Related papers: WMAP 5-year constraints on time variation of $\alp…
We perform an analysis of the recent WMAP7 data considering physically motivated and viable reionization scenarios with the aim of assessing their effects on cosmological parameter determinations. The main novelties are: (i) the combination…
The conceptual difficulties associated with a cosmological constant have led to the investigation of alternative models in which the equation of state parameter, $w=p/\rho$, of the dark energy evolves with time. We show that combining the…
Evolution of large-scale scalar perturbations in the presence of stiff solid (solid with pressure to energy density ratio > 1/3) is studied. If the solid dominated the dynamics of the universe long enough, the perturbations could end up…
We reconstruct the shape of the primordial power spectrum of curvature perturbations in extended cosmological models, including addition of massive neutrinos, extra relativistic species or varying primordial helium abundance, from the…
Aims. We constrain a hypothetical variation in the fundamental physical constants over the course of cosmic time. Methods. We use unique observations of the CO(7-6) rotational line and the [CI] 3P_2 - 3P_1 fine-structure line towards a…
We report on constraints to the cosmological jerk parameter ($j$) and to possible variability of the fine-structure constant ($\Delta \alpha/\alpha$) based on stochastic quintessence models of dark energy, discussed by Chongchitnan and…
Astrophysical observations indicate a time variation of the proton-electron mass ratio and of the fine-structure constant. We discuss this phenomenon in models of Grand Unification. In these models a time variation of the fine-structure…
There is a large and growing interest in observations of small-scale structure in dark matter. We propose a new way to probe dark matter structures in the $\sim 10 - 10^8 \, M_\odot$ range. This allows us to constrain the primordial power…
I calculate a hybrid cross-power spectrum estimator from the WMAP 5-year CMB temperature maps, discuss the goodness of fit, and then constrain cosmological parameters. The spectrum and results are generally consistent with previous results,…
We discuss how existing astrophysical measurements of various combinations of the fine-structure constant $\alpha$, the proton-to-electron mass ratio $\mu$ and the proton gyromagnetic ratio g$_{p}$ towards the radio source PKS1413+135 can…
Current observational bounds on dark energy depend on assumptions about the curvature of the universe. We present a simple and efficient method for incorporating constraints from CMB anisotropy data, and use it to derive constraints on…
We propose a general model where quintessence couples to electromagnetism via its kinetic term. This novelty generalizes the linear dependence of the gauge kinetic function on $\phi$, commonly adopted in the literature. The interaction…
A brief note on the time variation of the fine structure constant $\alpha_{em}$; it is shown that such a variation should violate mass-energy conservation in the absence of proton decay.
In this paper we implement an improved (error sensitive) Richardson-Lucy deconvolution algorithm on the measured angular power spectrum from the WMAP 3 year data to determine the primordial power spectrum assuming different points in the…
We compute primordial light-element abundances for cases with fine structure constant alpha different from the present value, including many sources of alpha dependence neglected in previous calculations. Specifically, we consider…
The WMAP satellite has provided a new measurement of the age of the Universe, of $13.7 \pm 0.2$ Gyr. A comparison of this limit with constraints from stellar evolution imply that the oldest globular clusters in the Milky Way galaxy have a…
A canonical formalism and constraint analysis for discrete systems subject to a variational action principle are devised. The formalism is equivalent to the covariant formulation, encompasses global and local discrete time evolution moves…
The anthropic principle implies that life can emerge and be sustained only in a narrow range of values of fundamental constants. Here we show that anthropic arguments can set powerful constraints on {\em transient} variations of the…
The recent evidence for a cosmological evolution of the fine structure constant \alpha=e^2/\hbar c found from an analysis of absorption systems in the spectra of distant quasars, is modelled by a cosmological scenario in which it is assumed…
We consider a dark energy model with a relation between the equation of state parameter $w$ and the energy density parameter $\Omega_\phi$ derived from thawing scalar field models. Assuming the variation of the fine structure constant is…