arXiv subjects

Miao Li

Publications and source records attributed to Miao Li.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Investigating the Possibility of a Turning Point in the Dark Energy Equation of State

We investigate a second order $parabolic$ parametrization, $w(a)=w_t+w_a(a_t-a)^2$, which is a direct characterization of a possible $turning$ in $w$. The cosmological consequence of this parametrization is explored by using the observational data of the SNLS3 type Ia supernovae sample, the CMB measurements from WMAP9 and Planck, the Hubble parameter measurement from HST, and the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements from 6dFGS, BOSS DR11 and improved WiggleZ. We found the existence of a turning point in $w$ at $a\sim0.7$ is favored at 1$σ$ CL. In the epoch $0.55< a< 0.9$, $w<-1$ is favored at 1$σ$ CL, and this significance increases near $a=0.8$, reaching a 2$σ$ CL. The parabolic parametrization achieve equivalent performance to the $Λ$CDM and Chevallier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) models when the Akaike information criterion was used to assess them. Our analysis shows the value of considering high order parametrizations when studying the cosmological constraints on $w$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

H_2 Suppression with Shocking Inflows: Testing a Pathway for Supermassive Black Hole Formation

The presence of quasars at redshifts z > 6 indicates the existence of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) as massive as a few times 10^9 Msun, challenging models for SMBH formation. One pathway is through the direct collapse of gas in T_{vir} > 10^4 K halos; however, this requires the suppression of H_2 cooling to prevent fragmentation. In this paper, we examine a proposed new mechanism for this suppression which relies on cold-mode accretion flows leading to shocks at high densities (n > 10^4 cm^{-3}) and temperatures (T > 10^4 K). In such gas, H_2 is efficiently collisionally dissociated. We use high-resolution numerical simulations to test this idea, demonstrating that such halos typically have lower temperature progenitors, in which cooling is efficient. Those halos do show filamentary flows; however, the gas shocks at or near the virial radius (at low densities), thus preventing the proposed collisional mechanism from operating. We do find that, if we artificially suppress H_2 formation with a high UV background, so as to allow gas in the halo center to enter the high-temperature, high-density "zone of no return", it will remain there even if the UV flux is turned off, collapsing to high density at high temperature. Due to computational limitations, we simulated only three halos. However, we demonstrate, using Monte Carlo calculations of 10^6 halo merger histories, that a few rare halos could assemble rapidly enough to avoid efficient H_2 cooling in all of their progenitor halos, provided that the UV background exceeds J_{21} ~ few at redshifts as high as z ~ 20.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

The formation of massive black holes in z~30 dark matter haloes with large baryonic streaming velocities

The origins of the ~10^9 Msun quasar supermassive black holes (BHs) at redshifts z > 6 remain a theoretical puzzle. One possibility is that they grew from ~10^5 Msun BHs formed in the 'direct collapse' of pristine, atomic-cooling (temperatures T ~ 8000 K; PAC) gas that did not fragment to form ordinary stars due to a lack of molecular hydrogen and metals. We propose that baryonic streaming---the relic relative motion of gas with respect to dark matter from cosmological recombination---provides a natural mechanism for establishing the conditions necessary for direct collapse. This effect delays the formation of the first stars by inhibiting the infall of gas into dark matter haloes; streaming velocities more than twice the root-mean-square value could forestall star formation until halo virial temperatures Tvir ~ 8000 K. The resulting PAC gas can proceed to form massive BHs by any of the mechanisms proposed in the literature to induce direct collapse in the absence of a ultraviolet background. This scenario produces haloes containing PAC gas at a characteristic redshift z ~ 30. It can explain the abundance of the most luminous quasars at z = 6, regardless of whether direct collapse occurs in nearly all or less than 1 per cent of PAC haloes.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2013

Holographic Rényi Entropy and Generalized Entropy method

In this paper we use the method of generalized gravitational entropy in \cite{Lewkowycz:2013nqa} to construct the dual bulk geometry for a spherical entangling surface, and calculate the Rényi entropy with the dual bulk gravity theory being either Einstein gravity or Lovelock gravity, this approach is closely related to that in \cite{Casini:2011kv}. For a general entangling surface we derive the area law of entanglement entropy. The area law is closely related with the local property of the entangling surface.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Planck Constraints on Holographic Dark Energy

We perform a detailed investigation on the cosmological constraints on the holographic dark energy (HDE) model by using the Planck data. HDE can provide a good fit to Planck high-l (l>40) temperature power spectrum, while the discrepancy at l=20-40 found in LCDM remains unsolved in HDE. The Planck data alone can lead to strong and reliable constraint on the HDE parameter c. At 68% CL, we get c=0.508+-0.207 with Planck+WP+lensing, favoring the present phantom HDE at > 2sigma CL. Comparably, by using WMAP9 alone we cannot get interesting constraint on c. By combining Planck+WP with the BAO measurements from 6dFGS+SDSS DR7(R)+BOSS DR9, the H0 measurement from HST, the SNLS3 and Union2.1 SNIa data sets, we get 68% CL constraints c=0.484+-0.070, 0.474+-0.049, 0.594+-0.051 and 0.642+-0.066. Constraints can be improved by 2%-15% if we further add the Planck lensing data. Compared with the WMAP9 results, the Planck results reduce the error by 30%-60%, and prefer a phantom-like HDE at higher CL. We find no evident tension between Planck and BAO/HST. Especially, the strong correlation between Omegam h^3 and dark energy parameters is helpful in relieving the tension between Planck and HST. The residual chi^2_{Planck+WP+HST}-chi^2_{Planck+WP} is 7.8 in LCDM, and is reduced to 1.0 or 0.3 if we switch dark energy to the w model or the holographic model. We find SNLS3 is in tension with all other data sets; for Planck+WP, WMAP9 and BAO+HST, the corresponding Delta chi^2 is 6.4, 3.5 and 4.1, respectively. Comparably, Union2.1 is consistent with these data sets, but the combination Union2.1+BAO+HST is in tension with Planck+WP+lensing, corresponding to a Delta chi^2 8.6 (1.4% probability). Thus, it is not reasonable to perform an all-combined (CMB+SNIa+BAO+HST) analysis for HDE when using the Planck data. Our tightest self-consistent constraint is c=0.495+-0.039 obtained from Planck+WP+BAO+HST+lensing.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2013

The effect of baryonic streaming motions on the formation of the first supermassive black holes

Observations of quasars at redshifts z > 6 reveal that 10^9 Msol supermassive black holes (SMBHs) had already formed when the Universe was < 0.9 Gyr old. One hypothesis for the origins of these SMBHs is that they grew from the remnants of the first generation of massive stars, which formed in low-mass (~ 10^5 to 10^6 Msol) dark matter minihaloes at z > 20. This is the regime where baryonic streaming motions--the relative velocities of baryons with respect to dark matter in the early Universe--most strongly inhibit star formation by suppressing gas infall and cooling. We investigate the impact of this effect on the growth of the first SMBHs using a suite of high-fidelity, ellipsoidal-collapse Monte Carlo merger-tree simulations. We find that the suppression of seed BH formation by the streaming motions significantly reduces the number density of the most massive BHs at z > 15, but the residual effect at lower redshifts is essentially negligible. The streaming motions can reduce by a factor of few the number density of the most luminous quasars at z ~ 10-11, where such objects could be detected by the James Webb Space Telescope. We conclude, with minor theoretical caveats, that baryonic streaming motions are unlikely to pose a significant additional obstacle to the formation of the observed high-redshift quasar SMBHs. Nor do they appreciably affect the heating and reionization histories of the Universe or the merger rates of nuclear BHs in the mass and redshift ranges of interest for proposed gravitational-wave detectors.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2013

Cosmological constraints on the new holographic dark energy model with action principle

Recently, a New HDE model with action principle was proposed (Li and Miao, arXiv:1210.0966). This model completely solves the causality and circular problems in the original HDE model, and is similar to the original model except a new term that can be interpreted as dark radiation. In this paper, we make further investigations on this model from the aspect of cosmological observations. Numerically, we confirm that the equations of motion force the $L(z=-1)=0$, making the cut-off $aL$ exactly the future event horizon. We also perform detailed analysis on the dynamical properties of the model, divided into the $c<6$ and $c\geq6$ cases ($c$ is a dimensionless parameter which should be decided by the data). From a combination of the present Union2.1+BAO+CMB+$H_0$ data, we find the model yields $χ^2_{\rm min}=548.798$ (in a non-flat Universe), comparable to the results of the original HDE model (549.461) and the concordant $Λ$CDM model (550.354). At 95.4% CL, we get $1.41<c<3.09$ and correspondingly $-2.25<w(z=-1)<-1.39$, implying the Big Rip fate of the Universe at a high confidence level. Besides, for the constraints on dark radiation, we also get a rough estimation $N_{\rm \rm eff}=3.54^{+0.32+0.67}_{\rm -0.45-0.76}$, with the central value slightly larger than the standard value 3.046.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

A New Model of Holographic Dark Energy with Action Principle

We propose a new model of holographic dark energy with an action. It is the first time that one can derive a HDE model from the action principle. The puzzles of causality and circular logic about HDE have been completely solved in this model. The evolution of the universe only depends on the present state of the universe, clearly showing that it obeys the law of causality. Furthermore, the use of future event horizon as a present cut-off is not an input but automatically follows from equations of motion. Interestingly, this new model is very similar to the initial one of Li except a new term which may be explained as dark radiation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

A Possible Hermitian Neutrino Mixing Ansatz

Using a recent global analysis result after the precise measurement of $θ_ {13}$, a possible Herimtian neutrino mixing ansatz is discussed, the mixing matrix is symmetric and also symmetric with respect with the second diagonal line in the leading order. This leading order ansatz predicts $θ_{13}=12.2^\circ$. Next, consider the hierarchy structure of the lepton mass matrix as the origin of perturbation of the mixing matrix, we find that this ansatz with perturbation can fit current data very well.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Dark Energy: a Brief Review

The problem of dark energy is briefly reviewed in both theoretical and observational aspects. In the theoretical aspect, dark energy scenarios are classified into symmetry, anthropic principle, tuning mechanism, modified gravity, quantum cosmology, holographic principle, back-reaction and phenomenological types. In the observational aspect, we introduce cosmic probes, dark energy related projects, observational constraints on theoretical models and model independent reconstructions.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Einstein Equations From Holographic Thermodynamics and Holographic Entropy

We derive the Einstein field equations and black hole entropy from the first law of thermodynamics on a holographic time-like screen. Because of the universality of gravity, the stress tensor on the screen must be independent of the details of matter fields, so it should be a pure geometric quantity. For simplicity, we assume that the stress tensor on the screen depends on surface Ricci curvature and extrinsic curvature linearly. Then we prove that the surface stress tensor is just the Brown-York stress tensor plus terms which do not affect the field equations of gravitation and the entropy of the system. By assuming a generalized "Fine first law of thermodynamics" or the usual universal first law of thermodynamics on the screen, we can derive the matter field equations as well.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Generalized Holographic Dark Energy and its Observational Constraints

In the original holographic dark energy (HDE) model, the dark energy density is proposed to be $ρ_{de} = 3c^2M^2_{pl}L^{-2}$, with $c$ is a dimensionless constant characterizing the properties of the HDE. In this work, we propose the generalized holographic dark energy (GHDE) model by considering the parameter $c$ as a redshift-dependent function $c(z)$. We derive all the physical quantities of the GHDE model analytically, and fit the $c(z)$ by trying four kinds of parametrizations. The cosmological constraints of the $c(z)$ are obtained from the joint analysis of the present SNLS3+BAO+CMB+$H_0$ data. We find that, compared with the original HDE model, the GHDE models can provide a better fit to the data. For example, the GHDE model with JBP-type $c(z)$ can reduce the $χ^2_{min}$ of the HDE model by 2.16. We also find that, unlike the original HDE model with a phantom-like behavior in the future, the GHDE models can present many more different possibilities, i.e., it allows the GHDE in the future to be either quintessence like, cosmological constant like, or phantom like, depending on the forms of $c(z)$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Revisit of the Interaction between Holographic Dark Energy and Dark Matter

In this paper we investigate the possible direct, non-gravitational interaction between holographic dark energy (HDE) and dark matter. Firstly, we start with two simple models with the interaction terms $Q \propto ρ_{dm}$ and $Q \propto ρ_{de}$, and then we move on to the general form $Q \propto ρ_m^αρ_{de}^β$. The cosmological constraints of the models are obtained from the joint analysis of the present Union2.1+BAO+CMB+$H_0$ data. We find that the data slightly favor an energy flow from dark matter to dark energy, although the original HDE model still lies in the 95.4% confidence level (CL) region. For all models we find $c<1$ at the 95.4% CL. We show that compared with the cosmic expansion, the effect of interaction on the evolution of $ρ_{dm}$ and $ρ_{de}$ is smaller, and the relative increment (decrement) amount of the energy in the dark matter component is constrained to be less than 9% (15%) at the 95.4% CL. By introducing the interaction, we find that even when $c<1$ the big rip still can be avoided due to the existence of a de Sitter solution at $z\rightarrow-1$. We show that this solution can not be accomplished in the two simple models, while for the general model such a solution can be achieved with a large $β$, and the big rip may be avoided at the 95.4% CL.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Testing modified gravity models with recent cosmological observations

We explore the cosmological implications of five modified gravity (MG) models by using the recent cosmological observational data, including the recently released SNLS3 type Ia supernovae sample, the cosmic microwave background anisotropy data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7-yr observations, the baryon acoustic oscillation results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release 7, and the latest Hubble constant measurement utilizing the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope. The MG models considered include the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati(DGP) model, two $f(R)$ models, and two $f(T)$ models. We find that compared with the $Λ$CDM model, MG models can not lead to a appreciable reduction of the $χ^2_{min}$. The analysis of AIC and BIC shows that the simplest cosmological constant model($Λ$CDM) is still most preferred by the current data, and the DGP model is strongly disfavored. In addition, from the observational constraints, we also reconstruct the evolutions of the growth factor in these models. We find that the current available growth factor data are not enough to distinguish these MG models from the $Λ$CDM model.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Dark Energy and Fate of the Universe

We explore the ultimate fate of the Universe by using a divergence-free parametrization for dark energy $w(z)=w_0+w_a({\ln (2+z)\over 1+z}-\ln2)$. Unlike the CPL parametrization, this parametrization has well behaved, bounded behavior for both high redshifts and negative redshifts, and thus can genuinely cover many theoretical dark energy models. After constraining the parameter space of this parametrization by using the current cosmological observations, we find that, at the 95.4% confidence level, our Universe can still exist at least 16.7 Gyr before it ends in a big rip. Moreover, for the phantom energy dominated Universe, we find that a gravitationally bound system will be destroyed at a time $t \simeq P\sqrt{2|1+3w(-1)|}/[6π|1+w(-1)|]$, where $P$ is the period of a circular orbit around this system, before the big rip.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Mass-dependent Lorentz Violation and Neutrino Velocity

Motivated by a recent and several earlier measurement results of the neutrino velocity, we attempt to resolve the apparent discrepancies between them from the viewpoint of mass-energy relation in special relativity. It is argued that a complicated tachyonic neutrino model or a mass-dependent Lorentz violation theory can do this job.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Replaying neutrino bremsstrahlung with general dispersion relations

It is generally held that neutrinos with superluminal velocity will lose their energy spontaneously by radiating electron-positron pairs, similar to bremsstrahlung process. Recently, this process was closely studied for neutrinos whose energy is roughly proportional to their momentum. Confronted with an increasing amount of superluminal neutrino models, it is urgent to calculate the same process for general dispersion relations. The calculation is performed in this paper, without resorting to any nontrivial frame such as the effective "rest frame".

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Violation of the first law of black hole thermodynamics in $f(T)$ gravity

We prove that, in general, the first law of black hole thermodynamics, $δQ=TδS$, is violated in $f(T)$ gravity. As a result, it is possible that there exists entropy production, which implies that the black hole thermodynamics can be in non-equilibrium even in the static spacetime. This feature is very different from that of $f(R)$ or that of other higher derivative gravity theories. We find that the violation of first law results from the lack of local Lorentz invariance in $f(T)$ gravity. By investigating two examples, we note that $f"(0)$ should be negative in order to avoid the naked singularities and superluminal motion of light. When $f"(T)$ is small, the entropy of black holes in $f(T)$ gravity is approximatively equal to $\frac{f'(T)}{4}A$.

hep-th↗