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The peculiar motion of the observer, if not accurately accounted for, is bound to induce a well-defined clustering signal in the distribution of galaxies. This signal is related to the Kaiser rocket effect. Here we examine the amplitude and form of this effect, both analytically and numerically, and discuss possible implications for the analysis and interpretation of forthcoming cosmological surveys. For an idealistic cosmic variance dominated full-sky survey with a Gaussian selection function peaked at $z\sim 1.5$ it is a $> 5\sigma$ effect and it can in principle bias very significantly the inference of cosmological parameters, especially for primordial non-Gaussianity. For forthcoming surveys, with realistic masks and selection functions, the Kaiser rocket is not a significant concern for cosmological parameter inference. However, it is a systematic effect whose origin, nature and imprint on galaxy maps are well known and thus should be subtracted or mitigated. We present several approaches to do so., Comment: Version matches the one accepted by JCAP

A brief review of the results of identification of the cosmological distance scale based on the redshift in the spectra of extragalactic sources based on the data used for detecting the "acceleration of the expansion of the Universe" is given. The data deviation scattering parameter is about 13 ... 20% of the calculated distance value, which is an order of magnitude greater than the accuracy estimates accepted in a number of studies as the average quadratic deviations of arithmetic averages. In addition, there is a dipole anisotropy in this data. It is shown that among the reasons for the so-called "metrological and scientific deadlock" in cosmology may be the lack of error estimates of the inadequacy of the models used and violations of the logic of statistical inference when identifying them by supernovae of type SN Ia.

We test the possible dipole anisotropy of a Finslerian cosmological model and other three dipole-modulated cosmological models, i.e., the dipole-modulated $\rm{\Lambda}$CDM, $w$CDM and Chevallier--Polarski--Linder (CPL) model by using the recently released Pantheon sample of SNe Ia. The Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method is used to explore the whole parameter space. We find that the dipole anisotropy is very weak in all cosmological models used. Although the dipole amplitudes of four cosmological models are consistent with zero within $1\sigma$ uncertainty, the dipole directions are close to the axial direction to the plane of SDSS subsample among Pantheon. It may imply that the weak dipole anisotropy in the Pantheon sample originates from the inhomogeneous distribution of the SDSS subsample. More homogeneous distribution of SNe Ia is necessary to constrain the cosmic anisotropy., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, accepted by Chinese Physics C

We report results of the first comprehensive, high resolution study of the deflections of UHECRs using a realistic model of the Galactic magnetic field and extending to sufficiently low rigidities, R = E/Z = 10^18 V, to describe Fe in the UHE energy range or the mixed composition reported by the Pierre Auger Collaboration at the energy of the observed dipole anisotropy. We use the Jansson-Farrar (JF12) model, which has both large scale coherent and a structured random components, and determine deflections for fifteen rigidities from 10^18.0 to 10^20.0 V, for L_coh = 30 pc and 100 pc. We check the sensitivity of UHECR deflections to the particular realization of the random field, for 3 rigidity values. For each rigidity and field model studied, the UHECR arrival direction distribution is determined for an arbitrary source direction, by inverting the trajectories of > 5 x 10^7 isotropic anti-CRs of the given rigidity. We present skyplots and tables characterizing the arrival directions, for representative 1 deg sources. Except at high rigidity, the pattern of multiple images is very complex and depends strongly on the coherence length and source direction. For almost all sources, average deflections grow rapidly as the rigidity falls below 10 EV and deflections commonly are greater than 90 deg. Magnification and demagnification can be strong at almost all rigidities, and varies significantly with source direction. Much of the extragalactic celestial sphere, behind and south of the Galactic Center, cannot be seen in UHECRs below 10 EV. The pattern of deflections obtained with the coherent field alone can be significantly different than with the complete field model, even as regards the position of the centroid, for some source directions and rigidities. Multiple images, sometimes very widely separated, are common for small coherence length, especially for low rigidity., 53 pp, many figures. Figures have been compressed to reduce file size; uncompressed figures available on request

We report a possible dipole anisotropy on acceleration scale $g_{\dag}$ with 147 rotationally supported galaxies in local Universe. It is found that a monopole and dipole correction for the radial acceleration relation can better describe the SPARC data set. The monopole term is negligible but the dipole magnitude is significant. It is also found that the dipole correction is mostly induced by the anisotropy on the acceleration scale. The magnitude of $\hat{g}_{\dag}$-dipole reaches up to $0.25\pm0.04$, and its direction is aligned to $(l,b) = (171.30^{\circ}\pm7.18^{\circ}, -15.41^{\circ}\pm4.87^{\circ})$, which is very close to the maximum anisotropy direction from the hemisphere comparison method. Furthermore, robust check shows that the dipole anisotropy couldn't be reproduced by isotropic mock data set. However, it is still premature to claim that the Universe is anisotropic due to the small data samples and uncertainty in the current observations., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 1 table

The Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi satellite is a pair-conversion telescope for high-energy gamma rays of astrophysical origin. Although it was designed to be a high-sensitivity gamma-ray telescope, the LAT has proved to be an excellent electron/positron detector. It has been operating in low Earth orbit since June 2008 and has collected more than 16 million cosmic-ray electron and positron (CRE) events in its first seven years of operation. The huge data sample collected by the LAT enables a precise measurement of the CRE energy spectrum up to the TeV region. A search for anisotropies in the arrival directions of CREs was also performed. The upper limits on the dipole anisotropy probe the presence of nearby young and middle-aged CRE sources.

High energy cosmic ray electrons and positrons probe the local properties of our galaxy. In fact, regardless of the production mechanism, electromagnetic energy losses limit the typical propagation scale of GeV-TeV electrons and positrons to a few kpc. In the diffusion model, the presence of nearby and dominant sources may produce an observable dipole anisotropy in the cosmic ray fluxes. We present a detailed study on the role of anisotropies from nearby sources in the interpretation of present cosmic ray electron and positrons fluxes. Predictions for the dipole anisotropy from known astrophysical sources as Supernova Remnants (SNRs) and pulsars taken from the Green and the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) catalogs are shown. The results are obtained from models compatible with the most recent AMS-02 data on electrons and positrons fluxes. In particular, anisotropies for single sources as well as for a distribution of catalog sources are discussed. We compare our results with current anisotropy upper limits from the Fermi-LAT and PAMELA experiments, showing that the search of anisotropy in the electron and positron fluxes represents a complementary tool to inspect the properties of close SNRs, as for example the Vela SNR.

The cosmic electrons and positrons have been measured with unprecedented statistics up to several hundreds GeV, thus permitting to explore the role that close single sources can have in shaping the flux at different energies. In the present analysis, we consider electrons and positrons in cosmic rays to be produced by spallations of hadron fluxes with the interstellar medium, by a smooth Supernova Remnant (SNR) population, by all the ATNF catalog pulsars, and by few discrete, local SNRs. We test several source models on the $e^++e^-$ and $e^+$ AMS-02 flux data. For the configurations compatible with the data, we compute the dipole anisotropy in $e^++e^-$, $e^+$, $e^+/e^-$ from single sources. Our study includes a dedicated analysis to the Vela SNR. We show that Fermi-LAT present data on dipole anisotropy of $e^++e^-$ start to explore some of the models for the Vela SNR selected by AMS-02 flux data. We also investigate how the observed anisotropy could result from a combination of local sources. Our analysis shows that the search of anisotropy in the lepton fluxes up to TeV energies can be an interesting tool for the inspection of properties of close SNRs, complementary to the high precision flux data., 26 pages, 14 figures. Comments are welcome

The large-scale cosmic ray anisotropy has been studied in the equatorial coordinate system in the PAMELA experiment. The method to obtain dipole anisotropy characteristics as well as some its modernizations is discussed in detail.

The escape model explains the cosmic ray (CR) knee by energy-dependent CR leakage from the Milky Way, with an excellent fit to all existing data. We test this model calculating the trajectories of individual CRs in the Galactic magnetic field. We find that the CR escape time τesc(E) exhibits a knee-like structure around E/Z = few × 1015 eV for small coherence lengths and strengths of the turbulent magnetic field. The resulting intensities for different groups of nuclei are consistent with the ones determined by KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande, using simple power-laws as injection spectra. The transition from Galactic to extragalactic CRs happens in this model at low energies and is terminated below ≈ 3 × 1018 eV. The intermediate energy region up to the ankle is populated by CRs accelerated in starburst galaxies. This model provides a good fit to ln(A) data, while the estimated CR dipole anisotropy is close to, or below, upper limits in the energy range 1017 – 1018 eV. The phase of the dipole is expected to change between 1 × 1017 and 3 × 1018 eV.

The study of relativistic, higher order and nonlinear effects has become necessary in recent years in the pursuit of precision cosmology. We develop and apply here a framework to study gravitational lensing in exact models in general relativity that are not restricted to homogeneity and isotropy, and where full nonlinearity and relativistic effects are included. We apply the framework to a specific, anisotropic galaxy cluster model which is based on a modified NFW halo density profile and described by the Szekeres metric. We examine the effects of increasing levels of anisotropy in the galaxy cluster on lensing observables like the convergence and shear for various lensing geometries, finding a strong nonlinear response in both the convergence and shear for rays passing through anisotropic regions of the cluster. Deviation from the expected values in a spherically symmetric structure are asymmetric with respect to path direction and thus will persist as a statistical effect when averaged over some ensemble of such clusters. The resulting relative difference in various geometries can be as large as approximately 2%, 8%, and 24% in the measure of convergence for levels of anisotropy of 5%, 10%, and 15%, respectively, as a fraction of total cluster mass. For the total magnitude of shear, the relative difference can grow near the center of the structure to be as large as 15%, 32%, and 44% for the same levels of anisotropy, averaged over the two extreme geometries. The convergence is impacted most strongly for rays which pass in directions along the axis of maximum dipole anisotropy in the structure, while the shear is most strongly impacted for rays which pass in directions orthogonal to this axis, as expected. These effects due to anisotropic structures will affect lensing measurements and must be fully examined in an era of precision cosmology., Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, matches version published in JCAP

According to the cosmological principle, the sky brightness at any frequency should appear uniform in all directions to an observer considered to be fixed in the co-moving coordinate system of the expanding universe. However a peculiar motion of the observer introduces a dipole anisotropy in the observed sky brightness, which should be independent of the observing frequency. We have examined the angular distribution in the radio-sky brightness, i.e., an integrated emission from discrete sources per unit solid angle, from the NVSS sample containing 1.8 million discrete radio sources at 1.4 GHz. Our results give a dipole anisotropy which is in the same direction as that of the CMBR from the COBE or WMAP, but the magnitude we find is about 4 times larger at a statistically significant (about 3σ) level. A genuine difference between the two dipoles cannot arise from the observer's motion alone, and it would imply intrinsically anisotropic universe, with anisotropy changing with the epoch. This would violate the cosmological principle where isotropy of the universe is assumed for all epochs, and on which the whole modern cosmology is based upon.

We study the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect in a Lem\^itre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) universe model whose distance-redshift relation agrees with that of the concordance $\Lambda$CDM model at redshifts $z\lesssim2$. This LTB universe model has a void with size comparable to the Hubble horizon scale. We first determine the decoupling epoch in this LTB universe model by an approximate analytical condition under a few simplified assumptions on the physical quantities at that epoch. Then we calculate the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy observed in the rest frame of clusters of galaxies which are assumed to be at rest in the spatial comoving coordinates of the LTB universe model. We find that the obtained temperature anisotropies are dominated by dipole, although there may exist higher multi-poles in general. We may interpret this dipole anisotropy as the drift velocity of a cluster of galaxies relative to the CMB rest frame. Hence it gives rise to the kSZ effect. We calculate this effect and compare it with observational data. We find that if we assume the conventional adiabatic perturbation scenario at the time of decoupling, the drift velocity of clusters of galaxies becomes unacceptably large. Conversely, this observational constraint may be relaxed by introducing a non-adiabatic (i.e., primordially isocurvature) component of inhomogeneities at the time of decoupling. However, our result indicates that the necessary isocurvature perturbation amplitude is very large., Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures

The observed peculiar motion with respect to the microwave background may have been generated by inhomogeneities in the Universe on any of a wide range of scales. The theoretical and observational implications of the various possibilities are reviewed, and an explanation in terms of the non-linear collapse of the Local Supercluster in a relatively high density universe seems to be favoured. The critical observations of local kinematics are still, however, highly controversial.