arXiv subjects

Shantanu Desai

Publications and source records attributed to Shantanu Desai.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

A test of Radial Acceleration Relation for the {\it Giles et al Chandra} cluster sample

We carry out a test of the radial acceleration relation (RAR) for a sample of 10 dynamically relaxed and cool-core galaxy clusters imaged by the Chandra X-ray telescope, which was studied in Giles et al. For this sample, we observe that the best-fit RAR shows a very tight residual scatter equal to 0.09 dex. We obtain an acceleration scale of $1.59 \times 10^{-9} m/s^2$, which is about an order of magnitude higher than that obtained for galaxies. Furthermore, the best-fit RAR parameters differ from those estimated from some of the previously analyzed cluster samples, which indicates that the acceleration scale found from the RAR could be of an emergent nature, instead of a fundamental universal scale.

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arXiv2021

Probing the dark matter density evolution law with large scale structures

We propose a new method to explore a possible departure from the standard time evolution law for the dark matter density. We looked for a violation of this law by using a deformed evolution law, given by $ρ_c(z) \propto (1+z)^{3+ε}$, and then constrain $ε$. The dataset used for this purpose consists of Strong Gravitational Lensing data obtained from SLOAN Lens ACS, BOSS Emission-line Lens Survey, Strong Legacy Survey SL2S, and SLACS; along with galaxy cluster X-ray gas mass fraction measurements obtained using the Chandra Telescope. Our analyses show that $ε$ is consistent with zero within 1 $σ$ c.l., but the current dataset cannot rule out with high confidence level interacting models of dark matter and dark energy.

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arXiv2021

High Precision Measurements of Interstellar Dispersion Measure with the upgraded GMRT

Pulsar radio emission undergoes dispersion due to the presence of free electrons in the interstellar medium (ISM). The dispersive delay in the arrival time of pulsar signal changes over time due to the varying ISM electron column density along the line of sight. Correcting for this delay accurately is crucial for the detection of nanohertz gravitational waves using Pulsar Timing Arrays. In this work, we present in-band and inter-band DM estimates of four pulsars observed with uGMRT over the timescale of a year using two different template alignment methods. The DMs obtained using both these methods show only subtle differences for PSR 1713+0747 and J1909$-$3744. A considerable offset is seen in the DM of PSR J1939+2134 and J2145$-$0750 between the two methods. This could be due to the presence of scattering in the former and profile evolution in the latter. We find that both methods are useful but could have a systematic offset between the DMs obtained. Irrespective of the template alignment methods followed, the precision on the DMs obtained is about $10^{-3}$ pc cm$^{-3}$ using only BAND3 and $10^{-4}$ pc cm$^{-3}$ after combining data from BAND3 and BAND5 of the uGMRT. In a particular result, we have detected a DM excess of about $5\times10^{-3}$ pc cm$^{-3}$ on 24 February 2019 for PSR J2145$-$0750. This excess appears to be due to the interaction region created by fast solar wind from a coronal hole and a coronal mass ejection (CME) observed from the Sun on that epoch. A detailed analysis of this interesting event is presented.

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arXiv2021

The Gravity Collective: A Search for the Electromagnetic Counterpart to the Neutron Star-Black Hole Merger GW190814

We present optical follow-up imaging obtained with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Nickel Telescope, Swope Telescope, and Thacher Telescope of the LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave (GW) signal from the neutron star-black hole (NSBH) merger GW190814. We searched the GW190814 localization region (19 deg$^{2}$ for the 90th percentile best localization), covering a total of 51 deg$^{2}$ and 94.6% of the two-dimensional localization region. Analyzing the properties of 189 transients that we consider as candidate counterparts to the NSBH merger, including their localizations, discovery times from merger, optical spectra, likely host-galaxy redshifts, and photometric evolution, we conclude that none of these objects are likely to be associated with GW190814. Based on this finding, we consider the likely optical properties of an electromagnetic counterpart to GW190814, including possible kilonovae and short gamma-ray burst afterglows. Using the joint limits from our follow-up imaging, we conclude that a counterpart with an $r$-band decline rate of 0.68 mag day$^{-1}$, similar to the kilonova AT 2017gfo, could peak at an absolute magnitude of at most $-17.8$ mag (50% confidence). Our data are not constraining for ''red'' kilonovae and rule out ''blue'' kilonovae with $M>0.5 M_{\odot}$ (30% confidence). We strongly rule out all known types of short gamma-ray burst afterglows with viewing angles $<$17$^{\circ}$ assuming an initial jet opening angle of $\sim$$5.2^{\circ}$ and explosion energies and circumburst densities similar to afterglows explored in the literature. Finally, we explore the possibility that GW190814 merged in the disk of an active galactic nucleus, of which we find four in the localization region, but we do not find any candidate counterparts among these sources.

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arXiv2021

A test of cosmic distance duality relation using SPT-SZ galaxy clusters, Type Ia supernovae, and cosmic chronometers

We carry out a test of the cosmic distance duality relation using a sample of 52 SPT-SZ clusters, along with X-ray measurements from XMM-Newton. To carry out this test, we need an estimate of the luminosity distance ($D_L$) at the redshift of the cluster. For this purpose, we use three independent methods: directly using $D_L$ from the closest Type Ia Supernovae from the Union 2.1 sample, non-parametric reconstruction of $D_L$ using the same Union 2.1 sample, and finally using $H(z)$ measurements from cosmic chronometers and reconstructing $D_L$ using Gaussian Process regression. We use four different functions to characterize the deviations from CDDR. All our results for these ($4 \times 3$) analyses are consistent with CDDR to within 1$σ$.

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arXiv2021

Search for Lorentz Invariance Violation from stacked Gamma-Ray Burst spectral lag data

A number of works have claimed detections of a turn-over in the spectral lag data for individual Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), caused by an energy-dependent speed of light, which could be a possible manifestation of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). Here, we stack the spectral lag data from a total of 37 GRBs (with a total of 91 measurements), to verify if the combined data is consistent with a unified model consisting of intrinsic astrophysical emission, along with another contribution due to LIV. We then carry out Bayesian model comparison to ascertain if this combined spectral lag data shows a preference for an energy-dependent speed of light, as compared to only an intrinsic astrophysical emission mechanism. We do not find a decisive evidence for such an energy-dependent speed of light for two different models of LIV. When we assume a constant intrinsic lag coupled with an unknown intrinsic scatter, we do not find any evidence for LIV. However, when we use GRB-dependent parameters to model the intrinsic emission, we get decisive evidence for LIV violation. We then carry out a search for LIV Standard Model Extension using this dataset as well as an independent search using a separate dataset consisting of rest-frame spectral lags. Finally, none of the models considered here with any of the aforementioned assumptions provide a good fit to the stacked spectral lag data, indicating that there is still missing Physics in the model for intrinsic spectral lags.

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arXiv2021

pinta: The uGMRT Data Processing Pipeline for the Indian Pulsar Timing Array

We introduce pinta, a pipeline for reducing the upgraded Giant Metre-wave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) raw pulsar timing data, developed for the Indian Pulsar Timing Array experiment. We provide a detailed description of the workflow and usage of pinta, as well as its computational performance and RFI mitigation characteristics. We also discuss a novel and independent determination of the relative time offsets between the different back-end modes of uGMRT and the interpretation of the uGMRT observation frequency settings, and their agreement with results obtained from engineering tests. Further, we demonstrate the capability of pinta to generate data products which can produce high-precision TOAs using PSR J1909-3744 as an example. These results are crucial for performing precision pulsar timing with the uGMRT.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

A model-independent test of the evolution of gas depletion factor for SPT-SZ and Planck ESZ clusters

The gas mass fraction in galaxy clusters has been widely used to determine cosmological parameters. This method assumes that the ratio of the cluster gas mass fraction to the cosmic baryon fraction ($γ(z)$) is constant as a function of redshift. In this work, we look for a time evolution of $γ(z)$ at $R_{500}$ by using both the SPT-SZ and Planck Early SZ (ESZ) cluster data, in a model-independent fashion without any explicit dependence on the underlying cosmology. For this calculation, we use a non-parametric functional form for the Hubble parameter obtained from Gaussian Process regression using cosmic chronometers. We parameterize $γ(z)$ as: $γ(z)= γ_0(1+γ_1 z)$ to constrain the redshift evolution. We find contradictory results between both the samples. For SPT-SZ, $γ(z)$ decreases as a function of redshift (at more than 5$σ$), whereas a positive trend with redshift is found for Planck ESZ data (at more than 4$σ$). We however find that the $γ_1$ values for a subset of SPT-SZ and Planck ESZ clusters between the same redshift interval agree to within $1σ$. When we allow for a dependence on the halo mass in the evolution of the gas depletion factor, the $4-5σ$ discrepancy reduces to $2σ$.

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arXiv2020

Constraints on variation of fine structure constant from joint SPT-SZ and XMM-Newton observations

We search for a variation of the electromagnetic fine structure constant ($α\equiv e^2/\hbar c$) using a sample of 58 SZ selected clusters in the redshift range ($0.2<z<1.5$) detected by the South Pole Telescope, along with X-ray measurements using the XMM-Newton observatory. We use the ratio of the integrated SZ Compto-ionization to its X-ray counterpart as our observable for this search. We first obtain a model-independent constraint on $α$ of about 0.7%, using the fact that the aforementioned ratio is constant as a function of redshift. We then look for a logarithmic dependence of $α$ as a function of redshift: $Δα/α= -γ\ln(1+z)$, as this is predicted by runaway dilaton models. We find that $γ$ = $-0.046 \pm 0.1$, which indicates that there is no logarithmic variation of $α$ as a function of redshift. We also search for a dipole variation of the fine structure constant using the same cluster sample. We do not find any evidence for such a spatial variation.

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arXiv2020

Yet another test of Radial Acceleration Relation for galaxy clusters

We carry out a test of the radial acceleration relation (RAR) for galaxy clusters from two different catalogs compiled in literature, as an independent cross-check of two recent analyses, which reached opposite conclusions. The datasets we considered include a Chandra sample of 12 clusters and the X-COP sample of 12 clusters. For both the samples, we find that the residual scatter is small (0.11-0.14 dex), although the best-fit values for the Chandra sample have large error bars. Therefore, we argue that at least one of these cluster samples (X-COP) obeys the radial acceleration relation. However, since the best-fit parameters are discrepant with each other as well as the previous estimates, we argue that the RAR is not universal. For both the catalogs, the acceleration scale, which we obtain is about an order of magnitude larger than that obtained for galaxies, and is agreement with both the recent estimates.

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arXiv2020

Generalized Lomb-Scargle analysis of $\rm{^{123}I}$ and $\rm{^{99m}Tc}$ decay rate measurements

We apply the generalized Lomb-Scargle periodogram to the $\rm{^{123}I}$ and $\rm{^{99m}Tc}$ decay rate measurements based on data taken at the Bronson Methodist Hospital. The aim of this exercise was to carry out an independent search for sinusoidal modulation for these radionuclei (to complement the analysis in Borrello et al) at frequencies for which other radionuclei have shown periodicities. We do not find evidence for such a modulation at any frequencies, including annual modulation or at frequencies associated with solar rotation. Our analysis codes and datasets have been made publicly available.

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arXiv2020

Discovery of a Candidate Binary Supermassive Black Hole in a Periodic Quasar from Circumbinary Accretion Variability

Binary supermassive black holes (BSBHs) are expected to be a generic byproduct from hierarchical galaxy formation. The final coalescence of BSBHs is thought to be the loudest gravitational wave (GW) siren, yet no confirmed BSBH is known in the GW-dominated regime. While periodic quasars have been proposed as BSBH candidates, the physical origin of the periodicity has been largely uncertain. Here we report discovery of a periodicity (P=1607$\pm$7 days) at 99.95% significance (with a global p-value of ~$10^{-3}$ accounting for the look elsewhere effect) in the optical light curves of a redshift 1.53 quasar, SDSS J025214.67-002813.7. Combining archival Sloan Digital Sky Survey data with new, sensitive imaging from the Dark Energy Survey, the total ~20-yr time baseline spans ~4.6 cycles of the observed 4.4-yr (restframe 1.7-yr) periodicity. The light curves are best fit by a bursty model predicted by hydrodynamic simulations of circumbinary accretion disks. The periodicity is likely caused by accretion rate modulation by a milli-parsec BSBH emitting GWs, dynamically coupled to the circumbinary accretion disk. A bursty hydrodynamic variability model is statistically preferred over a smooth, sinusoidal model expected from relativistic Doppler boost, a kinematic effect proposed for PG1302-102. Furthermore, the frequency dependence of the variability amplitudes disfavors Doppler boost, lending independent support to the circumbinary accretion variability hypothesis. Given our detection rate of one BSBH candidate from circumbinary accretion variability out of 625 quasars, it suggests that future large, sensitive synoptic surveys such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time may be able to detect hundreds to thousands of candidate BSBHs from circumbinary accretion with direct implications for Laser Interferometer Space Antenna.

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arXiv2020

Candidate Periodically Variable Quasars from the Dark Energy Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Periodically variable quasars have been suggested as close binary supermassive black holes. We present a systematic search for periodic light curves in 625 spectroscopically confirmed quasars with a median redshift of 1.8 in a 4.6 deg$^2$ overlapping region of the Dark Energy Survey Supernova (DES-SN) fields and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82 (SDSS-S82). Our sample has a unique 20-year long multi-color ($griz$) light curve enabled by combining DES-SN Y6 observations with archival SDSS-S82 data. The deep imaging allows us to search for periodic light curves in less luminous quasars (down to $r{\sim}$23.5 mag) powered by less massive black holes (with masses $\gtrsim10^{8.5}M_{\odot}$) at high redshift for the first time. We find five candidates with significant (at $>$99.74% single-frequency significance in at least two bands with a global p-value of $\sim$7$\times10^{-4}$--3$\times10^{-3}$ accounting for the look-elsewhere effect) periodicity with observed periods of $\sim$3--5 years (i.e., 1--2 years in rest frame) having $\sim$4--6 cycles spanned by the observations. If all five candidates are periodically variable quasars, this translates into a detection rate of ${\sim}0.8^{+0.5}_{-0.3}$% or ${\sim}1.1^{+0.7}_{-0.5}$ quasar per deg$^2$. Our detection rate is 4--80 times larger than those found by previous searches using shallower surveys over larger areas. This discrepancy is likely caused by differences in the quasar populations probed and the survey data qualities. We discuss implications on the future direct detection of low-frequency gravitational waves. Continued photometric monitoring will further assess the robustness and characteristics of these candidate periodic quasars to determine their physical origins.

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arXiv2020

Probing galaxy evolution in massive clusters using ACT and DES: splashback as a cosmic clock

We measure the projected number density profiles of galaxies and the splashback feature in clusters selected by the Sunyaev--Zeldovich (SZ) effect from the Advanced Atacama Cosmology Telescope (AdvACT) survey using galaxies observed by the Dark Energy Survey (DES). The splashback radius for the complete galaxy sample is consistent with theoretical measurements from CDM-only simulations, and is located at $2.4^{+0.3}_{-0.4}$ Mpc $h^{-1}$. We split the sample based on galaxy color and find significant differences in the profile shapes. Red galaxies and those in the green valley show a splashback-like minimum in their slope profile consistent with theoretical predictions, while the bluest galaxies show a weak feature that appears at a smaller radius. We develop a mapping of galaxies to subhalos in $N$-body simulations by splitting subhalos based on infall time onto the cluster halos. We find that the location of the steepest slope and differences in the shapes of the profiles can be mapped to differences in the average time of infall of galaxies of different colors. The minima of the slope in the galaxy profiles trace a discontinuity in the phase space of dark matter halos. By relating spatial profiles to infall time for galaxies of different colours, we can use splashback as a clock to understand galaxy quenching. We find that red galaxies have on average been in their clusters for over $3.2 ~\rm Gyrs$, green galaxies about $2.2 ~\rm Gyrs$, while blue galaxies have been accreted most recently and have not reached apocenter. Using the information from the complete radial profiles, we fit a simple quenching model and find that the onset of galaxy quenching in clusters occurs after a delay of about a gigayear, and that galaxies quench rapidly thereafter with an exponential timescale of $0.6$ Gyr.

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arXiv2020

Scaling relations for dark matter core density and radius from Chandra X-ray cluster sample

A large number of studies have found that the dark matter surface density, given by the product of the dark matter core radius ($r_c$) and core density ($ρ_c$) is approximately constant for a wide range of galaxy systems. However, there has been only one systematic study of this {\it ansatz} for galaxy clusters by Chan (arXiv:1403.4352), who found that the surface density for clusters is not constant and $ρ_c \sim r_c^{-1.46}$. We carry out this test for an X-ray sample of 12 relaxed clusters from Chandra observations, implementing the same procedure as Chan, but also accounting for the gas and star mass. We find that $ρ_c \propto r_c^{-1.08 \pm 0.055}$, with an intrinsic scatter of about 18%. Therefore, the dark matter surface density for our cluster data shows deviations from a constant value at only about 1.4$σ$.

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arXiv2020

Model Comparison of $Λ$CDM vs $R_h=ct$ using Cosmic Chronometers

In 2012, Bilicki and Seikel (arXiv:1206.5130) showed that $H(z)$ data reconstructed using Gaussian Process Regression from cosmic chronometers and BAO, conclusively rules out the $R_h=ct$ model. These results were disputed by Melia and collaborators in two different works (arXiv:1304.1802 and arXiv:1802.02255), who showed using both an unbinned analysis and Gaussian Process reconstructed $H(z)$ data from chronometers, that $R_h=ct$ is favored over $Λ$CDM model. To resolve this imbroglio, we carry out model comparison of $Λ$CDM versus $R_h=ct$ by independently reproducing the above claims using latest chronometer data. We perform model selection between these two models using Bayesian model comparison. We find that no one model between $Λ$CDM and $R_h=ct$ is decisively favored when uniform priors on $Λ$CDM parameters are used. However, if we use priors centered around the Planck best-fit values, then $Λ$CDM is very strongly preferred over $R_h=ct$.

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arXiv2020

An independent search for annual modulation and its significance in ANAIS-112 data

We perform an independent search for sinusoidal-based modulation in the recently released ANAIS-112 data, which could be induced by dark matter scatterings. We then evaluate this hypothesis against the null hypothesis that the data contains only background, using four different model comparison techniques. These include frequentist, Bayesian, and two information theory-based criteria (AIC and BIC). This analysis was done on both the residual data (by subtracting the exponential fit obtained from the ANAIS-112 Collaboration) as well as the total (non-background subtracted) data. We find that according to the Bayesian model comparison test, the null hypothesis of no modulation is decisively favored over a cosine-based annual modulation for the non-background subtracted dataset in 2-6 keV energy range. None of the other model comparison tests decisively favor any one hypothesis over another. This is the first application of Bayesian and information theory techniques to test the annual modulation hypothesis in ANAIS-112 data, extending our previous work on the DAMA/LIBRA and COSINE-100 data. Our analysis codes have also been made publicly available.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Dust Reverberation Mapping in Distant Quasars from Optical and Mid-Infrared Imaging Surveys

The size of the dust torus in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and their high-luminosity counterparts, quasars, can be inferred from the time delay between UV/optical accretion disk continuum variability and the response in the mid-infrared (MIR) torus emission. This dust reverberation mapping (RM) technique has been successfully applied to $\sim 70$ $z\lesssim 0.3$ AGN and quasars. Here we present first results of our dust RM program for distant quasars covered in the SDSS Stripe 82 region combining $\sim 20$-yr ground-based optical light curves with 10-yr MIR light curves from the WISE satellite. We measure a high-fidelity lag between W1-band (3.4 $μ$m) and $g$ band for 587 quasars over $0.3\lesssim z\lesssim 2$ ($\left \sim 0.8$) and two orders of magnitude in quasar luminosity. They tightly follow (intrinsic scatter $\sim 0.17$ dex in lag) the IR lag-luminosity relation observed for $z<0.3$ AGN, revealing a remarkable size-luminosity relation for the dust torus over more than four decades in AGN luminosity, with little dependence on additional quasar properties such as Eddington ratio and variability amplitude. This study motivates further investigations in the utility of dust RM for cosmology, and strongly endorses a compelling science case for the combined 10-yr Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (optical) and 5-yr Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope 2$μ$m light curves in a deep survey for low-redshift AGN dust RM with much lower luminosities and shorter, measurable IR lags. The compiled optical and MIR light curves for 7,384 quasars in our parent sample are made public with this work.

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