of the two components sets the sensitivity for observing other SGWBs. Our results show that, even with next-generation observatories, the residual background is large and limits the sensitivity to other SGWBs. The main contributions to the residual background arise from uncertainties in inferring the coalescence phase and luminosity distance of the detected signals. Alternative approaches to signal subtraction would need to be explored to minimize the BBH and BNS foreground in order to observe SGWBs from other subdominant astrophysical and cosmological sources.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Lensing anomaly and oscillations in the primordial power spectrum

The latest analysis of the cosmic microwave background by the Planck team finds more smoothing of the acoustic peaks in the temperature power spectrum than predicted by $Λ$CDM. Here we investigate whether this additional smoothing can be mimicked by an oscillatory feature, generated during inflation, that is similar to the acoustic peaks but out of phase. We consider oscillations generated by oscillating modulations of the background -- e.g., due to heavy fields or modulated potentials -- and by sharp features. We show that it is difficult to induce oscillations that are linear (or almost linear) in $k$ by oscillatory modulations of the background. We find, however, that a sharp bumpy feature in the sound speed of perturbations is able to produce the desired oscillations. The scenario can be tested by combining CMB and BAO data.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Primordial Density Perturbations from Magnetic Fields

Perturbations to the cosmic baryon density - and thus to the total-matter density - can be induced by magnetohydronamic forces if there are primordial magnetic fields. The power spectrum for these density perturbations was first provided in 1996, but without much in the way of detail in the derivation, and there has been confusion in the intervening years about this calculation. In this brief note, we re-derive this power spectrum using modern conventions, provide a simplified result, and identify some of the discrepancies in the literature.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Magnetic Fields from Compensated Isocurvature Perturbations

Compensated isocurvature perturbations (CIPs) are perturbations to the primordial baryon density that are accompanied by dark-matter-density perturbations so that the total matter density is unperturbed. Such CIPs, which may arise in some multi-field inflationary models, can be long-lived and only weakly constrained by current cosmological measurements. Here we show that the CIP-induced modulation of the electron number density interacts with the electron-temperature fluctuation associated with primordial adiabatic perturbations to produce, via the Biermann-battery mechanism, a magnetic field in the post-recombinaton Universe. Assuming the CIP amplitude saturates the current BBN bounds, this magnetic field can be stronger than $10^{-15}\,\mathrm{nG}$ at $z\simeq20$ and stronger by an order of magnitude than that (produced at second order in the adiabatic-perturbation amplitude) in the standard cosmological model, and thus can serve as a possible seed for galactic dynamos.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Observability of lensing of gravitational waves from massive black hole binaries with LISA

The gravitational waves emitted by massive black hole binaries in the LISA band can be lensed. Wave-optics effects in the lensed signal are crucial when the Schwarzschild radius of the lens is smaller than the wavelength of the radiation. These frequency-dependent effects can enable us to infer the lens parameters, possibly with a single detection alone. In this work, we assess the observability of wave-optics effects with LISA by performing an information-matrix analysis using analytical solutions for both point-mass and singular isothermal sphere lenses. We use gravitational-waveform models that include the merger, ringdown, higher harmonics, and aligned spins to study how waveform models and source parameters affect the measurement errors in the lens parameters. We find that previous work underestimated the observability of wave-optics effects and that LISA can detect lensed signals with higher impact parameters and lower lens masses.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Seeking dark matter with $γ$-ray attenuation

The flux of high-energy astrophysical $γ$ rays is attenuated by the production of electron-positron pairs from scattering off of extragalactic background light (EBL). We use the most up-to-date information on galaxy populations to compute their contributions to the pair-production optical depth. We find that the optical depth inferred from $γ$-ray measurements exceeds that expected from galaxies at the $\sim2σ$ level. If the excess is modeled as a frequency-independent re-scaling of the standard contribution to the EBL from galaxies, then an excess (an overall $14-30\%$ increase of the EBL) over the null hypothesis of no excess at the $2.7σ$ level. If the frequency dependence of the excess is instead modeled as a two-photon decay of a dark-matter axion, then the excess is favored over the null hypothesis at the $2.1σ$ confidence level. While we find no evidence for a dark-matter signal, the analysis sets the strongest current bounds on the photon-axion coupling over the $8-25$ eV mass range. This work highlights the sensitivity of $γ$-ray optical depth measurements to ALPs, which is expected to improve with new observatories and better EBL determinations from future observations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Parity-Violating Trispectrum from Chern-Simons Gravity

We show that dynamical Chern-Simons (dCS) gravity imprints a parity-violating signal in primordial scalar perturbations. Specifically, we find that, after dCS amplifies one graviton helicity due to a tachyonic instability, the graviton-mediated correlation between two pairs of scalars develops a parity-odd component. This correlation, the primordial scalar trispectrum, is then transferred to the corresponding curvature correlator and thus is imprinted in both LSS and the CMB. We find that the parity-odd piece has roughly the same amplitude as its parity-even counterpart, scaled linearly by the degree of gravitational circular polarization $Π_{\rm circ} \sim \sqrt{\varepsilon}[H^2/(M_{\rm Pl} f)] \leq 1$, with $\varepsilon$ the slow-roll parameter, $H$ the inflationary Hubble scale, $f$ the dCS decay constant, and the upper bound saturated for purely circularly-polarized gravitons. We also find that, in the collapsed limit, the ratio of the two trispectra contains direct information about the graviton's spin. In models beyond standard inflationary dCS, e.g. those with multiple scalar fields or superluminal scalar sound speed, there can be a large enhancement factor $F \gtrsim 10^6$ to the trispectrum. We find that an LSS survey that contains $N_{\rm modes}$ linear modes would place an $nσ$ constraint on $Π_{\rm circ}r$ of $\sim 0.04\ (n/3)(10^6/F)(10^6/N_{\rm modes})^{1/2}$ from the parity-odd galaxy trispectrum, for tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$. We also forecast for several spectroscopic and 21-cm surveys. This constraint implies that, for high-scale single-field inflation parameters, LSS can probe very large dCS decay constants $f \lesssim 4\times 10^9\ {\rm GeV}(3/n)(F/10^6)\left(N_{\rm modes}/10^6\right)^{1/2}$. Our result is the first example of a massless particle yielding a parity-odd scalar trispectrum through spin-exchange.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Uncorrelated Compensated Isocurvature Perturbations from kSZ Tomography

Compensated isocurvature perturbations (CIPs) are relative density perturbations in which a baryon-density fluctuation is accompanied by a dark matter density fluctuation such that the total-matter density is unperturbed. These fluctuations can be produced primordially if multiple fields are present during inflation, and therefore they can be used to differentiate between different models for the early Universe. Kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (kSZ) tomography allows for the reconstruction of the radial-velocity field of matter as a function of redshift. This technique can be used to reconstruct the total-matter-overdensity field, independent of the galaxy-density field obtained from large-scale galaxy surveys. We leverage the ability to measure the galaxy- and matter-overdensity fields independently to construct a minimum-variance estimator for the primordial CIP amplitude, based on a mode-by-mode comparison of the two measurements. We forecast that a configuration corresponding to CMB-S4 and VRO will be able to detect (at $2σ$) a CIP amplitude $A$ (for a scale-invariant power spectrum) as small as $A\simeq 5\times 10^{-9}$. Similarly, a configuration corresponding to SO and DESI will be sensitive to a CIP amplitude $A\simeq 1\times 10^{-7}$. These values are to be compared to current constraints $A \leq {\cal O}(0.01)$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

The cosmic optical background excess, dark matter, and line-intensity mapping

Recent studies using New Horizons LORRI images have returned the most precise measurement of the cosmic optical background to date, yielding a flux that exceeds that expected from deep galaxy counts by roughly a factor of two. We investigate whether this excess, detected at $\sim 4σ$ significance, is due to axion-like dark matter that decays to monoenergetic photons. We compute the spectral energy distribution from such decays and the contribution to the flux measured by LORRI. Assuming that axion-like particles make up all of the dark matter, the parameter space unconstrained to date that explains the measured excess spans masses and effective axion-photon couplings of 8 - 20 eV masses and 3 - 6 $\times 10^{-11}$ GeV$^{-1}$, respectively. If the excess arises from dark-matter decay to a photon line, there will be a significant signal in forthcoming line-intensity mapping measurements that will allow the discrimination of this hypothesis from other candidates.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

The Hubble Tension and Early Dark Energy

Over the past decade, the disparity between the value of the cosmic expansion rate directly determined from measurements of distance and redshift or instead from the standard $Λ$CDM cosmological model calibrated by measurements from the early Universe, has grown to a level of significance requiring a solution. Proposed systematic errors are not supported by the breadth of available data (and "unknown errors" untestable by lack of definition). Simple theoretical explanations for this "Hubble tension" that are consistent with the majority of the data have been surprisingly hard to come by, but in recent years, attention has focused increasingly on models that alter the early or pre-recombination physics of $Λ$CDM as the most feasible. Here, we describe the nature of this tension, emphasizing recent developments on the observational side. We then explain why early-Universe solutions are currently favored and the constraints that any such model must satisfy. We discuss one workable example, early dark energy, and describe how it can be tested with future measurements. Given an assortment of more extended recent reviews on specific aspects of the problem, the discussion is intended to be fairly general and understandable to a broad audience.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Probing cosmic birefringence with polarized Sunyaev-Zel'dovich tomography

If the physics behind dark energy and/or dark matter violates the parity symmetry assumed in the standard cosmological paradigm, the linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons can rotate due to their coupling to the dark sector. Recent 3$σ$ hints of this ``cosmic birefringence" in the EB spectrum of the CMB polarization motivates us to pursue new directions to independently validate and characterize the signal. Here, we explore the prospects to probe cosmic birefringence from small-scale fluctuations in the CMB using polarized Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (pSZ) tomography. We find that pSZ can be used to infer the redshift dependence of cosmic birefringence and also help calibrate the instrumental polarization orientation. To illustrate the prospects, we show that pSZ tomography may probe an axion-like dark energy model with masses $m_ϕ\lesssim 10^{-32}$eV with $\mathcal{O}(0.1)$ degrees of rotation between reionization and recombination.

astro-ph.CO↗