Possible indication for non-zero neutrino mass and additional neutrino species from cosmological observations

The constraints on total neutrino mass and effective number of neutrino species based on CMB anisotropy power spectrum, Hubble constant, baryon acoustic oscillations and galaxy cluster mass function data are presented. It is shown that discrepancies between various cosmological data in Hubble constant and density fluctuation amplitude, measured in standard ΛCDM cosmological model, can be eliminated if more than standard effective number of neutrino species and non-zero total neutrino mass are considered. This extension of ΛCDM model appears to be ≈3σ significant when all cosmological data are used. The model with approximately one additional neutrino type, N _eff ≈ 4, and with non-zero total neutrino mass, Σmν ≈ 0.5 eV, provide the best fit to the data. In the model with only one massive neutrino the upper limits on neutrino mass are slightly relaxed. It is shown that these deviations from ΛCDM model appearmainly due to the usage of recent data on the observations of baryon acoustic oscillations. The larger than standard number of neutrino species is measured mainly due to the comparison of the BAO data with direct measurements of Hubble constant, which was already noticed earlier. As it is shown below, the data on galaxy cluster mass function in this case give the measurement of non-zero neutrino mass.     

Testing dark energy with the Advanced Liquid-mirror Probe of Asteroids, Cosmology and Astrophysics

The Advanced Liquid-mirror Probe of Asteroids, Cosmology and Astrophysics (ALPACA) is a proposed 8-m liquid-mirror telescope surveying  ∼1000 deg²  of the Southern hemisphere sky. It will be a remarkably simple and inexpensive telescope that none the less will deliver a powerful sample of optical data for studying dark energy. The bulk of the cosmological data consist of nightly, high signal-to-noise ratio, multiband light curves of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). At the end of the 3-yr run, ALPACA is expected to collect  ≳100 000  SNe Ia up to   z ∼ 1  . This will allow us to reduce present systematic uncertainties affecting the standard-candle relation. The survey will also provide several other data sets such as the detection of baryon acoustic oscillations in the matter power spectrum and shear weak-lensing measurements. In this preliminary analysis, we forecast constraints on dark energy parameters from SNe Ia and baryon acoustic oscillations. The combination of these two data sets will provide competitive constraints on the dark energy parameters under minimal prior assumptions. Further studies are needed to address the accuracy of weak-lensing measurements.     

The influence of host galaxy morphology on the properties of Type Ia supernovae from the JLA compilation

The observational cosmology with distant Type Ia supernovae (SNe) as standard candles claims that the Universe is in accelerated expansion, caused by a large fraction of dark energy. In this paper we investigate the SN Ia environment, studying the impact of the nature of their host galaxies on the Hubble diagram fitting. The supernovae (192 SNe) used in the analysis were extracted from Joint-Light-curves-Analysis (JLA) compilation of high-redshift and nearby supernovae which is the best one to date. The analysis is based on the empirical fact that SN Ia luminosities depend on their light curve shapes and colors. We confirm that the stretch parameter of Type Ia supernovae is correlated with the host galaxy type. The supernovae with lower stretch are hosted mainly in elliptical and lenticular galaxies. No significant correlation between SN Ia colour and host morphology was found. We also examine how the luminosities of SNe Ia change depending on host galaxy morphology after stretch and colour corrections. Our results show that in old stellar populations and low dust environments, the supernovae are slightly fainter. SNe Ia in elliptical and lenticular galaxies have a higher α (slope in luminosity-stretch) and β (slope in luminosity-colour) parameter than in spirals. However, the observed shift is at the 1-σ uncertainty level and, therefore, can not be considered as significant. We confirm that the supernova properties depend on their environment and that the incorporation of a host galaxy term into the Hubble diagram fit is expected to be crucial for future cosmological analyses.     

Measurements of the Matter Density Perturbation Amplitude from Cosmological Data

The various measurements of the linear matter density perturbation amplitude obtained from the observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy, weak gravitational lensing, galaxy cluster mass function, matter power spectrum, and redshift space distortions are compared. The Planck data on the CMB temperature anisotropy spectrum at high multipoles, ? > 1000 (where the effect of gravitational lensing is most significant), are shown to give a measurement of the matter density perturbation amplitude that contradicts all other measurements of this quantity from both Planck CMB anisotropy data and other data at a significance level of about 3.7σ. Thus, at present these data should not be combined together for the calculations of constraints on cosmological parameters. Except for the Planck data on the CMB temperature anisotropy spectrum at high multipoles, all the remaining measurements of the density perturbation amplitude agree well between themselves and give the following constraints: σ₈ = 0.792± 0.006 on the linear matter density perturbation amplitude, Ω_m = 0.287± 0.007 on the matter density parameter, and H₀ = 69.4 ± 0.6 km s^?1 Mpc^?1 on the Hubble constant. Various constraints on the sum of neutrino masses and the number of neutrino flavors can be obtained by additionally taking into account the data on baryon acoustic oscillations and (or) direct Hubble constant measurements in the local Universe.     

Variable equation of state for Bianchi type-VI<Subscript>0</Subscript> dark energy models

We present dark energy models in an anisotropic Bianchi type-VI₀ (B-VI₀) space-time with a variable equation of state (EoS). The EoS for dark energy ω is found to be time dependent and its existing range for derived models is in good agreement with the recent observations of SNe Ia data (Knop et al. in Astrophys. J. 598:102 2003), SNe Ia data with CMBR anisotropy and galaxy clustering statistics (Tegmark et al. in Astrophys. J. 606:702, 2004b) and latest a combination of cosmological datasets coming from CMB anisotropies, luminosity distances of high redshift type Ia supernovae and galaxy clustering (Hinshaw et al. in Astrophys. J. Suppl. 180:225, 2009; Komatsu et al. in Astrophys. J. Suppl. 180:330, 2009). The cosmological constant Λ is found to be a positive decreasing function of time and it approaches a small positive value at late time (i.e. the present epoch) which is corroborated by results from recent supernovae Ia observations. The physical and geometric aspects of the models are also discussed in detail.     

Constraint on cosmological model with matter creation using complementary astronomical observations

The universe with adiabatic matter creation is considered. It is thought that the negative pressure caused by matter creation can play the role of a dark energy component, and drive the accelerating expansion of the universe. Using the Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) data, the observational Hubble parameter data, the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data and the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) data, we make constraints on the cosmological parameters, assuming a spatially flat universe. Our results show that the model with matter creation is consistent with the SNe Ia data, while the joint constraints of all these observational data disfavor this model. If the cosmological constant is taken into account, a traditional model without matter creation is favored by the joint observations.     

Non-zero rest mass neutrinos and the cosmological constant

Recently it was pointed out that a non-zero cosmological constant can play a role in the formation of neutrino halos only in the case of neutrinos of very low rest mass (m _v <-0.1eV). However, phase-space considerations would requirem _v >50 eV if neutrinos dominate the missing mass in halos of large spiral galaxies and moreoverm _v >200 eV is implied in the case of dwarf spheroidals. These larger neutrino masses would be in conflict with observed constraints on the age of the Universe unless a cosmological constant is invoked.     

Are Type Ia Supernovae Standard Candles?

The use of standard candles for distance measurements is wide spread. Yet, we currently do not know a pure standard candle in astronomy. The concept of standard candles involves not only the secure establishment of a unique luminosity but also a clear observational distinction of the objects as a class. Even Type Ia supernovae, whose maximum luminosity shows amongst the smallest scatter known, need to be normalised to provide accurate distances. Without this normalisation the cosmological claims based on supernovae would not be possible. With a careful normalisation Type Ia supernovae are the best known distance indicators for cosmology to date. This is most easily shown by the small dispersion around the expansion line in the Hubble diagram. Problems with the empirical normalisation remain and a theoretical understanding of this normalisation is missing. This has direct ramifications on systematic uncertainties when deriving cosmological implications from Type Ia supernovae. Improving the understanding of supernova physics is now the prime task to sharpen this tool of observational cosmology. Once the explosion mechanism is revealed a serious discussion of possible evolutionary effects in Type Ia supernovae can start.     

Observational constraints on G-corrected holographic dark energy using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method

We constrain holographic dark energy (HDE) with time varying gravitational coupling constant in the framework of the modified Friedmann equations using cosmological data from type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, cosmic microwave background radiation and X-ray gas mass fraction. Applying a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation, we obtain the best fit values of the model and cosmological parameters within 1σ confidence level (CL) in a flat universe as: $\varOmega_{b}h^{2}=0.0222^{+0.0018}_{-0.0013}$ , $\varOmega_{c}h^{2}=0.1121^{+0.0110}_{-0.0079}$ , $\alpha_{G}\equiv \dot{G}/(HG) =0.1647^{+0.3547}_{-0.2971}$ and the HDE constant $c=0.9322^{+0.4569}_{-0.5447}$ . Using the best fit values, the equation of state of the dark component at the present time w _d0 at 1σ CL can cross the phantom boundary w=?1.     

De Sitter universe described by a binary mixture with a variable cosmological constant $\lambda $

We have constructed a self-consistent system of Bianchi Type VI₀ cosmology, and mingling of perfect fluid and dark energy in five dimensions. The usual equation of state \(p = \gamma \rho \) with \(\gamma \in [0, 1]\) is chosen by the perfect fluid. The dark energy assumed to be chosen is taken into consideration to be either the quintessence or Chaplygin gas. The same solutions pertaining to the corresponding the field equations of Einstein are obtained as a quadrature. State parameter’s equations for dark energy \(\omega \) is found to be consistent enough with the recent observations of SNe Ia data (SNe Ia data with CMBR anisotropy) and galaxy clustering statistics. Here our models predict that the rate of expansion of Universe would increase with passage of time. The cosmological constant \(\varLambda \) is traced as a declining function of time and it gets nearer to a small positive value later on which is supported by the results from the current supernovae Ia observations. Also a detail discussion is made on the physical and geometrical aspects of the models.     

Improving the calibration of Type Ia supernovae using late-time light curves

The use of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) as cosmological standard candles is a key to solving the mystery of dark energy. Improving the calibration of SNe Ia increases their power as cosmological standard candles. We find tentative evidence for a correlation between the late-time light-curve slope and the peak luminosity of SNe Ia in the B band; brighter SNe Ia seem to have shallower light-curve slopes between 100 and 150 d from maximum light. Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis in calibrating SNe Ia, we are able to simultaneously take into consideration the effect of dust extinction, the luminosity and light-curve width correlation (parametrized by  Δ m ₁₅  ), and the luminosity and late-time light-curve slope correlation. For the available sample of 11 SNe Ia with well-measured late-time light curves, we find that correcting for the correlation between luminosity and late-time light-curve slope of the SNe Ia leads to an intrinsic dispersion of 0.12 mag in the Hubble diagram. Our results have significant implications for future supernova surveys aimed to illuminate the nature of dark energy.     

Burning regimes for thermonuclear supernovae and cosmological applications of SNe Ia

The method of multigroup radiation hydrodynamics is used to compute light curves for thermonuclear supernovae. Opacities are computed by taking into account spectral lines and expansion. UBVI fluxes are predicted. Our computed times of brightness rise to a maximum in B and V have been found to agree with observations better than those of other authors. The validity of our results is justified physically. The nuclear burning regime is shown to affect significantly the slope of the light curve in B and, to a slightly lesser extent, in V. If the prevailing burning regime during supernova explosions changed with age of the Universe, then the conclusion about a positive cosmological constant Λ drawn from observations of Type Ia supernovae may prove to be wrong.     

The C/O ratio of He-accreting carbon-oxygen white dwarfs and type Ia supernovae

Type Ia supernovae(SNe Ia) are thermonuclear explosions of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs(CO WDs), and are believed to be excellent cosmological distance indicators due to their high luminosity and remarkable uniformity. However, there exists a diversity among SNe Ia, and a poor understanding of the diversity hampers the improvement of the accuracy of cosmological distance measurements. The variations of the ratios of carbon to oxygen(C/O) of WDs at explosion are suggested to contribute to the diversity. In the canonical model of SNe Ia, a CO WD accretes matter from its companion and increases its mass till the Chandrasekhar mass limit when the WD explodes. In this work, we studied the C/O ratio for accreting CO WDs. Employing the stellar evolution code MESA, we simulated the accretion of He-rich material onto CO WDs with different initial WD masses and different mass accretion rates. We found that the C/O ratio varies for different cases. The C/O ratio of He-accreting CO WDs at explosion increases with a decreasing initial WD mass or a decreasing accretion rate. The various C/O ratios may, therefore, contribute to the diversity of SNe Ia.     

Brief history of metal accumulation in the intracluster medium

We use models of the rates of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and core-collapsed supernovae, built in such a way that both are consistent with recent observational constraints at   z ≲ 1.6  and can reproduce the measured cosmic star formation rate, to recover the history of metal accumulation in the intracluster medium. We show that these SN rates, in unit of SN number per comoving volume and rest-frame year, provide on average a total amount of iron that is marginally consistent with the value measured in galaxy clusters in the redshift range 0–1, and a relative evolution with redshift that is in agreement with the observational constraints up to   z ≈ 1.2  . Moreover, we verify that the predicted metals-to-iron ratios reproduce the measurements obtained in nearby clusters through X-ray analysis, implying that (1) about half of the iron mass and ≳75 per cent of the nickel mass observed locally are produced by SN Ia ejecta, (2) the SN Ia contribution to the metal budget decreases steeply with redshift and by   z ≈ 1  is already less than half of the local amount, and (3) a transition in the abundance ratios relative to iron is present between redshifts ∼0.5 and 1.4, with core-collapsed SN products becoming dominant at higher redshifts.     

Neutrinos in the early universe

The neutrinos from the Big Bang or the Cosmic Neutrino Background (CNB) carry precious information from the early epoch when our universe was only 1 s old. Although not yet directly detected, CNB may be revealed indirectly through cosmological observations due to neutrino important cosmological influence.We review the cosmological role of neutrinos and the cosmological constraints on neutrino characteristics. Namely, we discuss the impact of neutrinos in the early universe: the cosmic expansion, neutrino decoupling, the role of neutrinos in the primordial production of light elements, leptogenesis, etc. We briefly discuss the role of neutrino at later stages of the universe.Due to the considerable cosmological influence of neutrinos, cosmological bounds on neutrino properties from observational data exist. We review the cosmological constraints on the effective number of neutrino species, neutrino mass and mixing parameters, lepton number of the universe, presence of sterile neutrino, etc.     

Intensive supernovae searches

In the coming years, a number of projects will start intensive supernovæsearches resulting in an increase of the current statistics by a factor of 10. At low redshift, the Nearby Supernova Factory will detect and follow spectrophotometricly ～ 400 of SNe Ia with a redshift at z ～ 0.05, and improve our understanding of the intrinsic properties of SNe Ia. At high redshift, the large imager Megacam at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope running in a survey mode, will make it possible to detect and follow a large amount of high redshift supernovae. Using Megacam during 5 years ～ 1000 Type Ia SNe will be detected, at z ranging from 0.3 to 1.2, and ～ 700 will be used for measuring the cosmological parameters via the Hubble diagram. They will provide a measurement of the cosmic equation of state parameter w. A first test run search was done last spring at the CFHT, using the current imager: the `CFH 12k'. Detection procedure and preliminary results are presented in this article.     

Conformal analogs of the Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory. I.

Recent cosmological observations of large-scale structures (red shift of type Ia supernovae) confirm that the universe is currently expanding at an accelerating rate and its dominant component is dark energy. This has stimulated the development of the theory of gravity and led to many alternative variants, including tensor-scalar ones. This paper deals with the role of conformal transformations in the Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory. Variants of intrinsic, conformally coupled, and Einstein representations are examined. In the Einstein representation an exact analytic solution for the standard cosmological model is obtained. It is expressed in terms of the relative energy contributions of ordinary matter Ω _m , the scalar field Ω _CK , and a term Ω_Λ related to the cosmological constant Λ . Information on the evolution of the universe for the case with a minimally coupled scalar field is given in the form of graphs.     

A simple approach to the high-redshift sub-millimeter galaxies

We aim at understanding the statistical properties of luminous sub-millimeter (submm) galaxies (SMGs) in the context of cosmological structure formation. By utilizing a cosmological N-body simulation to calculate the distribution of dark halos in the Universe, we consider the dust enrichment in individual halos by Type II supernovae (SNe II). The SN II rate is estimated under a star formation activity which is assumed to occur on a dynamical timescale in the dark matter potential. Our simple framework successfully explains the luminosity function, the typical star formation rate, and the typical dust mass of an observational SMG sample at z～3. We also examine the clustering properties of SMGs, since a positive cross correlation between SMGs and Lyα emitters (LAEs) is indeed observed by a recent observation. In the simulation, we select SMGs by FIR dust luminosity >10¹² L _⊙, while LAEs are chosen such that the age and the virial mass are consistent with the observed LAE properties. The SMGs and LAEs selected in this way show a spatial cross correlation whose strength is consistent with the observation. This confirms that the SMGs really trace the most clustered regions at z～3 and that their luminosities can be explained by the dust accumulation as a result of their star formation activities. We extend our prediction to higher redshifts, finding that a statistical sample of submm galaxies at z≥6 can be obtained by ALMA with a 100 arcmin² survey. With the same survey, a few submm galaxies at z～10 may be detected.     

A new class of LRS Bianchi type-II dark energy models with variable EoS parameter

A new class of dark energy models in a Locally Rotationally Symmetric Bianchi type-II (LRS B-II) space-time with variable equation of state (EoS) parameter and constant deceleration parameter have been investigated in the present paper. The Einstein’s field equations have been solved by applying a variation law for generalized Hubble’s parameter given by Berman: Nuovo Cimento 74:182 (1983) which generates two types of solutions for the average scale factor, one is of power-law type and other is of the exponential-law form. Using these two forms, Einstein’s field equations are solved separately that correspond to expanding singular and non-singular models of the universe respectively. The dark energy EoS parameter ω is found to be time dependent and its existing range for both models is in good agreement with the three recent observations of (i) SNe Ia data (Knop et al.: Astrophys. J. 598:102 (2003)), (ii) SNe Ia data collaborated with CMBR anisotropy and galaxy clustering statistics (Tegmark et al.: Astrophys. J. 606:702 (2004)) and latest (iii) a combination of cosmological datasets coming from CMB anisotropies, luminosity distances of high redshift type Ia supernovae and galaxy clustering (Hinshaw et al.: Astrophys. J. Suppl. 180:225 (2009); Komatsu et al. Astrophys. J. Suppl. 180:330 (2009)). The cosmological constant Λ is found to be a positive decreasing function of time and it approaches a small positive value at late time (i.e. the present epoch) which is corroborated by results from recent supernovae Ia observations. The physical and geometric behaviour of the universe have also been discussed in detail.     

Using bright ellipticals as dark energy cosmic clocks

The age of the Universe has been increasingly constrained by different techniques, such as the observations of type Ia supernovae (SNIa) at high redshift or dating the stellar populations of globular clusters. In this paper, we present a complementary approach using the colours of the brightest elliptical galaxies in clusters over a wide redshift range  ( z ≲ 1)  . We put new and independent bounds on the dark energy equation of state parametrized by a constant pressure-to-density ratio   w _Q  and by a parameter (ξ) which determines the scaling between the matter and dark energy densities. We find that accurate estimates of the metallicities of the stellar populations in moderate and high-redshift cluster galaxies can pose stringent constraints on the parameters that describe dark energy. Our results are in good agreement with the analysis of dark energy models using SNIa data as a constraint. Accurate estimates of the metallicities of stellar populations in cluster galaxies at   z ≲ 2  will make this approach a powerful complement to studies of cosmological parameters using high-redshift SNIa.