Cosmic Clock Research Articles

The Pulsar Search Collaboratory: Expanding Nationwide

The Pulsar Search Collaboratory (PSC) engages high school students and teachers in analyzing real data from the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope for the purpose of discovering exotic stars called pulsars. These cosmic clocks can be used as a galactic-scale detector of gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime that have recently been directly detected from the mergers of stellar-mass black holes. Through immersing students in an authentic, positive learning environment to build a sense of belonging and competency, the goal of the PSC is to promote students’ long-term interests in science and science careers. Pulsar Search Collaboratory students have discovered seven pulsars since the start of the PSC in 2008. Originally targeted at teachers and students in West Virginia, over time the program has grown to 18 states. In a new effort to scale the PSC nationally, the PSC has developed an integrated online training program with both self-guided lectures and homework and real-time interactions with pulsar astronomers. Now, any high school student can join in the exciting search for pulsars and the discovery of a new type of gravitational waves.

Constraints on field flows of quintessence dark energy

The quest for understanding the late-time acceleration is haunted by an immense freedom in the analysis of dynamical models for dark energy in extended parameter spaces. Often-times having no prior knowledge at our disposal, arbitrary choices are implemented to reduce the degeneracies between parameters. We also encounter this issue in the case of quintessence fields, where a scalar degree of freedom drives the late-time acceleration. In this study, we implement a more physical prescription, the \textit{flow} condition, to fine-tune the quintessence evolution for several field potentials. We find that this prescription agrees well with the most recent catalogue of data, namely supernovae type Ia, baryon acoustic oscillations, cosmic clocks and distance to last scattering surface, and it enables us to infer the initial conditions for the field, both potential and cosmological parameters. At $2\sigma$ we find stricter bounds on the potential parameters $f/m_{pl}>0.26$ and $n<0.15$ for the PNGB and IPL potentials, respectively, while constraints on cosmological parameters remain extremely consistent across all assumed potentials. By implementing information criteria to assess their ability to fit the data, we do not find any evidence against thawing models, which in fact are statistically equivalent to $\Lambda$CDM, and the freezing ones are moderately disfavoured. Through our analysis we place upper bounds on the slope of quintessence potentials, consequently revealing a strong tension with the recently proposed swampland criterion, finding the 2$\sigma$ upper bound of $\lambda \sim 0.31$ for the exponential potential.

Erratum: Cosmic clocks: a tight radius — velocity relationship for H i-selected galaxies

Erratum: Cosmic clocks: a tight radius — velocity relationship for H i-selected galaxies

Cosmic clocks: a tight radius–velocity relationship for H i-selected galaxies

HI-Selected galaxies obey a linear relationship between their maximum detected radius Rmax and rotational velocity. This result covers measurements in the optical, ultraviolet, and HI emission in galaxies spanning a factor of 30 in size and velocity, from small dwarf irregulars to the largest spirals. Hence, galaxies behave as clocks, rotating once a Gyr at the very outskirts of their discs. Observations of a large optically-selected sample are consistent, implying this relationship is generic to disc galaxies in the low redshift Universe. A linear RV relationship is expected from simple models of galaxy formation and evolution. The total mass within Rmax has collapsed by a factor of 37 compared to the present mean density of the Universe. Adopting standard assumptions we find a mean halo spin parameter lambda in the range 0.020 to 0.035. The dispersion in lambda, 0.16 dex, is smaller than expected from simulations. This may be due to the biases in our selection of disc galaxies rather than all halos. The estimated mass densities of stars and atomic gas at Rmax are similar (~0.5 Msun/pc^2) indicating outer discs are highly evolved. The gas consumption and stellar population build time-scales are hundreds of Gyr, hence star formation is not driving the current evolution of outer discs. The estimated ratio between Rmax and disc scale length is consistent with long-standing predictions from monolithic collapse models. Hence, it remains unclear whether disc extent results from continual accretion, a rapid initial collapse, secular evolution or a combination thereof.

Backreaction and FRW consistency conditions

If the FRW metric is a good approximation on large scales, then the distance and the expansion rate, as well different notions of distance, satisfy certain consistency conditions. We fit the JLA SNIa distance data to determine the expected amplitude of the violation of these conditions if accelerated expansion is due to backreaction. Adding cosmic clock and BAO expansion rate data, we also model-independently determine the current observational limits on such violation. We find that the predicted maximum backreaction amplitude |kH| ≲ 1 (95% C.I.) is of the same order as the current observational constraints |kH| ≲ 1, the precise numbers depending on the adopted fitting method (polynomials or splines) and stellar population evolution model. We also find that constraints on the value of H0 determined from expansion rate data are sensitive to the stellar evolution model. We forecast constraints from projected LSST+Euclid-like SNIa plus Euclid galaxy differential age data. We find improvement by factor of 6 for the backreaction case and 3 for the model-independent case, probing an interesting region of possible signatures.

The euphoria of energy and mass exchange in contrast to the energized and massmized Cosmic clock

The Cosmic mirage has no sense of the past, present, and future, while the Cosmic clock keeps tracks of the past, present, and future by the intensities of energization and massimization. The naming and renaming of the changes of the Cosmic mirage reflect the diversified theories and laws that have deceived observers. An energized and massmized version of I-Ching and Tao Ching invokes the miniscule-DNA of the Cosmo, defined as the virgin state of homogeneity, without time and dimension.In particular, the energy and mass exchange (EME) like relation E=mv2 shows that the ELPSs are images to be named and renamed. It can also be used to monitor the intensities of energization and massimization of the Cosmic clock.

White dwarfs in the Gaia era

AbstractThe vast majority of stars will become white dwarfs at the end of the stellar life cycle. These remnants are precise cosmic clocks owing to their well constrained cooling rates. Gaia Data Release 2 is expected to discover hundreds of thousands of white dwarfs, which can then be observed spectroscopically with WEAVE and 4MOST. By employing spectroscopically derived atmospheric parameters combined with Gaia parallaxes, white dwarfs can constrain the stellar formation history in the early developing phases of the Milky Way, the initial mass function in the 1.5 to 8 M⊙ range, and the stellar mass loss as well as the state of planetary systems during the post main-sequence evolution.

On the robustness of the Hβ Lick index as a cosmic clock in passive early-type galaxies

We examine the H$\beta$ Lick index in a sample of $\sim 24000$ massive ($\rm log(M/M_{\odot})>10.75$) and passive early-type galaxies extracted from SDSS at z<0.3, in order to assess the reliability of this index to constrain the epoch of formation and age evolution of these systems. We further investigate the possibility of exploiting this index as "cosmic chronometer", i.e. to derive the Hubble parameter from its differential evolution with redshift, hence constraining cosmological models independently of other probes. We find that the H$\beta$ strength increases with redshift as expected in passive evolution models, and shows at each redshift weaker values in more massive galaxies. However, a detailed comparison of the observed index with the predictions of stellar population synthesis models highlights a significant tension, with the observed index being systematically lower than expected. By analyzing the stacked spectra, we find a weak [NII]$\lambda6584$ emission line (not detectable in the single spectra) which anti-correlates with the mass, that can be interpreted as a hint of the presence of ionized gas. We estimated the correction of the H$\beta$ index by the residual emission component exploiting different approaches, but find it very uncertain and model-dependent. We conclude that, while the qualitative trends of the observed H$\beta$-z relations are consistent with the expected passive and downsizing scenario, the possible presence of ionized gas even in the most massive and passive galaxies prevents to use this index for a quantitative estimate of the age evolution and for cosmological applications.

Misbehaving pulsar will show us how they tick

Not all of the universe's clocks tick reliably. After decades of stability, a fast-rotating baby pulsar called B0540-69 just slammed on its brakes. It's the brightest and youngest one they've ever seen shift this way, and its unpredictable behavior will help them figure out what makes pulsars tick. Pulsars are the dense neutron stars left after supernovas. They blast beams of radiation from their poles, which sweep past Earth like the rays from a lighthouse as they rotate. Many spin and wind down at such reliable rates that scientists consider them cosmic clocks, using them to test theories like general relativity

Large-scale structure observables in general relativity

We review recent studies that rigorously define several key observables of the large-scale structure of the Universe in a general relativistic context. Specifically, we consider (i) redshift perturbation of cosmic clock events; (ii) distortion of cosmic rulers, including weak lensing shear and magnification; and (iii) observed number density of tracers of the large-scale structure. We provide covariant and gauge-invariant expressions of these observables. Our expressions are given for a linearly perturbed flat Friedmann–Robertson–Walker metric including scalar, vector, and tensor metric perturbations. While we restrict ourselves to linear order in perturbation theory, the approach can be straightforwardly generalized to higher order.

The dark energy cosmic clock: a new way to parametrise the equation of state

We propose a new parametrisation of the dark energy equation of state, which uses the dark energy density, Ωe as a cosmic clock. We expand the equation of state in a series of orthogonal polynomials, with Ωe as the expansion parameter and determine the expansion coefficients by fitting to SNIa and H(z) data.Assuming that Ωe is a monotonic function of time, we show that our parametrisation performs better than the popular Chevallier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) and Gerke and Efstathiou (GE) parametrisations, and we demonstrate that it is robust to the choice of prior.Expanding in orthogonal polynomials allows us to relate models of dark energy directly to our parametrisation, which we illustrate by placing constraints on the expansion coefficients extracted from two popular quintessence models.Finally, we comment on how this parametrisation could be modified to accommodate high redshift data, where any non-monotonicity of Ωe would need to be accounted for.

Testing LTB void models without the cosmic microwave background or large scale structure: new constraints from galaxy ages

We present new observational constraints on inhomogeneous models based on observables independent of the CMB andlarge-scale structure. Using Bayesian evidence we find very strong evidence for the homogeneous LCDM model,thus disfavouring inhomogeneous models. Our new constraints are based on quantities independent of the growth ofperturbations and rely on cosmic clocks based on atomic physics and on the local density of matter.

Probing gravitation with pulsars

AbstractRadio pulsars are fascinating and extremely useful objects. Despite our on-going difficulties in understanding the details of their emission physics, they can be used as precise cosmic clocks in a wide-range of experiments – in particular for probing gravitational physics. While the reader should consult the contributions to these proceedings to learn more about this exciting field of discovering, exploiting and understanding pulsars, we will concentrate here on on the usage of pulsars as gravity labs.

Cosmokinetics: a joint analysis of standard candles, rulers and cosmic clocks

We study the accelerated expansion of the Universe by using the kinematic approach. In this context, we parameterize the deceleration parameter, q(z), in a model independent way. Assuming three simple parameterizations we reconstruct q(z). We do the joint analysis with combination of latest cosmological data consisting of standard candles (Supernovae Union2 sample), standard ruler (CMB/BAO), cosmic clocks (age of passively evolving galaxies) and Hubble (H(z)) data. Our results support the accelerated expansion of the Universe.

Cancelling out systematic uncertainties

We present a method to minimize, or even cancel out, the nuisance parameters affecting a measurement. Our approach is general and can be applied to any experiment or observation where systematic errors are a concern e.g. are larger than statistical errors. We compare it with the Bayesian technique used to deal with nuisance parameters: marginalization, and show how the method compares and improves by avoiding biases. We illustrate the method with several examples taken from the astrophysics and cosmology world: baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAOs), cosmic clocks, Type Ia supernova (SNIa) luminosity distance, neutrino oscillations and dark matter detection. By applying the method we not only recover some known results but also find some interesting new ones. For BAO experiments we show how to combine radial and angular BAO measurements in order to completely eliminate the dependence on the sound horizon at radiation drag. In the case of exploiting SNIa as standard candles we show how the uncertainty in the luminosity distance by a second parameter modelled as a metallicity dependence can be eliminated or greatly reduced. When using cosmic clocks to measure the expansion rate of the universe, we demonstrate how a particular combination of observables nearly removes the metallicity dependence of the galaxy on determining differential ages, thus removing the age–metallicity degeneracy in stellar populations. We hope that these findings will be useful in future surveys to obtain robust constraints on the dark energy equation of state.

Evolutionary and pulsational properties of white dwarf stars

Abridged. White dwarf stars are the final evolutionary stage of the vast majority of stars, including our Sun. The study of white dwarfs has potential applications to different fields of astrophysics. In particular, they can be used as independent reliable cosmic clocks, and can also provide valuable information about the fundamental parameters of a wide variety of stellar populations, like our Galaxy and open and globular clusters. In addition, the high densities and temperatures characterizing white dwarfs allow to use these stars as cosmic laboratories for studying physical processes under extreme conditions that cannot be achieved in terrestrial laboratories. They can be used to constrain fundamental properties of elementary particles such as axions and neutrinos, and to study problems related to the variation of fundamental constants. In this work, we review the essentials of the physics of white dwarf stars. Special emphasis is placed on the physical processes that lead to the formation of white dwarfs as well as on the different energy sources and processes responsible for chemical abundance changes that occur along their evolution. Moreover, in the course of their lives, white dwarfs cross different pulsational instability strips. The existence of these instability strips provides astronomers with an unique opportunity to peer into their internal structure that would otherwise remain hidden from observers. We will show that this allows to measure with unprecedented precision the stellar masses and to infer their envelope thicknesses, to probe the core chemical stratification, and to detect rotation rates and magnetic fields. Consequently, in this work, we also review the pulsational properties of white dwarfs and the most recent applications of white dwarf asteroseismology.

An absolute clock of the cosmos?

In 1968–2005 different observers (mainly, one of the authors—V.M. Lyuty) performed numerous measurements of luminosity of the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151. It is shown that (a) luminosity of the object pulsated over 38 years with a period of 160.0106(7) min coinciding, within the error limits, with the well-known period P0 = 160.0101(2) min of the enigmatic “solar” pulsations, and (b) when registering oscillations of luminosity of NGC 4151 nucleus with the P0 period, time moments of observations must be reduced to the earth instead of the sun, i.e., to the reference frame of the observer. The coherent P0 oscillation is characterized, therefore, by invariability of both frequency and phase with respect to redshift z and the earth’s orbital motion, respectively. From these results it, thus, follows that the coherent P0 oscillation seems to be of a true cosmological origin. The P0 period itself might represent a course of the “cosmic clock” related to the existence of an absolute time of the Universe in Newton’s comprehension.

Calibrating the cosmic clock

Calibrating the cosmic clock

Measurement of the radiative neutron capture cross section ofPb206and its astrophysical implications

The (n, gamma) cross section of 206Pb has been measured at the CERN n_TOF facility with high resolution in the energy range from 1 eV to 600 keV by using two optimized C6D6 detectors. In the investigated energy interval about 130 resonances could be observed, from which 61 had enough statistics to be reliably analyzed via the R-matrix analysis code SAMMY. Experimental uncertainties were minimized, in particular with respect to (i) angular distribution effects of the prompt capture gamma-rays, and to (ii) the TOF-dependent background due to sample-scattered neutrons. Other background components were addressed by background measurements with an enriched 208Pb sample. The effect of the lower energy cutoff in the pulse height spectra of the C6D6 detectors was carefully corrected via Monte Carlo simulations. Compared to previous 206Pb values, the Maxwellian averaged capture cross sections derived from these data are about 20% and 9% lower at thermal energies of 5 keV and 30 keV, respectively. These new results have a direct impact on the s-process abundance of 206Pb, which represents an important test for the interpretation of the cosmic clock based on the decay of 238U.

Constraining scalar-tensor quintessence by cosmic clocks

Scalar-tensor quintessence models can be constrained by identifying suitable cosmic clocks which allow to select confidence regions for cosmological parameters. In particular, we constrain the characterizing parameters of non-minimally coupled scalar-tensor cosmological models which admit exact solutions of the Einstein field equations. Lookback time to galaxy clusters at low intermediate, and high redshifts is considered. The high redshift time-scale problem is also discussed in order to select other cosmic clocks such as quasars.