The μνSSM is a supersymmetric model that has been proposed to solve the problems generated by other supersymmetric extensions of the standard model of particle physics. Given that R-parity is broken in the μνSSM, the gravitino is a natural candidate for decaying dark matter since its lifetime becomes much longer than the age of the Universe. In this model, gravitino dark matter could be detectable through the emission of a monochromatic gamma ray in a two-body decay. We study the prospects of the Fermi-LAT telescope to detect such monochromatic lines in 5 years of observations of the most massive nearby extragalactic objects. The dark matter halo around the Virgo galaxy cluster is selected as a reference case, since it is associated to a particularly high signal-to-noise ratio and is located in a region scarcely affected by the astrophysical diffuse emission from the galactic plane. The simulation of both signal and background gamma-ray events is carried out with the Fermi Scienc...

The mass distribution of dark matter halos is a sensitive probe of primordial non-Gaussianity (NG). We derive an analytical formula of the halo mass function by perturbatively computing excursion set path-integrals for a non-Gaussian density field with non-vanishing skewness, f _NL. We assume a stochastic barrier model which captures the main features of the ellipsoidal collapse of halos. Contrary to previous results based on extensions of the Press-Schechter formalism to NG initial conditions, we find that the non-spherical collapse of halos directly alter the signature of primordial NG. This points toward a potential degeneracy between the effect of primordial non-Gaussianity and that of non-linear halo collapse. The inferred mass function is found to be in remarkable agreement with N-body simulations of NG local type. Deviations are well within numerical uncertainties for all values of f _NL ^loc in the range of validity of the...

Poincarè gauge theory (PGT) is an alternative gravity theory, which brings the gravity into the gauge-theoretic framework, where the Lagrangian includes both quadratic torsion and curvature terms. Recently, the cosmological models with torsion based on this theory, which explained the cosmic acceleration in a new way, have received much attention. Among these PGT cosmological models, the one with only even parity dynamical modes-SNY model, for its realistic meaning, is very attractive. In this paper, we first analyze the past-time cosmic evolution of SNY model analytically. And based on these results we fit this model to the most comprehensive SNeIa data (Union 2) and thus find the best-fit values of model parameters and initial conditions, whose related χ ² value is consistent with the one from ΛCMD at the 1σ level. Also by the χ ² estimate, we provide certain constraints on these parameters. Using these best-fit values for the Union 2 SNeIa dataset, we are abl...

In this paper we study the possibly existing anisotropy in the accelerating expansion Universe by use of the full sample of Union2 data. Using the hemisphere comparison method to search for a preferred direction, we take the deceleration parameter q ₀ as the diagnostic to quantify the anisotropy level in the wCDM model. We find that the maximum accelerating expansion direction is ( l, b) = (314° _+20° ^−13°,28° _+11° ^−33°), with the maximum anisotropy level of Δ q _0,max/ ₀ = 0.79 _+0.27 ^−0.28, and that the anisotropy is more prominent when only low redshift data ( z ≤ 0.2) are used. We also discuss this issue in the CPL parameterized model, showing a similar result.

We explore the possibility of a single field quasi-de Sitter inflationary model with general initial state for primordial fluctuations. In this paper, first we compute the power spectrum and the bispectrum of scalar perturbations with coherent state as the initial state. We find that a large class of coherent states are indistinguishable from the Bunch-Davies vacuum state and hence consistent with the current observations. In case of a more general initial state built over Bunch-Davies vacuum state, we show that the constraints on the initial state from observed power spectrum and local bispectrum are relatively weak and for quasi-de Sitter inflation a large number of initial states are consistent with the current observations. However, renormalizability of the energy-momentum tensor of the fluctuations constraints the initial state further.

WIMP (Weakly Interacting Massive Particle), FIMP (Feebly interacting Massive Particle) and EWIP (Extremely Weakly Interacting Particle) dark matter are different theoretical frameworks that have been postulated to explain the dark matter. In this paper we examine an intermediate scenario that combines features from these three frameworks. It consists of a weakly interacting particle — à la WIMP — that does not reach thermal equilibrium in the early Universe — à la FIMP — and whose relic density is determined by the reheating temperature of the Universe — à la EWIP. As an example, an explicit realization of this framework, based on the singlet scalar model of dark matter, is analyzed in detail. In particular, the relic density is studied as a function of the parameters of the model, and the new viable region within this intermediate scenario is determined. Finally, it is shown that this alternative framework of dark matter allows for arbitrarily heavy dark matter particles and that...

In the Horndeski's most general scalar-tensor theories with second-order field equations, we derive the conditions for the avoidance of ghosts and Laplacian instabilities associated with scalar, tensor, and vector perturbations in the presence of two perfect fluids on the flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) background. Our general results are useful for the construction of theoretically consistent models of dark energy. We apply our formulas to extended Galileon models in which a tracker solution with an equation of state smaller than -1 is present. We clarify the allowed parameter space in which the ghosts and Laplacian instabilities are absent and we numerically confirm that such models are indeed cosmologically viable.

The detection of primordial gravitational waves, or tensor perturbations, would be regarded as compelling evidence for inflation. The canonical measure of this is the ratio of tensor to scalar perturbations, r. For single-field slow-roll models of inflation with small field excursions, the Lyth bound dictates that if the evolution of the slow-roll parameter is monotonic, the tensor-to-scalar ratio must be below observationally detectable levels. We describe how non-monotonic evolution of can evade the Lyth bound and generate observationally large r, even with small field excursions. This has consequences for the scalar power spectrum as it necessarily predicts an enhancement in the spectrum at ve...

We critically investigate current statistical tests applied to high redshift clusters of galaxies in order to test the standard cosmological model and describe their range of validity. We carefully compare a sample of high-redshift, massive, galaxy clusters with realistic Poisson sample simulations of the theoretical mass function, which include the effect of Eddington bias. We compare the observations and simulations using the following statistical tests: the distributions of ensemble and individual existence probabilities (in the > M, > z sense), the redshift distributions, and the 2d Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Using seemingly rare clusters from Hoyle et al. (2011), and Jee et al. (2011) and assuming the same survey geometry as in Jee et al. (2011, which is less conservative than Hoyle et al. 2011), we find that the ( > M, > z) existence probabilities of all clusters are fully consistent with ΛCDM. However assuming the same survey geometr...

Measurement of redshift-space distortions (RSD) offers an attractive method to directly probe the cosmic growth history of density perturbations. A distribution function approach where RSD can be written as a sum over density weighted velocity moment correlators has recently been developed. In this paper we use results of N-body simulations to investigate the individual contributions and convergence of this expansion for dark matter. If the series is expanded as a function of powers of μ, cosine of the angle between the Fourier mode and line of sight, then there are a finite number of terms contributing at each order. We present these terms and investigate their contribution to the total as a function of wavevector k. For μ ² the correlation between density and momentum dominates on large scales. Higher order corrections, which act as a Finger-of-God (FoG) term, contribute 1% at k ~ 0.015 hMpc ⁻¹, 10% at k ~ 0.05 hMpc ^−1</...