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The current observational tensions in the standard cosmological model have reinforced the research on dynamical dark energy, in particular on models with non-gravitational interaction between the dark components. Late-time observables like type Ia supernovas (SNe Ia) and large-scale structures (LSS) point to an energy flux from dark energy to dark matter, while the anisotropy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) points to a small flux from dark matter to dark energy, fully consistent with no interaction at all. As background and visible matter tests are insensitive to the suppression/enhancement in the dark matter power spectrum, which is a characteristic of interacting models, while the CMB spectrum is strongly affected by it, this could be the origin of those results. In order to confirm it and at the same time to rule out the role of possible systematics between early and late-time observations, the use of a low redshift observable sensitive to the gravitational potential generated by dark matter is crucial. In the present paper, we investigate the observational viability of a class of interacting dark energy models, namely with energy exchange between vacuum-type and dust components, in the light of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) observations of galaxy weak lensing, in the context of a spatially-flat Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker spacetime. The best fit of our analysis is compatible with null interaction, with a weak preference for an energy flux from dark matter to dark energy, confirming the CMB based constraints., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures

Polymer models have been used to describe non-singular quantum black holes, where the classical singularity is replaced by a transition from a black hole to a white hole. In a previous letter, in the context of a uni-parametric model with asymptotic flat exterior metric, we fixed the radius of the transition surface through the identification of its area with the area gap of Loop Quantum Gravity. This revealed a dependence of the polymerisation parameter on the black hole mass, where the former increases as the latter decreases, and it also enabled the extension of the model to Planck-scale black holes. We have identified the existence of limiting states with masses $m \geq \sqrt{2}/4$ and zero surface gravity, showing that Hawking evaporation asymptotically leads to remnant black holes of Planck size. In the present paper we consider solutions with $m < \sqrt{2}/4$, observing again the presence of a minimal radius, but without formation of horizons. Diversely from the previous mass range, only charged solutions are allowed in this case., Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures

Galaxy clusters are an essential tool to understand and constrain the cosmological parameters of our Universe. Thanks to its multi-band design, J-PAS offers a unique group and cluster detection window using precise photometric redshifts and sufficient depths. We produce galaxy cluster catalogues from the miniJPAS, which is a pathfinder survey for the wider J-PAS survey, using the PZWav algorithm. Relying only on photometric information, we provide optical mass tracers for the identified clusters, including richness, optical luminosity, and stellar mass. By reanalysing the Chandra mosaic of the AEGIS field, alongside the overlapping XMM-Newton observations, we produce an X-ray catalogue. The analysis reveals the possible presence of structures with masses of 4$\times 10^{13}$ M$_\odot$ at redshift 0.75, highlighting the depth of the survey. Comparing results with those from two other cluster catalogues, provided by AMICO and VT, we find $43$ common clusters with cluster centre offsets of 100$\pm$60 kpc and redshift differences below 0.001. We provide a comparison of the cluster catalogues with a catalogue of massive galaxies and report on the significance of cluster selection. In general, we are able to recover approximately 75$\%$ of the galaxies with $M^{\star} >$2$\times 10^{11}$ M$_\odot$. This study emphasises the potential of the J-PAS survey and the employed techniques down to the group scales., Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, 5 tables. Submitted to A&A in December 19, 2023

We aim at developing a robust methodology for constraining the luminosity and stellar mass functions (LMFs) of galaxies by solely using data from multi-filter surveys and testing the potential of these techniques for determining the evolution of the miniJPAS LMFs up to $z\sim0.7$. Stellar mass and $B$-band luminosity for each of the miniJPAS galaxies are constrained using an updated version of the SED-fitting code MUFFIT, whose values are based on composite stellar population models and the probability distribution functions of the miniJPAS photometric redshifts. Galaxies are classified through the stellar mass versus rest-frame colour diagram corrected for extinction. Different stellar mass and luminosity completeness limits are set and parametrised as a function of redshift, for setting limits in our flux-limited sample ($r_\mathrm{SDSS}<22$). The miniJPAS LMFs are parametrised according to Schechter-like functions via a novel maximum likelihood method accounting for uncertainties, degeneracies, probabilities, completeness, and priors. Overall, our results point to a smooth evolution with redshift ($0.0510.7$)., Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures. Submitted to A&A

We present a new method for obtaining photometric redshifts (photo-z) for sources observed by multiple photometric surveys using a combination (conflation) of the redshift probability distributions (PDZs) obtained independently from each survey. The conflation of the PDZs has several advantages over the usual method of modelling all the photometry together, including modularity, speed, and accuracy of the results. Using a sample of galaxies with narrow-band photometry in 56 bands from J-PAS and deeper grizy photometry from the Hyper-SuprimeCam Subaru Strategic program (HSC-SSP), we show that PDZ conflation significantly improves photo-z accuracy compared to fitting all the photometry or using a weighted average of point estimates. The improvement over J-PAS alone is particularly strong for i>22 sources, which have low signal-to-noise ratio in the J-PAS bands. For the entire i<22.5 sample, we obtain a 64% (45%) increase in the number of sources with redshift errors |Dz|<0.003, a factor 3.3 (1.9) decrease in the normalised median absolute deviation of the errors (sigma_NMAD), and a factor 3.2 (1.3) decrease in the outlier rate compared to J-PAS (HSC-SSP) alone. The photo-z accuracy gains from combining the PDZs of J-PAS with a deeper broadband survey such as HSC-SSP are equivalent to increasing the depth of J-PAS observations by ~1.2--1.5 magnitudes. These results demonstrate the potential of PDZ conflation and highlight the importance of including the full PDZs in photo-z catalogues., Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in A&A

Polymer models inspired by Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) have been used to describe non-singular quantum black holes with spherical symmetry, with the classical singularity replaced by a transition from a black hole to a white hole. A recent model, with a single polymerisation parameter, leads to a symmetric transition with same mass for the black and white phases, and to an asymptotically flat exterior metric. The radius of the transition surface is, however, not fixed, increasing with the mass. Following similar procedures, in a previous paper we have fixed that radius by identifying the minimal area on the transition surface with the area gap of LQG. This allowed to find a dependence of the polymerisation parameter on the black hole mass, with the former increasing as the latter decreases. It also permitted to extend the model to Planck scale black holes, with quantum fluctuations remaining small at the horizon. In the present paper we extend this analysis to charged black holes, showing that the Cauchy horizon lies beyond of the transition surface. We also show the existence of limiting states with zero surface gravity, the lightest one with $Q = 0$ and $m = \sqrt{2}/4$, and the heaviest with $Q = m = \sqrt{2}/2$. Using our solutions to approximate quasi-steady horizons, we show that Hawking evaporation leads asymptotically to these extremal states, leaving remnant black holes of Planck size., Comment: Version to appear in the letter section of Class. Quantum Grav

We discuss the time evolution of quantum entanglement in presence of non-collapsing interactions. In particular, the entanglement between the products of a muon decay in a magnetic field is revisited. It results from angular momentum conservation and leads to an anomaly in the measured muon g factor in precise agreement with that reported by the Brookhaven and Fermilab experiments., Comment: 7 pages, no figures. New derivation included, based on angular momentum conservation

Samples of galaxy clusters allow us to better understand the physics at play in galaxy formation and to constrain cosmological models once their mass, position (for clustering studies) and redshift are known. In this context, large optical data sets play a crucial role. We investigate the capabilities of the Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) in detecting and characterizing galaxy groups and clusters. We analyze the data of the miniJPAS survey, obtained with the JPAS-Pathfinder camera and covering $1$ deg$^2$ centered on the AEGIS field to the same depths and with the same 54 narrow band plus 2 broader band near-UV and near-IR filters anticipated for the full J-PAS survey. We use the Adaptive Matched Identifier of Clustered Objects (AMICO) to detect and characterize groups and clusters of galaxies down to $S/N=2.5$ in the redshift range $0.05

Context: Gravitational redshift is a classical effect of Einstein's General Relativity, already measured in stars, quasars and clusters of galaxies. Aims: We here aim to identify the signature of gravitational redshift in the emission lines of active galaxies due to supermassive black holes, and compare to what is found for inactive galaxies. Methods: Using the virial theorem, we estimate gravitational redshifts for quasars from the 14th data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and compare these with measured ones from the difference between the redshifts of emission lines of Sydney Australian Astronomical Observatory Multi-object Integral Field (SAMI) galaxies in central and outer annuli of their integral field spectra. Results: Firstly, from the full width at half maximum of $H_\beta$ lines of 57 Seyfert type I galaxies of the AGN Black Hole Mass Database, we derive a median gravitational redshift $z_g = 1.18 \times 10^{-4}$. Expanding this analysis to 86755 quasars from DR14 of SDSS we have a median value $z_g = 1.52 \times 10^{-4}$. Then, by comparing the redshifts of $34$ lines measured at central and outer regions of LINER galaxies in the SAMI survey we obtain $z_g = (0.68 \pm 0.09) \times 10^{-4}$, which increases to $z_g = (1.0 \pm 0.1) \times 10^{-4}$ when using $H_\alpha$ and $H_\beta$ lines. These numbers are compatible with central black holes of $\approx 10^9$ solar masses and broad line regions of $\approx 1$pc. For non-AGN galaxies the gravitational redshift is compatible with zero., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 7 pages, 6 figures

Studies indicate strong evidence of a scaling relation in the local Universe between the supermassive black hole mass ($M_\rm{BH}$) and the stellar mass of their host galaxies ($M_\star$). They even show similar histories across cosmic times of their differential terms: star formation rate (SFR) and black hole accretion rate (BHAR). However, a clear picture of this coevolution is far from being understood. We select an X-ray sample of active galactic nuclei (AGN) up to $z=2.5$ in the miniJPAS footprint. Their X-ray to infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) have been modeled with CIGALE, constraining the emission to 68 bands. For a final sample of 308 galaxies, we derive their physical properties (e.g., $M_\star$, $\rm{SFR}$, $\rm{SFH}$, and $L_\rm{AGN}$). We also fit their optical spectra for a subsample of 113 sources to estimate the $M_\rm{BH}$. We calculate the BHAR depending on two radiative efficiency regimes. We find that the Eddington ratios ($\lambda$) and its popular proxy ($L_\rm{X}$/$M_\star$) have 0.6 dex of difference, and a KS-test indicates that they come from different distributions. Our sources exhibit a considerable scatter on the $M_\rm{BH}$-$M_\star$ relation, which can explain the difference between $\lambda$ and its proxy. We also model three evolution scenarios to recover the integral properties at $z=0$. Using the SFR and BHAR, we show a notable diminution in the scattering between $M_\rm{BH}$-$M_\star$. For the last scenario, we consider the SFH and a simple energy budget for the AGN accretion, obtaining a relation similar to the local Universe. Our study covers $\sim 1$ deg$^2$ in the sky and is sensitive to biases in luminosity. Nevertheless, we show that, for bright sources, the link between SFR and BHAR, and their decoupling based on an energy limit is the key that leads to the local $M_\rm{BH}$-$M_\star$ scaling relation., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

The J-PAS survey will observe ~1/3 of the northern sky with a set of 56 narrow-band filters using the dedicated 2.55 m JST telescope at the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory. Prior to the installation of the main camera, in order to demonstrate the scientific potential of J-PAS, two small surveys were performed with the single-CCD Pathfinder camera: miniJPAS (~1 deg2 along the Extended Groth Strip), and J-NEP (~0.3 deg2 around the JWST North Ecliptic Pole Time Domain Field), including all 56 J-PAS filters as well as u, g, r, and i. J-NEP is ~0.5-1.0 magnitudes deeper than miniJPAS, providing photometry for 24,618 r-band detected sources and photometric redshifts (photo-z) for the 6,662 sources with r<23. In this paper we describe the photometry and photo-z of J-NEP and demonstrate a new method for the removal of systematic offsets in the photometry based on the median colours of galaxies, dubbed "galaxy locus recalibration". This method does not require spectroscopic observations except in a few reference pointings and, unlike previous methods, is applicable to the whole J-PAS survey. We use a spectroscopic sample of 787 galaxies to test the photo-z performance for J-NEP and in comparison to miniJPAS. We find that the deeper J-NEP observations result in a factor ~1.5-2 decrease in sigma_NMAD (a robust estimate of the standard deviation of the photo-z error) and the outlier rate relative to miniJPAS for r>21.5 sources, but no improvement in brighter ones. We find the same relation between sigma_NMAD and odds in J-NEP and miniJPAS, suggesting sigma_NMAD can be predicted for any set of J-PAS sources from their odds distribution alone, with no need for additional spectroscopy to calibrate the relation. We explore the causes for photo-z outliers and find that colour-space degeneracy at low S/N, photometry artifacts, source blending, and exotic spectra are the most important factors., Comment: 16 pages, 25 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

Effective models of quantum black holes inspired by Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) have had success in resolving the classical singularity with polymerisation procedures and by imposing the LQG area gap as a minimum area. The singularity is replaced by a hypersurface of transition from black to white holes, and a recent example is the Ashtekar, Olmedo and Singh (AOS) model for a Schwarzschild black hole. More recently, a one-parameter model, with equal masses for the black and white solutions, was suggested by Alonso-Bardaji, Brizuela and Vera (ABBV). An interesting feature of their quantisation is that the angular part of the metric retains its classical form and the horizon area is therefore the same as in the classical theory. In the present contribution we solve the dynamical equations derived from the ABBV effective Hamiltonian and, by applying the AOS minimal area condition, we obtain the scaling of the polymerisation parameter with the black hole mass. We then show that this effective model can also describe Planck scale black holes, and that the curvature and quantum corrections at the horizon are small even at this scale. By generating the exterior metric through a phase rotation in the dynamical variables, we also show that, for an asymptotic observer, the Kretschmann scalar is the same as in the classical Schwarzschild solution, but with a central mass screened by the quantum fluctuations., Comment: Revised version, accepted for publication in Class. Quantum Grav

The importance of photometric galaxy redshift estimation is rapidly increasing with the development of specialised powerful observational facilities. We develop a new photometric redshift estimation workflow TOPz to provide reliable and efficient redshift estimations for the upcoming large-scale survey J-PAS which will observe 8500 deg2 of the northern sky through 54 narrow-band filters. TOPz relies on template-based photo-z estimation with some added J-PAS specific features and possibilities. We present TOPz performance on data from the miniJPAS survey, a precursor to the J-PAS survey with an identical filter system. First, we generated spectral templates based on the miniJPAS sources using the synthetic galaxy spectrum generation software CIGALE. Then we applied corrections to the input photometry by minimising systematic offsets from the template flux in each filter. To assess the accuracy of the redshift estimation, we used spectroscopic redshifts from the DEEP2, DEEP3, and SDSS surveys, available for 1989 miniJPAS galaxies with r < 22 magAB. We also tested how the choice and number of input templates, photo-z priors, and photometric corrections affect the TOPz redshift accuracy. The general performance of the combination of miniJPAS data and the TOPz workflow fulfills the expectations for J-PAS redshift accuracy. Similarly to previous estimates, we find that 38.6% of galaxies with r < 22 mag reach the J-PAS redshift accuracy goal of dz/(1 + z) < 0.003. Limiting the number of spectra in the template set improves the redshift accuracy up to 5%, especially for fainter, noise-dominated sources. Further improvements will be possible once the actual J-PAS data become available., Comment: 20 pages, 24 figures

We analyze the white dwarf population in miniJPAS, the first square degree observed with 56 medium-band, 145 A in width optical filters by the Javalambre Physics of the accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS), to provide a data-based forecast for the white dwarf science with low-resolution (R ~ 50) photo-spectra. We define the sample of the bluest point-like sources in miniJPAS with r < 21.5 mag, point-like probability larger than 0.5, (u-r) < 0.80 mag, and (g-i) < 0.25 mag. This sample comprises 33 sources with spectroscopic information, 11 white dwarfs and 22 QSOs. We estimate the effective temperature (Teff), the surface gravity, and the composition of the white dwarf population by a Bayesian fitting to the observed photo-spectra. The miniJPAS data permit the classification of the observed white dwarfs into H-dominated and He-dominated with 99% confidence, and the detection of calcium absorption and polluting metals down to r ~ 21.5 mag at least for sources with 7000 < Teff < 22000 K, the temperature range covered by the white dwarfs in miniJPAS. The effective temperature is estimated with a 2% uncertainty, close to the 1% from spectroscopy. A precise estimation of the surface gravity depends on the available parallax information. In addition, the white dwarf population at Teff > 7000 K can be segregated from the bluest extragalactic QSOs, providing a clean sample based on optical photometry alone. The J-PAS low-resolution photo-spectra provide precise and accurate effective temperatures and atmospheric compositions for white dwarfs, complementing the data from Gaia. J-PAS will also detect and characterize new white dwarfs beyond the Gaia magnitude limit, providing faint candidates for spectroscopic follow up., Comment: Submitted to Astronomy and Astrophyscis. 12 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables. Comments are welcome

Understanding the origins of small-scale flats of CCDs and their wavelength-dependent variations plays an important role in high-precision photometric, astrometric, and shape measurements of astronomical objects. Based on the unique flat data of 47 narrow-band filters provided by JPAS-{\it Pathfinder}, we analyze the variations of small-scale flats as a function of wavelength. We find moderate variations (from about $1.0\%$ at 390 nm to $0.3\%$ at 890 nm) of small-scale flats among different filters, increasing towards shorter wavelengths. Small-scale flats of two filters close in central wavelengths are strongly correlated. We then use a simple physical model to reproduce the observed variations to a precision of about $\pm 0.14\%$, by considering the variations of charge collection efficiencies, effective areas and thicknesses between CCD pixels. We find that the wavelength-dependent variations of small-scale flats of the JPAS-{\it Pathfinder} camera originate from inhomogeneities of the quantum efficiency (particularly charge collection efficiency) as well as the effective area and thickness of CCD pixels. The former dominates the variations in short wavelengths while the latter two dominate at longer wavelengths. The effects on proper flat-fielding as well as on photometric/flux calibrations for photometric/slit-less spectroscopic surveys are discussed, particularly in blue filters/wavelengths. We also find that different model parameters are sensitive to flats of different wavelengths, depending on the relations between the electron absorption depth, the photon absorption length and the CCD thickness. In order to model the wavelength-dependent variations of small-scale flats, a small number (around ten) of small-scale flats with well-selected wavelengths are sufficient to reconstruct small-scale flats in other wavelengths., Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJS

MiniJPAS is a ~1 deg^2 imaging survey of the AEGIS field in 60 bands, performed to demonstrate the scientific potential of the upcoming JPAS survey. Full coverage of the 3800-9100 \AA range with 54 narrow and 6 broad optical filters allow for extremely accurate photo-z, which applied over 1000s of deg^2 will enable new applications of the photo-z technique such as measurement of baryonic acoustic oscillations. In this paper we describe the method used to obtain the photo-z included in the publicly available miniJPAS catalogue, and characterise the photo-z performance. We build 100 \AA resolution photo-spectra from the PSF-corrected forced-aperture photometry. Systematic offsets in the photometry are corrected by applying magnitude shifts obtained through iterative fitting with stellar population synthesis models. We compute photo-z with a customised version of LePhare, using a set of templates optimised for the J-PAS filter-set. We analyse the accuracy of miniJPAS photo-z and their dependence on multiple quantities using a subsample of 5,266 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts from SDSS and DEEP, that we find to be representative of the whole r<23 miniJPAS sample. Formal uncertainties for the photo-z that are calculated with the \delta\chi^2 method underestimate the actual redshift errors. The odds parameter has the stronger correlation with |Dz|, and accurately reproduces the probability of a redshift outlier (|Dz|>0.03) irrespective of the magnitude, redshift, or spectral type of the sources. We show that the two main summary statistics characterising the photo-z accuracy for a population of galaxies (snmad and \eta) can be predicted by the distribution of odds in such population, and use this to estimate them for the whole miniJPAS sample. At r<23 there are 17,500 galaxies/deg^2 with valid photo-z estimates, of which 4,200 are expected to have |Dz|<0.003 (abridged)., Comment: 25 pages, 32 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

The next generation of galaxy surveys will allow us to test some fundamental aspects of the standard cosmological model, including the assumption of a minimal coupling between the components of the dark sector. In this paper, we present the Javalambre Physics of the Accelerated Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) forecasts on a class of unified models where cold dark matter interacts with a vacuum energy, considering future observations of baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift-space distortions, and the matter power spectrum. After providing a general framework to study the background and linear perturbations, we focus on a concrete interacting model without momentum exchange by taking into account the contribution of baryons. We compare the J-PAS results with those expected for DESI and Euclid surveys and show that J-PAS is competitive to them, especially at low redshifts. Indeed, the predicted errors for the interaction parameter, which measures the departure from a $\Lambda$CDM model, can be comparable to the actual errors derived from the current data of cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies., Comment: 34 pages, 9 figures, 14 tables

Throughout this paper we present a new method to detect and measure emission lines in J-PAS up to $z = 0.35$. J-PAS will observe $8000$~deg$^2$ of the northern sky in the upcoming years with 56 photometric bands. The release of such amount of data brings us the opportunity to employ machine learning methods in order to overcome the difficulties associated with photometric data. We used Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) trained and tested with synthetic J-PAS photometry from CALIFA, MaNGA, and SDSS spectra. We carry out two tasks: firstly, we cluster galaxies in two groups according to the values of the equivalent width (EW) of $H\alpha$, $H\beta$, $[NII]{\lambda 6584}$, and $ [OIII]{\lambda 5007}$ lines measured in the spectra. Then, we train an ANN to assign to each galaxy a group. We are able to classify them with the uncertainties typical of the photometric redshift measurable in J-PAS. Secondly, we utilize another ANN to determine the values of those EWs. Subsequently, we obtain the $[NII]/H\alpha$, $[OIII]/H\beta$, and \ion{O}{3}\ion{N}{2} ratios recovering the BPT diagram . We study the performance of the ANN in two training samples: one is only composed of synthetic J-PAS photo-spectra (J-spectra) from MaNGA and CALIFA (CALMa set) and the other one is composed of SDSS galaxies. We can reproduce properly the main sequence of star forming galaxies from the determination of the EWs. With the CALMa training set we reach a precision of 0.093 and 0.081 dex for the $[NII]/H\alpha$ and $[OIII]/H\beta$ ratios in the SDSS testing sample. Nevertheless, we find an underestimation of those ratios at high values in galaxies hosting an AGN. We also show the importance of the dataset used for both training and testing the model. ANNs are extremely useful to overcome the limitations previously expected concerning the detection and measurements of the emission lines in surveys like J-PAS., Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, Accepted to A&A

Future astrophysical surveys such as J-PAS will produce very large datasets, which will require the deployment of accurate and efficient Machine Learning (ML) methods. In this work, we analyze the miniJPAS survey, which observed about 1 deg2 of the AEGIS field with 56 narrow-band filters and 4 ugri broad-band filters. We discuss the classification of miniJPAS sources into extended (galaxies) and point-like (e.g. stars) objects, a necessary step for the subsequent scientific analyses. We aim at developing an ML classifier that is complementary to traditional tools based on explicit modeling. In order to train and test our classifiers, we crossmatched the miniJPAS dataset with SDSS and HSC-SSP data. We trained and tested 6 different ML algorithms on the two crossmatched catalogs. As input for the ML algorithms we use the magnitudes from the 60 filters together with their errors, with and without the morphological parameters. We also use the mean PSF in the r detection band for each pointing. We find that the RF and ERT algorithms perform best in all scenarios. When analyzing the full magnitude range of 1521). We use our best classifiers, with and without morphology, in order to produce a value added catalog available at https://j-pas.org/datareleases ., Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures. New Appendices E & F and improved discussion. VAC available at https://j-pas.org/datareleases . Trained models available at https://github.com/J-PAS-collaboration/StarGalClass-MachineLearning . Abstract abridged to meet arXiv requirements. Version accepted for publication in A&A

The Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) will soon start to scan thousands of square degrees of the northern extragalactic sky with a unique set of $56$ optical filters from a dedicated $2.55$m telescope, JST, at the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory. Before the arrival of the final instrument (a 1.2 Gpixels, 4.2deg$^2$ field-of-view camera), the JST was equipped with an interim camera (JPAS-Pathfinder), composed of one CCD with a 0.3deg$^2$ field-of-view and resolution of 0.23 arcsec pixel$^{-1}$. To demonstrate the scientific potential of J-PAS, with the JPAS-Pathfinder camera we carried out a survey on the AEGIS field (along the Extended Groth Strip), dubbed miniJPAS. We observed a total of $\sim 1$ deg$^2$, with the $56$ J-PAS filters, which include $54$ narrow band (NB, $\rm{FWHM} \sim 145$Angstrom) and two broader filters extending to the UV and the near-infrared, complemented by the $u,g,r,i$ SDSS broad band (BB) filters. In this paper we present the miniJPAS data set, the details of the catalogues and data access, and illustrate the scientific potential of our multi-band data. The data surpass the target depths originally planned for J-PAS, reaching $\rm{mag}_{\rm {AB}}$ between $\sim 22$ and $23.5$ for the NB filters and up to $24$ for the BB filters ($5\sigma$ in a $3$~arcsec aperture). The miniJPAS primary catalogue contains more than $64,000$ sources extracted in the $r$ detection band with forced photometry in all other bands. We estimate the catalogue to be complete up to $r=23.6$ for point-like sources and up to $r=22.7$ for extended sources. Photometric redshifts reach subpercent precision for all sources up to $r=22.5$, and a precision of $\sim 0.3$% for about half of the sample. (Abridged), Comment: The miniJPAS data and associated value added catalogues are publicly accessible via this url: http://archive.cefca.es/catalogues/minijpas-pdr201912

A decomposed generalised Chaplygin gas (gCg) with energy flux from dark energy to dark matter, represented by a negative value for the gas parameter $\alpha$, is shown to alleviate the tension between EDGES data and the cosmological standard model. Using EDGES data and employing a Bayesian statistical analysis, the agreement with the standard model is only marginal. However, if $\alpha$ is negative enough the gCg fits remarkably well the data, even in combination with SNe Ia datasets. On the other hand, when the CMB and BAO acoustic scales are included the preferred value for $\alpha$ is near zero, implying that a small deviation from $\Lambda$CDM is predicted., Comment: Revised version to appear in Physics of the Dark Universe

The next generation of galaxy surveys will allow us to test one of the most fundamental assumptions of the standard cosmology, i.e., that gravity is governed by the general theory of relativity (GR). In this paper we investigate the ability of the Javalambre Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) to constrain GR and its extensions. Based on the J-PAS information on clustering and gravitational lensing, we perform a Fisher matrix forecast on the effective Newton constant, $\mu$, and the gravitational slip parameter, $\eta$, whose deviations from unity would indicate a breakdown of GR. Similar analysis is also performed for the DESI and Euclid surveys and compared to J-PAS with two configurations providing different areas, namely an initial expectation with 4000 $\mathrm{deg}^2$ and the future best case scenario with 8500 $\mathrm{deg}^2$. We show that J-PAS will be able to measure the parameters $\mu$ and $\eta$ at a sensitivity of $2\% - 7\%$, and will provide the best constraints in the interval $z = 0.3 - 0.6$, thanks to the large number of ELGs detectable in that redshift range. We also discuss the constraining power of J-PAS for dark energy models with a time-dependent equation-of-state parameter of the type $w(a)=w_0+w_a(1-a)$, obtaining $\Delta w_0=0.058$ and $\Delta w_a=0.24$ for the absolute errors of the dark energy parameters.

Models with non-gravitational interactions between the dark matter and dark energy components are an alternative to the standard cosmological scenario. These models are characterized by an interaction term, and a frequently used parameterization is $Q = 3\xi H \rho_{x}$, where $H$ is the Hubble parameter and $\rho_{x}$ is the dark energy density. Although current observations support such a model for negative values of the interaction parameter $\xi$, we show here that this interval of values of $\xi$ leads the model to predict a violation of the Weak Energy Condition (WEC) for the dark matter density, regardless of the value of the equation-of-state parameter of the dark energy component. This violation is accompanied by unphysical instabilities of matter perturbations., Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in the EPJC

Flavour oscillations experiments are suggesting the existence of a sterile, $4$th neutrino's generation with a mass of an eV order. This would mean an additional relativistic degree of freedom in the cosmic inventory, in contradiction with recent results from the Planck satellite, that have confirmed the standard value $N_{eff} \approx 3$ for the effective number of relativistic species. On the other hand, the Planck best-fit for the Hubble-Lema\^itre parameter is in tension with the local value determined with the Hubble Space Telescope, and adjusting $N_{eff}$ is a possible way to overcome such a tension. In this paper we perform a joint analysis of three complementary cosmological distance rulers, namely the CMB acoustic scale measured by Planck, the BAO scale model-independently determined by Verde {\it et al.}, and luminosity distances measured with JLA and Pantheon SNe Ia surveys. Two Gaussian priors were imposed to the analysis, the local expansion rate measured by Riess {\it et al.}, and the baryon density parameter fixed from primordial nucleosynthesis by Cooke {\it et al.}. For the sake of generality, two different models are used in the tests, the standard $\Lambda$CDM model and a generalised Chaplygin gas. The best-fit gives $N_{eff} \approx 4$ in both models, with a Chaplygin gas parameter slightly negative, $\alpha \approx -0.04$. The standard value $N_{eff} \approx 3$ is ruled out with $\approx 3\sigma$., Comment: includes some improvements in analysis, matches accepted version in PRD

In a recent paper we have shown that a minimally coupled, self-interacting scalar field of mass $m$ can form black holes of mass $M=\sqrt{3}/(4m)$ (in Planck units). If dark matter is composed by axions, they can form miniclusters that for QCD axions have masses below this value. In this work it is shown that for a scenario in which the axion mass depends on the temperature as $m \propto T^{-6}$, minicluster masses above $0.32\,M_\odot$, corresponding to an axion mass of $3\times 10^{-10}$ eV, exceed $M$ and can collapse into black holes. If a fraction of these black holes is in binary systems, gravitational waves emitted during the inspiral phase could be detected by advanced interferometers like LIGO or VIRGO and by the planned Einstein Telescope. For a detection rate of one event per year, the lower limits on the binary fraction are $10^{-4}$ and $10^{-6}$ for LIGO and Einstein Telescope respectively., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Version to appear in Eur. Phys. J. C

With a suitable decomposition of its energy-momentum tensor into pressureless matter and a vacuum type term, we investigate the spherical gravitational collapse of a minimally coupled, self-interacting scalar field, showing that it collapses to a singularity. The formed blackhole has a mass $M \sim 1/m$ (in Planck units), where $m$ is the mass of the scalar field. If the latter has the axion mass, $m \sim 10^{-5}$ eV, the former has a mass $M \sim 10^{-5} M_{\odot}$., Comment: 8 pages, no figures

By combining cosmological probes at low, intermediate and high redshifts, we investigate the observational viability of a class of models with interaction in the dark sector. We perform a Bayesian analysis using the latest data sets of type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, the angular acoustic scale of the cosmic microwave background, and measurements of the expansion rate. When combined with the current measurement of the local expansion rate obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope, we find that these observations provide evidence in favour of interacting models with respect to the standard cosmology., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

We study the consistency of the physical properties of galaxies retrieved from SED-fitting as a function of spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Using a selection of physically motivated star formation histories, we set up a control sample of mock galaxy spectra representing observations of the local universe in high-resolution spectroscopy, and in 56 narrow-band and 5 broad-band photometry. We fit the SEDs at these spectral resolutions and compute their corresponding the stellar mass, the mass- and luminosity-weighted age and metallicity, and the dust extinction. We study the biases, correlations, and degeneracies affecting the retrieved parameters and explore the r\^ole of the spectral resolution and the SNR in regulating these degeneracies. We find that narrow-band photometry and spectroscopy yield similar trends in the physical properties derived, the former being considerably more precise. Using a galaxy sample from the SDSS, we compare more realistically the results obtained from high-resolution and narrow-band SEDs (synthesized from the same SDSS spectra) following the same spectral fitting procedures. We use results from the literature as a benchmark to our spectroscopic estimates and show that the prior PDFs, commonly adopted in parametric methods, may introduce biases not accounted for in a Bayesian framework. We conclude that narrow-band photometry yields the same trend in the age-metallicity relation in the literature, provided it is affected by the same biases as spectroscopy; albeit the precision achieved with the latter is generally twice as large as with the narrow-band, at SNR values typical of the different kinds of data., Comment: 26 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We analyse the distribution of position angles of 1 million galaxies from the Hyperleda catalogue, a sample that presents the galaxies coordinates in the celestial sphere, information that allows us to look for a possible privileged direction. Our analysis involves different tests and statistical methods, from which it is possible to infer with high probability ($p$-value extremely low) that the galactic planes are not randomly oriented in the sky. Whether this is an evidence of a cosmological anisotropy or an observational bias due to local effects is something deserving further studies., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

We perform a dynamical system analysis of a cosmological model with linear dependence between the vacuum density and the Hubble parameter, with constant-rate creation of dark matter. We show that the de Sitter spacetime is an asymptotically stable critical point, future limit of any expanding solution. Our analysis also shows that the Minkowski spacetime is an unstable critical point, which eventually collapses to a singularity. In this way, such a prescription for the vacuum decay not only predicts the correct future de Sitter limit, but also forbids the existence of a stable Minkowski universe. We also study the effect of matter creation on the growth of structures and their peculiar velocities, showing that it is inside the current errors of redshift space distortions observations., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. A section was added with an analysis of structures growth rate and peculiar velocities. To appear in General Relativity and Gravitation

A joint analysis of the linear matter power spectrum, distance measurements from type Ia supernovae and the position of the first peak in the anisotropy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background indicates a cosmological, late-time dark matter creation at 95% confidence level., Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure. Revised version, to appear in JCAP

The concordance particle creation model - a class of $\Lambda(t)$CDM cosmologies - is studied using large scale structure (LSS) formation, with particular attention to the integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect. The evolution of the gravitational potential and the amplitude of the cross-correlation of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) signal with LSS surveys are calculated in detail. We properly include in our analysis the peculiarities involving the baryonic dynamics of the $\Lambda(t)$CDM model which were not included in previous works. Although both the $\Lambda(t)$CDM and the standard cosmology are in agreement with available data for the CMB-LSS correlation, the former presents a slightly higher signal which can be identified with future data., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

In a previous paper it was shown that any dark sector model can be mapped into a non-adiabatic fluid formed by two interacting components, one with zero pressure and the other with equation-of-state parameter $\omega = -1$. It was also shown that the latter does not cluster and, hence, the former is identified as the observed clustering matter. This guarantees that the dark matter power spectrum does not suffer from oscillations or instabilities. It applies in particular to the generalised Chaplygin gas, which was shown to be equivalent to interacting models at both background and perturbation levels. In the present paper we test the non-adiabatic Chaplygin gas against the Hubble diagram of type Ia supernovae, the position of the first acoustic peak in the anisotropy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background and the linear power spectrum of large scale structures. We consider two different samples of SNe Ia, namely the Constitution and SDSS compilations, both calibrated with the MLCS2k2 fitter, and for the power spectrum we use the 2dFGRS catalogue. The model parameters to be adjusted are the present Hubble parameter, the present matter density and the Chaplygin gas parameter $\alpha$. The joint analysis best fit gives $\alpha \approx - 0.5$, which corresponds to a constant-rate energy flux from dark energy to dark matter, with the dark energy density decaying linearly with the Hubble parameter. The $\Lambda$CDM model, equivalent to $\alpha = 0$, stands outside the $3\sigma$ confidence interval. This result is still valid if we use, as supernovae samples, the SDSS and Union2.1 compilations calibrated with the SALT2 fitter., Comment: Version accepted for publication in JCAP

We study non-linear structure formation in an interacting model of the dark sector of the Universe in which the dark energy density decays linearly with the Hubble parameter, $\rho_{\Lambda} \propto H$, leading to a constant-rate creation of cold dark matter. We derive all relevant expressions to calculate the mass function and the cluster number density using the Sheth-Torman formalism and show that the effect of the interaction process is to increase the number of bound structures of large masses ($M \gtrsim 10^{14} M_{\odot}h^{-1}$) when compared to the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. Since these models are not reducible to each other, this number counts signature can in principle be tested in future surveys., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We investigate the observational effects of a quintessence model in an anisotropic spacetime. The anisotropic metric is a non-rotating particular case of a generalized Godel's metric and is classified as Bianchi III. This metric is an exact solution of the Einstein-Klein-Gordon field equations with an anisotropic scalar field, which is responsible for the anisotropy of the spacetime geometry. We test the model against observations of type Ia supernovae, analyzing the SDSS dataset calibrated with the MLCS2k2 fitter, and the results are compared to standard quintessence models with Ratra-Peebles potentials. We obtain a good agreement with observations, with best values for the matter and curvature density parameters $\Omega_M = 0.29$ and $\Omega_k= 0.01$ respectively. We conclude that present SNe Ia observations cannot, alone, distinguish a possible anisotropic axis in the cosmos., Comment: Version accepted for publication in JCAP