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AI-Assisted Conceptual Development of a Pre-Geometric Cosmological Model - An Exercise in AI-Assisted Conceptual Framework Generation, Paper II: Local Geometry and Metric Structure

This paper develops the geometric sector of the replication-driven cosmogenesis framework introduced in Paper I. Starting from a pre-geometric spectral substrate and a minimal set of replication axioms, we show how coherent self-replicating units generate a spatial adjacency graph whose continuum limit acquires an effective Riemannian structure. The replication dynamics determines a characteristic correlation length that seeds the local metric, while overlap relations among coherent units produce an isotropic neighborhood geometry with an emergent dimensionality $d_{\rm eff}\simeq 3$ across a broad range of replication factors. As replication slows and causal order stabilizes, a limiting signal speed $c_\ast$ appears, providing the basis for the Lorentzian structure of spacetime without assuming a pre-existing light cone. We derive conditions under which the adjacency graph converges to a smooth three-dimensional manifold, describe the transition from Euclidean to Lorentzian propagation, and identify geometric invariants controlled by the replication parameters. This work establishes the geometric and causal layer of the replication cosmogenesis program, bridging the spectral axioms of Paper I to the cosmological dynamics explored in Paper III.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

A new cosmological model - Formation of organic molecules, planets, and comets.

A new model is proposed based on studies of plasma instabilities in a magnetic field, which suggests that the inside region of a star is quantized into smaller regions, each of which is rotating in the magnetic field of a central rotating stellar core. Numerous applications of such a model are explored and some, such as the earth, evaluated in detail.

Johnson, F. M.

Free-streaming radiation in cosmological models with spatial curvature

The effects of spatial curvature on radiation anisotropy are examined for the standard Friedmann-Robertson-Walker model universes. The effect of curvature is found to be very important when considering fluctuations with wavelengths comparable to the horizon. It is concluded that the behavior of radiation fluctuations in models with spatial curvature is quite different from that in spatially flat models, and that models with negative curvature are most strikingly different. It is therefore necessary to take the curvature into account in careful studies of the anisotropy of the microwave background.

Wilson, M. L.

Generation of fluctuations in cosmological models

The initial production of classical matter fluctuations in a scalar quantum field theory in curved spacetime is discussed. It is shown how quantum fluctuations generate classical matter inhomogeneities, and that the resulting spectrum is scale invariant. The relevant events that occur before the scale leaves the Hubble radius are studied.

Brandenberger, Robert H.

The area of isodensity contours in cosmological models and galaxy surveys

The contour crossing statistic, defined as the mean number of times per unit length that a straight line drawn through the field crosses a given contour, is applied to model density fields and to smoothed samples of galaxies. Models in which the matter is in a bubble structure, in a filamentary net, or in clusters can be distinguished from Gaussian density distributions. The shape of the contour crossing curve in the initially Gaussian fields considered remains Gaussian after gravitational evolution and biasing, as long as the smoothing length is longer than the mass correlation length. With a smoothing length of 5/h Mpc, models containing cosmic strings are indistinguishable from Gaussian distributions. Cosmic explosion models are significantly non-Gaussian, having a bubbly structure. Samples from the CfA survey and the Haynes and Giovanelli (1986) survey are more strongly non-Gaussian at a smoothing length of 6/h Mpc than any of the models examined. At a smoothing length of 12/h Mpc, the Haynes and Giovanelli sample appears Gaussian.

Ryden, Barbara S.

Constraints on cosmological models from the IRAS QDOT survey results

The results of the recent IRAS survey are used to explore constraints on the nature of the Galaxy density field. Realistic simulations of the survey made from N-body simulations of the n = -1 power-law power spectrum and the Omega = 1 CDM models show that the power-law model is basically consistent with all QDOT variance results, while the CDM model has a smaller variance than the observation at the 20/h Mpc Gaussian smoothing scale. It is concluded that the QDOT results are best explained if the power spectrum of the Galaxy density field has a slope of about -1 near a wavelength of about 100/h Mpc, while the CDM model has a slope of about 0 at that scale. The possibility of marginal non-Gaussian behavior at the 20/h Mpc scale reported by Saunders et al. (1990) is examined for gravitational instability models with Gaussian initial conditions. It is argued that the observed (delta exp 3) versus (delta exp 2) in redshift space is not what these models would predict.

Park, Changbom

Can standard cosmological models explain the observed Abell cluster bulk flow?

Lauer and Postman (LP) observed that all Abell clusters with redshifts less than 15,000 km/s appear to be participating in a bulk flow of 689 km/s with respect to the cosmic microwave background. We find this result difficult to reconcile with all popular models for large-scale structure formation that assume Gaussian initial conditions. This conclusion is based on Monte Carlo realizations of the LP data, drawn from large particle-mesh N-body simulations for six different models of the initial power spectrum (standard, tilted, and Omega(sub 0) = 0.3 cold dark matter, and two variants of the primordial baryon isocurvature model). We have taken special care to treat properly the longest-wavelength components of the power spectra. The simulations are sampled, 'observed,' and analyzed as identically as possible to the LP cluster sample. Large-scale bulk flows as measured from clusters in the simulations are in excellent agreement with those measured from the grid: the clusters do not exhibit any strong velocity bias on large scales. Bulk flows with amplitude as large as that reported by LP are not uncommon in the Monte Carlo data stes; the distribution of measured bulk flows before error bias subtraction is rougly Maxwellian, with a peak around 400 km/s. However the chi squared of the observed bulk flow, taking into account the anisotropy of the error ellipsoid, is much more difficult to match in the simulations. The models examined are ruled out at confidence levels between 94% and 98%.

Strauss, Michael A.

Inherent weaknesses of cosmology

Sources of astrophysical evidence necessary to verify a cosmological model are reviewed. Cosmological history of the universe is divided into four epochs, each unique in its physical conditions related to observability at present. The current epoch, started after recombination of hydrogen in the universe, offers the most in observability. In earlier epochs, verifiable astrophysical evidence gradually disappeared. It seems that no astrophysical evidence has been left behind from the singularity epoch of the Universe. The gradual disappearance of astrophysical evidence ascertainable at present is the result of physical conditions structured within the cosmological models, hence indicating certain inherent weaknesses of cosmology as a verifiable physical theory.

Chiu, H.-Y.

A simple test of independence for truncated data with applications to redshift surveys

This paper presents an easily applied permutation test for H0, closely related to Lyden-Bell's (1971) estimate of the marginal distribution of truncated data. The test is applied to two redshift-magnitude surveys, one of galaxies and one of quasars. Assuming statistical independence, testing H0 amounts to testing validity of the cosmological model. Segal's (1986) chronomatic cosmological model is rejected under H0. On the other hand, for the quasar sample H0 is rejected strongly in a conventional cosmological model (and in a chronomatic model as well) indicating either incorrectness of the models or, as is more commonly assumed, indicating strong luminosity evolution.

Efron, Bradley

Compressed baryon acoustic oscillation analysis is robust to modified-gravity models

Abstract We study the robustness of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) analysis to the underlying cosmological model. We focus on testing the standard BAO analysis that relies on the use of a template. These templates are constructed assuming a fixed fiducial cosmological model and used to extract the location of the acoustic peaks. Such “compressed analysis” had been shown to be unbiased when applied to the ΛCDM model and some of its extensions. However, it has not been known whether this type of analysis introduces biases in a wider range of cosmological models where the template may not fully capture relevant features in the BAO signal. In this study, we apply the compressed analysis to noiseless mock power spectra that are based on Horndeski models, a broad class of modified-gravity theories specified with eight additional free parameters. We study the precision and accuracy of the BAO peak-location extraction assuming DESI, DESI II, and MegaMapper survey specifications. We find that the bias in the extracted peak locations is negligible; for example, it is less than 10% of the statistical error for even the proposed future MegaMapper survey. Our findings indicate that the compressed BAO analysis is remarkably robust to the underlying cosmological model.

Astronomy & Astrophysics

The dark energy survey supernova program: investigating beyond-ΛCDM

We report constraints on a variety of non-standard cosmological models using the full 5-yr photometrically classified type Ia supernova sample from the Dark Energy Survey (DES-SN5YR). Both Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Suspiciousness calculations find no strong evidence for or against any of the non-standard models we explore. When combined with external probes, the AIC and Suspiciousness agree that 11 of the 15 models are moderately preferred over Flat-|$\Lambda$|CDM suggesting additional flexibility in our cosmological models may be required beyond the cosmological constant. We also provide a detailed discussion of all cosmological assumptions that appear in the DES supernova cosmology analyses, evaluate their impact, and provide guidance on using the DES Hubble diagram to test non-standard models. An approximate cosmological model, used to perform bias corrections to the data holds the biggest potential for harbouring cosmological assumptions. We show that even if the approximate cosmological model is constructed with a matter density shifted by |$\Delta \Omega _{\rm m}\sim 0.2$| from the true matter density of a simulated data set the bias that arises is subdominant to statistical uncertainties. Nevertheless, we present and validate a methodology to reduce this bias.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

The motions of clusters and group of galaxies

The distributions of peculiar velocities of rich clusters and of groups of galaxies are investigated for different cosmological models and are compared with observations. Four cosmological models are studied: standard cold dark matter (CDM) (omega = 1); low-density CDM (omega = 0.3); hot dark matter (HDM) (omega = 1); and primeval baryonic isocurvature (PBI) (omega = 0.3). All models are normalized to the microwave background fluctuations observed by Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). We find that rich clusters of galaxies exhibit a Maxwellian distribution of peculiar velocities in all models, as expected from a Gaussian initial density field. The clusters appear to be fundamental and efficient tracers of the large-scale velocity field. The cluster three-dimensional velocity distribution typically peaks at v approximately 600 km/s and extends to high cluster velocities of v approximately 2000 km/s. The low-density CDM model exhibits somewhat lower velocities: it peaks at approximately 400 km/s and extends to approximately 1200 km/s. Approximately 10% (approximately 1% for low-density CDM) of all model rich clusters move with high peculiar velocities of V greater than or = 10(exp 3) km/s. The highest velocity clusters frequently originate in dense superclusters. The model velocity distributions of rich clusters are compared with the model velocity distributions of small groups of galaxies, and of the total matter. The group velocity distribution is, in general, similar to the velocity distribution of the rich clusters. The matter velocity distribution is similar to that of the rich clusters for the omega = 0.3 models; these models exhibit Maxwellian velocity distributions for clusters, for groups, and for matter that are all similar to one another. The mass distribution in the omega = 1 models, however, exhibits a longer tail of high velocities than do the clusters. This high-velocity tail originates mostly from the high velocities that exist within rich clusters. The model velocity distributions of groups and clusters of galaxies are compared with observations. The data exhibit a larger high-velocity tail, to v(sub r) greater than or = 2000 km/s, than is seen in the model simulations (except for HDM). Because of the large observational uncertainties, however, the data are consistent at a approximately 1-3 sigma level with the model predictions and with a Gaussian initial density field. Accurate observations of cluster peculiar velocities, especially at the high-velocity tail, shoud provide powerful constraints on the cosmological models.

Bahcall, Neta A.

Fast and flexible neutrino decoupling. Part I. The Standard Model

Cosmological determinations of the number of relativistic neutrino species, N eff , are becoming increasingly accurate, and further improvements are expected both from CMB and BBN data. Given this context, we update the evaluation of N eff and the current entropy density via the momentum-averaged approach. This allows for a numerically fast description of neutrino decoupling, easily portable to an array of new physics scenarios. We revisit all aspects of this approach, including collision terms with full electron mass dependence, finite temperature QED corrections to the equation of state, neutrino oscillations, and the modelling of neutrino ensembles with effective chemical potentials. For integrated observables, our results differ by less than 0.04% from the solution of the momentum-dependent evolution equation. We outline how to extend the approach to BSM settings, and will highlight its power in Part II. To facilitate the practical implementation, we release a Mathematica and python code within nudec_BSM_v2, easily linkable to BBN codes.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

X-Ray Constraints on the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium

Three observational constraints can be placed on a warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) using ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) pointed and survey data, the emission strength, the energy spectrum, and the fluctuation spectrum. The upper limit to the emission strength of the WHIM is 7.5 +/- 1.0 keV/(s*sq cm*sr*keV) in the 3/4 keV band, an unknown portion of which value may be due to our own Galactic halo. The spectral stape of the WHIM emission can be described as thermal emission with logT = 6.42, although the true spectrum is more likely to come from a range of temperatures. The values of emission strength and spectral shape are in reasonable agreement with hydrodynamical cosmological models. The autocorrelation function in the 0.44 keV < E < 1.21 keV band range, w(theta), for the extragalactic soft X-ray background (SXRB) which includes both the WHIM and contributions due to point sources, is approx. < 0.002 for 10 min < 0 < 20 min in the 3/4 keV band. This value is lower than the Croft et al. (2000) cosmological model by a factor of approx. 5, but is still not inconsistent with cosmological models. It is also found that the normalization of the extragalactic power law component of the soft X-ray background spectrum must be 9.5 +/- 0.9 keV/(s*sq cm*sr*keV) to be consistent with the ROSAT All-Sky Survey.

Kuntz, K. D.

Relativistic fireballs and their impact on external matter - Models for cosmological gamma-ray bursts

We discuss the production of cosmological gamma-ray bursts intense enough to be detected at cosmological distances. Events such as the coalescence of compact binaries can create sufficient energy on time scales much less than 1 s. A short 'primary' burst is expected when the resultant fireball becomes optically thin, but this may be weak because the bulk of the radiative energy has been converted into kinetic energy while still trapped within the fireball. But when this expanding material impacts on an external medium, its bulk kinetic energy can be rerandomized. The requirements on the composition of the fireball itself are less stringent than for other interpretations of cosmological gamma-ray bursts. Moreover, our model suggests that the spectra and time structure of the bursts may depend in interesting ways on the environment in which the energy-generating event occurs.

Meszaros, P.

Cosmic microwave background anisotropies in cold dark matter models with cosmological constant: The intermediate versus large angular scales

We obtain predictions for cosmic microwave background anisotropies at angular scales near 1 deg in the context of cold dark matter models with a nonzero cosmological constant, normalized to the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Differential Microwave Radiometer (DMR) detection. The results are compared to those computed in the matter-dominated models. We show that the coherence length of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy is almost insensitive to cosmological parameters, and the rms amplitude of the anisotropy increases moderately with decreasing total matter density, while being most sensitive to the baryon abundance. We apply these results in the statistical analysis of the published data from the UCSB South Pole (SP) experiment (Gaier et al. 1992; Schuster et al. 1993). We reject most of the Cold Dark Matter (CDM)-Lambda models at the 95% confidence level when both SP scans are simulated together (although the combined data set renders less stringent limits than the Gaier et al. data alone). However, the Schuster et al. data considered alone as well as the results of some other recent experiments (MAX, MSAM, Saskatoon), suggest that typical temperature fluctuations on degree scales may be larger than is indicated by the Gaier et al. scan. If so, CDM-Lambda models may indeed provide, from a point of view of CMB anisotropies, an acceptable alternative to flat CDM models.

Stompor, Radoslaw

Modeling the Cosmological Lyman-𝛼 Forest at the Field Level

The distribution of absorption lines in the spectra of distant quasars, called the Lyman-𝛼 (Ly-𝛼) forest, is a unique probe of cosmology and the intergalactic medium at high redshifts and small scales. The statistical power of ongoing redshift surveys demands precise theoretical tools to model the Ly-𝛼 forest. We address this challenge by developing an analytic, perturbative forward model to predict the Ly-𝛼 forest at the field level for a given set of cosmological initial conditions. Our model shows a remarkable performance when compared with the Sherwood hydrodynamic simulations: it reproduces the Ly-𝛼 forest flux power spectrum, its cross-correlation with dark matter halos, and the one-point probability distribution function of both fields at the percent level down to scales of a few Mpc. Our work provides crucial tools that bridge analytic modeling on large scales with simulations on small scales, enabling field-level inference from Ly-𝛼 forest data and simulation-based priors for cosmological analyses. Furthermore, this is especially timely for realizing the full scientific potential of the Ly-𝛼 forest measurements by the dark energy spectroscopic instrument.

Cosmological parameters