S. Teber, A. V. Kotikov

We review the method of uniqueness which is a powerful technique for multi-loop calculations in higher dimensional theories with conformal symmetry. We use the method in momentum space and show that it allows a very transparent evaluation of a two-loop massless propagator Feynman diagram with a non-integer index on the central line. The result is applied to the computation of the optical conductivity of graphene at the infra-red Lorentz invariant fixed point. The effect of counter-terms is analysed. A brief comparison with the non-relativistic case is included.

Katsuki Aoki, Kei-ichi Maeda, Makoto Tanabe

Assuming static and spherically symmetric spacetimes in the ghost-free bigravity theory, we find a relativistic star solution, which is very close to that in general relativity. The coupling constants are classified into two classes: Class [I] and Class [II]. Although the Vainshtein screening mechanism is found in the weak gravitational field for both classes, we find that there is no regular solution beyond the critical value of the compactness in Class [I]. This implies that the maximum mass of a neutron star in Class [I] becomes much smaller than that in GR. On the other hand, for the solution in Class [II], the Vainshtein screening mechanism works well even in a relativistic star and the result in GR is recovered.

Tomohiro Fujita, Kohei Kamada

Helical hypermagnetic fields in the primordial Universe can produce the observed amount of baryon asymmetry through the chiral anomaly without any ingredients beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. While they generate no $B-L$ asymmetry, the generated baryon asymmetry survives the spharelon washout effect, because the generating process remains active until the electroweak phase transition. Solving the Boltzmann equation numerically and finding an attractor solution, we show that the baryon asymmetry of our Universe can be explained, if the present large-scale magnetic fields indicated by the blazar observations have a negative helicity and existed in the early Universe before the electroweak phase transition. We also derive the upper bound on the strength of the helical magnetic field, which is tighter than the CMB constraint, to avoid the overproduction of baryon asymmetry.

Mohamed M. Anber, Eray Sabancilar

We show that maximally helical hypermagnetic fields produced during pseudoscalar inflation can generate the observed baryon asymmetry of the universe via the B+L anomaly in the Standard Model. We find that most of the parameter space of pseudoscalar inflation that explains the cosmological data leads to baryon overproduction, hence the models of natural inflation are severely constrained. We also point out a connection between the baryon number and topology of the relic magnetic fields. Both the magnitude and sign of magnetic helicity can be detected in future diffuse gamma ray data. This will be a smoking gun evidence for a link between inflation and the baryon asymmetry of the Universe.

Alexander Mead, Catherine Heymans, Lucas Lombriser, John Peacock, Olivia Steele, Hans Winther

We present an accurate non-linear matter power spectrum prediction scheme for a variety of extensions to the standard cosmological paradigm, which uses the tuned halo model previously developed in Mead (2015b). We consider dark energy models that are both minimally and non-minimally coupled, massive neutrinos and modified gravitational forces with chameleon and Vainshtein screening mechanisms. In all cases we compare halo-model power spectra to measurements from high-resolution simulations. We show that the tuned halo model method can predict the non-linear matter power spectrum measured from simulations of parameterised $w(a)$ dark energy models at the few per cent level for $k<10\,h\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$, and we present theoretically motivated extensions to cover non-minimally coupled scalar fields, massive neutrinos and Vainshtein screened modified gravity models that result in few per cent accurate power spectra for $k<10\,h\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$. For chameleon screened models we achieve only 10 per cent accuracy for the same range of scales. Finally, we use our halo model to investigate degeneracies between different extensions to the standard cosmological model, finding that the impact of baryonic feedback on the non-linear matter power spectrum can be considered independently of modified gravity or massive neutrino extensions. In contrast, considering the impact of modified gravity and massive neutrinos independently results in biased estimates of power at the level of 5 per cent at scales $k>0.5\,h\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$. An updated version of our publicly available HMcode can be found at https://github.com/alexander-mead/HMcode

Nicolas Gisin

Today's science provides quite a lean picture of time as a mere geometric evolution parameter. I argue that time is much richer. In particular, I argue that besides the geometric time, there is creative time, when objective chance events happen. The existence of the latter follows straight from the existence of free-will. Following the french philosopher Lequyer, I argue that free-will is a prerequisite for the possibility to have rational argumentations, hence can't be denied. Consequently, science can't deny the existence of creative time and thus that time really passes.

M. Ntampaka, H. Trac, J. Cisewski, L.C. Price

We present a new approach for quantifying the abundance of galaxy clusters and constraining cosmological parameters using dynamical measurements. In the standard method, galaxy line-of-sight (LOS) velocities, $v$, or velocity dispersions are used to infer cluster masses, $M$, in order to quantify the halo mass function (HMF), $dn(M)/d\log(M)$, which is strongly affected by mass measurement errors. In our new method, the probability distribution of velocities for each cluster in the sample are summed to create a new statistic called the velocity distribution function (VDF), $dn(v)/dv$. The VDF can be measured more directly and precisely than the HMF and it can also be robustly predicted with cosmological simulations which capture the dynamics of subhalos or galaxies. We apply these two methods to mock cluster catalogs and forecast the bias and constraints on the matter density parameter $\Omega_m$ and the amplitude of matter fluctuations $\sigma_8$ in flat $\Lambda$CDM cosmologies. For an example observation of 200 massive clusters, the VDF with (without) velocity errors constrains the parameter combination $\sigma_8\Omega_m^{0.29\ (0.29)} = 0.587 \pm 0.011\ (0.583 \pm 0.011)$ and shows only minor bias. However, the HMF with dynamical mass errors is biased to low $\Omega_m$ and high $\sigma_8$ and the fiducial model lies well outside of the forecast constraints, prior to accounting for Eddington bias. When the VDF is combined with constraints from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the degeneracy between cosmological parameters can be significantly reduced. Upcoming spectroscopic surveys that probe larger volumes and fainter magnitudes will provide a larger number of clusters for applying the VDF as a cosmological probe.

Melih Ozbek, Rupert A. C. Croft, Nishikanta Khandai

Maps of the large-scale structure of the Universe at redshifts 2-4 can be made with the Lyman-alpha forest which are complementary to low redshift galaxy surveys. We apply the Wiener interpolation method of Caucci et al. to construct three-dimensional maps from sets of Lyman-alpha forest spectra taken from cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. We mimic some current and future quasar redshift surveys (BOSS, eBOSS and MS-DESI) by choosing similar sightline densities. We use these appropriate subsets of the Lyman-alpha absorption sightlines to reconstruct the full three dimensional Lyman-alpha flux field and perform comparisons between the true and the reconstructed fields. We study global statistical properties of the intergalactic medium (IGM) maps with auto-correlation and cross-correlation analysis, slice plots, local peaks and point by point scatter. We find that both the density field and the statistical proper- ties of the IGM are recovered well enough that the resulting IGM maps can be meaningfully considered to represent large-scale maps of the Universe in agreement with Caucci et al., on larger scales and for sparser sightlines than had been tested previously. Quantitatively, for sightline parameters comparable to current and near future surveys the correlation coefficient between true and reconstructed fields is r > 0.9 on scales > 30 h^-1 Mpc. The properties of the maps are relatively insensitive to the precise form of the covariance matrix used. The final BOSS quasar Lyman-alpha forest sample will allow maps to be made with a resolution of ~ 30 h^-1 Mpc over a volume of ~ 15 h^-3 Gpc^3 between redshifts 1.9 and 2.3.