A Measurement of the Primordial Power Spectrum from Maxima and Boomerang Data
Model-independent measurements of the primordial power spectrum of matter density fluctuations provide a unique probe of physics in the very early universe, and can provide powerful constraints on inflationary models. We parametrize the primordial power spectrum A2s(k) as an arbitrary function, and measure its binned amplitude from the cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropy (CMB) data from Maxima and Boomerang. We find that for a flat universe with A2s(k) = 1 (scale-invariant) for scales k < 0.001 h/Mpc, the primordial power spectrum deviates significantly from a scale-invariant HarrisonZeldovich spectrum. It has a drop in power at 0.001 h/Mpc < ∼ k < ∼ 0.01 h/Mpc, and a rise in power at 0.01 h/Mpc < ∼ k < ∼ 0.1 h/Mpc, with the general trend of less power on small scales compared to a scale-invariant power spectrum. Our results are consistent with large scale structure data, and seem to suggest that unusual physics may have occurred in the very early universe. At the dawn of the new millennium, the inflationary paradigm appears the most plausible solution to the problems of the standard cosmology, and consistent with all current observational data. However, we are still far from establishing a definitive model of inflation. There currently exists a broad range of inflationary models (Kolb 1997, Turner 1997), many of which appear consistent with observational data. Model-independent measurements of the primordial power spectrum of matter density fluctuations can provide unique and powerful constraints on inflationary models. Although it has been conventional to take the primordial power spectrum to be a featureless power law in analyzing cosmological data, there are both theoretical and observational reasons to allow the primordial power spectrum to be a free function.

title: Wavelets and WMAP non-Gaussianity
abstract: We study the statistical properties of the first-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data on different scales using the spherical Mexican hat wavelet transform. Consistent with the 2004 results of Vielva et al., we find a deviation from Gaussianity in the form of kurtosis of wavelet coefficients on 3-4 scales in the southern Galactic hemisphere. This paper extends the work of Vielva et al. as follows: We find that the non-Gaussian signal shows up more strongly in the form of a larger than expected number of cold pixels and also in the form of scale-scale correlations among wavelet coefficients. We establish the robustness of the non-Gaussian signal under more wide-ranging assumptions regarding the Galactic mask applied to the data and the noise statistics. This signal is unlikely to be due to the usual quadratic term parameterized by the nonlinearity parameter fNL. We use the skewness of the spherical Mexican hat wavelet coefficients to constrain fNL with the first-year WMAP data. Our results constrain fNL to be 50+/-80 at 68% confidence and less than 280 at 99% confidence.

title: Constraints on generalized extended inflationary models.
abstract: We study the physical constraints on generalized extended inflationary theories, in which the Brans-Dicke field {Phi} couples to the inflaton sector in the form of two arbitrary power-law functions of {Phi}. We find that the most stringent constraints arise from the need to suppress large bubbles and from considerations of the density perturbations generated during extended inflation. We find that there are sizable portions of the parameter spaces in which all the constraints are satisfied.

title: Dark Energy Constraints from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
abstract: Baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) in the galaxy power spectrum allow us to extract the scale of the comoving sound horizon at recombination, a cosmological standard ruler accurately determined by the cosmic microwave background anisotropy data. We examine various issues important in the use of BAOs to probe dark energy. We find that if we assume a flat universe and priors on ?m, ?mh2, and ?bh2 as expected from the Planck mission, the constraints on dark energy parameters (w0, w') scale much less steeply with survey area than (area)-1/2 for a given redshift range. The constraints on the dark energy density ?X(z), however, do scale roughly with (area)-1/2 due to the strong correlation between H(z) and ?m (which reduces the effect of priors on ?m). Dark energy constraints from BAOs are very sensitive to the assumed linear scale of matter clustering and the redshift accuracy of the survey. For a BAO survey with 0.5 ? z ? 2, ? (R) = 0.4 [corresponding to kmax (z = 0) = 0.086 h Mpc-1], and ?z/ (1 + z) = 0.001, we find = (0.115,0.183) and (0.069, 0.104) for survey areas of 1000 and 10,000 deg2, respectively. We find that it is critical to minimize the bias in the scale estimates in order to derive reliable dark energy constraints. For a 1000 (10,000) deg2 BAO survey, a 1 ? bias in ln H (z) leads to a 2 ? (3 ?) bias in w'. The bias in w' due to the same scale bias from ln DA (z) is slightly smaller and opposite in sign. The results from this paper will be useful in assessing different proposed BAO surveys and guiding the design of optimal dark energy detection strategies.

title: Dark Energy Search with Supernovae
abstract: To determine the nature of dark energy from observational data, it is important that we use model-independent and optimal methods. We should probe dark energy using its density (allowed to be a free function of cosmic time) instead of its equation of state. We should minimize gravitational lensing effect on supernovae by flux-averaging. We need to include complementary data (for example, from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large scale structure (LSS)) in a consistent manner to help break the degeneracy between the dark energy density and the matter density fraction. We should push for ambitious future supernova surveys that can observe a large number of supernovae at the highest possible redshifts. I discuss these and other issues that will be important in our quest to unravel the mystery of the nature of dark energy. Current supernova, CMB, and LSS data already rule out dark energy models with dark energy densities that vary greatly with time; with the cosmological constant model providing an excellent fit to the data. A precise measurement of dark energy density as a free function of cosmic time will have a fundamental impact on particle physics and cosmology.

title: A robust distance measurement and dark energy constraints from the spherically averaged correlation function of Sloan Digital Sky Survey luminous red Galaxies
abstract: We measure the effective distance to z = 0.26, DV (0.26), and mh 2 from the overall shape of the spherically-averaged two-point correlati on function of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7) volume-limited luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample, without assuming a dark energy model or a flat Universe. We giv e the mean and covariance matrix of DV (0.26), mh 2 , bh 2 , and ns. We show that these provide an efficient and accurate summary of the volume-limited LRG data. With flat priors on bh 2 and ns (7σWMAP7), we find mh 2 = 0.131 ± 0.020, and rs/DV (0.26) = 0.1466 +0.0068 0.0073 (the ratio of the sound horizon at the drag epoch to the effective distance to z = 0.26). We find that measurements of mh 2 or m are biased low if flux-limited (instead of volume-limited) L RG sample is used. By scaling the spherically-averaged correlation fun ction, we find the Hubble parameter H(0.26) = 79 +12 13 km s 1 Mpc 1 and the angular diameter distance DA(0.26) = 848 +86 88 Mpc. Combining our results with the cosmic microwave background and supernova data, we obtain k = 0.0059 +0.0092 0.0093 andw = 1.023 +0.054 0.053 (assuming a constant dark energy equation of state). We use LasDamas SDSS mock catalogs to compute the covariance matrix of the correlation function, and investigate the use of lognormal catal ogs as an alternative. We find that the input correlation function can be accurately recovered from lognormal catalogs, although they give larger errors on all scales (especially on small sc ales) compared to the mock catalogs derived from cosmological N-body simulations.

title: Models of the Primordial Standard Clock
abstract: Oscillating massive fields in the primordial universe can be used as Standard Clocks. The ticks of these oscillations induce features in the density perturbations, which directly record the time evolution of the scale factor of the primordial universe, thus if detected, provide a direct evidence for the inflation scenario or the alternatives. In this paper, we construct a full inflationary model of primordial Standard Clock and study its predictions on the density perturbations. This model provides a full realization of several key features proposed previously. We compare the theoretical predictions from inflation and alternative scenarios with the Planck 2013 temperature data on Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), and identify a statistically marginal but interesting candidate. We discuss how future CMB temperature and polarization data, non-Gaussianity analysis and Large Scale Structure data may be used to further test or constrain the Standard Clock signals.

title: Testing quantum gravity effects with latest CMB observations
abstract: Inspired by quantum gravitational physics, the approach of non-commutative (NC) phase space leads to a modified dispersion relation of gravitational waves. This feature, if applied to the very early universe, gives rise to a modified power spectrum of primordial tensor perturbations with a suppression of power on large scales. We confront this phenomenon with the BICEP2 and Planck experiments, and show that inflation with the modified dispersion relation can simultaneously fit the observations better than the standard inflationary paradigm. In particular, the numerical result implies that with the latest cosmological microwave background (CMB) observations, a quantum gravity modified power spectrum of primordial tensor modes is preferred at a statistical significance of more than 3 σ compared with the minimal model. Our study indicates that the potential tension between the BICEP2 and Planck data may be resolved by quantum gravity effects.

title: CHANDRA STUDY OF X-RAY POINT SOURCES IN THE EARLY-TYPE GALAXY NGC 4552 (M89)
abstract: We present a Chandra ACIS study of the early-type galaxy NGC 4552. We detect 47 X-ray point sources, most of which are likely low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), within four effective radii (Re). The brightest X-ray source coincides with the optical, UV, and radio center of the galaxy and shows variability on >1 hr timescales, indicating the possible existence of a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus (AGN). The 46 off-center sources and the unresolved point sources contribute about 29% and 20% to the total luminosity of the galaxy, respectively. We find that after correcting for the incompleteness at the low-luminosity end, the observed cumulative X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of the off-center sources is best fitted by a broken power-law model with a break at Lb = 4.4 × 1038 ergs s-1. We identified 210 globular cluster (GC) candidates in a HST WFPC2 optical image of the galaxy's central region. Of the 25 off-center LMXBs that fall within the WFPC2 field of view, 10 sources are coincident with a GC. Thus, the fraction of the GCs hosting bright LMXBs and the fraction of the LMXBs associated with GCs are 4.8% and 40%, respectively. In the V and I bands, the GCs hosting bright LMXBs are typically 1-2 mag brighter than the GCs with no detected LMXBs. There are about 1.9 ± 0.4 times as many LMXBs in the red, metal-rich GCs as there are in the blue, metal-poor ones. We find no obvious difference between the luminosity distributions of LMXBs in GCs and in the field, but the cumulative spectrum of the LMXBs in GCs tends to be softer than that of the LMXBs in field. We detected three X-ray sources that have isotropic luminosities larger than 1039 ergs s-1. Only one of these is located in the joint Chandra-HST field and is found to be associated with a GC. By studying its ACIS spectra we infer that the this may be a candidate black hole system with a mass of 15-135 M☉. One of the other sources with a luminosity brighter than 1039 ergs s-1 reveals temporal variations in brightness on timescales greater than 1 hr.

title: First results on the hybrid photodiode tube
abstract: The performance of a new breed of light detectors based on a photocathode followed by a planar silicon diode working in the bombarding mode is reported. This detector was developed by the LAA project in order to produce a fast light detector capable of covering a span of the more than 4 orders of magnitude of linearity required by the scintillating fibre and lead (“spaghetti”) calorimeter. Linear signals from single, to more than 10 6 photoelectrons per pulse were measured. The general characteristics of this detector are reported here.

title: SPACE: the spectroscopic all-sky cosmic explorer
abstract: We describe the scientific motivations, the mission concept and the instrumentation of SPACE, a class-M mission proposed for concept study at the first call of the ESA Cosmic-Vision 2015–2025 planning cycle. SPACE aims to produce the largest three-dimensional evolutionary map of the Universe over the past 10 billion years by taking near-IR spectra and measuring redshifts for more than half a billion galaxies at 0 < z < 2 down to AB~23 over 3π sr of the sky. In addition, SPACE will also target a smaller sky field, performing a deep spectroscopic survey of millions of galaxies to AB~26 and at 2 < z < 10 +. These goals are unreachable with ground-based observations due to the ≈500 times higher sky background (see e.g. Aldering, LBNL report number LBNL-51157, 2001). To achieve the main science objectives, SPACE will use a 1.5 m diameter Ritchey-Chretien telescope equipped with a set of arrays of Digital Micro-mirror Devices covering a total field of view of 0.4 deg2, and will perform large-multiplexing multi-object spectroscopy (e.g. ≈6000 targets per pointing) at a spectral resolution of R~400 as well as diffraction-limited imaging with continuous coverage from 0.8 to 1.8 μm. Owing to the depth, redshift range, volume coverage and quality of its spectra, SPACE will reveal with unique sensitivity most of the fundamental cosmological signatures, including the power spectrum of density fluctuations and its turnover. SPACE will also place high accuracy constraints on the dark energy equation of state parameter and its evolution by measuring the baryonic acoustic oscillations imprinted when matter and radiation decoupled, the distance-luminosity relation of cosmological supernovae, the evolution of the cosmic expansion rate, the growth rate of cosmic large-scale structure, and high-z galaxy clusters. The datasets from the SPACE mission will represent a long lasting legacy for the whole astronomical community whose data will be mined for many years to come.