Perturbation Theories in Astrophysics: from Large-Scale Structure to Compact Objects
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Perturbation Theories in Astrophysics: From Large-Scale Structure To Compact Objects Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Xiao Fang, B.S., M.S. Graduate Program in Physics The Ohio State University 2018 Dissertation Committee: Christopher M. Hirata, Advisor Todd A. Thompson John F. Beacom Amy L. Connolly Stuart A. Raby c Copyright by Xiao Fang 2018 Abstract Although the ΛCDM model seems to be a very successful model for our observed Universe, puzzles remain puzzling. Current and future cosmology analyses aim to test the ΛCDM model, understand the nature of dark matter and dark energy, and learn about the beginning of the Universe. All of these require better modeling of cosmological probes. In this thesis, I focus on improving cosmology analyses in dif- ferent ways. On the one hand, ongoing and upcoming large-scale structure surveys provide the opportunity to measure the properties of the Universe to unprecedented precision. On the other hand, compact objects, responsible for some of the most vio- lent phenomena observable on cosmological scales, play a unique role in determining the expansion history of the Universe. I present our work on developing accurate and extremely efficient tools for analyzing the next generation cosmology datasets, and characterizing systematic uncertainties associated with using compact objects as cosmological probes. ii Acknowledgments I would like to thank all my collaborators, without whom the research contained in this thesis and in the more complete publication list would not be done. Their names have been enumerated in the publication author lists and some of them will also be mentioned later. I would like to thank Prof. Chris Hirata, for being a great advisor and an incred- ible inspiring source for me. His confidence encourages me when he says \there is always a way" to a difficult problem. His broad knowledge and deep understanding of astronomy and physics constantly influences the way I think, and stimulates my passion for learning and doing research. Chris has always been caring, humble, pa- tient, excited about questions, and was also very helpful and supportive during my postdoc search. I would not have gone this far without his inspiration and guidance. I would like to thank Prof. Todd Thompson for co-advising me for the last two years. He has introduced me into a broader area of astrophysics and shown me a very different way of thinking and solving problems in astronomy. His amazingly fast order-of-magnitude estimations often strike me and encourage me to build my sense of numbers and physical pictures. Working on quadruple system dynamics with him and Chris has also fulfilled my dream of studying the N body problem since I − was young. Todd was also very helpful and supportive during my job season, and iii has shared many useful tips to improve my presentation and general communication skills, which I would cherish and benefit from for my entire career. Studying in the physics department of Ohio State University has been full of joy for me, and one of the major sources is the encouraging and interactive environment of CCAPP, thanks to everyone here! Specifically, I wish to thank Prof. Annika Peter for providing me good opportunities of giving talks and giving me feedbacks on them, and for putting great effort on working with the OSC to provide us invaluable computing resources, without which a large portion of my research would be impossible. I wish to thank Prof. John Beacom for helping me with my talks and papers, providing me lots of research and career advice, and managing the CCAPP. Michael Troxel has always been super patient and helpful when I have technical questions, and was also very helpful during my postdoc search. I have enjoyed working with Jonathan Blazek and Joe McEwen, and I have always missed those sunny weekend afternoons when we worked together on FAST-PT in the coffee shop in downtown. In addition, I want to thank Joe for helping my English, discussing physics with me, and introducing me Fortran. I want to thank Daniel Martens and Paulo Montero for being good friends, travel buddies, office mates and collaborators. I would like to thank Shirley Li for helping my presentations and job applications, and for being a very good friend. I also want to thank Niall MacCrann, Ashley Ross, Heidi Wu, Ami Choi, Tuguldur Sukhbold, Ben Wibking, Ben Buckman, etc., for their help in my research, and all other current and previous CCAPP postdocs and students for their help and friendship during my five-year OSU life. I would like to thank many friends I have made at OSU. Kengyuan Meng, Weifeng Ji, Dan Gao, I feel lucky to have you as my roommates for years, and have enjoyed iv all the trips we have taken and all the good food we have tried together. I want to thank Bowen Shi and Fuyan Lu for all the interesting discussions we have had during lunches and dinners, and the road trips we have taken. There are many friends outside OSU that have helped me a lot, including Yacine Ali-ha¨ımoud, Elisabeth Krause, Vera Gluscevic, Tejaswi Venumadhav, Antonija Ok- lopˇci´c,He Chen. I really appreciate their help during my visits and the job season, and have enjoyed collaborating with many of them. I must also thank many people I met during my undergrad that have led me to this route. I would like to thank Yujing Qin and Prof. Yanghui He for encouraging me to do research in cosmology. I would also like to thank Profs. Luca Amendola and Xinhe Meng and their group members, who introduced me into the subject, showed me how research was done, and made me realize this was what I wanted to work on. I couldn't be more grateful to my parents Kaihe Fang, Baozhen Fang, and my surviving grandma Xiuhua Wang. One day in early 1997, my dad decided to buy all the six issues of Amateur Astronomy from 1996, a giant Encyclopedia of Astron- omy, and a 50mm refractor, which became my favorite toys and my starting point of learning cosmology and astrophysics. I was intrigued by the striking pictures in the astronomy books and amazed by astronomers' abilities to calculate properties of stars and galaxies, which drove me to learn maths and physics. During the same year there was a partial solar eclipse in the area, which attracted me more into the space. I found more astronomy books months after witnessing the \longest total lunar eclipse in the 21st century" by chance in the summer of 2000, and had regular access to the Internet a few years later before my sixth grade, which really opened my eyes. Although it was very difficult to find astronomy resources in a small inland city in v China in the 1990s, I feel very lucky to have the chance to learn about astronomy, witness some magnificent astronomical events, and have great parents that fully sup- ported my hobbies and watched stars and meteor showers with me. I thank them for making my childhood full of fond memories, and for setting up all the necessary initial conditions for my exciting journey to studying the Universe. During my PhD, I have been supported by the Department of Physics, the Simons Foundation and the NSF 1313252 grant. Many computations in our work were run on the CCAPP condo of the Ruby Cluster at the Ohio Supercomputer Center. vi Vita 2013 . .B.S. Nankai University 2015 ........................................M.S. The Ohio State University Publications Research Publications \FAST-PT: a Novel Algorithm to Calculate Convolution Integrals in Cosmological Perturbation Theory" J. McEwen, X. Fang, C. Hirata, J. Blazek Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Volume 2016, Issue 09, 015 (2016) \A New Probe of Magnetic Fields in the Pre-reionization Epoch: II. Detectability" V. Gluscevic, T. Venumadhav, X. Fang, C. Hirata, A. Oklopˇci´c, A. Mishra Physical Review D, Volume 95, Issue 8, 083011 (2017) \FAST-PT II: an Algorithm to Calculate Convolution Integrals of General Tensor Quantities in Cosmological Perturbation Theory" X. Fang, J. Blazek, J. McEwen, C. Hirata Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Volume 2017, Issue 02, 030 (2017) \Beyond Linear Galaxy Alignments" J. Blazek, N. MacCrann, M. Troxel, X. Fang Submitted to Physical Review D \Dynamics of Quadruple Systems Composed of Two Binaries: Stars, White Dwarfs, and Implications for Ia Supernovae" X. Fang, T. Thompson, C. Hirata vii Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 476, Issue 3, Pages 4234 (2018) \A Radial Measurement of the Galaxy Tidal Alignment Magnitude with BOSS Data" D. Martens, C. Hirata C, A. Ross, X. Fang Accepted in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society \Effects of [NII] and Hα Line Blending on the WFIRST Galaxy Redshift Survey" D. Martens, X. Fang, M. Troxel, J. DeRose, A. Ross, C. Hirata, R. Wechsler, Y. Wang Submitted to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Fields of Study Major Field: Physics viii Table of Contents Page Abstract....................................... ii Acknowledgments . iii Vita ......................................... vii ListofTables.................................... xiii List of Figures . xv 1. Introduction..................................1 1.1 A Cosmic View . .1 1.2 Thesis Overview . .3 1.3 Cosmology Basics . .8 1.3.1 Smooth Universe . .8 1.3.2 Linear Perturbations . 11 1.3.3 Nonlinear Perturbations . 13 1.4 Observational Probes . 15 1.4.1 Cosmic Microwave Background . 15 1.4.2 Galaxy Clustering . 18 1.4.3 Weak Gravitational Lensing . 20 1.4.4 Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) . 21 1.4.5 StandardSirens......................... 22 1.5 Compact Objects and Their Dynamics . 23 1.5.1 White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars and Black Holes .