R. Mohayaee, M. Rameez, S.Sarkar

We study correlated fluctuations of Type~Ia supernova observables due to peculiar velocities of both the observer and the supernova host galaxies, and their impact on cosmological parameter estimation. We demonstrate using the CosmicFlows-3 dataset that at low redshifts the corrections for peculiar velocities in the JLA catalogue have been systematically underestimated. By querying a horizon-size N-body simulation we find that compared to a randomly placed Copernican observer, an observer in an environment like our local universe will see 2--5 times stronger correlations between supernovae in the JLA catalogue. Hence the covariances usually employed which assume a Copernican observer underestimate the effects of coherent motion of the supernova host galaxies. Although previous studies have suggested that this should have $<2\%$ effect on cosmological parameter estimation, we find that when peculiar velocities are treated consistently the JLA data favours significantly smaller values of matter and dark energy density than in the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. A joint fit to simultaneously determine the cosmological parameters and the bulk flow finds a bulk flow faster than 200 km~s$^{-1}$ continuing beyond 200~Mpc. This demonstrates that the local bulk flow is an essential nuisance parameter which must be included in cosmological model fitting when analysing supernova data.

Dmitry Budker, Victor V. Flambaum, Ariel Zhitnitsky

We advocate an idea that some mysterious explosions, the so-called sky-quakes, which have been known for centuries could be a manifestation of the dark matter Axion Quark Nuggets (AQN) when they propagate in the Earth's atmosphere. We specifically study the event which occurred on July 31-st 2008 and was properly recorded by the dedicated Elginfield Infrasound Array (ELFO) near London, Ontario, Canada. The infrasound detection was accompanied by non-observation of any meteors by an all-sky camera network. Our interpretation is based on the AQN dark matter model which was originally invented with a completely different purpose---to explain the similarity of the dark and visible cosmological matter densities $\Omega_{\rm dark}\sim \Omega_{\rm visible}$. Our estimates for the infrasonic frequency $\nu\simeq 5$ Hz and overpressure $\delta p\sim 0.3$ Pa are consistent with the ELFO record. We propose a detection strategy for a systematic study to search for such explosions originating from AQNs by using Distributed Acoustic Sensing and briefly mention other possible detection methods. Specific signals from AQN tracks may also be detected by an existing network of seismic stations.

Sebastian Fischetti, Lucas Wallis, Toby Wiseman

We examine the renormalized free energy of the free Dirac fermion and the free scalar on a (2+1)-dimensional geometry $\mathbb{R} \times \Sigma$, with $\Sigma$ having spherical topology and prescribed area. Using heat kernel methods, we perturbatively compute this energy when $\Sigma$ is a small deformation of the round sphere, finding that at any temperature the round sphere is a local maximum. At low temperature the free energy difference is due to the Casimir effect. We then numerically compute this free energy for a class of large axisymmetric deformations, providing evidence that the round sphere globally maximizes it, and we show that the free energy difference relative to the round sphere is unbounded below as the geometry on $\Sigma$ becomes singular. Both our perturbative and numerical results in fact stem from the stronger finding that the difference between the heat kernels of the round sphere and a deformed sphere always appears to have definite sign. We investigate the relevance of our results to physical systems like monolayer graphene consisting of a membrane supporting relativistic QFT degrees of freedom.

C. S. Kochanek, The Ohio State University)

The two properties of the radial mass distribution of a gravitational lens that are well-constrained by Einstein rings are the Einstein radius R_E and xi2 = R_E alpha''(R_E)/(1-kappa_E), where alpha''(R_E) and kappa_E are the second derivative of the deflection profile and the convergence at R_E. However, if there is a tight mathematical relationship between the radial mass profile and the angular structure, as is true of ellipsoids, an Einstein ring can appear to strongly distinguish radial mass distributions with the same xi2. This problem is beautifully illustrated by the ellipsoidal models in Millon et al. (2019). When using Einstein rings to constrain the radial mass distribution, the angular structure of the models must contain all the degrees of freedom expected in nature (e.g., external shear, different ellipticities for the stars and the dark matter, modest deviations from elliptical structure, modest twists of the axes, modest ellipticity gradients, etc.) that work to decouple the radial and angular structure of the gravity. Models of Einstein rings with too few angular degrees of freedom will lead to strongly biased likelihood distinctions between radial mass distributions and very precise but inaccurate estimates of H0 based on gravitational lens time delays.

John F. Donoghue, Gabriel Menezes

In the philosophy of science, the origin of an arrow of time is viewed as problematic. We describe here how this arrow really follows from the causal structure of quantum physics. This connection is not really new -- it is just overlooked in most discussions of the arrow of time.

Pavel Fileviez Perez, Elliot Golias, Clara Murgui, Alexis D. Plascencia

The Higgs boson could provide the key to discover new physics at the Large Hadron Collider. We investigate novel decays of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson into leptophobic gauge bosons which can be light in agreement with all experimental constraints. We study the associated production of the SM Higgs and the leptophobic gauge boson that could be crucial to test the existence of a leptophobic force. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to have a simple gauge extension of the SM at the low scale, without assuming very small couplings and in agreement with all the experimental bounds that can be probed at the LHC.

Julian Adamek, Cristian Barrera-Hinojosa, Marco Bruni, Baojiu Li, Hayley J. Macpherson, James B. Mertens

A number of codes for general-relativistic simulations of cosmological structure formation have been developed in recent years. Here we demonstrate that a sample of these codes produce consistent results beyond the Newtonian regime. We simulate solutions to Einstein's equations dominated by gravitomagnetism --- a vector-type gravitational field that doesn't exist in Newtonian gravity and produces frame-dragging, the leading-order post-Newtonian effect. We calculate the coordinate-invariant effect on intersecting null geodesics by performing ray tracing in each independent code. With this observable quantity, we assess and compare each code's ability to compute relativistic effects.

Kevork N. Abazajian, Shunsaku Horiuchi, Manoj Kaplinghat, Ryan E. Keeley, Oscar Macias

The extended excess towards the Galactic Center (GC) in gamma rays inferred from Fermi-LAT observations has been interpreted as being due to dark matter (DM) annihilation. Here, we perform new likelihood analyses of the GC and show that when including templates for the stellar galactic and nuclear bulges, the GC shows no significant detection of a DM annihilation template, even after generous variations in the Galactic diffuse emission models and a wide range of DM halo profiles. We include Galactic diffuse emission models with combinations of 3D inverse Compton maps, variations of interstellar gas maps, and a central source of electrons. For the DM profile, we include both spherical and ellipsoidal DM morphologies and a range of radial profiles from steep cusps to kiloparsec-sized cores, motivated in part by hydrodynamical simulations. Our derived upper limits on the dark matter annihilation flux place strong constraints on DM properties. In the case of the pure $b$-quark annihilation channel, our limits on the annihilation cross section are more stringent than those from the Milky Way dwarfs up to DM masses of $\sim$TeV, and rule out the thermal relic cross section up to $\sim$300 GeV. Better understanding of the DM profile, as well as the Fermi-LAT data at its highest energies, would further improve the sensitivity to DM properties.

A. Vafaei Sadr, S. M. S. Movahed

The clustering of local extrema including peaks and troughs will be exploited to assess Gaussianity, asymmetry and the footprint of cosmic strings network on the CMB random field observed by {\it Planck} satellite. The number density of local extrema reveals some non-resolved shot noise in {\it Planck} maps. The \texttt{SEVEM} data has maximum number density of peaks, $n_{pk}$, and troughs, $n_{tr}$, compared to other observed maps. The cumulative of $n_{pk}$ and $n_{tr}$ above and below a threshold, $\vartheta$, for all {\it Planck} maps except for the 100GHz band are compatible with the Gaussian random field. The unweighted Two-Point Correlation Function (TPCF), $\Psi(\theta;\vartheta)$, of the local extrema illustrates significant non-Gaussianity for angular separation $\theta\le 15'$ for all available thresholds. Our results show that to put the feasible constraint on the amplitude of the mass function based on the value of $\Psi$ around the {\it Doppler peak} ($\theta\approx 70'-75'$), we should consider $\vartheta\gtrsim+1.0$. The scale independent bias factors for peak above a threshold for large separation angle and high threshold level are in agreement with that of expected for a pure Gaussian CMB. Unweighted TPCF of local extrema demonstrates a level of rejecting Gaussian hypothesis in \texttt{SMICA}. Genus topology also confirms the Gaussian hypothesis for different component separation maps. Tessellating CMB map with disk of size $6^{\circ}$ based on $n_{pk}$ and $\Psi_{pk-pk}$ demonstrate statistical symmetry in {\it Planck} maps. Combining all maps and applying the $\Psi_{pk-pk}$ puts the upper bound on the cosmic string's tension: $G\mu^{(up)} \lesssim 5.00\times 10^{-7}$.

Christian Partmann, Christian Fidler, Cornelius Rampf, Oliver Hahn

Accurate cosmological simulations that include the effect of non-linear matter clustering as well as of massive neutrinos are essential for measuring the neutrino mass scale from upcoming galaxy surveys. Typically, Newtonian simulations are employed and the neutrino distribution is sampled with a large number of particles in order to beat down the shot noise. Here we perform very efficient simulations with light massive neutrinos which require virtually no extra cost over matter-only simulations, and furthermore do not require tracer particles for the neutrinos. Instead, we use a weak-field dictionary based on the recently developed Newtonion motion approach, where Newtonian simulations for matter are paired with a linear relativistic Boltzmann code to allow for an absorption of the neutrino evolution into a time-dependent coordinate transformation. For this, only minimal modifications in existing N-body codes are required, which we have explicitly implemented in $\textit{gevolution}$ and $\textit{gadget-2}$. Our fast method determines the non-linear matter power spectrum to permille-level precision when compared against state-of-the-art simulations that have been performed for $0.1\,{\rm eV} \leq \sum m_\nu \leq 0.3\,$eV.