T. Buchert M. Carfora G. F. R. Ellis E. W. Kolb M. A. H. MacCallum J. J. Ostrowski S. Räsänen B. F. Roukema L. Andersson A. A. Coley D. L. Wiltshire

No. In a number of papers Green and Wald argue that the standard FLRW model approximates our Universe extremely well on all scales, except in the immediate vicinity of very strong field astrophysical objects. In particular, they argue that the effect of inhomogeneities on average properties of the Universe (backreaction) is irrelevant. We show that their claims are not valid. Specifically, we demonstrate, referring to their recent review paper, that (i) their two-dimensional example used to illustrate the fitting problem differs from the actual problem in important respects, and it assumes what is to be proven; (ii) the proof of the trace-free property of backreaction is unphysical and the theorem about it is mathematically flawed; (iii) the scheme that underlies the trace-free theorem does not involve averaging and therefore does not capture crucial non-local effects; (iv) their arguments are to a large extent coordinate-dependent, and (v) many of their criticisms of backreaction frameworks do not apply to the published definitions of these frameworks.

Andrew J. Larkoski Duff Neill Iain W. Stewart

The singular limits of massless gauge theory amplitudes are described by an effective theory, called soft-collinear effective theory (SCET), which has been applied most successfully to make all-orders predictions for observables in collider physics and weak decays. At tree-level, the emission of a soft gauge boson at subleading order in its energy is given by the Low-Burnett-Kroll theorem, with the angular momentum operator acting on a lower-point amplitude. For well separated particles at tree-level, we prove the Low-Burnett-Kroll theorem using matrix elements of subleading SCET Lagrangian and operator insertions which are individually gauge invariant. These contributions are uniquely determined by gauge invariance and the reparametrization invariance (RPI) symmetry of SCET. RPI in SCET is connected to the infinite-dimensional asymptotic symmetries of the S-matrix. The Low-Burnett-Kroll theorem is generically spoiled by on-shell corrections, including collinear loops and collinear emissions. We demonstrate this explicitly both at tree-level and at one-loop. The effective theory correctly describes these configurations, and we generalize the Low-Burnett-Kroll theorem into a new one-loop subleading soft theorem for amplitudes. Our analysis is presented in a manner that illustrates the wider utility of using effective theory techniques to understand the perturbative S-matrix.

David Alonso Philip Bull Pedro G. Ferreira Roy Maartens Mario G. Santos

Future surveys of large-scale structure will be able to measure perturbations on the scale of the cosmological horizon, and so could potentially probe a number of novel relativistic effects that are negligibly small on sub-horizon scales. These effects leave distinctive signatures in the power spectra of clustering observables and, if measurable, would open a new window on relativistic cosmology. We quantify the size and detectability of the effects for a range of future large-scale structure surveys: spectroscopic and photometric galaxy redshift surveys, intensity mapping surveys of neutral hydrogen, and continuum surveys of radio galaxies. Our forecasts show that next-generation experiments, reaching out to redshifts z ~ 4, will not be able to detect previously-undetected general-relativistic effects from the single-tracer power spectra alone, although they may be able to measure the lensing magnification in the auto-correlation. We also perform a rigorous joint forecast for the detection of primordial non-Gaussianity through the excess power it produces in the clustering of biased tracers on large scales, finding that uncertainties of sigma(f_NL) ~ 1-2 should be achievable. We discuss the systematic effects that must be mitigated to achieve this level of sensitivity, and some alternative approaches that should help to improve the constraints.

Hayato Motohashi Wayne Hu

We consider the stability of self-accelerating solutions to extended quasidilaton massive gravity in the presence of matter. By making a second or extended fiducial metric dynamical in this model, matter can cause it to evolve from a Lorentzian to Euclidean signature, triggering a ghost instability. We study this possibility with scalar field matter as it can model a wide range of cosmological expansion histories. For the $\Lambda$CDM expansion history, stability considerations substantially limit the available parameter space while for a kinetic energy dominated expansion, no choice of quasidilaton parameters is stable. More generally these results show that there is no mechanism intrinsic to the theory to forbid such pathologies from developing from stable initial conditions and that stability can only be guaranteed for particular choices for the matter configuration.

Federico Marinacci, Mark Vogelsberger, Philip Mocz, Ruediger Pakmor, (2) CfA, (3) HITS)

We perform uniformly sampled large-scale cosmological simulations including magnetic fields with the moving mesh code AREPO. We run two sets of MHD simulations: one including adiabatic gas physics only; the other featuring the fiducial feedback model of the Illustris simulation. In the adiabatic case, the magnetic field amplification follows the $B \propto \rho^{2/3}$ scaling derived from `flux-freezing' arguments, with the seed field strength providing an overall normalisation factor. At high baryon overdensities the amplification is enhanced by shear flows and turbulence. Feedback physics and the inclusion of radiative cooling change this picture dramatically. Gas collapses to much larger densities and the magnetic field is amplified strongly, reaching saturation and losing memory of the initial seed field. At lower densities a dependence on the seed field strength and orientation, which in principle can be used to constrain models of cosmological magnetogenesis, is still present. Inside the most massive haloes magnetic fields reach values of $\sim 10-100\,\mu G$, in agreement with galaxy cluster observations. The topology of the field is tangled and gives rise to rotation measure signals in reasonable agreement with the observations. However, the rotation measure signal declines too rapidly towards larger radii compared to observational data.

Lavinia Heisenberg

In the context of massive gravity, bi-gravity and multi-gravity non-minimal matter couplings via a specific composite effective metric were investigated recently. Even if these couplings generically reintroduce the Boulware-Deser ghost, this composite metric is unique in the sense that the ghost reemerges only beyond the decoupling limit and the matter quantum loop corrections do not detune the potential interactions. We consider non-minimal {\it derivative} couplings of the composite metric to matter fields for a specific subclass of Horndeski scalar-tensor interactions. We first explore these couplings in the mini-superspace and investigate in which scenario the ghost remains absent. We further study these non-minimal derivative couplings in the decoupling-limit of the theory and show that the equation of motion for the helicity-0 mode remains second order in derivatives. Finally, we discuss preliminary implications for cosmology.