Related papers: Can gamma-ray bursts constrain quintessence?
In this paper, we used standard rulers and standard candles (separately and jointly) to explore five popular dark energy models under assumption of spatial flatness of the Universe. As standard rulers, we used a data set comprising 118…
In this talk we present a model of the universe in which dark energy is modelled explicitely with both a dynamical quintessence field and a cosmological constant. Our results confirm the possibility of a collapsing universe (for a given…
In recent years, the availability of large, complete cluster samples has enabled numerous cosmological parameter inference analyses using cluster number counts. These have provided constraints on the cosmic matter density $\Omega_m$ and the…
I discuss the Hubble parameter $H_0$, the age of the universe $t_0$, the density $\Omega_0$, and the cosmological constant $\Lambda$. To focus the discussion, I concentrate on the issue of the value of the density $\Omega_0$ in currently…
Starburst galaxies exhibit in their central regions a highly increased rate of supernovae, the remnants of which are thought to accelerate energetic cosmic rays up to energies of ~ 10^15 eV. We report the detection of gamma rays -- tracers…
A measurement of the expansion rate of the Universe (that is the Hubble constant, H0) is derived here using the gamma-ray attenuation observed in the spectra of gamma-ray sources produced by the interaction of extragalactic gamma-ray…
We present a comprehensive study of the observational constraints on spatially flat cosmological models containing a mixture of matter and quintessence --- a time varying, spatially inhomogeneous component of the energy density of the…
We compare and combine likelihood functions of the cosmological parameters Omega_m, h and sigma_8 from the CMB, type Ia supernovae and from probes of large scale structure. We include the recent results from the CMB experiments BOOMERANG…
Gamma-ray bursts are known to be sources of high-energy gamma rays, and are likely to be sources of high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos. Following a short review of observations of GRBs at multi-MeV energies and above, the physics of…
Standard candles can probe the evolution of dark energy in a large redshift range. But the cosmic opacity can degrade the quality of standard candles. In this paper, we use the latest observations, including type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from…
Recently funded satellites will map the cosmic microwave background radiation with unprecedented sensitivities and angular resolutions. Assuming only primordial adiabatic scalar and tensor perturbations, we evaluate how accurately…
Exclusion zones in the cross-correlations between critical points (peak-void, peak-wall, filament-wall, filament-void) of the density field define quasi-standard rulers that can be used to constrain dark matter and dark energy cosmological…
Upcoming ground and space based observatories such as the DES, the LSST, the JDEM concepts and the SKA, promise to dramatically increase the size of strong gravitational lens samples. A significant fraction of the systems are expected to be…
We use a strong lensing inversion in the cluster of galaxies AC 114 to derive constraints on the cosmological parameters Omega_M0 and Omega_Lambda. If it is possible to measure spectroscopically the redshifts of many multiple images then…
Within the $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model, the absolute value of Einstein's cosmological constant $\Lambda$, sometimes expressed as the gravitating mass-energy density $\rho_\Lambda$ of the physical vacuum, is a fundamental constant of…
The matter content of the Universe is strongly inhomogeneous on small scales. Motivated by this fact, we consider a model of the Universe that has regularly spaced discrete masses, rather than a continuous fluid. The optical properties of…
The growth of structure in the Universe is tightly correlated with the cosmological parameters. Galaxy clusters as tracers of the large scale structure are the ideal objects to witness this evolution. The X-ray bright, hot gas in the…
Some form of missing energy may account for the difference between the observed cosmic matter density and the critical density. Two leading candidates are a cosmological constant and quintessence (a time-varying, inhomogenous component with…
Although quintessence cosmologies seem to explain the amount of cosmological constant today, the required conditions are severe. For example, an extremely slowly varying and light scalar field that rolls toward the vanishing vacuum energy…
We suggest an alternative framework for interpreting the current state of the visible universe. Our approach is based on a dynamical ``Cosmological Constant'' and the starting point is that a decaying vacuum produces matter. As we point…