The universe is filled with a thermal glow called the cosmic microwave background that comes from the hot plasma which filled it early on. Measurements of this background made by the NASA satellite WMAP have determined the age, geometry and composition of the universe with new precision, determining that the universe today is dominated by a dark energy that is causing it to expand ever more rapidly. The mission has also determined that baryonic matter--the atoms and molecules we see around us--only form a few percent of the total energy density of the universe today, and has determined the epoch at which the first stars formed. Recent results give a tantalizing picture of the first very small fraction of a second in the "big bang". Six years after its launch WMAP remains healthy and the data continue to pour in. This talk will explain to a general audience what this experiment tells us about how the universe began and what it is made out of.

The dark energy is one of the great mysteries of modern cosmology, responsible for the current acceleration of the expansion of our Universe. Its study is a major focus of my thesis : the way I choose to do so is based on the large-scale structure of the Universe, through a probe called the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect (iSW). This effect is theoretically detectable in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) : before reaching us this light travelled through large structures underlain by gravitational potentials. The acceleration of the expansion stretches and flattens these potentials during the crossing of photons, changing their energy, in a way that depend on the properties of the dark energy. The iSW effect only has a weak effect on the CMB requiring the use of external data to be detectable. A conventional approach is to correlate the CMB with a tracer of the distribution of matter, and therefore the underlying potentials. This has been attempted numerous times with galaxies surveys but the measured correlation has yet to give a definitive result on the detection of the iSW effect. This is mainly due to the shortcomings of current surveys that are not deep enough and/or have a too low sky coverage. A part of my thesis is devoted to the correlation of FDC with another diffuse background, namely the cosmological infrared background (CIB), which is composed of the integrated emission of the non-resolved distant galaxies. I was able to show that it is an excellent tracer, free from the shortcomings of current surveys. The levels of significance for the expected correlation CIB-CMB exceed those of current surveys, and compete with those predicted for the future generation of very large surveys. In the following, my thesis was focused on the individual imprint in the CMB of the largest structures by iSW effect. My work on the subject first involved revisiting a past study of stacking CMB patches at structures location, using my own protocol, completed and associated with a variety of statistical tests to check the significance of these results. This point proved to be particularly difficult to assess and subject to possible selection bias. I extended the use of this detection method to other available catalogues of structures, more consequent and supposedly more sophisticated in their detection algorithms. The results from one of them suggests the presence of a signal at scales and amplitude consistent with the theory, but with moderate significance. The stacking results raise questions regarding the expected signal : this led me to work on a theoretical prediction of the iSW effect produced by structures, through simulations based on the Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi metric. This allowed me to predict the exact theoretical iSW effect of existing structures. The central amplitude of the measured signals is consistent with the theory, but shows features non-reproducible by my predictions. An extension to the additional catalogues will verify the significance of their signals and their compatibility with the theory. Another part of my thesis focuses on a distant time in the history of the Universe, called reionisation : the transition from a neutral universe to a fully ionised one under the action of the first stars and other ionising sources. This period has a significant influence on the CMB and its statistical properties, in particular the power spectrum of its polarisation fluctuations. In my case, I focused on the use of temperature measurements of the intergalactic medium during the reionisation in order to investigate the possible contribution of the disintegration and annihilation of the hypothetical dark matter. Starting from a theoretical work based on several models of dark matter, I computed and compared predictions to actual measures of the IGM temperature, which allowed me to extract new and interesting constraints on the critical parameters of the dark matter and crucial features of the reionisation itself

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:15:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FranciscoES_Fis.pdf: 479617 bytes, checksum: 973534294f52a9d1981e10ed49800d56 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-07-26 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Many astronomical observations in the last few years are strongly suggesting that the current Universe is spatially flat and dominated by an exotic form of energy. This unknown energy density accelerates the universe expansion and corresponds to around 70% of its total density being usually called Dark Energy or Quintessence. One of the candidates to dark energy is the so-called cosmological constant (Λ) which is usually interpreted as the vacuum energy density. However, in order to remove the discrepancy between the expected and observed values for the vacuum energy density some current models assume that the vacuum energy is continuously decaying due to its possible coupling with the others matter fields existing in the Cosmos. In this dissertation, starting from concepts and basis of General Relativity Theory, we study the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation with emphasis on the anisotropies or temperature fluctuations which are one of the oldest relic of the observed Universe. The anisotropies are deduced by integrating the Boltzmann equation in order to explain qualitatively the generation and c1assification of the fluctuations. In the following we construct explicitly the angular power spectrum of anisotropies for cosmologies with cosmological constant (ΛCDM) and a decaying vacuum energy density (Λ(t)CDM). Finally, with basis on the quadrupole moment measured by the WMAP experiment, we estimate the decaying rates of the vacuum energy density in matter and in radiation for a smoothly and non-smoothly decaying vacuum / Muitas observa??es astron?micas feitas nos ?ltimos anos sugerem fortemente que o universo ? espacialmente plano e dominado por uma forma de energia ex?tica. Esta densidade de energia desconhecida acelera a expans?o do universo e corresponde a cerca de 70% da densidade total de energia sendo chamada de Energia Escura ou Quintess?ncia. Um dos candidatos a energia escura, ? a chamada constante cosmol?gica (Λ) que ? usualmente interpretada como a densidade de energia do v?cuo. Contudo, para remover a discrep?ncia entre os valores esperado e observado para a densidade de energia do v?cuo, alguns modelos atuais assumem que a energia do v?cuo decai continuamente devido a seu poss?vel acoplamento com os outros campos materiais do cosmos. Nesta disserta??o, partindo dos conceitos e fundamentos da teoria da relatividade geral, estudamos a radia??o c?smica de fundo com ?nfase nas anisotropias ou flutua??es em sua temperatura que servem de base observacional para o modelo do Big Bang e ? uma das rel?quias mais antigas do universo. As anisotropias s?o deduzidas a partir da integra??o da equa??o de Boltzrnann, que fazemos em primeira ordem para explicar qualitativamente a gera??o e c1assifica??o destas flutua??es. Em seguida construimos o espectro angular de pot?ncia das anisotropias e deduzimos sua forma expl?cita em grandes escalas para o modelo com constante cosmol?gica (ACDM) e para um modelo com decaimento do v?cuo (Λ(t)CDM). Com base no momento de quadrup?lo medido pelo experimento do WMAP; estimamos as raz?es de decaimento da densidade de energia do v?cuo em mat?ria e em radia??o tanto no decaimento homog?neo como no n?o- homog?neo

A hierarquia de equações de Boltzmann que descreve a temperatura e polarização da radiação cósmica de fundo ´e tratada no espaço das posições. Mostramos neste formalismo que temperatura e polarização podem ser descritas como medias dos termos de fonte ponderados por probabilidades associadas a um problema de voos aleatórios. Decorre da estrutura geral da hierarquia que se pode fazer uma expansão da temperatura e polarização em termos do numero de espalhamentos ocorridos durante a recombinação. Incorporamos o efeito de lentes gravitacionais sobre a radiação cósmica de fundo tirando proveito da estrutura das equações no espaço das posições. Mostraremos que o efeito ´e incorporado através de correções aos coeficientes da decomposição angular dos campos de temperatura e polarização. Para descrever o efeito de lentes gravitacionais fazemos uma revisão sobre resultados formais da teoria e apresentamos uma derivação de equações centrais em espaços-tempo arbitrários. / The Boltzmann hierarchy describing the temperature and polarization of the cosmic microwave background is presented in a position space formalism. We show that temperature and polarization can be described in terms of averages over source terms weighted by probabilities densities that appear in problems of random flights. The temperature and polarization signals can be expanded in terms of the number of scatterings photons suffered during the recombination. The gravitational lensing effects are incorporated over the free-propagation phase of the CMB photons. This effect can be included in the position space formalism as a correction to the expansion coefficients of the temperature and polarization fields. The bases of the theory of gravitational lensing are also presented and a rederivation of the central equations of the theory in arbitrary spacetimes is here developed.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The growth of structure in the Universe proceeds via the collapse of dark matter and baryons. This process is retarded by dark energy which drives an accelerated expansion of the late Universe. In this thesis we use cosmological perturbation theory to investigate structure formation for a particular class of dark energy models, i.e. interacting dark energy models. In these models there is a non-gravitational interaction between dark energy and dark matter, which alters the standard evolution (with non-interacting dark energy) of the Universe. We consider a simple form of the interaction where the energy exchange in the background is proportional to the dark energy density. We analyse the background dynamics to uncover the e ect of the interaction. Then we develop the perturbation equations that govern the evolution of density perturbations, peculiar velocities and the gravitational potential. We carefully account for the complex nature of the perturbed interaction, in particular for the momentum transfer in the dark sector. This leads to two di erent types of model, where the momentum exchange vanishes either in the dark matter rest-frame or the dark energy rest-frame. The evolution equations for the perturbations are solved numerically, to show how structure formation is altered by the interaction.

L'énergie sombre est l'un des grands mystères de la cosmologie moderne, responsable de l'actuelle accélération de l'expansion de notre Univers. Son étude est un des axes principaux de ma thèse : une des voies que j'exploite s'appuie sur la structuration de l'Univers à grande échelle à travers un effet observationnel appelé effet Sachs-Wolfe intégré (iSW). Cet effet est théoriquement détectable dans le fond diffus cosmologique (FDC) : avant de nous parvenir cette lumière traverse un grand nombre grandes structures sous-tendues par des potentiels gravitationnels. L'accélération de l'expansion étire et aplatit ces potentiels pendant le passage des photons du FDC, modifiant leur énergie d'une façon dépendante des caractéristiques de l'énergie sombre. L'effet iSW n'a qu'un effet ténu sur le FDC, obligeant l'utilisation de données externes pour le détecter. Une approche classique consiste à corréler le FDC avec un traceur de la distribution de la matière, et donc des potentiels sous-jacents. Maintes fois tentée avec des relevés de galaxies, cette corrélation n'a pas donné à l'heure actuelle de résultat définitif sur la détection de l'effet iSW, la faute à des relevés pas assez profonds et/ou avec une couverture trop faible. Un partie de ma thèse est dédiée à la corrélation du FDC avec un autre fond "diffus" : le fond diffus infrarouge (FDI), qui est constitué de l'émission intégrée des galaxies lointaines non-résolues. J'ai pu montrer qu'il représente un excellent traceur, exempt des défauts des relevés actuels. Les niveaux de signifiance attendus pour la corrélation CIB-CMB excèdent ceux des relevés actuels, et rivalisent avec ceux prédits pour la futur génération de très grands relevés. Dans la suite, ma thèse a porté sur l'empreinte individuelle sur le FDC des plus grandes structures par effet iSW. Mon travail sur le sujet a d'abord consisté à revisiter une étude précédente d'empilement de vignettes de FDC à la position de structures, avec mes propres protocole de mesure et tests statistiques pour vérifier la signifiance de ces résultats, délicate à évaluer et sujette à de possibles biais de sélection. J'ai poursuivi en appliquant cette même méthode de détection à d'autres catalogues de structures disponibles, beaucoup plus conséquents et supposément plus raffinés dans leur algorithme de détection. Les résultats pour un d'eux suggère la présence d'un signal à des échelles et amplitudes compatible avec la théorie, mais à des niveaux modérés de signifiance. Ces résultats empilements font s'interroger concernant le signal attendu : cela m'a amené à travailler sur une prédiction théorique de l'iSW engendré par des structures, par des simulations basées sur la métrique de Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi. Cela m'a permis de prédire l'effet iSW théorique exact de structures existantes : l'amplitude centrale des signaux mesurés est compatible avec la théorie, mais présente des caractéristiques non-reproductibles par ces mêmes prédictions. Une extension aux catalogues étendus permettra de vérifier la signifiance de leurs signaux et leur compatibilité avec la théorie. Un dernier pan de ma thèse porte sur une époque de l'histoire de l'Univers appelée réionisation : son passage d'un état neutre à ionisé par l'arrivée des premières étoiles et autres sources ionisantes. Cette période a une influence importante sur le FDC et ses propriétés statistiques, en particulier sur son spectre de puissance des fluctuations de polarisation. Dans mon cas, je me suis penché sur l'utilisation des mesures de températures du milieu intergalactique, afin d'étudier la contribution possible de la désintégration et annihilation de l'hypothétique matière sombre. A partir d'un travail théorique sur plusieurs modèles et leur comparaison aux observations de température, j'ai pu extraire des contraintes intéressantes et inédites sur les paramètres cruciaux de la matière sombre et des caractéristiques cruciales de la réionisation elle-même. / The dark energy is one of the great mysteries of modern cosmology, responsible for the current acceleration of the expansion of our Universe. Its study is a major focus of my thesis : the way I choose to do so is based on the large-scale structure of the Universe, through a probe called the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect (iSW). This effect is theoretically detectable in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) : before reaching us this light travelled through large structures underlain by gravitational potentials. The acceleration of the expansion stretches and flattens these potentials during the crossing of photons, changing their energy, in a way that depend on the properties of the dark energy. The iSW effect only has a weak effect on the CMB requiring the use of external data to be detectable. A conventional approach is to correlate the CMB with a tracer of the distribution of matter, and therefore the underlying potentials. This has been attempted numerous times with galaxies surveys but the measured correlation has yet to give a definitive result on the detection of the iSW effect. This is mainly due to the shortcomings of current surveys that are not deep enough and/or have a too low sky coverage. A part of my thesis is devoted to the correlation of FDC with another diffuse background, namely the cosmological infrared background (CIB), which is composed of the integrated emission of the non-resolved distant galaxies. I was able to show that it is an excellent tracer, free from the shortcomings of current surveys. The levels of significance for the expected correlation CIB-CMB exceed those of current surveys, and compete with those predicted for the future generation of very large surveys. In the following, my thesis was focused on the individual imprint in the CMB of the largest structures by iSW effect. My work on the subject first involved revisiting a past study of stacking CMB patches at structures location, using my own protocol, completed and associated with a variety of statistical tests to check the significance of these results. This point proved to be particularly difficult to assess and subject to possible selection bias. I extended the use of this detection method to other available catalogues of structures, more consequent and supposedly more sophisticated in their detection algorithms. The results from one of them suggests the presence of a signal at scales and amplitude consistent with the theory, but with moderate significance. The stacking results raise questions regarding the expected signal : this led me to work on a theoretical prediction of the iSW effect produced by structures, through simulations based on the Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi metric. This allowed me to predict the exact theoretical iSW effect of existing structures. The central amplitude of the measured signals is consistent with the theory, but shows features non-reproducible by my predictions. An extension to the additional catalogues will verify the significance of their signals and their compatibility with the theory. Another part of my thesis focuses on a distant time in the history of the Universe, called reionisation : the transition from a neutral universe to a fully ionised one under the action of the first stars and other ionising sources. This period has a significant influence on the CMB and its statistical properties, in particular the power spectrum of its polarisation fluctuations. In my case, I focused on the use of temperature measurements of the intergalactic medium during the reionisation in order to investigate the possible contribution of the disintegration and annihilation of the hypothetical dark matter. Starting from a theoretical work based on several models of dark matter, I computed and compared predictions to actual measures of the IGM temperature, which allowed me to extract new and interesting constraints on the critical parameters of the dark matter and crucial features of the reionisation itself

Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse contraignent les paramètres d'un modèle de cosmologie, le modèle du galileon, et d'un modèle de physique des particules, le modèle du branon, qui sont des extensions des modèles standards. Ces modèles, qui supposent l'existence d'un champ scalaire additionnel et peuvent trouver leurs origines dans les théories à dimensions supplémentaires, offrent des explications élégantes aux questions de la nature de l'énergie noire et de la matière noire respectivement. La première partie de cette thèse présente les prédictions du modèle du galileon et les résultats obtenus par leur comparaison aux observations cosmologiques et astrophysiques récentes. Cette étude montre que le modèle du galileon a de sérieuses difficultés à reproduire ces observations, qui regroupent le fond diffus cosmologique, les mesures liées aux distances cosmologiques, et l'observation d'un évènement par ondes gravitationnelles et contrepartie électromagnétique. La seconde partie décrit la recherche de branons dans les collisions proton-proton enregistrées en 2016 par le Solénoïde Compact à Muons au Grand Collisionneur de Hadrons, à une énergie dans le centre de masse de 13 TeV. Des évènements qui présentent un jet de haute énergie, produit par un quark ou gluon ou bien par désintégration hadronique d'un boson vecteur, et de l'énergie transverse manquante dans l'état final sont sélectionnés et comparés aux estimations pour les évènements de bruits de fond. Aucun excès d'évènements n'est observé, ce qui permet de poser des contraintes sur les valeurs possibles des paramètres du modèle du branon. / This PhD thesis presents constraints on the parameters of a cosmological model, the galileon model, and a particle physics model, the branon model. Both are extensions of the standard models that include an additional scalar field and that can be built from extra dimensions theories. The galileon model propose an alternative to the cosmological constant as the nature of dark energy, and the branon model give a dark matter particle candidate. The first part of this thesis shows the predictions of the galileon model and the results obtained from their comparison with recent cosmological and astrophysical observations. The set of observations used contains the cosmic microwave background, cosmological distances measurements and the detection of gravitational waves along with their electromagnetic counterpart from the merger of a binary star system. The study shows that the galileon model has serious difficulties to reproduce these observations. The second part describe the search for branons in proton-proton collisions data at 13 TeV collected in 2016 with the Compact Muon Solenoid at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with high energy jets, produced by a quark, a gluon or a vector boson decaying hadronically, and missing transverse energy in the final state are selected and compared to background estimations. No excess of event has been found allowing for experimental constraints to be put in the parameter space of the branon model.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.