arXiv subjects

Max Tegmark

Publications and source records attributed to Max Tegmark.

At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources

arXiv2001

Why is the Fraction of Four-Image Radio Lens Systems So High?

We investigate the frequency of two- and four-image gravitational lens systems in the Jodrell-VLA Astrometric Survey (JVAS) and Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey (CLASS), and the possible implications for dark matter halo properties. A simple lensing statistics model, which describes lens galaxies as singular isothermal ellipsoids with a projected axis ratio distribution derived from the surface brightness ellipticities of early-type galaxies in the Coma cluster, is ruled out at the 98% level since it predicts too few four-image lenses (quads). We consider a range of factors that may be increasing the frequency of radio quads, including external shear fields, mass distributions flatter than the light, shallow lensing mass profiles, finite core radii, satellite galaxies, and alterations to the luminosity function for faint flat-spectrum radio sources. We find that none of these mechanisms provide a compelling solution to the quad problem on their own while remaining consistent with other observational constraints.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

The power spectrum of the CfA/SSRS UZC galaxy redshift survey

The combined CfA2/SSRS redshift catalog has recently been improved and made public. We compute the redshift-space power spectrum of this catalog using the regions at -2.5 < delta < 50 north (8h < alpha < 17h) and south (20h < alpha < 3h, b < -13) of the Galactic plane, where it is 98% complete down to Zwicky magnitude 15.5 and contains 13,681 galaxies. Our analysis uses Heavens-Taylor mode expansion, Karhunen-Loeve data compression and the Fisher matrix technique to compute quadratic band power estimates. This allows an exact calculation of window functions, including the integral constraint, in addition to the production of a power spectrum with uncorrelated error bars. Our results with this larger data set agree well with previous studies. We analyze 101Mpc/h and 130Mpc/h volume-limited subsets in addition to the full magnitude-limited sample, and our results are well fit by, e.g., Lambda-CDM models with bias b=1.2, 1.4 and 1.4, respectively. We estimate the effect of extinction using the Schlegel, Finkbeiner & Davis dust map. Our results are exclusively for the redshift space galaxy power spectrum, so they can only be compared with theoretical predictions if appropriate corrections are made for biasing and redshift space distortions.

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arXiv2001

Gaussianity of Degree-Scale Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy Observations

We present results from a first test of the Gaussianity of degree-scale cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy. We investigate Gaussianity of the CMB anisotropy by studying the topology of CMB anisotropy maps from the QMAP and Saskatoon experiments. We also study the QMASK map, a combination map of the QMAP and Saskatoon data. We measure the genus from noise-suppressed Wiener-filtered maps at an angular scale of about 1.5 degrees. To test the Gaussianity of the observed anisotropy, we compare these results to those derived from a collection of simulated maps for each experiment in a Gaussian spatially-flat cosmological constant dominated cold dark matter model. The genus-threshold level relations of the QMAP and Saskatoon maps are consistent with Gaussianity. While the combination QMASK map has a mildly non-Gaussian genus curve which is not a consequence of known foreground contamination, this result is not statistically significant at the 2 sigma level. These results extend previous upper limits on the non-Gaussianity of the large angular scale (> 10 degrees) CMB anisotropy (measured by the COBE DMR experiment) down to degree angular scales.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Comparing and combining the Saskatoon, QMAP and COBE CMB maps

We present a method for comparing and combining maps with different resolutions and beam shapes, and apply it to the Saskatoon, QMAP and COBE/DMR data sets. Although the Saskatoon and QMAP maps detect signal at the 21 sigma and 40 sigma levels, respectively, their difference is consistent with pure noise, placing strong limits on possible systematic errors. In particular, we obtain quantitative upper limits on relative calibration and pointing errors. Splitting the combined data by frequency shows similar consistency between the Ka- and Q-bands, placing limits on foreground contamination. The visual agreement between the maps is equally striking. Our combined QMAP+Saskatoon map, nicknamed QMASK, is publicly available at www.hep.upenn.edu/~xuyz/qmask.html together with its 6495x6495 noise covariance matrix. This thoroughly tested data set covers a large enough area (648 square degrees -- currently the largest degree-scale map available) to allow a statistical comparison with COBE/DMR, showing good agreement.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

100 Years of the Quantum

As quantum theory celebrates its 100th birthday, spectacular successes are mixed with outstanding puzzles and promises of new technologies. This article reviews both the successes of quantum theory and the ongoing debate about its consequences for issues ranging from quantum computation to consciousness, parallel universes and the nature of physical reality. We argue that modern experiments and the discovery of decoherence have have shifted prevailing quantum interpretations away from wave function collapse towards unitary physics, and discuss quantum processes in the framework of a tripartite subject-object-environment decomposition. We conclude with some speculations on the bigger picture and the search for a unified theory of quantum gravity.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2000

Constraints from the Lyman alpha forest power spectrum

We use published measurements of the transmission power spectrum of the Lyman alpha forest to constrain several parameters that describe cosmology and thermal properties of the intergalactic medium (IGM). A 6 parameter grid is constructed using Particle-Mesh dark matter simulations together with scaling relations to make predictions for the gas properties. We fit for all parameters simultaneously and identify several degeneracies. We find that the temperature of the IGM can be well determined from the fall-off of the power spectrum at small scales. We find a temperature around 20.000 K, dependent on the slope of the gas equation of state. We see no evidence for evolution in the IGM temperature. We place constraints on the amplitude of the dark matter fluctuations. However, contrary to previous results, the slope of the dark matter power spectrum is poorly constrained. This is due to uncertainty in the effective Jeans smoothing scale, which depends on the temperature as well as the thermal history of the gas.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Towards a refined cosmic concordance model: joint 11-parameter constraints from CMB and large-scale structure

We present a method for calculating large numbers of power spectra C_l and P(k) that accelerates CMBfast by a factor around 10^3 without appreciable loss of accuracy, then apply it to constrain 11 cosmological parameters from current Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and Large Scale Structure (LSS) data. While the CMB alone still suffers from several degeneracies, allowing, e.g., closed models with strong tilt and tensor contributions, the shape of the real space power spectrum of galaxies from the IRAS Point Source Catalogue Redshift (PSCz) survey breaks these degeneracies and helps place strong constraints on most parameters. At 95% confidence, the combined CMB and LSS data imply a baryon density 0.020 < omega_b < 0.037, dark matter density 0.10 < omega_d < 0.32 with a neutrino fraction f_nu < 38%, vacuum density Omega_Lambda < 0.76, curvature -0.19 < Omega_k < 0.10, scalar tilt 0.86 < n_s < 1.16 and reionization optical depth tau < 0.44. These joint constraints are quite robust, changing little when we impose priors on the Hubble parameter, tilt, flatness, gravity waves or reionization. Adding nucleosynthesis and neutrino priors on the other hand tightens parameters considerably, requiring Omega_Lambda > 0.49 and a red-tilt. The analysis allows a number of consistency tests to be made, all of which pass. At the 95% level, the flat scalar ``concordance model'' with Omega_Lambda=0.62, omega_d=0.13, omega_b=0.02, f_nu~0, n_s=0.9, tau=0.1, h=0.63 is consistent with external constraints. The inferred PSCz bias b~1.2 agrees with the value estimated independently from redshift space distortions. The inferred cosmological constant value agrees with the one independently derived from SN 1a studies. Cosmology seems to be on the right track.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

CMB Observables and Their Cosmological Implications

We show that recent measurements of the power spectrum of cosmic microwave background anisotropies by BOOMERanG and MAXIMA can be characterized by four observables, the position of the first acoustic peak l_1= 206 pm 6, the height of the first peak relative to COBE normalization H_1= 7.6 pm 1.4, the height of the second peak relative to the first H_2 = 0.38 pm 0.04, and the height of the third peak relative to the first H_3 = 0.43 pm 0.07. This phenomenological representation of the measurements complements more detailed likelihood analyses in multidimensional parameter space, clarifying the dependence on prior assumptions and the specific aspects of the data leading to the constraints. We illustrate their use in the flat LCDM family of models, where we find Omega_m h^{3.8} > 0.079 (or nearly equivalently, the age of the universe t_0 < 13-14 Gyr) from l_1 and a baryon density Omega_b h^2 > 0.019, a matter density Omega_m h^2 < 0.42 and tilt n>0.85 from the peak heights (95% CL). With the aid of several external constraints, notably nucleosynthesis, the age of the universe and the cluster abundance and baryon fraction, we construct the allowed region in the (Omega_m,h) plane; it points to high h (0.6< h < 0.9) and moderate Omega_m (0.25 < Omega_m < 0.6).

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arXiv2000

Current cosmological constraints from a 10 parameter CMB analysis

We compute the constraints on a ``standard'' 10 parameter cold dark matter (CDM) model from the most recent CMB and data and other observations, exploring 30 million discrete models and two continuous parameters. Our parameters are the densities of CDM, baryons, neutrinos, vacuum energy and curvature, the reionization optical depth, and the normalization and tilt for both scalar and tensor fluctuations. Our strongest constraints are on spatial curvature, -0.24 < Omega_k < 0.38, and CDM density, h^2 Omega_cdm <0.3, both at 95%. Including SN 1a constraints gives a positive cosmological constant at high significance. We explore the robustness of our results to various assumptions. We find that three different data subsets give qualitatively consistent constraints. Some of the technical issues that have the largest impact are the inclusion of calibration errors, closed models, gravity waves, reionization, nucleosynthesis constraints and 10-dimensional likelihood interpolation.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

New CMB constraints on the cosmic matter budget: trouble for nucleosynthesis?

We compute the joint constraints on ten cosmological parameters from the latest CMB measurements. The lack of a significant second acoustic peak in the latest Boomerang and Maxima data favors models with more baryons than Big Bang nucleosynthesis predicts, almost independently of what prior information is included. The simplest flat inflation models with purely scalar scale-invariant fluctuations prefer a baryon density 0.022 <h^2 Omega_b < 0.040 and a total nonbaryonic (hot + cold) dark matter density 0.14 < h^2 Omega_dm < 0.32 at 95% confidence, and allow reionization no earlier than z~30.

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arXiv2000

Linear Redshift Distortions and Power in the PSCz Survey

We present a state-of-the-art linear redshift distortion analysis of the recently published IRAS Point Source Catalog Redshift Survey (PSCz). The procedure involves linear compression into 4096 Karhunen-Loeve modes culled from a potential pool of about 3 x 10^5 modes, followed by quadratic compression into three separate power spectra, the galaxy-galaxy, galaxy-velocity, and velocity-velocity power spectra. Least squares fitting to the decorrelated power spectra yields a linear redshift distortion parameter beta = Omega_m^0.6/b = 0.41(+0.13,-0.12).

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arXiv2000

Latest cosmological constraints on the densities of hot and cold dark matter

As experimentalists step up their pursuit of cold dark matter particles and neutrino masses, cosmological constraints are tightening. We compute the joint constraints on 11 cosmological parameters from cosmic microwave background and large scale structure data, and find that at 95% confidence, the total (cold+hot) dark matter density is h^2 Omega_dark = 0.20 +.12 -.10 with at most 38% of it being hot (due to neutrinos). A few assumptions, including negligible neutrinos, tighten this measurement to h^2 Omega_dark = 0.13 +0.04 -0.02, i.e, 2.4e-27 kg/m^3 give or take 20%.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2000

Cosmic microwave background maps from the HACME experiment

We present Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) maps from the Santa Barbara HACME balloon experiment (Staren etal 2000), covering about 1150 square degrees split between two regions in the northern sky, near the stars gamma Ursae Minoris and alpha Leonis, respectively. The FWHM of the beam is about 0.77 degrees in three frequency bands centered on 39, 41 and 43 GHz. The results demonstrate that the thoroughly interconnected scan strategy employed allows efficient removal of 1/f-noise and slightly variable scan-synchronous offsets. The maps display no striping, and the noise correlations are found to be virtually isotropic, decaying on an angular scale around one degree. The noise performance of the experiment resulted in an upper limit on CMB anisotropy. However, our results demonstrate that atmospheric contamination and other systematics resulting from the circular scanning strategy can be accurately controlled, and bodes well for the planned follow-up experiments BEAST and ACE, since they show that even with the overly cautious assumption that 1/f-noise and offsets will be as dominant as for HACME, the problems they pose can be readily overcome with the mapmaking algorithm discussed. Our prewhitened notch-filter algorithm for destriping and offset removal should be useful also for other balloon- and ground-based experiments whose scan strategies involve substantial interleaving.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Decorrelating the Power Spectrum of Galaxies

It is shown how to decorrelate the (prewhitened) power spectrum measured from a galaxy survey into a set of high resolution uncorrelated band-powers. The treatment includes nonlinearity, but not redshift distortions. Amongst the infinitely many possible decorrelation matrices, the square root of the Fisher matrix, or a scaled version thereof, offers a particularly good choice, in the sense that the band-power windows are narrow, approximately symmetric, and well-behaved in the presence of noise. We use this method to compute band-power windows for, and the information content of, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Las Campanas Redshift Survey, and the IRAS 1.2 Jy Survey.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Galactic contamination in the QMAP experiment

We quantify the level of foreground contamination in the QMAP Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data with two objectives: (a) measuring the level to which the QMAP power spectrum measurements need to be corrected for foregrounds and (b) using this data set to further refine current foreground models. We cross-correlate the QMAP data with a variety of foreground templates. The 30 GHz Ka-band data is found to be significantly correlated with the Haslam 408 MHz and Reich and Reich 1420 MHz synchrotron maps, but not with the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) 240, 140 and 100 micron maps or the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) survey. The 40 GHz Q-band has no significant template correlations. We discuss the constraints that this places on synchrotron, free-free and dust emission. We also reanalyze the foreground-cleaned Ka-band data and find that the two band power measurements are lowered by 2.3% and 1.3%, respectively.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Large-Scale Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect: Measuring Statistical Properties with Multifrequency Maps

We study the prospects for extracting detailed statistical properties of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect associated with large scale structure using upcoming multifrequency CMB experiments. The greatest obstacle to detecting the large-angle signal is the confusion noise provided by the primary anisotropies themselves, and to a lesser degree galactic and extragalactic foregrounds. We employ multifrequency subtraction techniques and the latest foregrounds models to determine the detection threshold for the Boomerang, MAP (several microK) and Planck CMB (sub microK) experiments. Calibrating a simplified biased-tracer model of the gas pressure off recent hydrodynamic simulations, we estimate the SZ power spectrum, skewness and bispectrum through analytic scalings and N-body simulations of the dark matter. We show that the Planck satellite should be able to measure the SZ effect with sufficient precision to determine its power spectrum and higher order correlations, e.g. the skewness and bispectrum. Planck should also be able to detect the cross correlation between the SZ and gravitational lensing effect in the CMB. Detection of these effects will help determine the properties of the as yet undetected gas, including the manner in which the gas pressure traces the dark matter.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Cross-correlation of Tenerife data with Galactic templates - evidence for spinning dust?

The recent discovery of dust-correlated diffuse microwave emission has prompted two rival explanations: free-free emission and spinning dust grains. We present new detections of this component at 10 and 15 GHz by the switched-beam Tenerife experiment. The data show a turnover in the spectrum and thereby supports the spinning dust hypothesis. We also present a significant detection of synchrotron radiation at 10 GHz, useful for normalizing foreground contamination of CMB experiments at high-galactic latitudes.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

The importance of quantum decoherence in brain processes

Based on a calculation of neural decoherence rates, we argue that that the degrees of freedom of the human brain that relate to cognitive processes should be thought of as a classical rather than quantum system, i.e., that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the current classical approach to neural network simulations. We find that the decoherence timescales ~10^{-13}-10^{-20} seconds are typically much shorter than the relevant dynamical timescales (~0.001-0.1 seconds), both for regular neuron firing and for kink-like polarization excitations in microtubules. This conclusion disagrees with suggestions by Penrose and others that the brain acts as a quantum computer, and that quantum coherence is related to consciousness in a fundamental way.

quant-ph↗