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Using the Subaru/FOCAS IFU capability, we examine the spatially resolved relationships between gas-phase metallicity, stellar mass, and star-formation rate surface densities (Sigma_* and Sigma_SFR, respectively) in extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) in the local universe. Our analysis includes 24 EMPGs, comprising 9,177 spaxels, which span a unique parameter space of local metallicity (12+log(O/H) = 6.9 to 7.9) and stellar mass surface density (Sigma_* ~ 10^5 to 10^7 Msun/kpc^2), extending beyond the range of existing large integral-field spectroscopic surveys. Through spatially resolved emission line diagnostics based on the [NII] BPT-diagram, we verify the absence of evolved active galactic nuclei in these EMPGs. Our findings reveal that, while the resolved mass-metallicity relation exhibits significant scatter in the low-mass regime, this scatter is closely correlated with local star-formation surface density. Specifically, metallicity decreases as Sigma_SFR increases for a given Sigma_*. Notably, half of the EMPGs show a distinct metal-poor horizontal branch on the resolved mass-metallicity relation. This feature typically appears at the peak clump with the highest Sigma_* and Sigma_SFR and is surrounded by a relatively metal-enriched ambient region. These findings support a scenario in which metal-poor gas infall fuels episodic star formation in EMPGs, consistent with the kinematic properties observed in these systems. In addition, we identify four EMPGs with exceptionally low central metallicities (12+log(O/H) <~ 7.2), which display only a metal-poor clump without a surrounding metal-rich region. This suggests that such ultra-low metallicity EMPGs, at less than a few percent of the solar metallicity, may serve as valuable analogs for galaxies in the early stages of galaxy evolution., Comment: 29 pages, 14 figures. Submitted to ApJ

We present ionizing spectra estimated at 13.6--100 eV for ten dwarf galaxies with strong high ionization lines of He {\sc {ii}}$\lambda$4686 and [Ne {\sc{v}}]$\lambda$3426 ([Ne {\sc{iv}}]$\lambda$2424) at $z=0$ ($z=8$) that are identified in our Keck/LRIS spectroscopy and the literature (the JWST ERO program). With the flux ratios of these high ionization lines and $>10$ low-ionization lines of hydrogen, helium, oxygen, neon, and sulfur, we determine ionizing spectra consisting of stellar and non-thermal power-law radiation by photoionization modeling with free parameters of nebular properties including metallicity and ionization parameter, cancelling out abundance ratio differences. We find that all of the observed flux ratios are well reproduced by the photoinization models with the power law index $\alpha_{\rm EUV}$ of $\alpha_{\rm EUV}\sim (-1)-0$ and the luminosity $L_{\rm EUV}$ of $L_{\rm EUV}\sim 10^{40}-10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$ at $\sim 55-100$ eV for six galaxies, while four galaxies include large systematics in $\alpha_{\rm EUV}$ caused by stellar radiation contamination. We then compare $\alpha_{\rm EUV}$ and $L_{\rm EUV}$ of these six galaxies with those predicted by the black hole (BH) accretion disk models, and find that $\alpha_{\rm EUV}$ and $L_{\rm EUV}$ are similar to those of the intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) in BH accretion disk models {albeit with possibilities of the other scenarios.} Confirming these results with a known IMBH having a mass $M_{\rm BH}$ of $M_{\rm BH}=10^{5.75} \ M_\odot$, we find that four local galaxies and one $z=7.665$ galaxy have ionizing spectra consistent with those of IMBHs with $M_{\rm BH} \sim 10^3-10^5 \ M_\odot$., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ and 25 pages, 12 figures

We present demography of the dynamics and gas-mass fraction of 33 extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) with metallicities of $0.015-0.195~Z_\odot$ and low stellar masses of $10^4-10^8~M_\odot$ in the local universe. We conduct deep optical integral-field spectroscopy (IFS) for the low-mass EMPGs with the medium high resolution ($R=7500$) grism of the 8m-Subaru FOCAS IFU instrument by the EMPRESS 3D survey, and investigate H$\alpha$ emission of the EMPGs. Exploiting the resolution high enough for the low-mass galaxies, we derive gas dynamics with the H$\alpha$ lines by the fitting of 3-dimensional disk models. We obtain an average maximum rotation velocity ($v_\mathrm{rot}$) of $15\pm3~\mathrm{km~s^{-1}}$ and an average intrinsic velocity dispersion ($\sigma_0$) of $27\pm10~\mathrm{km~s^{-1}}$ for 15 spatially resolved EMPGs out of the 33 EMPGs, and find that all of the 15 EMPGs have $v_\mathrm{rot}/\sigma_0<1$ suggesting dispersion dominated systems. There is a clear decreasing trend of $v_\mathrm{rot}/\sigma_0$ with the decreasing stellar mass and metallicity. We derive the gas mass fraction ($f_\mathrm{gas}$) for all of the 33 EMPGs, and find no clear dependence on stellar mass and metallicity. These $v_\mathrm{rot}/\sigma_0$ and $f_\mathrm{gas}$ trends should be compared with young high-$z$ galaxies observed by the forthcoming JWST IFS programs to understand the physical origins of the EMPGs in the local universe., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

We present kinematics of 6 local extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) with low metallicities ($0.016-0.098\ Z_{\odot}$) and low stellar masses ($10^{4.7}-10^{7.6} M_{\odot}$). Taking deep medium-high resolution ($R\sim7500$) integral-field spectra with 8.2-m Subaru, we resolve the small inner velocity gradients and dispersions of the EMPGs with H$\alpha$ emission. Carefully masking out sub-structures originated by inflow and/or outflow, we fit 3-dimensional disk models to the observed H$\alpha$ flux, velocity, and velocity-dispersion maps. All the EMPGs show rotational velocities ($v_{\rm rot}$) of 5--23 km s$^{-1}$ smaller than the velocity dispersions ($\sigma_{0}$) of 17--31 km s$^{-1}$, indicating dispersion-dominated ($v_{\rm rot}/\sigma_{0}=0.29-0.80<1$) systems affected by inflow and/or outflow. Except for two EMPGs with large uncertainties, we find that the EMPGs have very large gas-mass fractions of $f_{\rm gas}\simeq 0.9-1.0$. Comparing our results with other H$\alpha$ kinematics studies, we find that $v_{\rm rot}/\sigma_{0}$ decreases and $f_{\rm gas}$ increases with decreasing metallicity, decreasing stellar mass, and increasing specific star-formation rate. We also find that simulated high-$z$ ($z\sim 7$) forming galaxies have gas fractions and dynamics similar to the observed EMPGs. Our EMPG observations and the simulations suggest that primordial galaxies are gas-rich dispersion-dominated systems, which would be identified by the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations at $z\sim 7$., Comment: ApJ in Press

The primordial He abundance $Y_\mathrm{P}$ is a powerful probe of cosmology. Currently, $Y_\mathrm{P}$ is best determined by observations of metal-poor galaxies, while there are only a few known local extremely metal-poor ($<0.1 Z_\odot$) galaxies (EMPGs) having reliable He/H measurements with HeI$\lambda$10830 near-infrared (NIR) emission. Here we present deep Subaru NIR spectroscopy for 10 EMPGs. Combining the existing optical data, He/H values of 5 out of the 10 EMPGs are reliably derived by the Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. Adding the existing 3 EMPGs and 51 moderately metal-poor ($0.1-0.4 Z_\odot$) galaxies with reliable He/H estimates, we obtain $Y_\mathrm{P}=0.2370^{+0.0034}_{-0.0033}$ by linear regression in the $\mathrm{(He/H)}-\mathrm{(O/H)}$ plane, where we increase the number of EMPGs from 3 to 8 anchoring He/H of the most metal-poor gas in galaxies. Although our $Y_\mathrm{P}$ measurement and previous measurements are consistent, our result is slightly ($\sim 1\sigma$) smaller due to our EMPGs. With our $Y_\mathrm{P}$ and the existing primordial deuterium $D_\mathrm{P}$ measurement, we constrain the effective number of neutrino species $N_\mathrm{eff}$ and the baryon-to-photon ratio $\eta$ showing $\gtrsim 1-2\sigma$ tensions with the Standard Model and Planck Collaboration et al. (2020). Motivated by the tensions, we allow the degeneracy parameter of electron-neutrino $\xi_e$ to vary as well as $N_\mathrm{eff}$ and $\eta$. We obtain $\xi_e = 0.05^{+0.03}_{-0.02}$, $N_\mathrm{eff}=3.11^{+0.34}_{-0.31}$, and $\eta\times10^{10}=6.08^{+0.06}_{-0.06}$ from the $Y_\mathrm{P}$ and $D_\mathrm{P}$ measurements with a prior of $\eta$ taken from Planck Collaboration et al. (2020). Our constraints suggest a lepton asymmetry and allow for a high value of $N_\mathrm{eff}$ within the $1\sigma$ level, which could mitigate the Hubble tension., Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Strong high-ionization lines such as HeII of young galaxies are puzzling at high and low redshift. Although recent studies suggest the existence of non-thermal sources, whether their ionizing spectra can consistently explain multiple major emission lines remains a question. Here we derive the general shapes of the ionizing spectra for three local extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) that show strong HeII$\lambda$4686. We parameterize the ionizing spectra composed of a blackbody and power-law radiation mimicking various stellar and non-thermal sources. We use photoionization models for nebulae, and determine seven parameters of the ionizing spectra and nebulae by Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, carefully avoiding systematics of abundance ratios. We obtain the general shapes of ionizing spectra explaining $\sim 10$ major emission lines within observational errors with smooth connections from observed X-ray and optical continua. We find that an ionizing spectrum of one EMPG has a blackbody-dominated shape, while the others have convex downward shapes at $>13.6$ eV, which indicate a diversity of the ionizing spectrum shapes. We confirm that the convex downward shapes are fundamentally different from ordinary stellar spectrum shapes, and that the spectrum shapes of these galaxies are generally explained by the combination of the stellar and ultra-luminous X-ray sources. Comparisons with stellar synthesis models suggest that the diversity of the spectrum shapes arises from differences in the stellar age. If galaxies at $z\gtrsim 6$ are similar to the EMPGs, high energy ($>54.4$ eV) photons of the non-stellar sources negligibly contribute to cosmic reionization due to relatively weak radiation., Comment: Accepted for publication by ApJ

The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is expressed by $\phi(m) \propto m^{-\alpha}$ with the slope $\alpha$, and known as the poorly-constrained but very important function in studies of star and galaxy formation. There are no sensible observational constraints on the IMF slopes beyond Milky Way and nearby galaxies. Here we combine two sets of observational results, 1) cosmic densities of core-collapse supernova explosion (CCSNe) rates and 2) cosmic far ultraviolet radiation (and infrared re-radiation) densities, which are sensitive to massive ($\simeq 8-50 \,{\rm M}_\odot$) and moderately massive ($\simeq 2.5-7 \,{\rm M}_\odot$) stars, respectively, and constrain the IMF slope at $m>1\,{\rm M}_\odot$ with a freedom of redshift evolution. Although no redshift evolution is identified beyond the uncertainties, we find that the cosmic average IMF slope at $z=0$ is $\alpha=1.8-3.2$ at the 95 % confidence level that is comparable with the Salpeter IMF, $\alpha=2.35$, which marks the first constraint on the cosmic average IMF. We show a forecast for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope supernova survey that will provide significantly strong constraints on the IMF slope with $\delta \alpha\simeq 0.5$ over $z=0-2$. Moreover, as for an independent IMF probe instead of 1), we suggest to use diffuse supernovae neutrino background (DSNB), relic neutrinos from CCSNe. We expect that the Hyper-Kamiokande neutrino observations over 20 years will improve the constraints on the IMF slope and the redshift evolution significantly better than those obtained today, if the systematic uncertainties of DSNB production physics are reduced in the future numerical simulations., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, published in ApJ

Low frequency gravitational waves (GWs) are keys to understanding cosmological inflation and super massive blackhole (SMBH) formation via blackhole mergers, while it is difficult to identify the low frequency GWs with ground-based GW experiments such as the advanced LIGO (aLIGO) and VIRGO due to the seismic noise. Although quasi-stellar object (QSO) proper motions produced by the low frequency GWs are measured by pioneering studies of very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations with good positional accuracy, the low frequency GWs are not strongly constrained by the small statistics with 711 QSOs (Darling et al. 2018). Here we present the proper motion field map of 400,894 QSOs of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with optical {\it Gaia} EDR3 proper motion measurements whose positional accuracy is $< 0.4$ milli-arcsec comparable with the one of the radio VLBI observations. We obtain the best-fit spherical harmonics with the typical field strength of $\mathcal{O}(0.1)\, \mu$arcsec, and place a tight constraint on the energy density of GWs, $\Omega_{\rm gw}=(0.964 \pm 3.804) \times 10^{-4}$ (95 \% confidence level), that is significantly stronger than the one of the previous VLBI study by two orders of magnitude at the low frequency regime of $f <10^{-9}\,{\rm [Hz]}\simeq (30\,{\rm yr})^{-1}$ unexplored by the pulsar timing technique. Our upper limit rules out the existence of SMBH binary systems at the distance $r < 400$ kpc from the Earth where the Milky Way center and local group galaxies are included. Demonstrating the limit given by our optical QSO study, we claim that astrometric satellite data including the forthcoming {\it Gaia} DR5 data with small systematic errors are powerful to constrain low frequency GWs., Comment: Submitted to Physical Review D

We compute the evolution of interstellar dust in a hydrodynamic simulation of an isolated disc galaxy. We newly implement the evolution of full grain size distribution by sampling 32 grid points on the axis of the grain radius. We solve it consistently with the chemical enrichment and hydrodynamic evolution of the galaxy. This enables us to theoretically investigate spatially resolved evolution of grain size distribution in a galaxy. The grain size distribution evolves from a large-grain-dominated ($\gtrsim 0.1~\mu$m) phase to a small-grain production phase, eventually converging to a power-law-like grain size distribution similar to the so-called MRN distribution. We find that the small-grain abundance is higher in the dense ISM in the early epoch ($t\lesssim 1$ Gyr) because of efficient dust growth by accretion, while coagulation makes the small-grain abundance less enhanced in the dense ISM later. This leads to steeper extinction curves in the dense ISM than in the diffuse ISM in the early phase, while they show the opposite trend later. The radial trend is also described by faster evolution in the inner part. We also confirm that the simulation reproduces the observed trend in the relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity, and in the radial gradients of dust-to-gas ratio and dust-to-metal ratio. Since the above change in the grain size distribution occurs at $t\sim 1$ Gyr, the age and density dependence of grain size distribution has a significant impact on the extinction curves even at high redshift., Comment: Accepted for publication into MNRAS, 16 pages, 8 figures

To study the dust evolution in the cosmological structure formation history, we perform a smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulation with a dust enrichment model in a cosmological volume. We adopt the dust evolution model that represents the grain size distribution by two sizes and takes into account stellar dust production and interstellar dust processing. We examine the dust mass function and the scaling properties of dust in terms of the characteristics of galaxies. The simulation broadly reproduces the observed dust mass functions at redshift $z = 0$, except that it overproduces the massive end at dust mass $M_\mathrm{d} \gtrsim 10^{8}$ ${\rm M}_\odot$. This overabundance is due to overproducing massive gas/metal-rich systems, but we also note that the relation between stellar mass and gas-phase metallicity is reproduced fairly well by our recipe. The relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity shows a good agreement with the observed one at $z=0$, which indicates successful implementation of dust evolution in our cosmological simulation. Star formation consumes not only gas but also dust, causing a decreasing trend of the dust-to-stellar mass ratio at the high-mass end of galaxies. We also examine the redshift evolution up to $z \sim~ 5$, and find that the galaxies have on average the highest dust mass at $z = 1-2$. For the grain size distribution, we find that galaxies with metallicity $\sim 0.3~ Z_\odot$ tend to have the highest small-to-large grain abundance ratio; consequently, the extinction curves in those galaxies have the steepest ultraviolet slopes., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We revisit the evolution model of grain size distribution in a galaxy for the ultimate purpose of implementing it in hydrodynamical simulations. We simplify the previous model in such a way that some model-dependent assumptions are replaced with simpler functional forms. For the first test of the developed framework, we apply it to a one-zone chemical evolution model of a galaxy, confirming that our new model satisfactorily reproduces the previous results and that efficient coagulation of small grains produced by shattering and accretion is essential in reproducing the so-called MRN grain size distribution. For the next step, in order to test if our model can be treated together with the hydrodynamical evolution of the interstellar medium (ISM), we post-process a hydrodynamical simulation of an isolated disc galaxy using the new grain evolution model. We sample hydrodynamical particles representing each of the dense and diffuse ISM phases. By this post-processing, we find that the processes occurring in the dense gas (grain growth by accretion and coagulation) are important in reproducing the grain size distribution consistent with the Milky Way extinction curve. In our model, the grain size distributions are similar between the dense and diffuse ISM, although we observe a larger dispersion in the dense ISM. Moreover, we also show that even if we degrade the grain radius resolution (with 16 grid points), the overall shape of grain size distribution (and of resulting extinction curve) can be captured., Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Recent progress in submillimetre surveys by single-dish telescopes allows us to further challenge the consistency between cosmological simulations and observations. In particular, we compare our simulations that include dust formation and destruction with the recent SCUBA-2 surveys (`STUDIES') by putting emphases on basic observational properties of dust emission such as dust temperature, size of infrared (IR)-emitting region, IR luminosity function and IRX--$\beta$ relation. After confirming that our models reproduce the local galaxy properties, we examine the STUDIES sample at $z\approx 1-4$, finding that the simulation reproduces the aforementioned quantities except for the $z\gtrsim 2$ IR luminosity function at the massive end ($\sim 10^{13}$ L$_{\odot}$). This means that the current simulation correctly reproduces the overall scaling between the size and luminosity (or star formation rate) of dusty region, but lacks extreme starburst phenomena at $z\gtrsim 2$. We also discuss extinction curves and possible AGN contribution., Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, published in MNRAS

To investigate the evolution of dust in a cosmological volume, we perform hydrodynamic simulations, in which the enrichment of metals and dust is treated self-consistently with star formation and stellar feedback. We consider dust evolution driven by dust production in stellar ejecta, dust destruction by sputtering, grain growth by accretion and coagulation, and grain disruption by shattering, and treat small and large grains separately to trace the grain size distribution. After confirming that our model nicely reproduces the observed relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity for nearby galaxies, we concentrate on the dust abundance over the cosmological volume in this paper. The comoving dust mass density has a peak at redshift $z\sim 1$--2, coincident with the observationally suggested dustiest epoch in the Universe. {In the local Universe}, roughly 10 per cent of the dust is contained in the intergalactic medium (IGM), where only 1/3--1/4 of the dust survives against dust destruction by sputtering. We also show that the dust mass function is roughly reproduced at $\lesssim 10^8$ M$_\odot$, while the massive end still has a discrepancy, which indicates {the necessity of stronger feedback in massive galaxies}. %%The relation showed that accretion is essential for dusty galaxies. In addition, our model broadly reproduces the observed radial profile of dust surface density in the circum-galactic medium (CGM). While our model satisfies the observational constraints for the dust extinction {on cosmological scales}, it predicts that the dust in the CGM and IGM is dominated by large ($> 0.03~\mu$m) grains, which is in tension with the steep reddening curves {observed} in the CGM., Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures. published on MNRAS

There are two major theoretical issues for the star formation law (the relation between the surface densities of molecular gas and star formation rate on a galaxy scale): (i) At low metallicity, it is not obvious that star-forming regions are rich in H$_2$ because the H$_2$ formation rate depends on the dust abundance; and (ii) whether or not CO really traces H$_2$ is uncertain, especially at low metallicity. To clarify these issues, we use a hydrodynamic simulation of an isolated disc galaxy with a spatial resolution of a few tens parsecs. The evolution of dust abundance and grain size distribution is treated consistently with the metal enrichment and the physical state of the interstellar medium. We compute the H$_2$ and CO abundances using a subgrid post-processing model based on the dust abundance and the dissociating radiation field calculated in the simulation. We find that when the metallicity is $\lesssim 0.4$ Z$_\odot$ ($t<1$ Gyr), H$_2$ is not a good tracer of star formation rate because H$_2$-rich regions are limited to dense compact regions. At $Z\gtrsim 0.8$ Z$_\odot$, a tight star formation law is established for both H$_2$ and CO. At old ($t \sim 10$ Gyr) ages, we also find that adopting the so-called MRN grain size distribution with an appropriate dust-to-metal ratio over the entire disc gives reasonable estimates for the H$_2$ and CO abundances. For CO, improving the spatial resolution of the simulation is important while the H$_2$ abundance is not sensitive to sub-resolution structures at $Z\gtrsim 0.4$ Z$_\odot$., Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

To understand the evolution of extinction curve, we calculate the dust evolution in a galaxy using smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations incorporating stellar dust production, dust destruction in supernova shocks, grain growth by accretion and coagulation, and grain disruption by shattering. The dust species are separated into carbonaceous dust and silicate. The evolution of grain size distribution is considered by dividing grain population into large and small gains, which allows us to estimate extinction curves. We examine the dependence of extinction curves on the position, gas density, and metallicity in the galaxy, and find that extinction curves are flat at $t \lesssim 0.3$ Gyr because stellar dust production dominates the total dust abundance. The 2175 \AA\ bump and far-ultraviolet (FUV) rise become prominent after dust growth by accretion. At $t \gtrsim 3$ Gyr, shattering works efficiently in the outer disc and low density regions, so extinction curves show a very strong 2175 \AA\ bump and steep FUV rise. The extinction curves at $t\gtrsim 3$ Gyr are consistent with the Milky Way extinction curve, which implies that we successfully included the necessary dust processes in the model. The outer disc component caused by stellar feedback has an extinction curves with a weaker 2175 \AA\ bump and flatter FUV slope. The strong contribution of carbonaceous dust tends to underproduce the FUV rise in the Small Magellanic Cloud extinction curve, which supports selective loss of small carbonaceous dust in the galaxy. The snapshot at young ages also explain the extinction curves in high-redshift quasars., Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We perform smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of an isolated galaxy with a new treatment for dust formation and destruction. To this aim, we treat dust and metal production self-consistently with star formation and supernova feedback. For dust, we consider a simplified model of grain size distribution by representing the entire range of grain sizes with large and small grains. We include dust production in stellar ejecta, dust destruction by supernova (SN) shocks, grain growth by accretion and coagulation, and grain disruption by shattering. We find that the assumption of fixed dust-to-metal mass ratio becomes no longer valid when the galaxy is older than 0.2 Gyr, at which point the grain growth by accretion starts to contribute to the nonlinear rise of dust-to-gas ratio. As expected in our previous one-zone model, shattering triggers grain growth by accretion since it increases the total surface area of grains. Coagulation becomes significant when the galaxy age is greater than $\sim$ 1 Gyr: at this epoch the abundance of small grains becomes high enough to raise the coagulation rate of small grains. We further compare the radial profiles of dust-to-gas ratio $(\mathcal{D})$ and dust-to-metal ratio $(\mathcal{D}/Z)$ (i.e., depletion) at various ages with observational data. We find that our simulations broadly reproduce the radial gradients of dust-to-gas ratio and depletion. In the early epoch ($\lesssim 0.3$ Gyr), the radial gradient of $\mathcal{D}$ follows the metallicity gradient with $\mathcal{D}/Z$ determined by the dust condensation efficiency in stellar ejecta, while the $\mathcal{D}$ gradient is steeper than the $Z$ gradient at the later epochs because of grain growth by accretion. The framework developed in this paper is applicable to any SPH-based galaxy evolution simulations including cosmological ones., Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures, published on MNRAS

We investigate the effect of the axion cooling on the nucleosynthesis in a massive star with $16M_{\odot}$ by standard stellar evolution calculation. We find that the axion cooling suppresses the nuclear reactions in carbon, oxygen and silicon burning phases because of the extraction of the energy. As a result, larger amounts of the already synthesized neon and magnesium remain without being consumed to produce further heavier elements. Even in the case with the axion-photon coupling constant $g_{a\gamma}= 10^{-11}$ GeV$^{-1}$, which is six times smaller than the current upper limit, the amount of neon and magnesium that remain just before the core-collapse supernova explosion is considerably larger than the standard value. This implies that we could give a more stringent constraint on $g_{a\gamma}$ from the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements in massive stars., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review D

The global positioning system (GPS) is composed of thirty one satellites having atomic clocks with $10^{-15}$ accuracy on board and enables one to calibrate the primary standard for frequency on the ground. Using the fact that oscillators on the ground have been successfully stabilized with high accuracy by receiving radio waves emitted from the GPS satellites, we set a constraint on the strain amplitude of the gravitational wave background $h_{\rm c}$. We find that the GPS has already placed a meaningful constraint, and the constraint on the continuous component of gravitational waves is given as $h_{\rm c}<4.8\times 10^{-12}(1/ f)$ at $10^{-2}\lesssim f \lesssim 10^{0}$ Hz, for stabilized oscillators with ${\Delta \nu}/{\nu}\simeq 10^{-12}$. Thanks to the advantage of the Doppler tracking method, seismic oscillations do not affect the current constraint. Constraints on $h_c$ in the same frequency range from the velocity measurements by the lunar explorers in the Apollo mission are also derived., Comment: 6 pages, 2figures, Accepted for the publication in Physical Review D

Decaying dark matter (DDM) is a candidate which can solve the discrepancies between predictions of the concordance $\Lambda$CDM model and observations at small scales such as the number counts of companion galaxies of the Milky Way and the density profile at the center of galaxies. Previous studies are limited to the cases where the decay particles are massless and/or have almost degenerate masses with that of mother particles. Here we expand the DDM models so that one can consider the DDM with arbitrary lifetime and the decay products with arbitrary masses. We calculate the time evolutions of perturbed phase-space distribution functions of decay products for the first time and study effects of DDM on the temperature anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background and the matter power spectrum at present. From a recent observational estimate of $\sigma_{8}$, we derive constraints on the lifetime of DDM and the mass ratio between the decay products and DDM. We also discuss implications of the DDM model for the discrepancy in the measurements of $\sigma_8$ recently claimed by the Planck satellite collaboration., Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures, published on JCAP

Decaying dark matter cosmological models have been proposed to remedy the overproduction problem at small scales in the standard cold dark matter paradigm. We consider a decaying dark matter model in which one CDM mother particle decays into two daughter particles, with arbitrary masses. A complete set of Boltzmann equations of dark matter particles is derived which is necessary to calculate the evolutions of their energy densities and their density perturbations. By comparing the expansion history of the universe in this model and the free-streaming scale of daughter particles with astronomical observational data, we give constraints on the lifetime of the mother particle, $\Gamma^{-1}$, and the mass ratio between the daughter and the mother particles $m_{\rm D}/m_{\rm M}$. From the distance to the last scattering surface of the cosmic microwave background, we obtain $\Gamma^{-1}>$ 30 Gyr in the massless limit of daughter particles and, on the other hand, we obtain $m_{\rm D} >$ 0.97$m_{\rm M}$ in the limit $\Gamma^{-1}\to 0$. The free-streaming constraint tightens the bound on the mass ratio as $(\Gamma^{-1}/10^{-2}{\rm Gyr}) \lesssim ((1-m_{\rm D1}/m_{\rm M})/10^{-2})^{-3/2}$ for $\Gamma^{-1} < H^{-1}(z=3)$., Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures