Modeling and analysis of LOFAR scintillation data

<p>Scintillation of beacon satellite signals or distant cosmic radio emissions can provide interesting information on the cosmic medium itself, its internal spatial structure and basic evolution characteristics. LOFAR network gives consistent scintillation data with good coverage both in time and space and for the frequency range that goes down close to the local plasma frequency (LBA) being thus sensible to ionospheric plasma irregularities. LOFAR Scintillation measurements in the LBA range exhibit very interesting morphologies. Based on scintillation simulations using the phase screen method, including multiple scattering and refraction, we try to untangle the information contained in the full range (time, space, frequency) of LOFAR data and verify a number of hypotheses about the local structure of the ionosphere and its evolution.</p>

The effect of redshift degeneracy and the damping effect of viscous medium on the information extracted from gravitational wave signals

ABSTRACT Considering the cosmological redshift zc, the mass of GW source extracted from GW signal is 1 + zc times larger than its intrinsic value, and distance between detector and GW source should be regarded as luminosity distance. However, besides cosmological redshift, there are other kinds of redshifts should be considered, which is actually ignored, in the analysis of GW data, such as Doppler redshift and gravitational redshift, so the parameters extracted from GW may deviate from their intrinsic values. Another factor that may affect GW is the viscous medium in propagation path of GW, which may damp the GW with a damping rate of 16πGη. Some studies indicate dark matter may interact with each other, thus dark matter may be the origin of viscosity of cosmic medium. Then the GW may be rapidly damped by the viscous medium that is made of dark matter, such as dark matter ‘mini-spike’ around intermediate-mass black hole. In this article, we mainly discuss how Doppler and gravitational redshift, together with the damping effect of viscous medium, affect the informations, such as the mass and redshift of GW source, extracted from GW signals.

Matter Growth in Imperfect Fluid Cosmology

Extensions of Einstein’s General Relativity (GR) can formally be given a GR structure in which additional geometric degrees of freedom are mapped on an effective energy-momentum tensor. The corresponding effective cosmic medium can then be modeled as an imperfect fluid within GR. The imperfect fluid structure allows us to include, on a phenomenological basis, anisotropic stresses and energy fluxes which are considered as potential signatures for deviations from the cosmological standard Λ -cold-dark-matter ( Λ CDM) model. As an example, we consider the dynamics of a scalar-tensor extension of the standard model, the e Φ Λ CDM model. We constrain the magnitudes of anisotropic pressure and energy flux with the help of redshift-space distortion (RSD) data for the matter growth function f σ 8 .

EXACT INHOMOGENEOUS MODELS AND THE DRIFT OF LIGHT RAYS INDUCED BY NONSYMMETRIC FLOW OF THE COSMIC MEDIUM

After introducing the Szekeres and Lemaître–Tolman cosmological models, the real-time cosmology program is briefly mentioned. Then, a few widespread misconceptions about the cosmological models are pointed out and corrected. Investigation of null geodesic equations in the Szekeres models shows that observers in favorable positions would see galaxies drift across the sky at a rate of up to 10-6 arc s per year. Such a drift would be possible to measure using devices that are under construction; the required time of monitoring would be ≈10 years. This effect is zero in the FLRW models, so it provides a measure of inhomogeneity of the Universe. In the Szekeres models, the condition for zero drift is zero shear. But in the shearfree normal models, the condition for zero drift is that, in the comoving coordinates, the time dependence of the metric completely factors out.

DUALITY INVARIANCE AND COSMOLOGICAL DYNAMICS

A duality transformation that interrelates expanding and contracting cosmological models is shown to single out a duality invariant, interacting two-component description of any irrotational, geodesic and shear-free cosmic medium with vanishing three-curvature scalar. We have applied this feature to a system of matter and radiation, to a mixture of dark matter and dark energy, to minimal and conformal scalar fields, and to an enlarged Chaplygin gas model of the cosmic substratum. We have extended the concept of duality transformations to cosmological perturbations and demonstrated the invariance of adiabatic pressure perturbations under these transformations.

INTERACTING DARK ENERGY AND COSMOLOGICAL EQUATIONS OF STATE

Interactions within the cosmic medium modify its equation of state. We discuss implications of interacting dark energy models both for the spatially homogenous background and for the perturbation dynamics.

THE VIRGO ALIGNMENT PUZZLE IN PROPAGATION OF RADIATION ON COSMOLOGICAL SCALES

We reconsider analysis of data on the cosmic microwave background on the largest angular scales. Temperature multipoles of any order factor naturally into a direct product of axial quantities and cosets. Striking coincidences exist among the axes associated with the dipole, quadrupole, and octupole CMB moments. These axes also coincide well with two other axes independently determined from polarizations at radio and optical frequencies propagating on cosmological scales. The five coincident axes indicate physical correlation and anisotropic properties of the cosmic medium not predicted by the conventional Big Bang scenario. We consider various mechanisms, including foreground corrections, as candidates for the observed correlations. We also consider whether the propagation anomalies may be a signal of "dark energy" in the form of a condensed background field. Perhaps light propagation will prove to be an effective way to look for the effects of dark energy.