Axial Bianchi IX universes have compact, simply connected, homogeneous three-spaces and feature minimal symmetry breaking of the cosmological principle. We consider a positive cosmological constant, comoving dust and a mildly anisotropic expansion in the recent past, z < 6, which might be observable in the near future with the James Webb Space Telescope and the Vera Rubin Observatory. To this end we compute the direction dependent redshift and apparent luminosity of type 1a supernovae. To the memory of Vaughan Jones

We compute the Lema{\^i}tre-Hubble diagram for axial Bianchi IX universes with comoving dust. We motivate our choice by defining a {\it minimal} symmetry breaking of the cosmological principle. This criterium admits only two possibilities: the axial Bianchi I and IX universes. The latter have positive curvatures and reduce to the former in the zero curvature limit. Remarkably, negative curvatures are excluded by this minimal symmetry breaking in presence of comoving dust.

A 1-parameter class of quadratic equations of state is confronted with the Hubble diagram of supernovae and Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations. The fit is found to be as good as the one using the Lambda CDM model. The corresponding universe has no initial singularity, only a mild bounce at a temperature well above the Planck temperature.

The aim of this study is to distinguish genuine cosmic voids, found in a galaxy catalog by the void finder ZOBOV–VIDE, from under-dense regions in a Poisson distribution of objects. For this purpose, we perform two multivariate analyses using the following physical void characteristics: volume, redshift, density contrast, minimum density, contrast significance and number of member galaxies of the void. The multivariate analyses are trained on a catalog of voids obtained from a random Poisson distribution of points, used as background, and a catalog of voids identified in a mock galaxy catalog, used as signal. The classifications are then applied to voids extracted from the Data Release 12 sample of Luminous Red Galaxies in the redshift range 0.45 ≤ z ≤ 0.7 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (SDSS BOSS DR12 CMASS). Our results show that the resulting void catalog is nearly free of contamination by Poisson noise. We also study the effect of tracer sparsity and bias on the classification efficiencies.

In this paper, we study the normalised characteristic scale of transition to cosmic homogeneity, ℛ_H/d_V, as a cosmological probe. We use a compilation of SDSS galaxy samples, comprising more than 10^6 galaxies in the redshift range 0.17 ≤ z ≤ 2.2 within the largest comoving volume to date, ∼ 8 h^-3Gpc^3. We show that these samples can be described by a single bias model as a function of redshift. By combining our measurements with prior Cosmic Microwave Background and Lensing information from the Planck satellite, we constrain the total matter density ratio of the universe, Ω_m = 0.363 ± 0.025, and the Dark Energy density ratio, Ω_Λ = 0.649 ± 0.021, improving the values from Planck alone by 31 model. These results show the complementarity of the normalised homogeneity scale with other cosmological probes and open new roads to cosmometry.

We compute the birefringence of light in curved Robertson-Walker spacetimes and propose an exotic formula for redshift based on the internal structure of the spinning photon. We then use the Hubble diagram of supernovae to test this formula.

In this paper, we study the characteristic scale of transition to cosmic homogeneity of the universe, RH, as a standard ruler, to constrain cosmological parameters on mock galaxy catalogues. We use mock galaxy catalogues that simulate the CMASS galaxy sample of the BOSS survey in the redshift range 0:43 <= z <= 0:7. In each redshift bin we obtain the homogeneity scale, defined as the scale at which the universe becomes homogeneous to 1%, i.e. D-2(R-H) - 2:97. With a simple Fisher analysis, we find that the performance of measuring the cosmological parameters with either the position of the BAO peak or the homogeneity scale is comparable. We show that R-H has a dependence on the galaxy bias. If the accuracy and precision of this bias is achieved to 1%, as expected for future surveys, then R-H is a competitive standard ruler.

Strong gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters is a fundamental tool to study dark matter and constrain the geometry of the Universe. Recently, the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields programme has allowed a significant improvement of mass and magnification measurements but lensing models still have a residual root mean square between 0.2 arcsec and few arcsec- onds, not yet completely understood. Systematic errors have to be better understood and treated in order to use strong lensing clusters as reliable cosmological probes. We have analysed two simulated Hubble-Frontier-Fields-like clusters from the Hubble Frontier Fields Comparison Challenge, Ares and Hera. We use several estimators (relative bias on magnification, den- sity profiles, ellipticity and orientation) to quantify the goodness of our reconstructions by comparing our multiple models, optimized with the parametric software LENSTOOL , with the input models. We have quantified the impact of systematic errors arising, first, from the choice of different density profiles and configurations and, secondly, from the availability of con- straints (spectroscopic or photometric redshifts, redshift ranges of the background sources) in the parametric modelling of strong lensing galaxy clusters and therefore on the retrieval of cosmological parameters. We find that substructures in the outskirts have a significant im- pact on the position of the multiple images, yielding tighter cosmological contours. The need for wide-field imaging around massive clusters is thus reinforced. We show that competitive cosmological constraints can be obtained also with complex multimodal clusters and that photometric redshifts improve the constraints on cosmological parameters when considering a narrow range of (spectroscopic) redshifts for the sources.

We describe how the Euclid detectors in the Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) channel will be read out on board and present an analytic expression for the estimated fluence in each pixel with the associated quality factor of the fit per pixel. The method accounts for the Poisson like distribution of the data and includes the effects of noise correlations that arise after the coadding procedure of frames read non-destructively up the ramp during one exposure. The bias of the flux estimator presented in this paper is kept lower than 0.3% over a wide rang of scientifically interesting fluxes of Euclid. The associated error is by 6% lower than the commonly used formula derived in Rauscher et al. in the context of an equally weighted least squares fit. Moreover, the quality factor follows the very well known chi th(2)(x; n) distribution and thus provides a well behaved statistical tool to check the goodness of the ramp fit. The method is proposed in the context of a large amount of data per exposure, produced by the NISP detectors, that cannot be transferred to the ground for the subsequent processing. The method, which is validated using real and simulated test data, can be safely used by most near-infrared instruments which require very accurate measurements to be performed on board.

Euclid mission is designed to understand the dark sector of the universe. Precise redshift measurements are provided by H2RG detectors. We propose an unbiased method of fitting the flux with Poisson distributed and correlated data, which has an analytic solution and provides a reliable quality factor- fundamental features to ensure the goals of the mission. We compare our method to other techniques of signal estimation and illustrate the anomaly detection on the flight-like detectors. Although our discussion is focused on Euclid NISP instrument, much of what is discussed will be of interest to any mission using similar near-infrared sensors.

Despite the ability of the cosmological concordance model ($\Lambda$CDM) to describe the cosmological observations exceedingly well, power law expansion of the Universe scale radius, $R(t)\propto t^n$, has been proposed as an alternative framework. We examine here these models, analyzing their ability to fit cosmological data using robust model comparison criteria. Type Ia supernovae (SNIa), baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) and acoustic scale information from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) have been used. We find that SNIa data either alone or combined with BAO can be well reproduced by both $\Lambda$CDM and power law expansion models with $n\sim 1.5$, while the constant expansion rate model $(n=1)$ is clearly disfavored. Allowing for some redshift evolution in the SNIa luminosity essentially removes any clear preference for a specific model. The CMB data are well known to provide the most stringent constraints on standard cosmological models, in particular, through the position of the first peak of the temperature angular power spectrum, corresponding to the sound horizon at recombination, a scale physically related to the BAO scale. Models with $n\geq 1$ lead to a divergence of the sound horizon and do not naturally provide the relevant scales for the BAO and the CMB. We retain an empirical footing to overcome this issue: we let the data choose the preferred values for these scales, while we recompute the ionization history in power law models, to obtain the distance to the CMB. In doing so, we find that the scale coming from the BAO data is not consistent with the observed position of the first peak of the CMB temperature angular power spectrum for any power law cosmology. Therefore, we conclude that when the three standard probes are combined, the $\Lambda$CDM model is very strongly favored over any of these alternative models, which are then essentially ruled out.

We improve existing fits of the Bianchi I metric to the Hubble diagram of supernovae and find an intriguing yet non-significant signal for anisotropy that should be verified or falsified in the near future by the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Since the literature contains two different formulas for the apparent luminosity as a function of time of flight in Bianchi I metrics, we present an independent derivation confirming the result by Saunders (1969). The present fit differs from earlier ones by Koivisto Mota and by Campanelli et al. in that we use Saunders' formula, a larger sample of supernovae, Union 2 and JLA, and we use the general Bianchi I metric with three distinct eigenvalues.

We present a fast and robust alternative method to compute covariance matrix in case of cosmology studies. Our method is based on the jackknife resampling applied on simulation mock catalogues. Using a set of 600 BOSS DR11 mock catalogues as a reference, we find that the jackknife technique gives a similar galaxy clustering covariance matrix estimate by requiring a smaller number of mocks. A comparison of convergence rates show that ∼7 times fewer simulations are needed to get a similar accuracy on variance. We expect this technique to be applied in any analysis where the number of available N-body simulations is low.

A 1-parameter class of quadratic equations of state is confronted with the Hubble diagram of supernovae. The fit is found to be as good as the one using the standard LambdaCDM model. However this quadratic equation of state precludes objects with redshifts higher than z_max = 1.7. Adding a fair amount of cold baryons to the model increases z_max without spoiling the fit.

We develop a new framework for use in exploring Type Ia Supernova (SN Ia) spectra. Combining Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Square analysis (PLS) we are able to establish correlations between the Principal Components (PCs) and spectroscopic/photometric SNe Ia features. The technique was applied to 120 supernova and 800 spectra from the Nearby Supernova Factory. The ability of PCA to group together SNe Ia with similar spectral features, already explored in previous studies, is greatly enhanced by two important modifications: (1) the initial data matrix is built using derivatives of spectra over the wavelength, which increases the weight of weak lines and discards extinction, and (2) we extract time evolution information through the use of entire spectral sequences concatenated in each line of the input data matrix. These allow us to define a stable PC parameter space which can be used to characterize synthetic SN Ia spectra by means of real SN features. Using PLS, we demonstrate that the information from important previously known spectral indicators (namely the pseudo-equivalent width (pEW) of Si II 5972 / Si II 6355 and the line velocity of S II 5640 / Si II 6355) at a given epoch, is contained within the PC space and can be determined through a linear combination of the most important PCs. We also show that the PC space encompasses photometric features like B or V magnitudes, B-V color and SALT2 parameters c and x1. The observed colors and magnitudes, that are heavily affected by extinction, cannot be reconstructed using this technique alone. All the above mentioned applications allowed us to construct a metric space for comparing synthetic SN Ia spectra with observations.

The success of the Euclid's NISP (Near-Infrared Spectro-Photometer) instrument for the Euclid mission requires very high performance detectors for which tight specifications have been defined. These must be verified over more than 95% of the focal plane which is equipped with 16 H2RG infrared pixel detectors. Teledyne will provide these detectors and their electronics under ESA and NASA contracts. The detectors will be selected, qualified then delivered to the NISP instrument under Euclid specifications. To prepare the future calibration plan, these detectors must also be fully characterized at the pixel level before their integration. This characterization is crucial to the future processing and in-flight calibration.For a good control of the performance, the detector specifications for Euclid require in one hand to know some characteristics such as noise and dark current at a level as low as 10(-3) e(-)/s, but also in other hand, require to have model of some specific properties of these detectors such as their non linearity response, or their latency signals, which will imply specific measurements, characterization and studies. For this purpose, we have constructed dedicated facilities, and prepared a full test plan with adapted analysis methods and software tools that will be used to calibrate flight detectors. Here we describe the status of this plan, the facilities and their validation. We then present some preliminary results on dark current, total noise, CDS noise and some first estimations of persistence, using high performance engineering grade Euclid detectors provided by ESA. A pilot run is foreseen at the end of the year to validate the full test plan. Next step will be the characterization of flight detectors expected to start mid 2016.

We present 32 epochs of optical (3300-9700 angstrom) spectrophotometric observations of the nearby quintessential "normal" type Ia supernova (SN Ia) SN 2011fe in the galaxy M101, extending from -15 to +97 d with respect to B-band maximum, obtained by the Nearby Supernova Factory collaboration. SN 2011fe is the closest (mu = 29.04) and brightest (B-max = 9.94 mag) SN Ia observed since the advent of modern large scale programs for the intensive periodic followup of supernovae. Both synthetic light curve measurements and spectral feature analysis attest to the normality of SN 2011fe. There is very little evidence for reddening in its host galaxy. The homogeneous calibration, intensive time sampling, and high signal-to-noise ratio of the data set make it unique. Thus it is ideal for studying the physics of SN Ia explosions in detail, and for furthering the use of SNe Ia as standardizable candles for cosmology. Several such applications are shown, from the creation of a bolometric light curve and measurement of the Ni-56 mass, to the simulation of detection thresholds for unburned carbon, direct comparisons with other SNe Ia, and existing spectral templates.