Cosmological tests with the FSRQ gamma-ray luminosity function
dc.contributor.author | Zeng, Houdun | |
dc.contributor.author | Melia, Fulvio | |
dc.contributor.author | Zhang, Li | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2016-12-16T00:16:29Z | |
dc.date.available | 2016-12-16T00:16:29Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2016-11-01 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Cosmological tests with the FSRQ gamma-ray luminosity function 2016, 462 (3):3094 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | en |
dc.identifier.issn | 0035-8711 | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1365-2966 | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1093/mnras/stw1817 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10150/621735 | |
dc.description.abstract | The extensive catalogue of gamma-ray selected flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) produced by Fermi during a four-year survey has generated considerable interest in determining their gamma-ray luminosity function (GLF) and its evolution with cosmic time. In this paper, we introduce the novel idea of using this extensive database to test the differential volume expansion rate predicted by two specific models, the concordance Lambda cold darkmatter (Lambda CDM) and R-h = ct cosmologies. For this purpose, we use two well-studied formulations of the GLF, one based on pure luminosity evolution (PLE) and the other on a luminosity-dependent density evolution (LDDE). Using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test on one-parameter cumulative distributions (in luminosity, redshift, photon index and source count), we confirm the results of earlier works showing that these data somewhat favour LDDE over PLE; we show that this is the case for both Lambda CDM and R-h = ct. Regardless of which GLF one chooses, however, we also show that model selection tools very strongly favour R-h = ct over Lambda CDM. We suggest that such population studies, though featuring a strong evolution in redshift, may none the less be used as a valuable independent check of other model comparisons based solely on geometric considerations. | |
dc.description.sponsorship | Amherst College; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [11433004]; Chinese Academy of Sciences [2012T1J0011]; Chinese State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs [GDJ20120491013]; Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics of Yunnan Province [2015DG035]; Strategic Priority Research Program, Emergence of Cosmological Structures of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [XDB09000000]; NSFC [11173064, 11233001, 11233008] | en |
dc.language.iso | en | en |
dc.publisher | OXFORD UNIV PRESS | en |
dc.relation.url | http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/lookup/doi/10.1093/mnras/stw1817 | en |
dc.rights | © 2016 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. | en |
dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | |
dc.subject | methods: statistical | en |
dc.subject | quasars: general | en |
dc.subject | cosmology: theory | en |
dc.subject | large-scale structure of Universe | en |
dc.subject | gamma-rays: general | en |
dc.title | Cosmological tests with the FSRQ gamma-ray luminosity function | en |
dc.type | Article | en |
dc.contributor.department | Univ Arizona, Dept Phys, Program Appl Math | en |
dc.contributor.department | Univ Arizona, Dept Astron | en |
dc.identifier.journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | en |
dc.description.collectioninformation | This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu. | en |
dc.eprint.version | Final published version | en |
refterms.dateFOA | 2018-06-23T11:30:38Z | |
html.description.abstract | The extensive catalogue of gamma-ray selected flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) produced by Fermi during a four-year survey has generated considerable interest in determining their gamma-ray luminosity function (GLF) and its evolution with cosmic time. In this paper, we introduce the novel idea of using this extensive database to test the differential volume expansion rate predicted by two specific models, the concordance Lambda cold darkmatter (Lambda CDM) and R-h = ct cosmologies. For this purpose, we use two well-studied formulations of the GLF, one based on pure luminosity evolution (PLE) and the other on a luminosity-dependent density evolution (LDDE). Using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test on one-parameter cumulative distributions (in luminosity, redshift, photon index and source count), we confirm the results of earlier works showing that these data somewhat favour LDDE over PLE; we show that this is the case for both Lambda CDM and R-h = ct. Regardless of which GLF one chooses, however, we also show that model selection tools very strongly favour R-h = ct over Lambda CDM. We suggest that such population studies, though featuring a strong evolution in redshift, may none the less be used as a valuable independent check of other model comparisons based solely on geometric considerations. |