Related papers: A smoother end to the dark ages
We discuss the recent discovery by Oppenheimer et al (2001) of old, cool white dwarf stars, which may be the first direct detection of Galactic halo dark matter. We argue here that the contribution of more mundane white dwarfs of the…
A universe started in almost de Sitter phase with time varying holographic dark energy corresponding to a time varying cosmological term is considered. The time varying cosmological dark energy and the created matter are consistent with the…
The origin of dark matter as a thermal relic offers a compelling way in which the early universe was initially populated by dark matter. Alternative explanations typically appear exotic compared to the simplicity of thermal production.…
The existence of exact solutions which represent a lattice of black holes at a scalar-field-dominated cosmological bounce suggests that black holes could persist through successive eras of a cyclic cosmology. Here we explore some remarkable…
The first stars in the universe form inside $\sim 10^6 M_\odot$ dark matter (DM) haloes whose initial density profiles are laid down by gravitational collapse in hierarchical structure formation scenarios. During the formation of the first…
We show that all known naked singularities in spherically symmetric self-similar spacetimes arise as a result of singular initial matter distribution. This is a result of the peculiarity of the coordinate transformation that takes these…
The formation of the first galaxies at redshifts z ~ 10-15 signaled the transition from the simple initial state of the universe to one of ever increasing complexity. We here review recent progress in understanding their assembly process…
The first stars to form in the Universe may be powered by the annihilation of weakly interacting dark matter particles. These so-called dark stars, if observed, may give us a clue about the nature of dark matter. Here we examine which…
The first generation of stars in the Universe is yet to be observed. There are two leading theories for those objects that mark the beginning of the cosmic dawn: hydrogen burning Population~III stars and Dark Stars, made of hydrogen and…
Much progress has been achieved in the age-dating of old stellar systems, and even of individual stars in the field, in the more than sixty years since the evolution of low-mass stars was first correctly described. In this paper, I provide…
In the context of the standard model of particle physics, there is a definite upper limit to the density of stable compact stars. However, if a more fundamental level of elementary particles exists, in the form of preons, stability may be…
The difference in density profiles of the contributions from different density peaks to dark matter halos results in certain expectations about the Milky Way's stellar halo. We cut our simulated halo stars into two populations: those…
For generations, people have complained that things used to be better in the past. In this paper, we investigate this change by specifically looking at creativity in astronomy. To do this,we explore if older constellations reflected a…
The Universe is now extensively populated by discy galaxies with coherent galaxy-wise stellar rotation. This disc prevalence has been deemed a late-time phenomenon because the penetrating cold gaseous streams in the early Universe…
Influenced by the renaissance of general relativity that came to pass in the 1950s, the character of cosmology fundamentally changed in the 1960s as it became a well-established empirical science. Although observations went to dominate its…
This is a short summary of a project to construct a first principles cosmology of the Standard Model epoch, the period starting shortly before the electro-weak transition. The cosmology is derived from a simple initial state entirely within…
A straightforward interpretation of the MACHO microlensing results in the direction of the Magellanic Clouds suggests that an important fraction of the baryonic dark matter component of our Galaxy is in the form of old white dwarfs. If…
From studying the cosmic microwave background, we know our Universe started out very simple. It was by and large homogeneous and isotropic, with small fluctuations that can be described by linear perturbation theory. In stark contrast, the…
In this work, we outline a new general relativistic cosmology. In this cosmology, the universe originates in the infinite past from sparsely distributed neutral matter and ends in the infinite future as a hot, relativistic plasma. The…
A convergence of ideas, observations and technology have led to the greatest period of cosmological discovery yet. Over the past three years we have determined the basic features of our Universe. We are now challenged to make sense of what…