Planck Measurements Research Articles

Quintessential inflation in Palatini gravity

We study a model of quintessential inflation in the context of Palatini gravity. As a representative example, we consider the Peebles-Vilenkin model of quintessential inflation with a small non-minimal coupling to gravity, which is consistent with the most recent Planck measurements. At the end of inflation, the inflaton field passes through a tachyonic region and it leads to explosive particle production through the tachyonic preheating process. After preheating, the Universe becomes dominated by the kinetic energy of the inflaton and enters a period of kination. Eventually, the total energy density of the Universe becomes dominated by radiation, resulting in reheating. We find that the model predicts the reheating temperature values TRH∼\U0001d4aa(103 - 108) GeV, which is significantly above the temperature of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. Following reheating, the inflaton field rolls down the quintessence potential until it freezes. Since the quintessence remains frozen until the present day, the residual potential energy density at this field value explains the observed dark energy density.

T \u2212 b \u2212 \u03c4 Yukawa unification in non-holomorphic MSSM

We show that in the CMSSM with the non-holomorphic soft SUSY breaking terms, the Yukawa coupling unification of the third family fermions at the GUT scale, called t − b − τ Yukawa unification (YU), is possible under the recent collider and Dark Matter results. The YU parameter can also be found Rtbτ≈ 1, called perfect unification. We find that the squark masses exceed 3 TeV while the stau can be considerably lighter. In the case of YU, the tan β is in the interval [46,55]. We obtain bino-like dark matter (DM) of mass in the range of 0.6 TeV ≲ {m}_{upchi_1^0} ≲ 1.3 TeV where the recent Dark Matter direct detection limits are also satisfied. We also identify A-resonance solutions which reduce the relic abundance of LSP neutralino down to the ranges compatible with the current Planck measurements.

Geometrical constraints on curvature from galaxy-lensing cross-correlations

Accurate constraints on curvature provide a powerful probe of inflation. However, curvature constraints based on specific assumptions of dark energy may lead to unreliable conclusions when used to test inflation models. To avoid this, it is important to obtain constraints that are independent on assumptions for dark energy. In this paper, we investigate such constraints on curvature from the geometrical probe constructed from galaxy-lensing cross-correlations. We study comprehensively the cross-correlations of galaxy with magnification, measured from type Ia supernovae's brightnesses ("$g\kappa^{\rm SN}$"), with shear ("$g\kappa^{\rm g}$"), and with CMB lensing ("$g\kappa^{\rm CMB}$"). We find for the LSST and Stage IV CMB surveys, "$g\kappa^{\rm SN}$" , "$g\kappa^{\rm g}$" and "$g\kappa^{\rm CMB}$" can be detected with signal-to-noise ratio $S/N=104,\ 2291,\ 1842$ respectively. When combined with supernovae Hubble diagram ("SN") to constrain curvature, we find galaxy-lensing cross-correlation becomes increasingly important with more degrees of freedom allowed in dark energy. Without any priors, we obtain error on $\Omega_K$ of $0.723$ from "SN + $g\kappa^{\rm SN}$", $0.0417$ from "SN + $g\kappa^{\rm g}$", and $0.04$ from "SN + $g\kappa^{\rm g}$ + $g\kappa^{\rm CMB}$" for the LSST and Stage IV CMB surveys. The last one is more competitive than a Stage IV BAO survey ("BAO"). When galaxy-lensing cross-correlations are added to the combined probe of "SN + BAO + CMB", where "CMB" stands for Planck measurement for the CMB acoustic scale, we obtain constraint on $\Omega_K$ of $0.0013$, which is a factor of 7 improvement from "SN + BAO + CMB". We study improvements in these results from increasing the high redshift extension of supernovae.

Slow-roll inflation in f(R,T) gravity and a modified Starobinsky-like inflationary model

In this work, we studied the slow-roll approximation of cosmic inflation within the context of $f(R,T)$ gravity, where $R$ is the scalar curvature, and $T$ is the trace of the energy-momentum tensor. By choosing a minimal coupling between matter and gravity, we obtained the modified slow-roll parameters, the scalar spectral index ($n_s$), the tensor spectral index ($n_{\textrm{T}}$), and the tensor-to-scalar ratio ($r$). We computed these quantities for a general power-law potential, Natural & Quartic Hilltop inflation, and the Starobinsky model, plotting the trajectories on the $(n_s,r)$ plane. We found that one of the parameters of Natural/Hilltop models is non-trivially modified. Besides, if the coupling is in the interval $-0.5 < \alpha < 5.54$, we concluded that the Starobinsky-like model predictions are in good agreement with the last Planck measurement, but with the advantage of allowing a wide range of admissible values for $r$ and $n_{\textrm{T}}$.

Dark initial state radiation and the kinetic mixing portal

Data from Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) place important constraints on models with light dark matter (DM) and light mediators especially when both lie in the mass range below ∼ 1 GeV. In models involving kinetic mixing where the dark photon acts as the mediator, these constraints are easily satisfied and the appropriate DM relic density achievable if the DM is, e.g., a complex scalar, where p-wave annihilation occurs, or is the lighter component of a split pseudo-Dirac state where co-annihilation dominates. In both of these cases, although higher order in the dark gauge coupling, gD, the corresponding annihilation processes including dark photon initial state radiation (ISR) will be dominantly s-wave with essentially temperature independent cross sections. The rates for these dark ISR associated processes, though not yielding cross sections large enough to contribute to the relic density, can still run into possible conflicts with the bounds arising from the CMB. In this paper we perform a preliminary study of the present and potential future constraints that the CMB imposes on the parameter spaces for both of these scenarios due to the existence of this dark ISR. Further analyses of the effects of dark ISR in DM annihilation is clearly warranted.

Probing the cluster pressure profile with thermal Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect and weak lensing cross-correlation

ABSTRACT We confront the universal pressure profile (UPP) proposed. with the recent measurement of the cross-correlation function of the thermal Sunyaev–Zeldovich (tSZ) effect from Planck and weak gravitational lensing measurement from the Red Cluster Sequence Lensing Survey. By using the halo model, we calculate the prediction of ξy−κ (lensing convergence and Compton-y parameter) and $\xi ^{y-\gamma _{\rm t}}$ (lensing shear and Compton-y parameter) and fit the UPP parameters by using the observational data. We find consistent UPP parameters when fixing the cosmology to either WMAP 9-yr or Planck 2018 best-fitting values. The best constrained parameter is the pressure profile concentration c500 = r500/rs, for which we find $c_{500} = 2.68^{+1.46}_{-0.96}$ (WMAP-9) and $c_{500} = 1.91^{+1.07}_{-0.65}$ (Planck-2018) for the $\xi ^{y-\gamma _t}$ estimator. The shape index for the intermediate radius region α parameter is constrained to $\alpha =1.75^{+1.29}_{-0.77}$ and $\alpha = 1.65^{+0.74}_{-0.5}$ for WMAP-9 and Planck-2018 cosmologies, respectively. Propagating the uncertainties of the UPP parameters to pressure profiles results in a factor of 3 uncertainty in the shape and magnitude. Further investigation shows that most of the signal of the cross-correlation comes from the low-redshift, inner halo profile (r ≤ rvir/2) with halo mass in the range of 1014–$10^{15}{\, {\rm M}_{\odot }}$, suggesting that this is the major regime that constitutes the cross-correlation signal between weak lensing and tSZ.

Case for decaying spin- 3/2 dark matter

We couple a sterile neutrino sector to a spin-3/2 particle and show that with a Planck reduced coupling, we can obtain a sufficiently long lifetime making the spin-3/2 particle a good dark matter candidate. We show that this dark matter candidate can be produced during inflationary reheating through the scattering of Standard Model particles. The relic abundance as determined by Planck and other experimental measurements is attained for reasonable values of the reheating temperature $T_{\rm RH} \gtrsim 10^{8}$ GeV. We consider two possible gauge invariant couplings to the extended Standard Model. We find a large range of masses are possible which respect the experimental limits on its decay rate. We expect smoking-gun signals in the form of a monochromatic photon with a possible monochromatic neutrino, which can be probed in the near future in IceCube and other indirect detection experiments.

A fake interacting dark energy detection?

ABSTRACT Models involving an interaction between the dark matter and the dark energy sectors have been proposed to alleviate the long-standing Hubble constant tension. In this paper, we analyse whether the constraints and potential hints obtained for these interacting models remain unchanged when using simulated Planck data. Interestingly, our simulations indicate that a dangerous fake detection for a non-zero interaction among the dark matter and the dark energy fluids could arise when dealing with current cosmic microwave background (CMB) Planck measurements alone. The very same hypothesis is tested against future CMB observations, finding that only cosmic variance limited polarization experiments, such as PICO or PRISM, could be able to break the existing parameter degeneracies and provide reliable cosmological constraints. This paper underlines the extreme importance of confronting the results arising from data analyses with those obtained with simulations when extracting cosmological limits within exotic cosmological scenarios.

H0 Reconstruction with Type Ia Supernovae, Baryon Acoustic Oscillation and Gravitational Lensing Time Delay

Abstract There is a persistent H 0-tension, now at more than ≳4σ level, between the local distance ladder value and the Planck cosmic microwave background measurement, in the context of flat Lambda-cold-dark-matter (ΛCDM) model. We reconstruct H(z) in a cosmological-model-independent way using three low-redshift distance probes including the latest data from baryon acoustic oscillation, supernova Ia (SN Ia) and gravitational lensing time-delay (GLTD) observations. We adopt general parametric models of H(z) and assume a Gaussian sound horizon at drag epoch, , from Planck measurement. The reconstructed Hubble constant H 0,rec using Pantheon SN Ia and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) data are consistent with the Planck flat ΛCDM value. When including the GLTD data, H 0,rec increases mildly, yet remains discrepant with the local measurement at ∼2.2σ level. With our reconstructions being blind to the dark sectors at low redshift, we reaffirm the earlier claims that the Hubble tension is not likely to be solved by modifying the energy budget of the low-redshift universe. We further forecast the constraining ability of future realistic mock BAO data from Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and GLTD data from Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, combining which, we anticipate that the uncertainty of H 0,rec would be improved by ∼27%, reaching uncertainty level.

Concordance cosmology?

ABSTRACT We propose a new intuitive metric for evaluating the tension between two experiments, and apply it to several data sets. While our metric is non-optimal, if evidence of tension is detected, this evidence is robust and easy to interpret. Assuming a flat Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model, we find that there is a modest 2.2σ tension between the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 1 results and the Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background. This tension is driven by the difference between the amount of structure observed in the late-time Universe and that predicted from fitting the Planck data, and appears to be unrelated to the tension between Planck and local estimates of the Hubble rate. In particular, combining DES, baryon acoustic oscillations, big bang nucleosynthesis, and supernovae measurements recover a Hubble constant and sound horizon consistent with Planck, and in tension with local distance–ladder measurements. If the tension between these various data sets persists, it is likely that reconciling all current data will require breaking the flat ΛCDM model in at least two different ways: one involving new physics in the early Universe, and one involving new late-time Universe physics.

CCCP and MENeaCS: (updated) weak-lensing masses for 100 galaxy clusters

ABSTRACT Large area surveys continue to increase the samples of galaxy clusters that can be used to constrain cosmological parameters, provided that the masses of the clusters are measured robustly. To improve the calibration of cluster masses using weak gravitational lensing we present new results for 48 clusters at 0.05 &amp;lt; z &amp;lt; 0.15, observed as part of the Multi Epoch Nearby Cluster Survey, and re-evaluate the mass estimates for 52 clusters from the Canadian Cluster Comparison Project. Updated high-fidelity photometric redshift catalogues of reference deep fields are used in combination with advances in shape measurements and state-of-the-art cluster simulations, yielding an average systematic uncertainty in the lensing signal below 5 per cent, similar to the statistical uncertainty for our cluster sample. We derive a scaling relation with Planck measurements for the full sample and find a bias in the Planck masses of 1 − b = 0.84 ± 0.04 (stat) ±0.05 (syst). We find no statistically significant trend of the mass bias with redshift or cluster mass, but find that different selections could change the bias by up to 0.07. We find a gas fraction of 0.139 ± 0.014 (stat) for eight relaxed clusters in our sample, which can also be used to infer cosmological parameters.

The Power Spectra of Polarized, Dusty Filaments

Abstract We develop an analytic model for the power spectra of polarized filamentary structures as a way to study the Galactic polarization foreground to the cosmic microwave background. Our approach is akin to the cosmological halo-model framework, and reproduces the main features of the Planck 353 GHz power spectra. We model the foreground as randomly oriented, three-dimensional, spheroidal filaments, accounting for their projection onto the sky. The main tunable parameters are the distribution of filament sizes, the physical aspect ratio of filaments, and the dispersion of the filament axis around the local magnetic field direction. The abundance and properties of filaments as a function of size determine the slopes of the foreground power spectra, as we show via scaling arguments. The filament aspect ratio determines the ratio of B-mode power to E-mode power, and specifically reproduces the Planck-observed dust ratio of one-half when the short axis is roughly one-fourth the length of the long axis. Filament misalignment to the local magnetic field determines the TE cross-correlation, and to reproduce Planck measurements we need a (three-dimensional) misalignment angle with an rms dispersion of about 50°. These parameters are not sensitive to the particular filament density profile. By artificially skewing the distribution of the misalignment angle, this model can reproduce the Planck-observed (and parity-violating) TB correlation. The skewing of the misalignment angle necessary to explain TB will cause a yet-unobserved, positive EB dust correlation, a possible target for future experiments.

Late-time viscous cosmology in f(R, T) gravity

The article communicates an alternative route to suffice the late-time acceleration considering a bulk viscous fluid with viscosity coefficient ζ=ζ0+ζ1H+ζ2H2, where ζ0, ζ1, ζ2 are constants in the framework of f(R, T) modified gravity. We presume the f(R, T) functional form to be f=R+2αT where α is a constant. We then solve the field equations for the Hubble Parameter and study the cosmological dynamics of kinematic variables such as deceleration, jerk, snap and lerk parameters as a function of cosmic time. We observe the deceleration parameter to be highly sensitive to α and undergoes a signature flipping at around t ∼ 10 Gyrs for α=−0.179 which is favored by observations. The EoS parameter for our model assumes values close to −1 at t0=13.7 Gyrs which is in remarkable agreement with the latest Planck measurements. Next, we study the evolution of energy conditions and find that our model violate the Strong Energy Condition in order to explain the late-time cosmic acceleration. To understand the nature of dark energy mimicked by the bulk viscous baryonic fluid, we perform some geometrical diagnostics like the {r, s} and {r, q} plane. We found the model to mimic the nature of a Chaplygin gas type dark energy model at early times while a Quintessence type in distant future. Finally, we study the violation of continuity equation for our model and show that in order to explain the cosmic acceleration at the present epoch, energy-momentum must violate.

Illuminating the dark ages: cosmic backgrounds from accretion onto primordial black hole dark matter

The recent interpretation of cold dark matter as the sum of contributions of different mass Primordial Black Hole (PBH) families [1] could explain a number of so far unsolved astrophysical mysteries. Here I assume a realistic 10−8–1010 M⊙ PBH mass distribution providing the bulk of the dark matter, consistent with all observational constraints. I estimate the contribution of baryon accretion onto this PBH population to various cosmic background radiations, concentrating first on the cross-correlation signal between the Cosmic X-ray and the Cosmic infrared background fluctuations discovered in deep Chandra and Spitzer surveys. I assume Bondi capture and advection dominated disk accretion with reasonable parameters like baryon density and effective relative velocity between baryons and PBH, as well as appropriate accretion and radiation efficiencies, and integrate these over the PBH mass spectrum and cosmic time. The prediction of the PBH contribution to the X-ray background is indeed consistent with the residual X-ray background signal and the X-ray/infrared fluctuations. The predicted flux peaks at redshifts z≈17–30, consistent with other constraints requiring the signal to come from such high redshifts. The PBH contribution to the 2–5 μm cosmic infrared background fluctuations is only about 1%, so that these likely come from star formation processes in regions associated with the PBH. I discuss a number of other phenomena, which could be significantly affected by the PBH accretion. Magnetic fields are an essential ingredient in the Bondi capture process, and I argue that the PBH can play an important role in amplifying magnetic seed fields in the early universe and maintaining them until the galactic dynamo processes set in. Next I study the contribution of the assumed PBH population to the re-ionization history of the universe and find that they do not conflict with the stringent ionization limits set by the most recent Planck measurements. X-ray heating from the PBH population can provide a contribution to the entropy floor observed in groups of galaxies. The tantalizing redshifted 21-cm absorption line feature observed by EDGES could well be connected to the radio emission contributed by PBH to the cosmic background radiation. Finally, the number of intermediate-mass black holes and the diffuse X-ray emission in the Galactic Center region are not violated by the assumed PBH dark matter, on the contrary, some of the discrete sources resolved in the deepest {\\em Chandra} observations of the Galactic Ridge could indeed be accreting PBH.

Constraint on the interacting dark energy from the highly redshifted quasar data

In this study, we investigated observational constraints on the phenomenological interacting dark energy model ($\\xi{IDE}$) and seek the quantitative analysis of the coincidence problem on the basis of the VLBI observations of the compact structure in 120 intermediate-luminosity quasars (QSO) covering the redshift range of $0.46<z<2.76$, combined with the type Ia supernovae (SNIa), the baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO), and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) observation from 2018 results. The combined analysis with the full sample and sub-samples of QSO and SNIa defined by different redshifts (120 QSO, 70 low-redshift QSO, 50 high-redshift QSO) show that: (1) As can be seen from the constraint on the two parameters ($\\xi~$, $\\omega$) from three data combinations, the coincidence problem is not alleviated, and the standard $\\Lambda$$CDM$ model without any interaction remains a good fit for the recent observational data; (2) compared with the current SNIa standard candle data, the combination of the intermediate-luminosity radio quasars (SNIa + QSO) provides more stringent constraints on this IDE scenario, which further indicates the potential of intermediate-luminosity quasars acting as an effective cosmological standard ruler at much higher redshifts; (3) there is no clear tension between SNIa and SNIa + QSO (low $z$); (4) when combined with CMB and BAO observations, the derived Hubble constant from CMB + BAO + SNIa + QSO agrees well with that from SNIa + QSO and CMB + BAO + SNIa (within $2\\sigma$). Furthermore, the full combination of different cosmological probes (CMB + BAO + SNIa + QSO) may contribute to alleviate the tension of $H_0$ between the recent Planck and SNIa measurements.

Accelerating universe in hybrid and logarithmic teleparallel gravity

Teleparallel gravity is a modified theory of gravity for which the Ricci scalar $R$ of the underlying geometry in the action is replaced by an arbitrary functional form of torsion scalar $T$. In doing so, cosmology in $% f(T)$ gravity becomes greatly simplified owing to the fact that $T$ contains only the first derivatives of the vierbeins. The article exploits this appealing nature of $f(T)$ gravity and present cosmological scenarios from hybrid and logarithmic teleparallel gravity models of the form $% f=e^{mT}T^n $ and $f=D\log(bT)$ respectively, where $m$, $n$, $D$ and $b$ are free parameters constrained to suffice the late time acceleration. We employ a well motivated parametrization of the deceleration parameter having just one degree of freedom constrained with a $\chi^{2}$ test from 57 data points of Hubble data set in the redshift range $0.07<z<2.36$, to obtain the expressions of pressure, density and EoS parameter for both the teleparallel gravity models and study their temporal evolution. We find the deceleration parameter to experience a signature flipping for the $\chi^{2}$ value of the free parameter at $z_{tr}\simeq0.6$ which is consistent with latest Planck measurements. Next, we present few geometric diagnostics of this parametrization to understand the nature of dark energy and its deviation from the $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. Finally, we study the energy conditions to check the consistency of the parameter spaces for both the teleparallel gravity models. We find the SEC to violate for both the models which is an essential recipe to obtain an accelerating universe.

Constraints on the parameter space in an inert doublet model with two active doublets

We study a three Higgs doublet model where one doublet is inert and the other two doublets are active. Flavor changing neutral currents are avoided at tree-level by imposing a softly broken {Z}_2^{prime } symmetry and we consider type I and type II Yukawa structures. The lightest inert scalar is a viable Dark Matter (DM) candidate. A numerical scan of the free parameters is performed taking into account theoretical constraints such as positivity of the scalar potential and unitarity of 2 → 2 scattering amplitudes. The model is further constrained by experimental results such as B physics lower limits on charged Higgs masses, Electroweak Precision Observables, LEP II, LHC Higgs measurements, Planck measurement of the DM relic abundance and WIMP direct searches by the LUX and XENON1T experiments. The model predictions for mono-jet, mono Z and mono Higgs final states are studied and tested against current LHC data and we find the model to be allowed. We also discuss the effects of abandoning the “dark democracy” assumption common in studies of inert models. Projected sensitivities of direct detection experiments will leave only a tiny window in the DM mass versus coupling plane that is compliant with relic density bounds.

Consistency of the local Hubble constant with the cosmic microwave background

A significant tension has become manifest between the current expansion rate of our Universe measured from the cosmic microwave background by the Planck satellite and from local distance probes, which has prompted for interpretations of that as evidence of new physics. Within conventional cosmology a likely source of this discrepancy is identified here as a matter density fluctuation around the cosmic average of the 40 Mpc environment in which the calibration of Supernovae Type Ia separations with Cepheids and nearby absolute distance anchors is performed. Inhomogeneities on this scale easily reach 40% and more. In that context, the discrepant expansion rates serve as evidence of residing in an underdense region of δenv≈−0.5±0.1. The probability for finding this local expansion rate given the Planck data lies at the 95% confidence level. Likewise, a hypothetical equivalent local data set with mean expansion rate equal to that of Planck, while statistically favoured, would not gain strong preference over the actual data in the respective Bayes factor. These results therefore suggest borderline consistency between the local and Planck measurements of the Hubble constant. Generally accounting for the environmental uncertainty, the local measurement may be reinterpreted as a constraint on the cosmological Hubble constant of H0=74.7−4.2+5.8 km/s/Mpc. The current simplified analysis may be augmented with the employment of the full available data sets, an impact study for the immediate ≲10 Mpc environment of the distance anchors, more prone to inhomogeneities, as well as expansion rates measured by quasar lensing, gravitational waves, currently limited to the same 40 Mpc region, and local galaxy distributions.

Dark degeneracy I: Dynamical or interacting dark energy?

We revisit the dark degeneracy that arises from the Einstein equations relating geometry to the total cosmic substratum but not resolving its individual components separately. We establish the explicit conditions for the dark degeneracy in the fluid description of the dark sector. At the background level, this degeneracy can be formally understood in terms of a unified dark sector Equation of State (EoS) that depends both on the dynamical nature of the dark energy (DE) as well as on its interaction with the pressureless dark matter. For linear perturbations, the degeneracy arises for specified DE pressure perturbations (or sound speed, equivalently) and DE anisotropic stress. Specializing to the degeneracy between non-interacting dynamical DE and interacting vacuum DE models, we perform a parameter estimation analysis for a range of dynamical DE parametrizations, where for illustration we explicitly break the degeneracy at the linear level by adopting a luminal sound speed for both scenarios. We conduct this analysis using cosmological background data alone and in combination with Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation. We find that although the overall phenomenology between the dynamical DE and interacting approaches is similar, there are some intriguing differences. In particular, there is an ambiguity in the strength of constraints on $\Omega_{m0}$ and $\sigma_8$, which are considerably weakened for interacting vacuum DE, indicating that the dark degeneracy can change the significance of tensions in cosmological parameters inferred from different data sets.

Beyond $$\Lambda $$CDM with low and high redshift data: implications for dark energy

Assuming that the Universe at higher redshifts (z \sim 4 and beyond) is consistent with LCDM model as constrained by the Planck measurements, we reanalyze the low redshift cosmological data to reconstruct the Hubble parameter as a function of redshift. This enables us to address the H_0 and other tensions between low z observations and high z Planck measurement from CMB. From the reconstructed H(z), we compute the energy density for the "dark energy" sector of the Universe as a function of redshift without assuming a specific model for dark energy. We find that the dark energy density has a minimum for certain redshift range and that the value of dark energy at this minimum is negative. This behavior can most simply be described by a negative cosmological constant plus an evolving dark energy component. We discuss possible theoretical and observational implications of such a scenario.