http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6983

We investigate the bias and error in estimates of the cosmological parameter covariance matrix, due to sampling or modelling the data covariance matrix, for likelihood width and peak scatter estimators. We show that these estimators do not coincide unless the data covariance is exactly known. For sampled data covariances, with Gaussian distributed data and parameters, the parameter covariance matrix estimated from the width of the likelihood has a Wishart distribution, from which we derive the mean and covariance. This mean is biased and we propose an unbiased estimator of the parameter covariance matrix. Comparing our analytic results to a numerical Wishart sampler of the data covariance matrix we find excellent agreement. An accurate ansatz for the mean parameter covariance for the peak scatter estimator is found, and we fit its covariance to our numerical analysis. The mean is again biased and we propose an unbiased estimator for the peak parameter covariance. For sampled data covariances the width estimator is more accurate than the peak scatter estimator. We investigate modelling the data covariance, or equivalently data compression, and shown that the peak scatter estimator is less sensitive to biases in the model data covariance matrix than the width estimator, but requires independent realisations of the data to reduce the statistical error. If the model bias on the peak estimator is sufficiently low this is promising, otherwise the sampled width estimator is preferable.

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A. Taylor and B. Joachimi
Fri, 28 Feb 14
28/54

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6798

We explore the inflationary phase of a scalar field with a kinetic term non-minimally coupled to gravity. We find that one of the slow-roll conditions is naturally consequence of the equation of motion of the scalar field. Thus, slow-roll conditions impose fewer constraints on potentials than other inflationary models. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the inflationary phase can be described by just one slow-roll parameter. By investigating the metric perturbations, it is shown that except for one potential, almost all potentials have the same pattern in the ($n_{s}$, $r$) plane. We provide an exact solution for the exceptional case. The exact solution represents the condensed scalar field and results in an accelerated expansion.

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A. Ghalee
Fri, 28 Feb 14
47/54

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6968

In this paper, we calculate corrections of scalar perturbations spectra resulting from non-Bunch-Davies modes as the general initial states. First, by considering the asymptotic expansion of the Hankel functions up to the higher order of 1/k.eta, we modify Mukhanov equation and obtain general solutions of it. We nominate this non-trivial excited solution as the fundamental vacuum mode functions during inflation. Then, we calculate power spectrum with this alternative vacuum mode and we obtain modified form of scale-dependent power spectrum with trans-Planckian corrections. Also, unlike the conventional methods, we consider de Sitter space-time instead Minkowski space-time as a background. The method used for renormalization preserves the space-time symmetry, and gives the finite power spectrum and this motivates us to use of excited de Sitter modes. Finally, by considering recent Planck and WMAP results, we give an observational motivation for our non-Bunch-Davies vacuum modes.

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E. Yusofi and M. Mohsenzadeh
Fri, 28 Feb 14
49/54

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6566

There is a $\sim 150 km s^{-1}$ discrepancy between the measured motion of the Local Group of galaxies (LG) with respect to the CMB and the linear theory prediction based on the gravitational force field of the large scale structure in full-sky redshift surveys. We perform a variety of tests which show that the LG motion cannot be recovered to better than $150-200 km s^{-1}$ in amplitude and within a $\approx10^\circ$ in direction. The tests rely on catalogs of mock galaxies identified in the Millennium simulation using semi-analytic galaxy formation models. We compare these results to the $K_s=11.75$ Two-Mass Galaxy Redshift Survey, which provides the deepest, widest and most complete spatial distribution of galaxies available so far. In our analysis we use a new, concise relation for deriving the LG motion and bulk flow from the true distribution of galaxies in redshift space. Our results show that the main source of uncertainty is the small effective depth of surveys like the 2MRS that prevents a proper sampling of the large scale structure beyond $\sim100 h^{-1} Mpc$. Deeper redshift surveys are needed to reach the “convergence scale” of $\approx 250 h^{-1}Mpc $ in a $\Lambda$CDM universe. Deeper survey would also mitigate the impact of the “Kaiser rocket” which, in a survey like 2MRS, remains a significant source of uncertainty. Thanks to the quiet and moderate density environment of the LG, purely dynamical uncertainties of the linear predictions are subdominant at the level of $\sim 90 km s^{-1}$. Finally, we show that deviations from linear galaxy biasing and shot noise errors provide a minor contribution to the total error budget.

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A. Nusser, M. Davis and E. Branchini
Thu, 27 Feb 14
12/59

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6326

Certain configurations of massive structures projected along the line of sight maximize the number of detections of gravitationally lensed $z\sim10$ galaxies. We characterize such lines of sight with the \’etendue $\sigma_\mu$, the area in the source plane magnified over some threshold $\mu$. We use the Millennium I and Millennium XXL cosmological simulations to determine the frequency of high $\sigma_\mu$ beams on the sky, their properties, and efficient selection criteria. We define the best beams as having $\sigma_{\mu>3} >2000$ arcsec$^2$, for a $z\sim10$ source plane, and predict $477 \pm 21$ such beams on the sky. The total mass in the beam and $\sigma_{\mu>3}$ are strongly correlated. After controlling for total mass, we find a significant residual correlation between $\sigma_{\mu>3}$ and the number of cluster-scale halos ($>10^{14} M_\odot h^{-1}$) in the beam. Beams with $\sigma_{\mu>3} >2000$ arcsec$^2$, which should be best at lensing $z\sim10$ galaxies, are ten times more likely to contain multiple cluster-scale halos than a single cluster-scale halo. Beams containing an Abell 1689-like massive cluster halo often have additional structures along the line of sight, including at least one additional cluster-scale ($M_{200}>10^{14}M_\odot h^{-1}$) halo 28% of the time. Selecting beams with multiple, massive structures will lead to enhanced detection of the most distant and intrinsically faint galaxies.

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K. French, K. Wong, A. Zabludoff, et. al.
Thu, 27 Feb 14
22/59

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6627

We study the relationship between the K-band and the sub-millimetre (submm) emissions of nearby galaxies by computing the bivariate K-band-submm luminosity function (BLF) of the Herschel Reference Survey (HRS), a volume-limited sample observed in submm with Hersche/SPIRE. We derive the BLF from the K-band and submm cumulative distributions using a copula method. Using the BLF allows us to derive the relationship between the luminosities on more solid statistical ground. The analysis shows that over the whole HRS sample, no statistically meaningful conclusion can be derived for any relationship between the K-band and the submm luminosity. However, a very tight relationship between these luminosities is highlighted, by restricting our analysis to late-type galaxies. The luminosity function of late-type galaxies computed in the K-band and in the submm are dependent and the dependence is caused by the link, between the stellar mass and the cold dust mass, which has been already observed

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P. Andreani, L. Spinoglio, A. Boselli, et. al.
Thu, 27 Feb 14
25/59

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6433

Many dark energy models fail to pass the cosmic age test. In this paper, we investigate the cosmic age problem associated with 20 extremely red and massive galaxies at very high redshift from Castro-Rodr{\’i}guez and Lopez-Corredoira (2012) in the $R_h=ct$ Universe. These old galaxies and the $R_h=ct$ Universe have not been used to study the cosmic age problem in previous literature. By evaluating the age of the $R_h=ct$ Universe with the observational constraints from the Type Ia supernovae, and Hubble parameter, we find that the $R_h=ct$ Universe can accommodate the 20 old galaxies and quasar APM 08279+5255 at redshift $z=3.91$ at more than $3\sigma$ confidence level. So, unlike other cosmological models, the $R_h=ct$ Universe does not suffer the cosmic age problem.

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H. Yu and F. Wang
Thu, 27 Feb 14
26/59

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6371

We investigate the interacting dark sector composed of dark matter, dark energy, and dark radiation for a spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) background by introducing a three-dimensional internal space spanned by the interaction vector $\mathbf{Q}$ and solve the source equation for a linear transversal interaction. Then, we explore a realistic model with dark matter coupled to a scalar field plus a decoupled radiation term, analyze the amount of dark energy in the radiation era and find that our model is consistent with the recent measurements of cosmic microwave background anisotropy coming from Planck along with the future constraints achievable by CMBPol experiment.

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L. Chimento and M. Richarte
Thu, 27 Feb 14
31/59

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6614

Redshift drift provides a direct kinematic measurement of cosmic acceleration but it occurs with a characteristic time scale of a Hubble time. Thus redshift observations with a challenging precision of $10^{-9}$ require a 10 year time span to obtain a signal-to-noise of 1. We discuss theoretical and experimental approaches to address this challenge, potentially requiring less observer time and having greater immunity to common systematics. On the theoretical side we explore allowing the universe, rather than the observer, to provide long time spans; speculative methods include radial baryon acoustic oscillations, cosmic pulsars, and strongly lensed quasars. On the experimental side, we explore beating down the redshift precision using differential interferometric techniques, including externally dispersed interferometers and spatial heterodyne spectroscopy. Low-redshift emission line galaxies are identified as having high cosmology leverage and systematics control, with an 8 hour exposure on a 10-meter telescope (1000 hours of exposure on a 40-meter telescope) potentially capable of measuring the redshift of a galaxy to a precision of $2\times 10^{-9}$ (~$5\times 10^{-11}$). Low-redshift redshift drift also has very strong complementarity with cosmic microwave background measurements, with the combination achieving a dark energy figure of merit of nearly 300 (1400) for 5% (1%) precision on drift.

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A. Kim, E. Linder, J. Edelstein, et. al.
Thu, 27 Feb 14
54/59

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6212

We present cosmological constraints from measurements of the gas mass fraction, $f_{gas}$, for massive, dynamically relaxed galaxy clusters. Our data set consists of Chandra observations of 40 such clusters, identified in a comprehensive search of the Chandra archive, as well as high-quality weak gravitational lensing data for a subset of these clusters. Incorporating a robust gravitational lensing calibration of the X-ray mass estimates, and restricting our measurements to the most self-similar and accurately measured regions of clusters, significantly reduces systematic uncertainties compared to previous work. Our data for the first time constrain the intrinsic scatter in $f_{gas}$, $(7.4\pm2.3)$% in a spherical shell at radii 0.8-1.2 $r_{2500}$, consistent with the expected variation in gas depletion and non-thermal pressure for relaxed clusters. From the lowest-redshift data in our sample we obtain a constraint on a combination of the Hubble parameter and cosmic baryon fraction, $h^{3/2}\Omega_b/\Omega_m=0.089\pm0.012$, that is insensitive to the nature of dark energy. Combined with standard priors on $h$ and $\Omega_b h^2$, this provides a tight constraint on the cosmic matter density, $\Omega_m=0.27\pm0.04$, which is similarly insensitive to dark energy. Using the entire cluster sample, extending to $z>1$, we obtain consistent results for $\Omega_m$ and interesting constraints on dark energy: $\Omega_\Lambda=0.65^{+0.17}_{-0.22}$ for non-flat $\Lambda$CDM models, and $w=-0.98\pm0.26$ for flat constant-$w$ models. Our results are both competitive and consistent with those from recent CMB, SNIa and BAO data. We present constraints on models of evolving dark energy from the combination of $f_{gas}$ data with these external data sets, and comment on the possibilities for improved $f_{gas}$ constraints using current and next-generation X-ray observatories and lensing data. (Abridged)

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A. Mantz, S. Allen, R. Morris, et. al.
Wed, 26 Feb 14
9/51

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6231

We investigate how a stochastic gravitational wave background, produced from a discrete set of astrophysical sources, differs from an idealised model consisting of an isotropic, unpolarised, and Gaussian background. We focus, in particular, on the different signatures produced from these two cases, as observed in a cross-correlation search. We show that averaged over many realisations of an astrophysical background, the cross-correlation measurement of an astrophysical background is identical to that of an idealised background. However, any one realisation of an astrophysical background can produce a different signature. Using a model consisting of an ensemble of binary neutron star coalescences, we quantify the typical difference between the signal from individual realisations of the astrophysical background and the idealised case. For advanced detectors, we find that, using a cross-correlation analysis, astrophysical backgrounds from many discrete sources are probably indistinguishable from an idealised background.

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D. Meacher, E. Thrane and T. Regimbau
Wed, 26 Feb 14
20/51

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6037

We study the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect for clusters of galaxies. We explore the relativistic corrections to the Kompaneets equation in terms of two different expansion approximation schemes, namely, the Fokker-Planck expansion approximation and delta function expansion approximation. We show that two expansion approximation formalisms are equivalent under the Thomson approximation, which is extremely good approximation for the CMB photon energies. This will clarify the situation for existing theoretical methods to analyse observation data.

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S. Nozawa and Y. Kohyama
Wed, 26 Feb 14
30/51

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6101

With the halo catalog from the Millennium Simulation, we analyze the weak-lensing measured density profiles for clusters of galaxies, paying attention to the determination of the concentration-mass (c-M) relation which can be biased by the center offset, selection effect and shape noise from intrinsic ellipticities of background galaxies. Several different methods to locate the center of a cluster from weak-lensing effects alone are explored. We find that, for intermediate redshift clusters, the highest peak from our newly proposed two-scale smoothing method applied to the reconstructed convergence field, first with a smoothing scale of 2 arcmin and then 0.5 arcmin, corresponds the best to the true center. Assuming the parameterized Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profile, we fit the reduced tangential shear signals around different centers identified differently. It is shown that for the ensemble median values, a center offset larger than one scale radius $r_s$ can bias the derived mass and concentration significantly lower than the true values especially for low mass halos. However, the existence of noise can compensate the offset effect and reduce the systematic bias although the scatters of mass and concentration get considerably larger. Statistically, the bias effect of center offset on the c-M relation is insignificant if an appropriate center finding method is adopted. On the other hand, noise from intrinsic ellipticities can bias the c-M relation derived from a sample of weak-lensing analyzed clusters if a simple $\chi^2$ fitting method is used. To account for the scatters and covariance between $c$ and $M$ properly, we apply a Bayesian method to improve the statistical analysis of the c-M relation. It is shown that this new method allows us to derive the c-M relation with significantly reduced biases.

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W. Du and Z. Fan
Wed, 26 Feb 14
39/51

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6315

We combine data from the Spitzer Survey for Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G), a recently calibrated empirical stellar mass estimator from Eskew et al., and an extensive database of HI spectral line profiles to examine the baryonic Tully-Fisher (BTF) relation. We find 1) that the BTF has lower scatter than the classic Tully-Fisher (TF) relation and is better described as a linear relationship, confirming similar previous results, 2) that the inclusion of a radial scale in the BTF decreases the scatter but only modestly, as seen previously for the TF relation, and 3) that the slope of the BTF, which we find to be $3.5\pm 0.2$ (\Delta log $M_{baryon}$/\Delta log v_c), implies that on average a nearly constant fraction ($\sim 0.4$) of all baryons expected to be in a halo are “condensed” onto the central region of rotationally supported galaxies. The condensed baryon fraction, $M_{baryon}/M_{total}$, is, to our measurement precision, nearly independent of galaxy circular velocity (our sample spans circular velocities, $v_c$, between 60 and 250 km s$^{-1}$, but is extended to $v_c\sim 10$ km s$^{-1}$ using data from the literature). The observed galaxy-to-galaxy scatter in this fraction is generally $\le$ a factor of 2 despite fairly liberal selection criteria. These results imply that cooling and heating processes, such as cold vs. hot accretion, mass loss due to stellar winds, and AGN driven feedback, to the degree that they affect the global galactic properties involved in the BTF, are independent of halo mass for galaxies with 10 < v_c < 250 km/s and typically introduce no more than a factor of two range in the resulting $M_{baryon}/M_{total}$. Recent simulations by Aumer et al. of a small sample of disk galaxies are in excellent agreement with our data, suggesting that current simulations are capable of reproducing the global properties of individual disk galaxies.

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D. Zaritsky, H. Courtois, J. Munoz-Mateos, et. al.
Wed, 26 Feb 14
45/51

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.5675

It has been proposed that the first, intermediate-mass ($\approx 10^{5-6}~M_\odot$) black holes might form through direct collapse of unpolluted gas in atomic-cooling halos exposed to a strong Lyman-Werner (LW) or near-infrared (NIR) radiation. As these systems are expected to be Compton-thick, photons above 13.6 eV are largely absorbed and re-processed into lower energy bands. It follows that direct collapse black holes (DCBHs) are very bright in the LW/NIR bands, typically outshining small high-redshift galaxies by more than 10 times. Once the first DCBHs form, they then trigger a runaway process of further DCBH formation, producing a sudden rise in their cosmic mass density. The universe enters the “DCBH era” at $z \approx 20$ when a large fraction of atomic-cooling halos are experiencing DCBH formation. By combining the clustering properties of the radiation sources with Monte Carlo simulations we show that in this scenario the DCBH mass density rises from $\sim 5$~$M_\odot$ Mpc$^{-3}$ at $z\sim 30$ to the peak value $\sim5\times10^5 M_\odot$ Mpc$^{-3}$ at $z \sim 14$ in our fiducial model. However, the abundance of \textit{active} (accreting) DCBHs drops after $z \sim 14$, as gas in the potential formation sites (unpolluted halos with virial temperature slightly above $10^4$~K) is photoevaporated. This effect almost completely suppresses DCBH formation after $z\sim 13$. The DCBH formation era lasts only $\approx 150$ Myr, but it might crucially provide the seeds of the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) powering $z\sim6$ quasars.

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B. Yue, A. Ferrara, R. Salvaterra, et. al.
Tue, 25 Feb 14
4/59

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.5597

A statistical analysis of radial (line-of-sight) 1D-distributions of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) within the redshift interval $0.044 \leq z \leq 0.78$ and Mg II absorption-line systems ($0.37 \leq z \leq 2.28$) is carried out. Power spectra and two-point radial correlation functions are calculated. It is found that both radial distributions of spectroscopic redshifts of 52,683 BCGs and 32,840 Mg II absorption systems incorporate similar quasi-periodical components relatively to the comoving distance. Significance of the components exceeds $4\sigma$-level and admits an increase ($\geq 5\sigma$) for some broad subsamples. For the {\Lambda}CDM cosmological model the periodicities correspond to spatial comoving scales ($98 \pm 3$) and ($101 \pm 2$)h$^{-1}$ Mpc, respectively. These quasi-periods turn out to be close to the characteristic scale ($101 \pm 6$)h$^{-1}$Mpc of the quasi-periodical component obtained earlier for the radial distribution of luminous red galaxies (LRGs). On the other hand, the scales are close to the spatial scale corresponding to the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) revealed by many authors at the last decade. Fourier transform phases obtained for the BCGs and LRGs are found to be close, while the phases calculated for the Mg II absorption systems and LRGs are opposite. Discussions of the results in a context of the BAO and large-scale structure characteristic scales are outlined.

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A. Ryabinkov and A. Kaminker
Tue, 25 Feb 14
21/59

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.5502

The current standard cosmological model, LCDM, provides an excellent fit to the WMAP and Planck CMB data. However, the model has well known problems. For example, the cosmological constant is fine tuned to 1 part in 10^100 and the cold dark matter (CDM) particle is not yet detected in the laboratory. Here we seek an alternative model to LCDM which makes minimal assumptions about new physics. This is based on previous work by Shanks who investigated a model which assumed neither exotic particles nor a cosmological constant but instead postulated a low Hubble constant (H_0) to help allow a baryon density which was compatible with an inflationary model with zero spatial curvature. However, the recent Planck results make it more difficult to reconcile such a model with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature fluctuations. Here we relax the previous assumptions to assess the effects of assuming standard model neutrinos of moderate mass (~5eV) but with no CDM and no cosmological constant. If we assume a low H_0~45kms^-1Mpc^-1 then we now find a reasonable fit to the Planck CMB power spectrum. This model is related to the 11eV sterile neutrino model of Angus (2009) except there a cosmological constant was assumed with H_0~70kms^-1Mpc^-1. The problem for both these models is that the amplitude of fluctuations is low (sigma_8~0.2) making it difficult to form galaxies by the present day. Angus advocated a modified gravity model to increase the growth rate of perturbations. Another approach is to invoke seeds for galaxy formation that might have existed just after decoupling. One possibility is cosmic string wakes but we believe seeds from a primordial magnetic field are more in the spirit of our `what you see is what you get’ model.

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T. Shanks, R. Johnson, J. Schewtschenko, et. al.
Tue, 25 Feb 14
23/59

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.5916

This paper provides a systematic study of renormalization in models of halo biasing. Building on work of McDonald, we show that Eulerian biasing is only consistent with renormalization if non-local terms and higher-derivative contributions are included in the biasing model. We explicitly determine the complete list of required bias parameters for Gaussian initial conditions, up to quartic order in the dark matter density contrast and at leading order in derivatives. At quadratic order, this means including the gravitational tidal tensor, while at cubic order the velocity potential appears as an independent degree of freedom. Our study naturally leads to an effective theory of biasing in which the halo density is written as a double expansion in fluctuations and spatial derivatives. We show that the bias expansion can be organized in terms of Galileon operators which aren’t renormalized at leading order in derivatives. Finally, we discuss how the renormalized bias parameters impact the statistics of halos.

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V. Assassi, D. Baumann, D. Green, et. al.
Tue, 25 Feb 14
39/59

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.5095

In this paper we use near-infrared (NIR) spectral observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) to study the uncertainties inherent to NIR K corrections. To do so, 75 previously published NIR spectra of 33 SNe Ia are employed to determine K-correction uncertainties in the YJHK_s passbands as a function of temporal phase and redshift. The resultant K corrections are then fed into an interpolation algorithm that provides mean K corrections as a function of temporal phase and robust estimates of the associated errors. These uncertainties are both statistical and intrinsic — i.e., due to the diversity of spectral features from object to object — and must be included in the overall error budget of cosmological parameters constrained through the use of NIR observations of SNe Ia. Intrinsic variations are likely the dominant source of error for all four passbands at maximum light. Given the present data, the total Y-band K-correction uncertainties at maximum are smallest, amounting to +/- 0.04 mag at a redshift of z = 0.08. The J-band K-term errors are also reasonably small (+/- 0.06 mag), but intrinsic variations of spectral features and noise introduced by telluric corrections in the H band currently limit the total K-correction errors at maximum to +/- 0.10 mag at z = 0.08. Finally, uncertainties in the K_s-band K terms at maximum amount to +/- 0.07 mag at this same redshift. These results are largely constrained by the small number of published NIR spectra of SNe Ia, which do not yet allow spectral templates to be constructed as a function of the light curve decline rate.

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L. Boldt, M. Stritzinger, C. Burns, et. al.
Fri, 21 Feb 14
11/55

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.4815

We present the observational evidence of the 2-halo term in the stacked shear profile of a sample of about 1200 optically selected galaxy clusters based on imaging data and the public shear catalog from the CFHTLenS. We find that the halo bias, a measure of the correlated distribution of matter around galaxy clusters, has amplitude and correlation with galaxy cluster mass in very good agreement with the predictions based on the LCDM standard cosmological model. The mass-concentration relation is flat but higher than theoretical predictions. We also confirm the close scaling relation between the optical richness of galaxy clusters and their mass.

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G. Covone, M. Sereno, M. Kilbinger, et. al.
Fri, 21 Feb 14
18/55

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.4828

By means of a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation, we show how the local observed relation between age and galactic stellar mass is affected by assuming a DM power spectrum with a small-scale cutoff. We compare results obtained by means of both a Lambda-cold dark matter (LambdaCDM) and a Lambda-warm dark matter (LambdaWDM) power spectrum – suppressed with respect to the LambdaCDM at scales below ~ 1 Mpc. We show that, within a LWDM cosmology with a thermal relic particle mass of 0.75 keV, both the mass-weighted and the luminosity-weighted age-mass relations are steeper than those obtained within a LambdaCDM universe, in better agreement with the observed relations. Moreover, both the observed differential and cumulative age distributions are better reproduced within a LambdaWDM cosmology. In such a scenario, star formation appears globally delayed with respect to the LambdaCDM, in particular in low-mass galaxies. The difficulty of obtaining a full agreement between model results and observations is to be ascribed to our present poor understanding of baryonic physics.

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F. Calura, N. Menci and A. Gallazzi
Fri, 21 Feb 14
29/55

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.5082

The relation between the stellar mass and size of a galaxy’s structural subcomponents, such as discs and spheroids, is a powerful way to understand the processes involved in their formation. Using very large catalogues of photometric bulge+disc structural decompositions and stellar masses from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Seven, we carefully define two large subsamples of spheroids in a quantitative manner such that both samples share similar characteristics with one important exception: the ‘bulges’ are embedded in a disc and the ‘pure spheroids’ are galaxies with a single structural component. Our bulge and pure spheroid subsample sizes are 76,012 and 171,243 respectively. Above a stellar mass of ~$10^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$, the mass-size relations of both subsamples are parallel to one another and are close to lines of constant surface mass density. However, the relations are offset by a factor of 1.4, which may be explained by the dominance of dissipation in their formation processes. Whereas the size-mass relation of bulges in discs is consistent with gas-rich mergers, pure spheroids appear to have been formed via a combination of ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ mergers.

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T. Berg, L. Simard, J. Mendel, et. al.
Fri, 21 Feb 14
39/55