Cosmology and Gravitation

We have announced the results from 7 years of observations of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) on January 26. In this talk we will present the cosmological interpretation of the WMAP 7-year data, including the detection of primordial helium, images of polarization of microwave background around temperature peaks, and new limits on inflation and properties of neutrinos. We also report a significant detection of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect and discuss implications for the gas pressure in clusters of galaxies.

We present a holographic description of four-dimensional single-scalar inflationary universes in terms of a three-dimensional quantum field theory. The holographic description correctly reproduces standard inflationary predictions in their regime of applicability. In the opposite case, wherein gravity is strongly coupled at early times, we propose a holographic description in terms of perturbative QFT and present models capable of satisfying the current observational constraints while exhibiting a phenomenology distinct from standard inflation. This provides a qualitatively new method for generating a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of primordial cosmological perturbations.

We discuss a candidate mechanism through which one might address the various cosmological constant problems. We observe that the renormalization of gravitational couplings manifests non-local modifications to Einstein's equations as quantum corrected equations of motion, and in doing so offers a complimentary realization of the degravitation paradigm-- a realization through which its non-linear completion and the corresponding modified Bianchi identities are readily understood. We proceed to consider theories whose coupling to gravity might a priori induce non-trivial RG flow for gravitational couplings in the IR, and arrive at a class of non-local effective actions which yield a suitably degravitating filter function for Newton's constant upon subsequently being integrated out.

After prodigious work over several decades, binary black hole mergers can now be simulated in fully nonlinear numerical relativity. However, these simulations are still restricted to mass ratios q = m2/m1 > 1/10, initial spins a/M < 0.9, and initial separations r/M < 10. Fortunately, analytical techniques like black-hole perturbation theory and the post-Newtonian approximation allow us to study much of this region in parameter space that remains inaccessible to numerical relativity. I will use black-hole perturbation theory to establish a fundamental upper limit to the final spin that can be attained through binary mergers, and show how this limit can be used to improve predictions of final spins for finite mass ratios as well. I will also show that post-Newtonian inspirals between 1000 M < r < 10 M can align or anti-align black hole spins with each other, dramatically changing the distributions of final spins and recoil velocities that would be expected in astrophysical black hole mergers.

Stellar evolution from a protostar to neutron star is of one of the best studied subjects in modern astrophysics. Yet, it appears that there is still a lot to learn about the extreme conditions where the fundamental particle physics meets strong gravity regime. After all of the thermonuclear fuel is spent, and after the supernova explosion, but before the remaining mass crosses its own Schwarzschild radius, the temperature of the central core of the star might become higher than the electroweak symmetry restoration temperature. The source of energy, which can at least temporarily balance gravity, are baryon number violating instanton processes which are basically unsuppressed at temperatures above the electroweak scale. We constructed a solution to the Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation which describes such a star. The energy release rate is enormous at the core, but gravitational redshift and the enhanced neutrino interaction cross section at these densities make the energy release rate moderate at the surface of the star. The lifetime of this new quasi-equilibrium can be more than ten million years, which is long enough to represent a new stage in the evolution of a star.

We report on a new class of fast-roll inflationary models. In a part of its parameter space, inflationary perturbations exhibit quite unusual phenomena such as scalar and tensor modes freezing out at widely different times, as well as scalar modes reentering the horizon during inflation. One specific point in parameter space is characterized by extraordinary behavior of the scalar perturbations. Freeze-out of scalar perturbations as well as particle production at horizon crossing are absent. Also the behavior of the perturbations around this quasi-de Sitter background is dual to a quantum field theory in flat space-time. Finally, the form of the primordial power spectrum is determined by the interaction between different modes of scalar perturbations.

Primordial non-Gaussianity has been traditionaly constrained using three-point function of the cosmic microwave background. Two years ago, however, Dalal et al have shown that non-Gaussianity of the local type induces a scale dependent bias for biased tracers of the underlying dark matter structure. This allows constraining of the primordial non-Gaussianity from measurements of large-scale structure provided by redshift surveys. I will discuss the technique, its theoretical aspects, it surprising resilience towards systematics and current results from the real data. I will also show some preliminary new results: extension to the two field inflationary models and the analogue of the Dalal effect in the Lyman alpha forest.

The quest to understand the nature of dark matter is entering a remarkable data-rich era. Hypothetical stable, electrically neutral particles with TeV-scale mass and weak-strength couplings are a simple, theoretically appealing, but untested candidate for the dark matter. I will summarize recent results in both direct and indirect searches for dark matter, and highlight what upcoming data may teach us. I will also discuss the key role of accelerator-based experiments and novel astrophysical measurements in understanding dark matter and its connection to Standard Model physics. The prospects are particularly rich if dark matter interacts through new, non-Standard-Model dynamics, as recent cosmic-ray data may suggest. I will discuss a range of collider-based searches and fixed-target experiments under development to search for this dynamics, and the complementary sensitivity of searches for cosmic rays originating from dark matter annihilation in the sun.

The LHC will explore fundamental physics at a new energy frontier. A spectrum of new particles at the TeV scale is expected on two theoretical grounds: explaining dark matter and generating the electroweak scale. Understanding the properties of such particles can clarify the nature of dark matter, the origin of the weak scale, symmetries of nature, and the multiverse. These particles can be discovered by identifying collision events characteristic of new physics in LHC data. Their properties can be measured by characterizing such new physics events in terms of decay modes and basic kinematics. I will describe how this can be accomplished and exciting possibilities for what we may discover.

The radio-metric tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft from the distances between 20--70 astronomical units from the Sun has consistently indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted Doppler frequency drift that limited the accuracy of the orbit reconstruction for these vehicles. This drift was interpreted as a sunward acceleration of aP = (8.74 1.33)  1010 m/s2 for each particular spacecraft. This signal has become known as the Pioneer anomaly; the nature of this anomaly is currently being investigated. Recently new Pioneer 10 and 11 radio-metric Doppler and flight telemetry data became available. The newly available Doppler data set is much larger when compared to the data used in previous investigations and is the primary source for new investigation of the anomaly. In addition, the flight telemetry files, original project documentation, and newly developed software tools are now used to reconstruct the engineering history of spacecraft. With the help of this information, a thermal model of the Pioneer vehicles is being developed to study the contribution of thermal recoil force acting on the two spacecraft. The goal of the ongoing efforts is to evaluate the effect of the on-board systems on the spacecrafts' trajectories and possibly identify the nature of this anomaly. The current status of these investigations will be discussed. Besides the Pioneer anomaly, there are other intriguing puzzles in the solar system dynamics still awaiting a proper explanation, notably the, so-called, “fly-by anomaly”, that occurred during Earth gravity assists performed by several interplanetary spacecraft. We will discuss the observed effect, the conditions that led to its observation and will elaborate on the potential causes of this anomaly. This work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.