arXiv subjects

Savvas Nesseris

Publications and source records attributed to Savvas Nesseris.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Can the homogeneity scale be used as a standard ruler?

The Universe on comoving scales larger than 100 Mpc/h is assumed to be statistically homogeneous, with the transition scale where we have $1\%$ deviation from homogeneity being known as the homogeneity scale $R_H$. The latter was recently proposed in Ntelis et al. (2018) [arXiv:1810.09362] to be a standard ruler. In this paper we perform a comparison between the baryon acoustic oscillations and the homogeneity scales $R_H$, assuming a spatially flat universe, linear cosmological perturbation theory and the cosmological constant cold dark matter $Λ$CDM model. By direct theoretical calculations, we demonstrate that the answer to the question of whether the homogeneity scale can be used as a standard ruler, is clearly negative due to the non-monotonicity of the homogeneity scale $R_H$ with the matter density parameter $Ω_{m0}$ of the $Λ$CDM model. Furthermore, we also consider the effect of redshift space distortions and we find that they do not break the degeneracies but instead only change the value of $R_H$ by a few percent. Finally, we also confirm our findings with the help of an N-Body simulation.

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arXiv2019

Unraveling the effective fluid approach for $f(R)$ models in the subhorizon approximation

We provide explicit formulas for the effective fluid approach of $f(R)$ theories, such as the Hu & Sawicki and the designer models. Using the latter and simple modifications to the CLASS code, which we call EFCLASS, in conjunction with very accurate analytic approximations for the background evolution, we obtain competitive results in a much simpler and less error-prone approach. We also derive the initial conditions in matter domination and we find they differ from those already found in the literature for a constant $w$ model. A clear example is the designer model that behaves as $Λ$CDM in the background, but has nonetheless dark energy perturbations. We then use the aforementioned models to derive constraints from the latest cosmological data, including supernovae, BAO, CMB, $H(z)$ and growth-rate data, and find they are statistically consistent to the $Λ$CDM model. Finally, we show that the viscosity parameter $c_{vis}^2$ in realistic models is not constant as commonly assumed, but rather evolves significantly over several orders of magnitude, something which could affect forecasts of upcoming surveys.

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arXiv2018

Internal Robustness of Growth Rate data

We perform an Internal Robustness analysis (iR) to a compilation of the most recent $fσ_8(z)$ data, using the framework of 1209.1897. The method analyzes combinations of subsets in the data set in a Bayesian model comparison way, potentially finding outliers, subsets of data affected by systematics or new physics. In order to validate our analysis and assess its sensitivity we performed several cross-checks, for example by removing some of the data or by adding artificially contaminated points, while we also generated mock data sets in order to estimate confidence regions of the iR. Applying this methodology, we found no anomalous behavior in the $fσ_8(z)$ data set, thus validating its internal robustness.

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arXiv2018

Cosmological constraints on $γ$-gravity models

In this paper we place observational constraints on the well-known $γ$-gravity $f(R)$ model using the latest cosmological data, namely we use the latest growth rate, Cosmic Microwave Background, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations, Supernovae type Ia and Hubble parameter data. Performing a joint likelihood analysis we find that the $γ$-gravity model is in very good agreement with observations. Utilizing the AIC statistical test we statistically compare the current $f(R)$ model with $Λ$CDM cosmology and find that they are statistically equivalent. Therefore, $γ$-gravity can be seen as a useful scenario toward testing deviations from General Relativity. Finally, we note that we find somewhat higher values for the $f(R)$ best-fit values compared to those mentioned in the past in the literature and we argue that this could potential alleviate the halo-mass function problem.

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arXiv2018

Gravitational wave energy emission and detection rates of Primordial Black Hole hyperbolic encounters

We describe in detail gravitational wave bursts from Primordial Black Hole (PBH) hyperbolic encounters. The bursts are one-time events, with the bulk of the released energy happening during the closest approach, which can be emitted in frequencies that could be within the range of both LIGO (10-1000Hz) and LISA ($10^{-6}-1$ Hz). Furthermore, we correct the results for the power spectrum of hyperbolic encounters found in the literature and present new exact and approximate expressions for the peak frequency of the emission. Note that these GW bursts from hyperbolic encounters between PBH are complementary to the GW emission from the bounded orbits of BHB mergers detected by LIGO, and help breaking degeneracies in the determination of the PBH mass, spin and spatial distributions.

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arXiv2018

Cosmological constraints and comparison of viable $f(R)$ models

In this paper we present cosmological constraints on several well-known $f(R)$ models, but also on a new class of models that are variants of the Hu-Sawicki one of the form $f(R)=R-\frac{2Λ}{1+b\;y(R,Λ)}$, that interpolate between the cosmological constant model and a matter dominated universe for different values of the parameter $b$, which is usually expected to be small for viable models and which in practice measures the deviation from General Relativity. We use the latest growth rate, Cosmic Microwave Background, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations, Supernovae type Ia and Hubble parameter data to place stringent constraints on the models and to compare them to the cosmological constant model but also other viable $f(R)$ models such as the Starobinsky or the degenerate hypergeometric models. We find that these kinds of Hu-Sawicki variant parameterizations are in general compatible with the currently available data and can provide useful toy models to explore the available functional space of $f(R)$ models, something very useful with the current and upcoming surveys that will test deviations from General Relativity.

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arXiv2017

Gravitational wave bursts from Primordial Black Hole hyperbolic encounters

We propose that Gravitational Wave (GW) bursts with millisecond durations can be explained by the GW emission from the hyperbolic encounters of Primordial Black Holes in dense clusters. These bursts are single events, with the bulk of the released energy happening during the closest approach, and emitted in frequencies within the AdvLIGO sensitivity range. We provide expressions for the shape of the GW emission in terms of the peak frequency and amplitude, and estimate the rates of these events for a variety of mass and velocity configurations. We study the regions of parameter space that will allow detection by both AdvLIGO and, in the future, LISA. We find for realistic configurations, with total mass $M\sim60\,M_\odot$, relative velocities $v\sim 0.01\,c$, and impact parameters $b\sim10^{-3}$ AU, for AdvLIGO an expected event rate is ${\cal O}(10)$ events/yr/Gpc$^3$ with millisecond durations. For LISA, the typical duration is in the range of minutes to hours and the event-rate is ${\cal O}(10^3)$ events/yr/Gpc$^3$ for both $10^3\,M_\odot$ IMBH and $10^6\,M_\odot$ SMBH encounters. We also study the distribution functions of eccentricities, peak frequencies and characteristic timescales that can be expected for a population of scattering PBH with a log-normal distribution in masses, different relative velocities and a flat prior on the impact parameter.

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arXiv2017

Conjoined constraints on modified gravity from the expansion history and cosmic growth

In this paper we present conjoined constraints on several cosmological models from the expansion history $H(z)$ and cosmic growth $fσ_8(z)$. The models we study include the CPL $w_0w_a$ parametrization, the Holographic Dark Energy (HDE) model, the Time varying vacuum ($Λ_t$CDM) model, the Dvali, Gabadadze and Porrati (DGP) and Finsler-Randers (FRDE) models, a power law $f(T)$ model and finally the Hu-Sawicki $f(R)$ model. In all cases we perform a simultaneous fit to the SnIa, CMB, BAO, $H(z)$ and growth data, while also following the conjoined visualization of $H(z)$ and $fσ_8(z)$ as in Linder (2017). Furthermore, we introduce the Figure of Merit (FoM) in the $H(z)-fσ_8(z)$ parameter space as a way to constrain models that jointly fit both probes well. We use both the latest $H(z)$ and $fσ_8(z)$ data, but also LSST-like mocks with $1\%$ measurements and we find that the conjoined method of constraining the expansion history and cosmic growth simultaneously is able not only to place stringent constraints on these parameters but also to provide an easy visual way to discriminate cosmological models. Finally, we confirm the existence of a tension between the growth rate and Planck CMB data and we find that the FoM in the conjoined parameter space of $H(z)-fσ_8(z)$ can be used to discriminate between the $Λ$CDM model and certain classes of modified gravity models, namely the DGP and $f(T)$.

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arXiv2017

Tension and constraints on modified gravity parametrizations of $G_{\textrm{eff}}(z)$ from growth rate and Planck data

We construct an updated and extended compilation of growth rate data consisting of 34 points and including corrections for model dependence. In order to maximize the independence of the datapoints we also construct a subsample of this compilation (`Gold' growth dataset) which consists of 18 datapoints. We test the consistency of this dataset with the best fit Planck15/$Λ$CDM parameters in the context of General Relativity (GR) using the evolution equation for the growth factor $δ(a)$ with a $w$CDM background. We find tension at the $\sim 3 σ$ level between the best fit parameters $w$ (the dark energy equation of state), $Ω_{0m}$ (the matter density parameter) and $σ_8$ (the matter power spectrum normalization on scales $8h^{-1}$Mpc) and the corresponding Planck15/$Λ$CDM parameters. We show that the tension disappears if we allow for evolution of the effective Newton's constant, parametrized as $G_{eff}(a)/G_N = 1 + g_a(1-a)^n-g_a(1-a)^{2n}$ with $n\ge2$ where $g_a$, $n$ are parameters of the model, $a$ is the scale factor and $z = 1/a-1$ is the redshift. This parametrization satisfies three criteria: a. $G_{eff} > 0$, b. Consistency with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis ($G_{eff}(a\ll 1)/G_N=1$), c. Consistency with solar system tests ($G_{eff}(a=1)/G_N=1$ and $G_{eff}'(a=1)/G_N=0$). We show that the best fit form of $G_{eff}(z)$ obtained from the growth data corresponds to weakening gravity at recent redshifts (decreasing function of $z$) and we demonstrate that this behavior is not consistent with any scalar-tensor Lagrangian with a real scalar field. Finally, we use MGCAMB to find the best fit $G_{eff}(z)$ obtained from the Planck CMB power spectrum on large angular scales and show that it is a mildly increasing function of $z$, in $3σ$ tension with the corresponding decreasing best fit $G_{eff}(z)$ obtained from the growth data.

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arXiv2016

Testing Einstein's gravity and dark energy with growth of matter perturbations: Indications for new Physics?

The growth index of matter fluctuations is computed for ten distinct accelerating cosmological models and confronted to the latest growth rate data via a two-step process. First, we implement a joint statistical analysis in order to place constraints on the free parameters of all models using solely background data. Second, using the observed growth rate of clustering from various galaxy surveys we test the performance of the current cosmological models at the perturbation level while either marginalizing over $σ_8$ or having it as a free parameter. As a result, we find that at a statistical level, i.e. after considering the best-fit $χ^2$ or the value of the Akaike information criterion, most models are in very good agreement with the growth rate data and are practically indistinguishable from $Λ$CDM. However, when we also consider the internal consistency of the models by comparing the theoretically predicted values of $(γ_0, γ_1)$, i.e. the value of the growth index $γ(z)$ and its derivative today, with the best-fit ones, we find that the predictions of three out of ten dark energy models are in mild tension with the best-fit ones when $σ_8$ is marginalized over. When $σ_8$ is free we find that most models are not only in mild tension, but also predict low values for $σ_8$. This could be attributed to either a systematic problem with the growth-rate data or the emergence of new physics at low redshifts, with the latter possibly being related to the well-known issue of the lack of power at small scales. Finally, by utilizing mock data based on an LSST-like survey we show that with future surveys and by using the growth index parameterization, it will be possible to resolve the issue of the low $σ_8$ but also the tension between the fitted and theoretically predicted values of $(γ_0, γ_1)$.

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arXiv2016

Cosmological Constraints on Higgs-Dilaton Inflation

We test the viability of the Higgs-dilaton model (HDM) compared to the evolving dark energy ($w_0 w_a$CDM) model, in which the cosmological constant model $Λ$CDM is also nested, by using the latest cosmological data that includes the cosmic microwave background temperature, polarization and lensing data from the \textit{Planck} satellite (2015 data release), the BICEP and Keck Array experiments, the Type Ia supernovae from the JLA catalog, the baryon acoustic oscillations from CMASS, LOWZ and 6dF, the weak lensing data from the CFHTLenS survey and the matter power Spectrum measurements from the SDSS (data release 7). We find that the values of all cosmological parameters allowed by the Higgs-dilaton inflation model are well within the \textit{Planck} satellite (2015 data release) constraints. In particular, we have that $w_0 = -1.0001^{+0.0072}_{-0.0074}$, $w_a = 0.00^{+0.15}_{-0.16}$, $n_s = 0.9693^{+0.0083}_{-0.0082}$, $α_s = -0.001^{+0.013}_{-0.014}$ and $r_{0.05} = 0.0025^{+0.0017}_{-0.0016}$ (95.5\%C.L.). We also place new stringent constraints on the couplings of the Higgs-dilaton model and we find that $ξ_χ < 0.00328$ and $ξ_h / \sqrtλ = 59200^{+30000}_{-20000}$ (95.5\%C.L.). Furthermore, we report that the HDM is at a slightly better footing than the $w_0 w_a$CDM model, as they both have practically the same chi-square, i.e. $Δχ^2 = χ^2_{w_0 w_a\mathrm{CDM}}-χ^2_{\mathrm{HDM}}=0.18$, with the HDM model having two fewer parameters. Finally Bayesian evidence favors equally the two models, with the HDM being preferred by the AIC and DIC information criteria.

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arXiv2016

Gravitational wave source counts at high redshift and in models with extra dimensions

Gravitational wave (GW) source counts have been recently shown to be able to test how gravitational radiation propagates with the distance from the source. Here, we extend this formalism to cosmological scales, i.e. the high redshift regime, and we discuss the complications of applying this methodology to high redshift sources. We also allow for models with compactified extra dimensions like in the Kaluza-Klein model. Furthermore, we also consider the case of intermediate redshifts, i.e. $0<z\lesssim1$, where we show it is possible to find an analytical approximation for the source counts $\frac{dN}{d(S/N)}$. This can be done in terms of cosmological parameters, such as the matter density $Ω_{m,0}$ of the cosmological constant model or the cosmographic parameters for a general dark energy model. Our analysis is as general as possible, but it depends on two important factors: a source model for the black hole binary mergers and the GW source to galaxy bias. This methodology also allows us to obtain the higher order corrections of the source counts in terms of the signal-to-noise $S/N$. We then forecast the sensitivity of future observations in constraining GW physics but also the underlying cosmology by simulating sources distributed over a finite range of signal-to-noise with a number of sources ranging from 10 to 500 sources as expected from future detectors. We find that with 500 events it will be possible to provide constraints on the matter density parameter at present $Ω_{m,0}$ on the order of a few percent and with the precision growing fast with the number of events. In the case of extra dimensions we find that depending on the degeneracies of the model, with 500 events it may be possible to provide stringent limits on the existence of the extra dimensions if the aforementioned degeneracies can be broken.

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arXiv2016

Constraints on dark-matter properties from large-scale structure

We use large-scale cosmological observations to place constraints on the dark-matter pressure, sound speed and viscosity, and infer a limit on the mass of warm-dark-matter particles. Measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies constrain the equation of state and sound speed of the dark matter at last scattering at the per mille level. Since the redshifting of collisionless particles universally implies that these quantities scale like $a^{-2}$ absent shell crossing, we infer that today $w_{\rm (DM)}< 10^{-10.0}$, $c_{\rm s,(DM)}^2 < 10^{-10.7}$ and $c_{\rm vis, (DM)}^{2} < 10^{-10.3}$ at the $99\%$ confidence level. This very general bound can be translated to model-dependent constraints on dark-matter models: for warm dark matter these constraints imply $m> 70$ eV, assuming it decoupled while relativistic around the same time as the neutrinos; for a cold relic, we show that $m>100$ eV. We separately constrain the properties of the DM fluid on linear scales at late times, and find upper bounds $c_{\rm s, (DM)}^2<10^{-5.9}$, $c_{\rm vis, (DM)}^{2} < 10^{-5.7}$, with no detection of non-dust properties for the DM.

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arXiv2015

Using dark energy to suppress power at small scales

The latest Planck results reconfirm the existence of a slight but chronic tension between the best-fit Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and low-redshift observables: power seems to be consistently lacking in the late universe across a range of observables (e.g.~weak lensing, cluster counts). We propose a two-parameter model for dark energy where the dark energy is sufficiently like dark matter at large scales to keep the CMB unchanged but where it does not cluster at small scales, preventing concordance collapse and erasing power. We thus exploit the generic scale-dependence of dark energy instead of the more usual time-dependence to address the tension in the data. The combination of CMB, distance and weak lensing data somewhat prefer our model to $Λ$CDM, at $Δχ^2=2.4$. Moreover, this improved solution has $σ_8=0.79 \pm 0.02$, consistent with the value implied by cluster counts.

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arXiv2015

Accuracy of the growth index in the presence of dark energy perturbations

We present the analytical solutions for the evolution of matter density perturbations, for a model with a constant dark energy equation of state $w$ but when the effects of the dark energy perturbations are properly taken into account. We consider two cases, the first when the sound speed of the perturbations is zero $c_s^2=0$ and the general case $0 10 H_0$ or equivalently $k/h>0.0033 \textrm{Mpc}^{-1}$. We also estimate the corrections to the growth index $γ(z)$, commonly used to parametrize the growth-rate. We find that these corrections due to the DE perturbations affect the growth index $γ$ at the $3\%$ level. We also compare our new expressions for the growth index with other expressions already present in the literature and we find that the latter are less accurate than the ones we propose here. Therefore, our analytical calculations are necessary as the theoretical predictions for the fundamental parameters to be constrained by the upcoming surveys need to be as accurate as possible, especially since we are entering in the precise cosmology era where parameters will be measured to the percent level.

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arXiv2015

Reconstruction of the null-test for the matter density perturbations

We systematically study the null-test for the growth rate data first presented in [S. Nesseris and D. Sapone, arXiv:1409.3697] and we reconstruct it using various combinations of data sets, such as the $fσ_8$ and $H(z)$ or Type Ia supernovae (SnIa) data. We perform the reconstruction in two different ways, either by directly binning the data or by fitting various dark energy models. We also examine how well the null-test can be reconstructed by future data by creating mock catalogs based on the cosmological constant model, a model with strong dark energy perturbations, the $f(R)$ and $f(G)$ models, and the large void LTB model that exhibit different evolution of the matter perturbations. We find that with future data similar to an LSST-like survey, the null-test will be able to successfully discriminate between these different cases at the $5σ$ level.

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arXiv2014

Comparison of piecewise-constant methods for dark energy

We compare four different methods that can be used to analyze the type Ia supernovae (SnIa) data, ie to use piecewise-constant functions in terms of: the dark energy equation of state $w(z)$, the deceleration parameter $q(z)$, the Hubble parameter $H(z)$ and finally the luminosity distance $d_L$. These four quantities cover all aspects of the accelerating Universe, ie the phenomenological properties of dark energy, the expansion rate (first and second derivatives) of the Universe and the observations themselves. For the first two cases we also perform principal component analysis (PCA) so as to decorrelate the parameters, while for the last two cases we use novel analytic expressions to find the best-fit parameters. In order to test the methods we create mock SnIa data (2000 points, uniform in redshift $z\in[0,1.5]$) for three fiducial cosmologies: the cosmological constant model ($Λ$CDM), a linear expansion of the dark energy equation of state parameter $w(a)=w_0+w_a(1-a)$ and the Hu-Sawicki $f(R)$ model. We find that if we focus on the two mainstream approaches for the PCA, i.e. $w(z)$ and $q(z)$, then the best piecewise-constant scheme is always $w(z)$. Finally, to our knowledge the piecewise-constant method for $H(z)$ is new in the literature, while for the rest three methods we present several new analytic expressions.

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arXiv2014

Curvature vs Distances: testing the FLRW cosmology

We test the FLRW cosmology by reconstructing in a model-independent way both the Hubble parameter $H(z)$ and the comoving distance $D(z)$ via the most recent Hubble and Supernovae Ia data. In particular we use: data binning with direct error propagation, the principal component analysis, the genetic algorithms and the Padé approximation. Using our reconstructions we evaluate the Clarkson {\it et al} test known as $Ω_K(z)$, whose value is constant in redshift for the standard cosmological model, but deviates elsewise. We find good agreement with the expected values of the standard cosmological model within the experimental errors. Finally, we provide forecasts, exploiting the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations measurements from the Euclid survey.

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