Related papers: Volcanogenic Dark Matter and Mass Extinctions
The Universe was nearly smooth and homogeneous before a redshift of z = 100, about 20 million years after the Big Bang. After this epoch, the tiny fluctuations imprinted upon the matter distribution during the initial expansion began to…
We show that interaction with a gas disk may produce young planetary systems with closely-spaced orbits, stabilized by mean-motion resonances between neighbors. On longer timescales, after the gas is gone, interaction with a remnant…
We consider the cosmological dynamics of a scalar field in a potential with multiple troughs and peaks. We show that the dynamics of the scalar field will evolve from light dark matter-like behaviour (such as that of a light axion) to a…
Recent cosmological and astrophysical observations point out that the Universe is in accelerating expansion and filled up with non-luminous matter. In order to explain the observed large scale structures and this accelerating behavior one…
Caustics are a generic feature of the nonlinear growth of structure in the dark matter distribution. If the dark matter were absolutely cold, its mass density would diverge at caustics, and the integrated annihilation probability would also…
A variety of scenarios for early-universe cosmology give rise to a population of primordial black holes (PBHs) with a broad spectrum of masses. The evaporation of PBHs in such scenarios has the potential to place the universe into an…
The large scale structure of the present Universe is determined by the growth of dark matter density fluctuations and by the dynamical action of dark energy and dark matter. While much progress has been made in recent years in constraining…
There is strong evidence that the mass in the Universe is dominated by dark matter, which exerts gravitational attraction but whose exact nature is unknown. In particular, all galaxies are believed to be embedded in massive haloes of dark…
Dark Matter that is composed of WIMP remnants of incomplete particle-antiparticle annihilation in the early universe experiences ongoing annihilation in gravitationally bound large scale structure. This annihilation will have important…
The idea that dark matter could be made of stable relics of microscopic black holes is not new. In this article, we revisit this hypothesis, focusing on the creation of black holes by the scattering of trans-Planckian particles in the early…
Gamma-ray bursts (hereafter GRB) produce a flux of radiation detectable across the observable Universe, and at least some of them are associated with galaxies. A GRB within our own Ggalaxy could do considerable damage to the Earth's…
Macroscopic dark matter is almost unconstrained over a wide "asteroid-like" mass range, where it could scatter on baryonic matter with geometric cross section. We show that when such an object travels through a star, it produces shock waves…
As gas giant planets evolve, they may scatter other planets far from their original orbits to produce hot Jupiters or rogue planets that are not gravitationally bound to any star. Here, we consider planets cast out to large orbital…
This paper revisits the conundrum faced when one attempts to understand the dynamics of black hole formation and evaporation without abandoning unitary evolution. Previous efforts to resolve this puzzle assume that information escapes in…
We present a new model for extinction in which species evolve in bursts or `avalanches', during which they become on average more susceptible to environmental stresses such as harsh climates and so are more easily rendered extinct. Results…
The evaporation of primordial black holes (PBH) with masses ranging from $\sim 10^{-1}$ to $\sim 10^9$ g could have generated the whole observed dark matter (DM) relic density. It is typically assumed that after being produced, its…
Dark matter (DM), in spite of being stable or long-lived on cosmological scales, can decay in the early Universe due to finite-temperature effects. In particular, a first order phase transition (FOPT) in the early Universe can provide a…
The origins of matter and radiation in the universe lie in a Hot Big Bang. We present a number of well-motivated cosmologies in which the Big Bang occurs through a strong first order phase transition -- either at the end of inflation, after…
Astrophysical observations are pointing out huge amounts of dark matter and dark energy needed to explain the observed large scale structures and cosmic accelerating expansion. Up to now, no experimental evidence has been found, at…
This thesis assesses the influence of astronomical phenomena on the Earth's biosphere and climate. I examine in particular the relevance of both the path of the Sun through the Galaxy and the evolution of the Earth's orbital parameters in…