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To study the early Universe, it is essential to estimate cosmological parameters with high accuracy, which depends on the optimal reconstruction of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) maps and the measurement of their power spectrum. In this paper, we generalize the neural network developed for applying the Wiener Filter, initially presented for temperature maps in previous work, to polarization maps. Our neural network has a UNet architecture, including an extra channel for the noise variance map, to account for inhomogeneous noise, and a channel for the mask. In addition, we propose an iterative approach for reconstructing the E and B-mode fields, while addressing the E-to-B leakage present in the maps due to incomplete sky coverage. The accuracy achieved is satisfactory compared to the Wiener Filter solution computed with the standard Conjugate Gradient method, and it is highly efficient, enabling the computation of the power spectrum of an unknown signal using the optimal quadratic estimator. We further evaluate the quality of the reconstructed maps at the power spectrum level along with their corresponding errors, finding that these errors are smaller than those obtained using the well-known pseudo-$C_\ell$ approach. Our results show that increasing complexity in the applied mask presents a more significant challenge for B-mode reconstruction.

The use of neural networks to solve differential equations, as an alternative to traditional numerical solvers, has increased recently. However, error bounds for the obtained solutions have only been developed for certain equations. In this work, we report important progress in calculating error bounds of physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) solutions of nonlinear first-order ODEs. We give a general expression that describes the error of the solution that the PINN-based method provides for a nonlinear first-order ODE. In addition, we propose a technique to calculate an approximate bound for the general case and an exact bound for a particular case. The error bounds are computed using only the residual information and the equation structure. We apply the proposed methods to particular cases and show that they can successfully provide error bounds without relying on the numerical solution., Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, accepted to NeurIPS 2024 Workshop on Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences

The accurate reconstruction of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) maps and the measurement of its power spectrum are crucial for studying the early universe. In this paper, we implement a convolutional neural network to apply the Wiener Filter to CMB temperature maps, and use it intensively to compute an optimal quadratic estimation of the power spectrum. Our neural network has a UNet architecture as that implemented in WienerNet, but with novel aspects such as being written in python 3 and TensorFlow 2. It also includes an extra channel for the noise variance map, to account for inhomogeneous noise, and a channel for the mask. The network is very efficient, overcoming the bottleneck that is typically found in standard methods to compute the Wiener Filter, such as those that apply the conjugate gradient. It scales efficiently with the size of the map, making it a useful tool to include in CMB data analysis. The accuracy of the Wiener Filter reconstruction is satisfactory, as compared with the standard method. We heavily use this approach to efficiently estimate the power spectrum, by performing a simulation-based analysis of the optimal quadratic estimator. We further evaluate the quality of the reconstructed maps in terms of the power spectrum and find that we can properly recover the statistical properties of the signal. We find that the proposed architecture can account for inhomogeneous noise efficiently. Furthermore, increasing the complexity of the variance map presents a more significant challenge for the convergence of the network than the noise level does., Comment: 33 pages, 23 figures

We present a comprehensive analysis of statistical tools for evaluating tensions in cosmological parameter estimates arising from distinct datasets. Focusing on the unresolved Hubble constant ($H_0$) tension, we explore the Pantheon Plus + SH0ES (PPS) compilation, which includes low-redshift Cepheid data from the SH0ES collaboration, along with the latest release of CMB data from the Planck collaboration, Cosmic Chronometers (CC) dataset and the most recent Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) datasets. Employing various tension metrics, we quantitatively assess the inconsistencies in parameter estimates, emphasizing the importance of capturing multidimensional tensions. Our results reveal substantial tension between PPS and Planck 2018 datasets and moderate tension between the BAO data sets and all other datasets. We highlight the importance of adopting these metrics to enhance the precision of future cosmological analyses and facilitate the resolution of existing tensions., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 6 tables

In the last few years, there has been significant progress in the development of machine learning methods tailored to astrophysics and cosmology. We have recently applied one of these, namely, the neural network bundle method, to the cosmological scenario. Moreover, we showed that in some cases the computational times of the Bayesian inference process can be reduced. In this paper, we present an improvement to the neural network bundle method that results in a significant reduction of the computational times of the statistical analysis. The novel aspect consists of the use of the neural network bundle method to calculate the luminosity distance of type Ia supernovae, which is usually computed through an integral with numerical methods. In this work, we have applied this improvement to the Hu-Sawicki and Starobinsky $f(R)$ models. We also performed a statistical analysis with data from type Ia supernovae of the Pantheon+ compilation and cosmic chronometers. Another original aspect of this work is the different treatment we provide for the absolute magnitude of type Ia supernovae during the inference process, which results in different estimates of the distortion parameter than the ones obtained in the literature. We show that the statistical analyses carried out with our new method require lower computational times than the ones performed with both the numerical and the neural network method from our previous work. This reduction in time is more significant in the case of a difficult computational problem such as the ones addressed in this work., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables

The field of machine learning has drawn increasing interest from various other fields due to the success of its methods at solving a plethora of different problems. An application of these has been to train artificial neural networks to solve differential equations without the need of a numerical solver. This particular application offers an alternative to conventional numerical methods, with advantages such as lower memory required to store solutions, parallelization, and, in some cases, a lower overall computational cost than its numerical counterparts. In this work, we train artificial neural networks to represent a bundle of solutions of the differential equations that govern the background dynamics of the Universe for four different models. The models we have chosen are $\Lambda \mathrm{CDM}$, the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametric dark energy model, a quintessence model with an exponential potential, and the Hu-Sawicki $f(R)$ model. We use the solutions that the networks provide to perform statistical analyses to estimate the values of each model's parameters with observational data; namely, estimates of the Hubble parameter from cosmic chronometers, type Ia supernovae data from the Pantheon compilation, and measurements from baryon acoustic oscillations. The results we obtain for all models match similar estimations done in the literature using numerical solvers. In addition, we estimate the error of the solutions that the trained networks provide by comparing them with the analytical solution when there is one, or to a high-precision numerical solution when there is not. Through these estimations we find that the error of the solutions is at most $\sim1\%$ in the region of the parameter space that concerns the $95\%$ confidence regions that we find using the data, for all models and all statistical analyses performed in this work., Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, 10 tables, supplemental material available at https://github.com/at-chantada/Supplemental-Materials

Recently, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) have been proposed as standardizable candles, thanks to an observed non-linear relation between their X-ray and optical-ultraviolet (UV) luminosities, which provides an independent measurement of their distances. In this paper, we use these observables for the first time to estimate the parameters of f(R) gravity models (specifically the Hu-Sawicki and the exponential models) together with the cosmological parameters. The importance of this type of modified gravity theories lies in the fact that they can explain the late time accelerated expansion of the universe without the inclusion of a dark energy component. We have also included other observable data to the analyses such as estimates of the Hubble parameter H(z) from Cosmic Chronometers, the Pantheon Type Ia supernovae compilation, and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations measurements. Our results show that the allowed space parameter is restricted when both AGN and BAO data are added to CC and SnIa data, being the BAO data set the most restrictive one. We can also conclude that even though our results are consistent with the ones from the LCDM model, small deviations from General Relativity, than can be successfully described by the f(R) models studied in this paper, are also allowed by the considered data sets., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables

In this work we present a summary of recent studies on the effects of elastic self interactions in the evolution of Warm Dark Matter models (WDM), focusing on structure formation and the evolution of cosmological perturbations. We pay special attention to a particular class of sterile neutrino WDM known as $\nu$MSM and provide examples for the case of vector field self interactions. We calculate the effects of assuming self interacting dark matter in X-Ray astrophysical observations, in the formation of fermionic DM halos in (quasi) equilibrium states and in the evolution of DM perturbations in the early universe, assuming particle masses between $\mathcal{O}(1-100)$ keV. In the latter topic, we perform simulations using a modification to the public Boltzmann solver CLASS and compare our results with observations. We find self interactions to be an interesting addition to WDM models, which can alleviate tensions both present in standard CDM cosmology and regarding WDM itself, as well as provide an interesting avenue for DM halo formation., Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. Proceedings of the 16th Marcell Grossmann meeting. Presented to International Journal of Modern Physics D

This paper presents a systematic and accurate treatment of the evolution of cosmological perturbations in self-interacting dark matter models, for particles which decoupled from the primordial plasma while relativistic. We provide a numerical implementation of the Boltzmann hierarchies developed in a previous paper [JCAP, 09 (2020) 041] in a publicly available Boltzmann code and show how it can be applied to realistic DM candidates such as sterile neutrinos either under resonant or non-resonant production mechanisms, and for different field mediators. At difference with traditional fluid approximations -- also known as a $c_{\rm eff}-c_{\rm vis}$ parametrizations -- our approach follows the evolution of phase-space perturbations under elastic DM interactions for a wide range of interaction models, including the effects of late kinetic decoupling. Finally, we analyze the imprints left by different self interacting models on linear structure formation, which can be constrained using Lyman-$\alpha$ forest and satellite counts. We find new lower bounds on the particle mass that are less restrictive than previous constraints., Comment: 48 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables. Numerical code available at https://github.com/yunis121/siwdm-class

We present a model to track the orbital evolution of "unresolved subhaloes" (USHs) in cosmological simulations. USHs are subhaloes that are no longer distinguished by halo finders as self-bound overdensities within their larger host system due to limited mass resolution. These subhaloes would host "orphan galaxies" in semi-analytic models of galaxy formation and evolution (SAMs). Predicting the evolution of the phase-space components of USHs is crucial for the adequate modelling of environmental processes, interactions and mergers implemented in SAMs that affect the baryonic properties of orphan satellites. Our model takes into account dynamical friction drag, mass loss by tidal stripping and merger with the host halo, involving three free parameters. To calibrate this model, we consider two DM-only simulations of different mass resolution (MultiDark simulations). The simulation with higher-mass resolution ({\sc smdpl}; $ m_{\rm DM} = 9.6 \times 10^7 ~ h^{-1}\,\mathrm{M_{\odot}}$) provides information about subhaloes that are not resolved in the lower-mass resolution one ({\sc mdpl2}; $ m_{\rm DM} = 1.5 \times 10^9 ~ h^{-1}\,\mathrm{M_{\odot}}$); the orbit of those USHs is tracked by our model. We use as constraining functions the subhalo mass function (SHMF) and the two-point correlation function (2PCF) obtained from {\sc smdpl}, being the latter a novel aspect of our approach. While the SHMF fails to put tight constraints on the efficiency of dynamical friction and the merger condition, the addition of clustering information helps to specify the parameters of the model related to the spatial distribution of subhaloes. Our model allows to achieve good convergence between the results of simulations of different mass resolution, with a precision better than 10 per cent for both SHMF and 2PCF., Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures. Replaced to match the version accepted by MNRAS

We analyse the MOdified Gravity (MOG) theory, proposed by Moffat, in a cosmological context. We use data from Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia), Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and Cosmic Chronometers (CC) to test MOG predictions. For this, we perform $\chi^2$ tests considering fixed values of $H_0$ and $V_G$, the self-interaction potential of one of the scalar fields in the theory. Our results show that the MOG theory is in agreement with all data sets for some particular values of $H_0$ and $V_G$, being the BAO data set the most powerful tool to test MOG predictions, due to its constraining power., Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, replaced to match published version

In this paper we describe QUBIC, an experiment that will observe the polarized microwave sky with a novel approach, which combines the sensitivity of state-of-the art bolometric detectors with the systematic effects control typical of interferometers. QUBIC unique features are the so-called "self-calibration", a technique that allows us to clean the measured data from instrumental effects, and its spectral imaging power, i.e. the ability to separate the signal in various sub-bands within each frequency band. QUBIC will observe the sky in two main frequency bands: 150 GHz and 220 GHz. A technological demonstrator is currently under testing and will be deployed in Argentina during 2019, while the final instrument is expected to be installed during 2020., Comment: Proceedings of the 2018 ICNFP conference, Crete. Published by Universe arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1801.03730

We present cosmological results from the final galaxy clustering data set of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III. Our combined galaxy sample comprises 1.2 million massive galaxies over an effective area of 9329 deg^2 and volume of 18.7 Gpc^3, divided into three partially overlapping redshift slices centred at effective redshifts 0.38, 0.51, and 0.61. We measure the angular diameter distance DM and Hubble parameter H from the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) method after applying reconstruction to reduce non-linear effects on the BAO feature. Using the anisotropic clustering of the pre-reconstruction density field, we measure the product DM*H from the Alcock-Paczynski (AP) effect and the growth of structure, quantified by f{\sigma}8(z), from redshift-space distortions (RSD). We combine measurements presented in seven companion papers into a set of consensus values and likelihoods, obtaining constraints that are tighter and more robust than those from any one method. Combined with Planck 2015 cosmic microwave background measurements, our distance scale measurements simultaneously imply curvature {\Omega}_K =0.0003+/-0.0026 and a dark energy equation of state parameter w = -1.01+/-0.06, in strong affirmation of the spatially flat cold dark matter model with a cosmological constant ({\Lambda}CDM). Our RSD measurements of f{\sigma}_8, at 6 per cent precision, are similarly consistent with this model. When combined with supernova Ia data, we find H0 = 67.3+/-1.0 km/s/Mpc even for our most general dark energy model, in tension with some direct measurements. Adding extra relativistic species as a degree of freedom loosens the constraint only slightly, to H0 = 67.8+/-1.2 km/s/Mpc. Assuming flat {\Lambda}CDM we find {\Omega}_m = 0.310+/-0.005 and H0 = 67.6+/-0.5 km/s/Mpc, and we find a 95% upper limit of 0.16 eV/c^2 on the neutrino mass sum., Comment: 38 pages, 20 figures, 12 tables. Submitted to MNRAS. Clustering data and likelihoods are made available at https://sdss3.org/science/boss_publications.php

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III project, has provided the largest survey of galaxy redshifts available to date, in terms of both the number of galaxy redshifts measured by a single survey, and the effective cosmological volume covered. Key to analysing the clustering of these data to provide cosmological measurements is understanding the detailed properties of this sample. Potential issues include variations in the target catalogue caused by changes either in the targeting algorithm or properties of the data used, the pattern of spectroscopic observations, the spatial distribution of targets for which redshifts were not obtained, and variations in the target sky density due to observational systematics. We document here the target selection algorithms used to create the galaxy samples that comprise BOSS. We also present the algorithms used to create large scale structure catalogues for the final Data Release (DR12) samples and the associated random catalogues that quantify the survey mask. The algorithms are an evolution of those used by the BOSS team to construct catalogues from earlier data, and have been designed to accurately quantify the galaxy sample. The code used, designated MKSAMPLE, is released with this paper., Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures, version accepted for publication in MNRAS

We reproduce the galaxy clustering catalogue from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Final Data Release (BOSS DR11&DR12) with high fidelity on all relevant scales in order to allow a robust analysis of baryon acoustic oscillations and redshift space distortions. We have generated (6,000) 12,288 MultiDark PATCHY BOSS (DR11) DR12 light-cones corresponding to an effective volume of $\sim192,000\,[h^{-1}\,{\rm Gpc}]^3$ (the largest ever simulated volume), including cosmic evolution in the redshift range from 0.15 to 0.75. The mocks have been calibrated using a reference galaxy catalogue based on the halo abundance matching modelling of the BOSS DR11&DR12 galaxy clustering data and on the data themselves. The production follows three steps. First, we apply the PATCHY code to generate a dark matter field and an object distribution including nonlinear stochastic galaxy bias. Secondly, we run the halo/stellar distribution reconstruction HADRON code to assign masses to the various objects. This step uses the mass distribution as a function of local density and non-local indicators (i.e., tidal field tensor eigenvalues and relative halo exclusion separation for massive objects) from the reference simulation applied to the corresponding PATCHY dark matter and galaxy distribution. Finally, we apply the SUGAR code to build the light cones. The resulting MultiDark PATCHY mock light cones reproduce the number density, selection function, survey geometry, and in general within 1 $\sigma$, for arbitrary stellar mass bins, the power spectrum up to $k=0.3\,h\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$, the two-point correlation functions down to a few Mpc scales, and the three-point statistics of the BOSS DR11&DR12 galaxy samples., Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures; accepted for publication at MNRAS; adjusted to match the published version

We present a comparison of major methodologies of fast generating mock halo or galaxy catalogues. The comparison is done for two-point and the three-point clustering statistics. The reference catalogues are drawn from the BigMultiDark N-body simulation. Both friend-of-friends (including distinct halos only) and spherical overdensity (including distinct halos and subhalos) catalogs have been used with the typical number density of a large-volume galaxy surveys. We demonstrate that a proper biasing model is essential for reproducing the power spectrum at quasilinear and even smaller scales. With respect to various clustering statistics a methodology based on perturbation theory and a realistic biasing model leads to very good agreement with N-body simulations. However, for the quadrupole of the correlation function or the power spectrum, only the method based on semi-N-body simulation could reach high accuracy (1% level) at small scales, i.e., r<25 Mpc/h or k>0.15 h/Mpc. Full N-body solutions will remain indispensable to produce reference catalogues. Nevertheless, we have demonstrated that the far more efficient approximate solvers can reach a few percent accuracy in terms of clustering statistics at the scales interesting for the large-scale structure analysis after calibration with a few reference N-body calculations. This makes them useful for massive production aimed at covariance studies, to scan large parameter spaces, and to estimate uncertainties in data analysis techniques, such as baryon acoustic oscillation reconstruction, redshift distortion measurements, etc., Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures; matches the version accepted by MNRAS; a bug in PINOCCHIO code has been fixed; no major modification from previous version

We derive constraints on cosmological parameters and tests of dark energy models from the combination of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements with cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Type Ia supernova (SN) data. We take advantage of high-precision BAO measurements from galaxy clustering and the Ly-alpha forest (LyaF) in the BOSS survey of SDSS-III. BAO data alone yield a high confidence detection of dark energy, and in combination with the CMB angular acoustic scale they further imply a nearly flat universe. Combining BAO and SN data into an "inverse distance ladder" yields a 1.7% measurement of $H_0=67.3 \pm1.1$ km/s/Mpc. This measurement assumes standard pre-recombination physics but is insensitive to assumptions about dark energy or space curvature, so agreement with CMB-based estimates that assume a flat LCDM cosmology is an important corroboration of this minimal cosmological model. For open LCDM, our BAO+SN+CMB combination yields $\Omega_m=0.301 \pm 0.008$ and curvature $\Omega_k=-0.003 \pm 0.003$. When we allow more general forms of evolving dark energy, the BAO+SN+CMB parameter constraints remain consistent with flat LCDM. While the overall $\chi^2$ of model fits is satisfactory, the LyaF BAO measurements are in moderate (2-2.5 sigma) tension with model predictions. Models with early dark energy that tracks the dominant energy component at high redshifts remain consistent with our constraints. Expansion history alone yields an upper limit of 0.56 eV on the summed mass of neutrino species, improving to 0.26 eV if we include Planck CMB lensing. Standard dark energy models constrained by our data predict a level of matter clustering that is high compared to most, but not all, observational estimates. (Abridged), Comment: 38 pages, 20 figures, BOSS collaboration paper; v2: fixed inconsistent definitions of DH, added references; v3: version accepted by PRD, corrected error resulting in significantly weaker constraints on decaying dark matter model

Future dark energy experiments will require better and more accurate theoretical predictions for the baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) signature in the spectrum of cosmological perturbations. Here, we use large N-body simulations of the \LambdaCDM Planck cosmology to study any possible systematic shifts and damping in BAO due to the impact of nonlinear gravitational growth of structure, scale dependent and non-local bias, and redshift-space distortions. The effect of cosmic variance is largely reduced by dividing the tracer power spectrum by that from a BAO-free simulation starting with the same phases. This permits us to study with unprecedented accuracy (better than 0.02% for dark matter and 0.07% for low-bias halos) small shifts of the pristine BAO wavenumbers towards larger k, and non-linear damping of BAO wiggles in the power spectrum of dark matter and halo populations in the redshift range z=0-1. For dark matter, we provide an accurate parametrization of the evolution of \alpha as a function of the linear growth factor D(z). For halo samples, with bias ranging from 1.2 to 2.8, we measure a typical BAO shift of ~0.25%, observed in real-space, which does not show an appreciable evolution with redshift within the uncertainties. Moreover, we report a constant shift as a function of halo bias. We find a different evolution of the damping of the acoustic feature in all halo samples as compared to dark matter with haloes suffering less damping, and also find some weak dependence on bias. A larger BAO shift and damping is measured in redshift-space which can be well explained by linear theory due to redshift-space distortions. A clear modulation in phase with the acoustic scale is observed in the scale-dependent halo bias due to the presence of the baryonic acoustic oscillations., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures

We present a method to produce mock galaxy catalogues with efficient perturbation theory schemes, which match the number density, power spectra and bispectra in real and in redshift space from N-body simulations. The essential contribution of this work is the way in which we constrain the bias parameters in the PATCHY-code. In addition of aiming at reproducing the two-point statistics, we seek the set of bias parameters, which constrain the univariate halo probability distribution function (PDF) encoding higher-order correlation functions. We demonstrate that halo catalogues based on the same underlying dark matter field with a fix halo number density, and accurately matching the power spectrum (within 2%), can lead to very different bispectra depending on the adopted halo bias model. A model ignoring the shape of the halo PDF can lead to deviations up to factors of 2. The catalogues obtained additionally constraining the shape of the halo PDF can significantly lower the discrepancy in the three-point statistics, yielding closely unbiased bispectra both in real and in redshift space; which are in general compatible with those corresponding to an N-body simulation within 10% (deviating at most up to 20%). Our calculations show that the constant linear bias of ~2 for Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) like galaxies seen in the power spectrum, mainly comes from sampling halos in high density peaks, choosing a high density threshold rather than from a factor multiplying the dark matter density field. Our method contributes towards an efficient modelling of the halo/galaxy distribution required to estimate uncertainties in the clustering measurements from galaxy redshift surveys. We have also demonstrated that it represents a powerful tool to test various bias models., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

We present a one per cent measurement of the cosmic distance scale from the detections of the baryon acoustic oscillations in the clustering of galaxies from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III). Our results come from the Data Release 11 (DR11) sample, containing nearly one million galaxies and covering approximately $8\,500$ square degrees and the redshift range $0.2

In the context of the study of the Integrated Sachs Wolfe effect (ISW), we construct a template of the projected density distribution up to $z\simeq 0.7$ by using the Luminous Galaxies (LGs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR8. We use a photo-z catalogue trained with more than a hundred thousand galaxies from BOSS in the SDSS DR8 imaging area. We consider two different LG samples whose selection matches that of SDSS-III/BOSS: the LOWZ sample ($z\in [0.15,0.5]$) and the CMASS sample ($z\in[0.4,0.7]$). When building the LG density maps we use the information from star density, survey footprint, seeing conditions, sky emission, dust extinction and airmass to explore the impact of these artifacts on the two LG samples. In agreement with previous studies, we find that the CMASS sample is particularly sensitive to Galactic stars, which dominate the contribution to the auto-angular power spectrum below $\ell=7$. Other potential systematics affect mostly the low multipole range ($\ell\in[2,7]$), but leave fluctuations on smaller scales practically unchanged. The resulting power spectra in the multipole range $\ell\in[2,100]$ for the LOWZ, CMASS and LOWZ+CMASS samples are compatible with linear $\Lambda$CDM expectations and constant bias values of $b=1.98 \pm 0.11$, $2.08\pm0.14$ and $1.88\pm 0.11$, respectively, with no traces of non-Gaussianity: $f_{\rm NL}^{\rm local}=59\pm 75$ at 95% confidence level for the full LOWZ+CMASS sample in the range $\ell\in[4,100]$. After cross-correlating WMAP-9yr data with the LOWZ+CMASS LG density field, the ISW signal is detected at the level of 1.62--1.69$\,\sigma$. While this result is in close agreement with predictions from Monte Carlo simulations in the concordance $\Lambda$CDM model, it cannot rule out by itself an Einstein-de Sitter scenario, and has a moderately low signal compared to previous studies conducted on subsets of this LG sample., Comment: 18 pages, 12 pages, matches accepted version in MNRAS after minor changes [V3] One typo in the author list corrected

We obtain constraints on the variation of the fundamental constants from the full shape of the redshift-space correlation function of a sample of luminous galaxies drawn from the Data Release 9 of the Baryonic Oscillations Spectroscopic Survey. We combine this information with data from recent CMB, BAO and H_0 measurements. We focus on possible variations of the fine structure constant \alpha and the electron mass m_e in the early universe, and study the degeneracies between these constants and other cosmological parameters, such as the dark energy equation of state parameter w_DE, the massive neutrinos fraction f_\nu, the effective number of relativistic species N_eff, and the primordial helium abundance Y_He. When only one of the fundamental constants is varied, our final bounds are \alpha / \alpha_0 = 0.9957_{-0.0042}^{+0.0041} and m_e /(m_e)_0 = 1.006_{-0.013}^{+0.014}. For their joint variation, our results are \alpha / \alpha_0 = 0.9901_{-0.0054}^{+0.0055} and m_e /(m_e)_0 = 1.028 +/- 0.019. Although when m_e is allowed to vary our constraints on w_DE are consistent with a cosmological constant, when \alpha is treated as a free parameter we find w_DE = -1.20 +/- 0.13; more than 1 \sigma away from its standard value. When f_\nu and \alpha are allowed to vary simultaneously, we find f_\nu < 0.043 (95% CL), implying a limit of \sum m_\nu < 0.46 eV (95% CL), while for m_e variation, we obtain f_nu < 0.086 (95% CL), which implies \sum m_\nu < 1.1 eV (95% CL). When N_eff or Y_He are considered as free parameters, their simultaneous variation with \alpha provides constraints close to their standard values (when the H_0 prior is not included in the analysis), while when m_e is allowed to vary, their preferred values are significantly higher. In all cases, our results are consistent with no variations of \alpha or m_e at the 1 or 2 \sigma level., Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures. Submitted to MNRAS

We present measurements of galaxy clustering from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III). These use the Data Release 9 (DR9) CMASS sample, which contains 264,283 massive galaxies covering 3275 square degrees with an effective redshift z=0.57 and redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.7. Assuming a concordance Lambda-CDM cosmological model, this sample covers an effective volume of 2.2 Gpc^3, and represents the largest sample of the Universe ever surveyed at this density, n = 3 x 10^-4 h^-3 Mpc^3. We measure the angle-averaged galaxy correlation function and power spectrum, including density-field reconstruction of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature. The acoustic features are detected at a significance of 5\sigma in both the correlation function and power spectrum. Combining with the SDSS-II Luminous Red Galaxy Sample, the detection significance increases to 6.7\sigma. Fitting for the position of the acoustic features measures the distance to z=0.57 relative to the sound horizon DV /rs = 13.67 +/- 0.22 at z=0.57. Assuming a fiducial sound horizon of 153.19 Mpc, which matches cosmic microwave background constraints, this corresponds to a distance DV(z=0.57) = 2094 +/- 34 Mpc. At 1.7 per cent, this is the most precise distance constraint ever obtained from a galaxy survey. We place this result alongside previous BAO measurements in a cosmological distance ladder and find excellent agreement with the current supernova measurements. We use these distance measurements to constrain various cosmological models, finding continuing support for a flat Universe with a cosmological constant., Comment: 33 pages

We briefly review an important shortcoming --unearthed in previous works-- of the standard version of the inflationary model for the emergence of the seeds of cosmic structure. We consider here some consequences emerging from a proposal inspired on ideas of Penrose and Di\'osi about a quantum-gravity induced reduction of the wave function, which has been put forward to address the shortcomings, arguing that its effect on the inflaton field is what can lead to the emergence of the seeds of cosmic structure. The proposal leads to a deviation of the primordial spectrum from the scale-invariant Harrison-Zel'dovich one, and consequently, to a different CMB power spectrum. We perform statistical analyses to test two quantum collapse schemes with recent data from the CMB, including the 7-yr release of WMAP and the matter power spectrum measured using LRGs by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Results from the statistical analyses indicate that several collapse models are compatible with CMB and LRG data, and establish constraints on the free parameters of the models. The data put no restriction on the timescale for the collapse of the scalar field modes., Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures, replaced to match version to appear in Physical Review D

We update the constraints on the time variation of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ and the electron mass $m_e$, using the latest CMB data, including the 7-yr release of WMAP. We made statistical analyses of the variation of each one of the constants and of their joint variation, together with the basic set of cosmological parameters. We used a modified version of CAMB and COSMOMC to account for these possible variations. We present bounds on the variation of the constants for different data sets, and show how results depend on them. When using the latest CMB data plus the power spectrum from Sloan Digital Sky Survey LRG, we find that $\alpha / \alpha_0=0.986 \pm 0.007$ at 1-$\sigma$ level, when the 6 basic cosmological parameters were fitted, and only variation in $\alpha$ was allowed. The constraints in the case of variation in both constants are $ \alpha / \alpha_0= 0.986 \pm 0.009$ and $m_e / m_{e0} = 0.999 \pm 0.035$. In the case of only variation in $m_e$, the bound is $m_e /m_{e0}=0.964 \pm 0.025$., Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures

We studied the role of fundamental constants in an updated recombination scenario, focusing on the time variation of the fine structure constant \alpha and the electron mass m_e in the early Universe. Using CMB data including WMAP 5-yr release, and the 2dFGRS power spectrum, we put bounds on variations of these constants, when both constants are allowed to vary, and in the case that only one of them is variable. In particular, we have found that -0.019 < \Delta \alpha / \alpha_0 < 0.017 (95% c.l.), in our joint estimation of \alpha and cosmological parameters. Finally, we analyze how the constraints depends on the recombination scenario., Comment: IAU 2009 JD9 conference proceedings. MmSAIt, vol.80 in press Paolo Molaro & Elisabeth Vangioni eds. (updated information about journal)

In this thesis, we focus on the study of the variation of the electron mass $m_e$, and the fine structure constant $\alpha$, at different cosmic times. We analyze the details of the recombination physics, including helium recombination, in order to find the dependences of the physical quantities on the fundamental constants. Using up-to-date CMB data, and the final 2dFGRS power spectrum, we set limits to the possible variation of the constants at recombination. We analyze the variation of $\alpha$ and $m_e$ independently, and the case in which both variations are allowed, fitting also a set of cosmological parameters. We find a fenomenological relationship between the variation of $\alpha$ and the variation of $m_e$, between decoupling and present time. We analyze the Barrow-Magueijo fenomenological model, which propose a variation in the electron mass induced by changes in a space-time scalar field. We present improved solutions and we estimate the model parameters using bounds on the variation of the electron mass at different cosmic times. On the other hand, from results of experiments that test the Weak Equivalence Principle, we find a limit for the model's parameter, that comes from the variation of the electron mass induced by spatial variations of the scalar field. By comparing both limits, we arrive at the conclusion that the model should be ruled-out. Lastly, we reanalyze the effects of the variation of $\alpha$ or $m_e$ upon planetary radii. We explain why the variation of the electron mass does not induce observable changes on the radii. We present a local and independent bound on the variation of $\alpha$, obtained from very general statements. (TEXT IN SPANISH), Comment: Ph.D. Thesis, Facultad de Ciencias Astronomicas y Geofisicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 2009, 138 pages, 24 figures (in Spanish)

How did the universe evolve? The fine angular scale (l>1000) temperature and polarization anisotropies in the CMB are a Rosetta stone for understanding the evolution of the universe. Through detailed measurements one may address everything from the physics of the birth of the universe to the history of star formation and the process by which galaxies formed. One may in addition track the evolution of the dark energy and discover the net neutrino mass. We are at the dawn of a new era in which hundreds of square degrees of sky can be mapped with arcminute resolution and sensitivities measured in microKelvin. Acquiring these data requires the use of special purpose telescopes such as the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), located in Chile, and the South Pole Telescope (SPT). These new telescopes are outfitted with a new generation of custom mm-wave kilo-pixel arrays. Additional instruments are in the planning stages., Comment: Science White Paper submitted to the US Astro2010 Decadal Survey. Full list of 177 author available at http://cmbpol.uchicago.edu

We study the role of fundamental constants in an updated recombination scenario. We focus on the time variation of the fine structure constant, and the electron mass in the early Universe, and put bounds on these quantities by using data from CMB including WMAP 5-yr release and the 2dFGRS power spectrum. We analyze how the constraints are modified when changing the recombination scenario., Comment: 11 pages, accepted for publication in Physics Letters B

We study the time variation of fundamental constants in the early Universe. Using data from primordial light nuclei abundances, CMB and the 2dFGRS power spectrum, we put constraints on the time variation of the fine structure constant $\alpha$, and the Higgs vacuum expectation value $$ without assuming any theoretical framework. A variation in $$ leads to a variation in the electron mass, among other effects. Along the same line, we study the variation of $\alpha$ and the electron mass $m_e$. In a purely phenomenological fashion, we derive a relationship between both variations., Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review D

We put limits on the time variation of the electron mass in the early universe using observational primordial abundances of D, He4 and Li7, recent data from the Cosmic Microwave Background and the 2dFGRS power spectrum. Furthermore, we use these constraints together with other astronomical and geophysical bounds from the late universe to test Barrow-Magueijo's model for the variation in m_e. From our analysis we obtain -0.615 < G\omega/c^4 < -0.045 (3\sigma interval) in disagreement with the result obtained in the original paper., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

We calculate bounds on the variation of the fine structure constant at the time of primordial nucleosynthesis and at the time of neutral hydrogen formation. We use these bounds and other bounds from the late universe to test Bekenstein model. We modify the Kawano code, CAMB and CosmoMC in order to include the possible variation of the fine structure constant. We use observational primordial abundances of $\De$, $\He$ and $\Li$, recent data from the Cosmic Microwave Background and the 2dFGRS power spectrum, to obtain bounds on the variation of $\alpha$. We calculate a piecewise solution to the scalar field equation of Bekenstein model in two different regimes; i) matter and radiation, ii) matter and cosmological constant. We match both solutions with appropriate boundary conditions. We perform a statistical analysis using the bounds obtained from the early universe and other bounds from the late universe to constrain the free parameters of the model. Results are consistent with no variation of $\alpha$ in the early universe. Limits on $\alpha$ are inconsistent with the scale length of the theory $l$ being larger than Planck scale. In order to fit all observational and experimental data, the assumption $l>L_p$ implied in Bekenstein's model has to be relaxed., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures,version accepted to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We study the effect of Faraday rotation due to a homogeneous magnetic field on the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Scalar fluctuations give rise only to parity-even E-type polarization of the CMB. However in the presence of a magnetic field, a non-vanishing parity-odd B-type polarization component is produced through Faraday rotation. We derive the exact solution for the E and B modes generated by scalar perturbations including the Faraday rotation effect of a uniform magnetic field, and evaluate their cross-correlations with temperature anisotropies. We compute the angular autocorrelation function of the B-modes in the limit that the Faraday rotation is small. We find that primordial magnetic fields of present strength around $B_0=10^{-9}$G rotate E-modes into B-modes with amplitude comparable to those due to the weak gravitational lensing effect at frequencies around $\nu=30$ GHz. The strength of B-modes produced by Faraday rotation scales as $B_0/\nu^2$. We evaluate also the depolarizing effect of Faraday rotation upon the cross correlation between temperature anisotropy and E-type polarization., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. Minor changes to match the published version