Related papers: Quasar variability limits on cosmological density …
We present the result of our low-luminosity quasar survey in the redshift range of 4.5 < z < 5.5 in the COSMOS field. Using the COSMOS photometric catalog, we selected 15 quasar candidates with 22 < i' < 24 at z~5, that are ~ 3 mag fainter…
Endeavours of the unification of the four fundamental interactions have resulted in a development of theories having cosmological solutions in which low-energy limits of fundamental physical constants vary with time. The validity of such…
We re-visit the production of cosmic rays by cusps on cosmic strings. If a scalar field (``Higgs'') has a linear interaction with the string world-sheet, such as would occur if there is a bosonic condensate on the string, cusps on string…
It has been suggested that cosmic strings produced at a phase transition in the early universe can be the origin of the extremely high energy cosmic rays (EHCR) observed by AGASA above 10^20 eV. Superheavy cosmic strings with linear mass…
Models of string cosmology predict a stochastic background of gravitational waves with a spectrum that is strongly tilted towards high frequencies. I give simple approximate expressions for spectral densities of the cosmic background which…
We present an 8 sigma detection of cosmic magnification measured by the variation of quasar density due to gravitational lensing by foreground large scale structure. To make this measurement we used 3800 square degrees of photometric…
We use the statistics of strong gravitational lensing based on the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey (CLASS) data to constrain cosmological parameters in a spatially-flat, inverse power-law potential energy density, scalar-field dark energy…
We measure quasar variability using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 Survey (Pan-STARRS1 or PS1) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and establish a method of selecting quasars via their variability in 10,000…
We present an analysis of cosmological models with mixed dark matter (spectrum slope of density perturbations $n_S \in [0.6, 1.6]$, hot dark matter abundance $\Omega_\nu \in [0.0, 0.6]$) in spatially flat Universe, based on Press-Schechter…
The fragmentation of horizon crossing superstrings creates loops that accrete and bind to collapsing matter perturbations if the string tension is less than a critical value and if the loops are large-scale. For typical model parameters…
We study the effects of cosmic strings on structure formation in open universes. We calculate the power spectrum of density perturbations for two class of models: one in which all the dark matter is non baryonic (CDM) and one in which it is…
Effects invoked by the passage of the cosmic string through the Earth are investigated. The cosmic string induces global oscillations of the Earth whose amplitude and acceleration both linearly depend on the string line density. For the…
The absence of any wide-separation gravitational lenses in the Large Bright Quasar Survey is used to place limits on the population of cluster-sized halos in the universe, and hence constrain a number of cosmological parameters. The results…
We present the first complete Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis of cosmological models with evolving cosmic (super)string networks, using the unconnected segment model in the unequal-time correlator formalism. For ordinary cosmic string…
We use a sample of 3791 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Early Data Release (EDR), and compare their photometry to historic plate material for the same set of quasars in order to study their variability properties. The time…
In the case of gravitationally-lensed quasars, it is well-known that there is a time delay between occurrence of the intrinsic variabilities in each split image. Generally, the source of variabilities has a finite size, and there are time…
Understanding of the signatures of cosmic string networks is limited by a large uncertainty in the sizes at which cosmic string loops form. We review cosmic string network evolution, and the gravitational signatures, with emphasis on this…
We present cosmological constraints from measurements of the gas mass fraction, $f_{gas}$, for massive, dynamically relaxed galaxy clusters. Our data set consists of Chandra observations of 40 such clusters, identified in a comprehensive…
Recent deep millimeter-wave surveys attempt to measure the carbon monoxide (CO) luminosity function and mean molecular gas density through blind detections of CO emission lines. While the cosmic star formation rate density is now…
Most of the successful physical theories rely on the constancy of few fundamental quantities (such as the speed of light, $c$, the fine-structure constant, \alpha, the proton to electron mass ratio, \mu, etc), and constraining the possible…