Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Cosmology Cosmic Microwave Background: Observations”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

QCD axion: Some like it hot

We compare the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion phase-space distribution from unitarized next-to-leading order chiral perturbation theory with the one extracted from pion-scattering data. We derive a robust bound by confronting momentum-dependent Boltzmann equations against up-to-date observations of the cosmic microwave background, of the baryonic acoustic oscillations and of primordial abundances. These datasets imply 𝑚 𝑎 ≤ 0.16 eV for the 95% credible interval, i.e., ∼ 30% stronger bound than what previously found. We present forecasts using dedicated likelihoods for future cosmological surveys and the sphaleron rate from unquenched lattice QCD.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

SPT-3G D1: Axion early dark energy with CMB experiments and DESI observations

We present the most up-to-date constraints on axion early dark energy (AEDE) from cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements. In particular, we assess the impact of data from ground-based CMB experiments, the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT)—both with and without Planck—on constraints on AEDE. We also highlight the impact that BAO information from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has on these constraints. From CMB data alone, we do not find statistically significant evidence for the presence of AEDE, and we find only moderate reduction in the Hubble tension. From the latest SPT data alone, we find the maximal fractional contribution of AEDE to the cosmic energy budget is f EDE < 0.12 at 95% confidence level (CL), and the Hubble tension between the SPT and Supernovae, H0, for the Equation of State of Dark Energy (SH0ES) results is reduced to the 2.3 σ level. When combining the latest SPT, ACT, and Planck datasets, we find f EDE < 0.070 at 95% CL and the Hubble tension at the 3.6 σ level. In contrast, adding DESI data to the CMB datasets results in mild preference for AEDE and, in some cases, non-negligible reduction in the Hubble tension. From SPT + DESI , we find f EDE = 0.08 1 - 0.052 + 0.037 at 68% CL, and the Hubble tension reduces to 1.5 σ . From the combination of DESI with all three CMB experiments, we get f EDE = 0.05 5 - 0.047 + 0.024 at 68% CL and a weak preference for AEDE over Λ CDM . This data combination, in turn, reduces the Hubble tension to 2.6 σ . We highlight that this shift in parameters when adding the DESI dataset is a manifestation of the discrepancy currently present between DESI and CMB experiments in the concordance model Λ CDM .

Khalife, A. R. [Paris, Inst. Astrophys.] (ORCID:00↗
DOE OSTI2025

Constraining cosmological parameters using the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect with CMB-S4 and future galaxy cluster surveys

We present a forecast of the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (kSZ) measurement that will be achievable with the future CMB-S4 experiment. CMB-S4 is the next stage for ground-based cosmic microwave background experiments, with a planned wide-area survey that will observe approximately 50% of the sky. We construct a simulated sample of galaxy clusters that have been optically selected in a Legacy Survey of Space and Time–like survey and have spectroscopic redshifts. For this cluster sample, assuming the likelihood is Gaussian, we predict that CMB-S4 will reject the null hypothesis of zero pairwise kSZ signal at 36⁢𝜎. We estimate the effects of systematic uncertainties such as scatter in the mass-richness scaling relation and cluster miscentering. We find that these effects can reduce the signal-to-noise ratio of the CMB-S4 pairwise kSZ measurement by 20%. We explore the constraining power of the measured kSZ signal in combination with measurements of the galaxy clusters’ thermal SZ emission on two extensions to the standard cosmological model. The first extension allows the dark energy equation of state 𝑤 to vary. We find the CMB-S4 pairwise kSZ measurement yields a modest reduction in the uncertainty on 𝑤 by a factor of 1.36 over the Planck’s 2018 uncertainty. The second extension tests general relativity by varying the growth index 𝛾. In conclusion, we find that CMB-S4’s pairwise kSZ measurement will yield a 28⁢𝜎 constraint on 𝛾 and strongly constrain alternative theories of gravity.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Step in Understanding the Hubble Tension

As cosmological data have improved, tensions have arisen. One such tension is the difference between the locally measured Hubble constant H 0 and the value inferred from the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Interacting radiation has been suggested as a solution, but studies show that conventional models are precluded by high-ℓ CMB polarization data. It seems at least plausible that a solution may be provided by related models that distinguish between high- and low-ℓ multipoles. When interactions of strongly-coupled radiation are mediated by a force-carrier that becomes non-relativistic, the dark radiation undergoes a "step" in which its relative energy density increases as the mediator deposits its entropy into the lighter species. If this transition occurs while CMB-observable modes are inside the horizon, high- and low-ℓ peaks are impacted differently, corresponding to modes that enter the horizon before or after the step. Here, these dynamics are naturally packaged into the simplest supersymmetric theory, the Wess-Zumino model, with the mass of the scalar mediator near the eV-scale. We investigate the cosmological signatures of such "Wess-Zumino Dark Radiation" (WZDR) and find that it provides an improved fit to the CMB alone, favoring larger values of H 0 . If supernovae measurements from the SH0ES collaboration are also included in the analysis, the inferred value of H 0 is yet larger, but the preference for dark radiation and the location of the transition is left nearly unchanged. Utilizing a standardized set of measures, we compare to other models and find that WZDR is among the most successful at addressing the H 0 tension and the best of those with a Lagrangian formulation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Axion baryogenesis puts a new spin on the Hubble tension

We show that a rotating axion field that makes a transition from a matterlike equation of state to a kinationlike equation of state around the epoch of recombination can significantly ameliorate the Hubble tension, i.e., the discrepancy between the determinations of the present-day expansion rate H 0 from observations of the cosmic microwave background on one hand and type Ia supernovae on the other. We consider a specific, UV-complete model of such a rotating axion and find that it can relax the Hubble tension without exacerbating tensions in determinations of other cosmological parameters, in particular the amplitude of matter fluctuations S 8 . We subsequently demonstrate how this rotating axion model can also generate the baryon asymmetry of our Universe, by introducing a coupling of the axion field to right-handed neutrinos. This baryogenesis model predicts heavy neutral leptons that are most naturally within reach of future lepton colliders, but in finely tuned regions of parameter space may also be accessible at the high-luminosity LHC and the beam dump experiment SHiP. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Co, Raymond T. (ORCID:0000000283957056)↗
DOE OSTI2026

Dark Energy Survey Year 3: Blue shear

Modeling the intrinsic alignment (IA) of galaxies poses a challenge to weak lensing analyses. Here, using the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 shape catalog, we expect less impact from IA when we limit the sample to blue, star-forming galaxies. The cosmological parameter constraints from this BLUE cosmic shear sample are stable to IA model choice, unlike passive galaxies in the full DES Y3 sample, the goodness-of-fit is improved and the Ω m and 𝑆 8 better agree with the observations from Planck on the cosmic microwave background. Mitigating IA with sample selection in DES, rather than flexible model choices, can reduce uncertainty in 𝑆 8 by a factor of 1.5.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Weak Lensing And Cosmology In The Dark Energy Survey

In this PhD Thesis, we present studies which aim at understanding and testing the fundamental assumptions of the $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model. We initially show that weak gravitational lensing can be derived as a consequence of General Relativity, and that it can be applied to astronomical data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) in order to constrain the amplitude of matter fluctuations in the universe. This constraint can be used as an end-to-end cosmological test when it is compared to inferences from the Cosmic Microwave Background. We further extend the cosmological model to account for non-standard parameters which can point to novel physics, and use DES data to assess their statistical significance. We finally show that the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) paradigm can also be fundamentally tested with observational data using morphological signatures of disk galaxies in cluster environments if CDM is self-interacting.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Forecasting the Ly-𝛼 forest × CMB lensing bispectrum from ACT, SO, S4, and DESI

We forecast the sensitivity of future correlations between cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing and the Lyman-𝛼 forest power spectrum. This squeezed-limit bispectrum probes the connection between the Lyman-𝛼 transmission and the underlying large-scale matter density field. We recover the measured signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio obtained with Planck × BOSS, and forecast a SNR of 10.3, 14.8 and 20.2 for DESI combined with ACT, SO, and CMB-S4, respectively. For DESI and SO/CMB-S4, the correlation should be detectable at SNR ≥ 5 in 5 redshift bins, useful for distinguishing our signal from several contaminants. Indeed, our forecast is affected by large theoretical uncertainties in the current modeling of the signal and its contaminants, such as continuum misestimation bias or damped-Lyman-𝛼 absorbers. Quantifying these more accurately will be crucial to enable a reliable cosmological interpretation of this observable in future measurements. We attempt to enumerate the features required in future Lyman-𝛼 forest simulations required to do so.

Cosmic microwave background↗
DOE OSTI2021

Geometry versus growth: Internal consistency of the flat ΛCDM model with KiDS-1000

Here, we carry out a multi-probe self-consistency test of the flat Lambda Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) model with the aim of exploring potential causes of the reported tensions between high- and low-redshift cosmological observations. We divide the model into two theory regimes determined by the smooth background (geometry) and the evolution of matter density fluctuations (growth), each governed by an independent set of ΛCDM cosmological parameters. This extended model is constrained by a combination of weak gravitational lensing measurements from the Kilo-Degree Survey, galaxy clustering signatures extracted from Sloan Digital Sky Survey campaigns and the Six-Degree Field Galaxy Survey, and the angular baryon acoustic scale and the primordial scalar fluctuation power spectrum measured in Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. For both the weak lensing data set individually and the combined probes, we find strong consistency between the geometry and growth parameters, as well as with the posterior of standard ΛCDM analysis. In the non-split analysis, for which one single set of parameters was used, tension in the amplitude of matter density fluctuations as measured by the parameter S 8 persists at around 3σ, with a 1.5% constraint of S 8 = 0.776$_{–0.008}^{+0.016}$ for the combined probes. We also observe a less significant preference (at least 2σ) for higher values of the Hubble constant, H 0 = 70.5$_{–1.5}^{+0.7}$ km s –1 Mpc –1 , as well as for lower values of the total matter density parameter Ω m = 0.289$_{–0.005}^{+0.007}$ compared to the full Planck analysis. Including the subset of the CMB information in the probe combination enhances these differences rather than alleviate them, which we link to the discrepancy between low and high multipoles in Planck data. Our geometry versus growth analysis does not yet yield clear signs regarding whether the origin of the discrepancies lies in ΛCDM structure growth or expansion history but holds promise as an insightful test for forthcoming, more powerful data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Confronting interacting dark radiation scenarios with cosmological data

Dark radiation (DR) is generally predicted in new physics scenarios that address fundamental puzzles of the Standard Model or tensions in the cosmological data. Cosmological data have the sensitivity to constrain not only the energy density of DR but also whether it is interacting. In this paper, we present a systematic study of five types of interacting DR (free-streaming, fluid, decoupling, instantaneous decoupling, and recoupling DR) and their impact on cosmological observables. We modify the Boltzmann hierarchy to describe all these types of interacting DR under the relaxation time approximation. We, for the first time, robustly calculate the collision terms for recoupling scalar DR and provide a better estimation of the recoupling transition redshift. We demonstrate the distinct features of each type of DR on the cosmic microwave background and matter power spectra. We perform Markov-chain Monte Carlo scans using the Planck 2018 data and baryon acoustic oscillation data. Assuming no new physics in the standard model neutrino sector, we find no statistically significant constraints on the couplings of DR, although there is a slight preference for the fluidlike limit of all the cases. In the case of instantaneous decoupling DR, this limit corresponds to a late transition redshift around recombination. Furthermore, the ΔN eff constraint varies marginally depending on the type of DR.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Searching for axionlike time-dependent cosmic birefringence with data from SPT-3G

Ultralight axionlike particles (ALPs) are compelling dark matter candidates because of their potential to resolve small-scale discrepancies between Λ CDM predictions and cosmological observations. Axion-photon coupling induces a polarization rotation in linearly polarized photons traveling through an ALP field; thus, as the local ALP dark matter field oscillates in time, distant static polarized sources will appear to oscillate with a frequency proportional to the ALP mass. We use observations of the cosmic microwave background from SPT-3G, the current receiver on the South Pole Telescope, to set upper limits on the value of the axion-photon coupling constant g φ γ over the approximate mass range 10 - 22 – 10 - 19 eV , corresponding to oscillation periods from 12 hours to 100 days. For periods between 1 and 100 days ( 4.7 × 10 - 22 eV ≤ m φ ≤ 4.7 × 10 - 20 eV ), where the limit is approximately constant, we set a median 95% C.L. upper limit on the amplitude of on-sky polarization rotation of 0.071 deg. Assuming that dark matter comprises a single ALP species with a local dark matter density of 0.3 GeV / cm 3 , this corresponds to g φ γ < 1.18 × 10 - 12 GeV - 1 × ( m φ 1.0 × 10 - 21 eV ) . These new limits represent an improvement over the previous strongest limits set using the same effect by a factor of ~ 3.8 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Sub-percentage measure of distances to redshift of 0.1 by a new cosmic ruler

ABSTRACT Distance-redshift diagrams probe expansion history of the Universe. We show that the stellar mass-binding energy (massE) relation of galaxies proposed in our previous study offers a new distance ruler at cosmic scales. By using elliptical galaxies in the main galaxy sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7, we construct a distance-redshift diagram over the redshift range from 0.05 to 0.2 with the massE ruler. The best-fit dark energy density is 0.675 ± 0.079 for flat Λ-cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model, consistent with those by other probes. At the median redshift of 0.11, the median distance is estimated to have a fractional error of 0.34 per cent, much lower than those by supernova (SN) Ia and baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) and even exceeding their future capability at this redshift. The above low-$\mathit{ z}$ measurement is useful for probing dark energy that dominates at the late Universe. For a flat dark energy equation of state model (flat wCDM), the massE alone constrains w to an error that is only a factor of 2.2, 1.7, and 1.3 times larger than those by BAO, SN Ia, and cosmic microwave background (CMB), respectively.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

FORSE+: Simulating non-Gaussian CMB foregrounds at 3 arcmin in a stochastic way based on a generative adversarial network

We present FORSE+, a Python package that produces non-Gaussian diffuse Galactic thermal dust emission maps at arcminute angular scales and that has the capacity to generate random realizations of small scales. This represents an extension of the FORSE (Foreground Scale Extender) package, which was recently proposed to simulate non-Gaussian small scales of thermal dust emission using generative adversarial networks (GANs). With the input of the large-scale polarization maps from observations, FORSE+ has been trained to produce realistic polarized small scales at 3′ following the statistical properties, mainly the non-Gaussianity, of observed intensity small scales, which are evaluated through Minkowski functionals. Furthermore, by adding different realizations of random components to the large-scale foregrounds, we show that FORSE+ is able to generate small scales in a stochastic way. In both cases, the output small scales have a similar level of non-Gaussianity compared with real observations and correct amplitude scaling as a power law. These realistic new maps will be useful, in the future, to understand the impact of non-Gaussian foregrounds on the measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) signal, particularly on the lensing reconstruction, de-lensing, and the detection of cosmological gravitational waves in CMB polarizationB-modes.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Dark matter isocurvature from curvature

Isocurvature fluctuations, where the relative number density of particle species spatially varies, can be generated from initially adiabatic, or curvature, fluctuations if the various species fall out of or were never in thermal equilibrium. The freezing of the thermal relic dark matter abundance is one such case, but for modes that are still outside the horizon the amplitude is highly suppressed and originates from the small change in the local expansion rate due to the local space curvature produced by the curvature fluctuation. We establish a simple separate-universe method for calculating this generation that applies to both freeze-in and freeze-out models, identify three critical epochs for this process, and give general scaling behaviors for the amplitude in each case: the freezing epoch, the kinetic decoupling epoch and matter-radiation equality. Freeze-out models are typically dominated by spatially modulated annihilation from the latter epochs and can generate much larger isocurvature fluctuations compared with typical freeze-in models, albeit still very small and observationally allowed by cosmic microwave background measurements. Here, we illustrate these results with concrete models where the dark matter interactions are vector or scalar mediated.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) science: Resolving the hot and ionized Universe through the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect

An omnipresent feature of the multi-phase “cosmic web” — the large-scale filamentary backbone of the Universe — is that warm/hot (≳ 10 5 K) ionized gas pervades it. This gas constitutes a relevant contribution to the overall universal matter budget across multiple scales, from the several tens of Mpc-scale intergalactic filaments, to the Mpc intracluster medium (ICM), all the way down to the circumgalactic medium (CGM) surrounding individual galaxies, on scales from ~ 1 kpc up to their respective virial radii (~ 100 kpc). The study of the hot baryonic component of cosmic matter density represents a powerful means for constraining the intertwined evolution of galactic populations and large-scale cosmological structures, for tracing the matter assembly in the Universe and its thermal history. To this end, the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect provides the ideal observational tool for measurements out to the beginnings of structure formation. The SZ effect is caused by the scattering of the photons from the cosmic microwave background off the hot electrons embedded within cosmic structures, and provides a redshift-independent perspective on the thermal and kinematic properties of the warm/hot gas. Still, current and next-generation (sub)millimeter facilities have been providing only a partial view of the SZ Universe due to any combination of: limited angular resolution, spectral coverage, field of view, spatial dynamic range, sensitivity, or all of the above. In this paper, we motivate the development of a wide-field, broad-band, multi-chroic continuum instrument for the Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) by identifying the scientific drivers that will deepen our understanding of the complex thermal evolution of cosmic structures. On a technical side, this will necessarily require efficient multi-wavelength mapping of the SZ signal with an unprecedented spatial dynamic range (from arcsecond to degree scales) and we employ detailed theoretical forecasts to determine the key instrumental constraints for achieving our goals.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

No ν s is Good News

The baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) analysis from the first year of data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), when combined with data from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), has placed an upper-limit on the sum of neutrino masses, ∑m ν < 70 meV (95%). In addition to excluding the minimum sum associated with the inverted hierarchy, the posterior is peaked at ∑m ν = 0 and is close to excluding even the minumum sum, 58 meV at 2σ. In this paper, we explore the implications of this data for cosmology and particle physics. The sum of neutrino mass is determined in cosmology from the suppression of clustering in the late universe. Allowing the clustering to be enhanced, we extended the DESI analysis to ∑m ν < 0 and find ∑m ν =160 ± 90 meV (68%), and that the suppression of power from the minimum sum of neutrino masses is excluded at 99% confidence. We show this preference for negative masses makes it challenging to explain the result by a shift of cosmic parameters, such as the optical depth or matter density. We then show how a result of ∑m ν = 0 could arise from new physics in the neutrino sector, including decay, cooling, and/or time-dependent masses. These models are consistent with current observations but imply new physics that is accessible in a wide range of experiments. In addition, we discuss how an apparent signal with ∑m ν < 0 can arise from new long range forces in the dark sector or from a primordial trispectrum that resembles the signal of CMB lensing.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Hubble constant difference between CMB lensing and BAO measurements

We apply a tension metric QUDM, the update difference in mean parameters, to understand the source of the difference in the measured Hubble constant H0 inferred with cosmic microwave background lensing measurements from the Planck satellite (H 0 = $67.9$ $^{+1.1}_{–1.3}$ km/s/Mpc) and from the South Pole Telescope (H 0 = $72.0$ $^{+2.1}_{–2.5}$ km/s/Mpc) when both are combined with baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements with priors on the baryon density (BBN). Q UDM isolates the relevant parameter directions for tension or concordance where the two data sets are both informative, and aids in the identification of subsets of data that source the observed tension. With Q UDM , we uncover that the difference in H 0 is driven by the tension between Planck lensing and BAO+BBN, at probability-to-exceed of 6.6%. Most of this mild tension comes from the galaxy BAO measurements parallel to the line of sight in the redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.75. Here, the redshift dependence of the parallel BAOs pulls both the matter density Ω m and H 0 high in Λ CDM, but these parameter anomalies are usually hidden when the BAO measurements are combined with other cosmological data sets with much stronger Ω m constraints.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Agora : Multicomponent simulation for cross-survey science

ABSTRACT Next-generation cosmological surveys will observe large portions of the sky, with significant overlap between them. Multi-wavelength observations will enable us to analyse the same large-scale structure from different angles using a variety of tracers and astrophysical effects. The complex interplay between these observables calls for a model that can accurately and coherently describe their collective behaviour, posing a challenge that can only be met through the use of simulations. In this work, a suite of simulated extragalactic skies is presented, including maps and/or catalogues of cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing, thermal and kinetic Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (tSZ/kSZ) effects, cosmic infrared background (CIB), radio sources, galaxy overdensity and galaxy weak lensing. Each of these probes is implemented in the lightcone using halo catalogues and/or particles from the Multidark-Planck2 ($\small {MDPL2}$) N-body simulation, and the modelling is calibrated using hydrodynamic simulations and publicly available data. The auto and cross-spectra of the individual probes, as well as the cross-spectra between the observables, are shown to be consistent with theoretical models and measurements from data. The simulation is shown to have a wide range of applications, including forecasting, pipeline testing, and evaluating astrophysical biases in cross-correlation measurements. It is further demonstrated that the simulation products produced in this work have sufficient accuracy to recover the input cosmology when subjected to a full cosmological analysis and are ready for application in real-world analyses for ongoing and future surveys. The simulation products presented in this work can be accessed at: https://yomori.github.io/agora/index.html.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗