Related papers: Distinguishing standard reionization from dark mat…
We study the signal in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization anisotropy resulting from patchy reionization. It is well known that the primordial polarization of the CMB is very sensitive to the details of reionization.…
We discuss the effect of matter reionization on the large-angular-scale anisotropy and polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) in the standard CDM model. We separate three cases in which the anisotropy is induced by…
If dark matter decay or annihilate, a large amount of energy and particles would be released into the cosmic plasma. Therefore, they could modify the thermal and ionization history of our universe, then leave footprints on the cosmic…
The large-angle polarization anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) arise from Thomson scattering of CMB photons off free electrons in the post-recombination Universe. In the standard $\Lambda$ cold dark matter cosmological…
I discuss the physics of polarization in models with early reionization. For sufficiently high optical depth to recombination the polarization is boosted on large scales while it is suppressed on smaller scales. New peaks appear in the…
The recombination history of the Universe provides a useful tool for constraining the annihilation of dark matter particles. Even a small fraction of dark matter particles annihilated during the cosmic dark age can provide sufficient energy…
Cosmic microwave background (CMB) constraints on dark matter annihilation are a uniquely powerful tool in the quest to understand the nature of dark matter. Annihilation of dark matter to Standard Model particles between recombination and…
The WMAP first year detection of a high redshift reionization through its imprints on CMB anisotropy T and TE mode angular power spectra calls for a better comprehension of the universe ionization and thermal history after the standard…
Cosmic reionization and dark matter decay can impact observations of the cosmic microwave sky in a similar way. A simultaneous study of both effects is required to constrain unstable dark matter from cosmic microwave background…
We examine the constraints on the epoch of reionization (redshift z_r) set by recent WMAP-3 observations of tau_e = 0.09 +/- 0.03, the electron-scattering optical depth of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), combined with models of…
The annihilation or decay of Dark Matter (DM) particles could affect the thermal history of the universe and leave an observable signature in Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies. We update constraints on the annihilation rate of…
A remarkable result of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) observations is that the universe was significantly reionized at large redshifts. The standard explanation is that massive stars formed early and reionized the universe…
We investigate two sets of two-epoched reionization models and their manifestation in the CMB anisotropy and polarization data of the recent WMAP project and make some predictions for the future PLANCK missions. In the first set of models,…
We compute in detail the rate at which energy injected by dark matter annihilation heats and ionizes the photon-baryon plasma at z ~ 1000, and provide accurate fitting functions over the relevant redshift range for a broad array of…
We calculate the reionization history in Cold Dark Matter (CDM) models. The epoch of the end of reionization and the Thomson scattering optical depth to the cosmic microwave background depend on the power spectrum amplitude on small scales…
In light of the recent inference of a high optical depth to Thomson scattering, tau, from the WMAP data we investigate the effects of extended periods of partial ionization and ask if the value of tau inferred by assuming a single sharp…
The injection of secondary particles produced by Dark Matter (DM) annihilation at redshift 100<z<1000 affects the process of recombination, leaving an imprint on Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies. Here we provide a new…
Detecting dark energy dynamics is the main quest of current dark energy research. Addressing the issue demands a fully consistent analysis of CMB, large scale structure and SN-Ia data with multi-parameter freedom valid for all redshifts.…
We explore the constraints on the history of reionization from Planck 2015 Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data and we derive the forecasts for future CMB observations. We consider a class of monotonic histories of reionization as…
(Abridged) We present the angular power spectra derived from the 7-year maps and discuss the cosmological conclusions that can be inferred from WMAP data alone. The third acoustic peak in the TT spectrum is now well measured by WMAP. In the…