Astro::Cosmology - calculate cosmological distances, volumes, and times
This module provides a set of routines to calculate a number of cosmological quantities based on distance and time. Some are a bit complex - e.g. the volume element at a given redshift - while some, such as the conversion between flux and luminosity, are more mundane.
To calculate results for a given cosmology you create an
Astro::Cosmology object with the desired cosmological parameters,
and then call the object's methods to perform the actual calculations.
If you aren't used to objects, it may sound confusing; hopefully
the SYNOPSIS section below will help (after all, a
bit of code is worth a thousand words). The advantage of using an
object-orientated interface is that the object can carry around the
cosmological parameters, so you don't need to keep on specifying them
whenever you want to calculate anything; it also means you can write
routines which can just accept an Astro::Cosmology object rather
than all the cosmological parameters.
This module requires that the PDL distribution is installed on your machine; PDL is available from CPAN or http://pdl.perl.org/
Whilst I believe the results are accurate, I do not guarantee this. Caveat emptor, as the Romans used to say...
use Astro::Cosmology qw( :constants );
# what is the luminosity distance, in metres, for # a couple of cosmologies # my $z = sequence(10) / 10; my $eds = Astro::Cosmology->new; my $sn = Astro::Cosmology->new( matter => 0.3, lambda => 0.7 );
my $de = 1.0e6 * PARSEC * $eds->lum_dist($z); my $ds = 1.0e6 * PARSEC * $sn->lum_dist($z);
# let's change the parameters of the $sn cosmology $sn->setvars( lambda=>0.6, matter=>0.2 );
If H0 is set to 0, then the units used are the Hubble distance, volume per steradian, or time. If greater than zero, distances are measured in Mpc, volumes in Mpc^3/steradian, and time in years.
The following calculations were cobbled together from a number of sources, including the following (note that errors in the documentation or code are mine, and are not due to these authors):
Distance measures in cosmology, Hogg, D.W., astro-ph/9905116 Perlmutter et al. 1997, ApJ, 483, 565 Carroll, Press & Turner 1992, ARAA, 30, 499 Weinberg, S., sections 14.6.8, 15.3.25 Sandage, A. 1961, ApJ, 133, 355-392
In the following all values are in ``natural'' units: Hubble distance, volume, or time.
Symbols used in the following:
om is omega_matter ol is omega_lambda ok is 1 - om - ol kappa is sqrt( abs(ok) )
For cosmologies with no lambda term, the luminosity distances
(dl) are calculated by the standard formulae:
empty: dl = 0.5 * z * (2+z)
flat: dl = 2 * ( 1+z - sqrt(1+z) )
otherwise: dl = (2 / (om*om)) *
( om*z + (om-2) * (sqrt(1+om*z)-1) )
For non-zero lambda cosmologies, the luminosity distance is calculated using:
closed: dl = (1+z) * sin( kappa * dc ) / kappa open: dl = (1+z) * sinh( kappa * dc ) / kappa flat: dl = (1+z) * dc
where dc is the comoving distance, calculated by numerical
integration of the following from 0 to z:
1.0 / sqrt( (1+z)^2 * (1+om*z) - z*(2+z)*ol )
The comoving distance is always calculated by numerical
integration of the above formula. The angular diameter and
proper motion distances are defined as
dl/(1+z)^2 and dl/(1+z) respectively.
If dm is the proper motion distance, then the
comoving volume vc is given by
flat: vc = dm^3 / 3
open: vc = dm * sqrt(1+ok*dm^2) - asinh(dm*kappa) /
( 2 * kappa * ok )
closed: vc = dm * sqrt(1+ok*dm^2) - asin(dm*kappa) /
( 2 * kappa * ok )
The differential comoving volume, dvc, is calculated using
the proper motion distance, dm, and the differential
proper motion distance, ddm, by
dvc = dm^2 * ddm / sqrt( 1 + ok*dm^2 )
where
ddm = dc * sqrt( 1 + abs(ok) * dm^2 )
The lookback time is calculated by integration of the following
formula from 0 to z:
1.0 / ( (1+z) * sqrt( (1+z)^2 * (1+om*z) - z*(2+z)*ol ) )
The conversion between absolute and apparent magnitudes is calculated using:
$app_mag = $abs_mag + 25 + 5 * $cosmo->lum_dist($z)->log10();
The conversion between flux and luminosity is calculated using
$lumin = FOURPI * $dl * $dl * $flux
where
$dl = $cosmo->lum_dist($z) * 1.0e8 * PARSEC
Note that these equations do not include any pass-band or evolutionary corrections.
All integrations are performed using Romberg's method, which
is an iterative scheme using progressively higher-degree
polynomial approximations. The method stops when the answer
converges (ie the absolute difference in the values from the
last two iterations is smaller than the ABSTOL
parameter, which is described in the new method).
Typically, the romberg integration scheme produces greater accuracy for smooth functions when compared to simpler methods (e.g. Simpson's method) while having little extra overhead for badly-behaved functions.
Currently the following constants are available via
use Astro::Cosmology qw( :constants ):
atan(1.0,1.0) [this is in uppercase, whatever
this document may say]
Please do not use this feature, as it will be removed when an 'Astronomy constants' is created - e.g. see the astroconst package at http://clavelina.as.arizona.edu/astroconst/ .
This document uses the $object->func(...) syntax throughout.
If you prefer the func($object,...) style, then you need to
import the functions:
use Astro::Cosmology qw( :Func );
Most functions have two names; a short one and a (hopefully) more
descriptive one, such as pmot_dist() and proper_motion_distance().
Most of the routines below include a sig: line in their documentation.
This is an attempt to say how they
`thread' (in the PDL sense of the word).
So, for routines like lum_dist - which have a sig line of
dl() = $cosmo->lum_dist( z() ) - the return value has the
same format as the input $z value; supply a scalar, get a scalar back,
send in a piddle and get a piddle of the same dimensions back.
For routines like abs_mag - with a sig line of
absmag() = $cosmo->abs_mag( appmag(), z() ) - you can thread over
either of the two input values,
in this case the apparent magnitude and redshift.
my $cosmo = Astro::Cosmology->new(
matter => 0.3, lambda => 0.7 );
my $cosmo = Astro::Cosmology->new(
{ matter => 0.3, lambda => 0.7 } );
Create the object with the required cosmological parameters. Case does not matter and you can use the minimum number of letters which remain unique (the parsing is done by the PDL::Options module).
The options can be specified directly as a list - as shown in the first example above - or in a hash reference - as shown in the second example. You can not mix the two forms within a single call. The options are:
OMEGA_MATTER or MATTER - default 1.0 OMEGA_LAMBDA or LAMBDA - default 0.0 H0 or HO - default 50.0 ABSTOL - default 1.0e-5
If H0 is set to 0, then answers are returned in units of the Hubble distance, volume, or time, otherwise in Mpc, Mpc^3/steradian, or years.
ABSTOL (absolute tolerance) is used as a convergence criteria when
integrating functions as well as whether values are close enough to 0.
You should not have to worry about it.
print "Version is " . Astro::Cosmology->version . "\n";
if ( $cosmo->version > 0.9 ) {
do_something_interesting();
}
Returns the version number of the Astro::Cosmolgy module as a string. This method is not exported, so it has to be called using either of the two methods shown above.
print $cosmo;
Returns a string representation of the object. The operator ``'' is
overloaded by this function, so that print $cosmo gives a
readable answer.
$cosmo->setvars( matter => 0.3, lambda => 0.7 );
Change the cosmological parameters of the current object. The options are the same as for new.
$cosmo->omega_matter( 1.0 ); my $omega = $cosmo->omega_matter;
If supplied with an argument, sets the value of Omega_matter.
Returns the current value of the parameter.
$cosmo->omega_lambda( 0.8 ); my $lambda = $cosmo->omega_lambda;
If supplied with an argument, sets the value of Omega_lambda.
Returns the current value of the parameter.
$cosmo->h0( 75 ); my $cosmo->$h0 = h0;
If supplied with an argument, sets the value of H0.
Returns the current value of the parameter.
sig: dl() = $cosmo->lum_dist( z() )
my $dl = $cosmo->lum_dist( $z );
returns the luminosity distance, for a given redshift, $z,
for the current cosmology.
sig: da() = $cosmo->adiam_dist( z() )
my $da = $cosmo->adiam_dist( $z );
returns the angular diameter distance, for a given redshift, $z,
for the current cosmology.
sig: dm() = $cosmo->pmot_dist( z() )
my $dm = $cosmo->pmot_dist( $z );
returns the proper motion distance, for a given redshift, $z,
for the current cosmology.
sig: dc() = $cosmo->comov_dist( z() )
my $dc = $cosmo->comov_dist( $z );
returns the line-of-sight comoving distance, for a given redshift,
$z, for the current cosmology.
sig: dv() = $cosmo->comov_vol( z() )
my $dv = $cosmo->comov_vol( $z );
returns the comoving volume out to a given redshift,
$z, for the current cosmology. Does not work if
omega_matter and omega_lambda are both 0.0.
sig: ddv() = $cosmo->dcomov_vol( z() )
my $ddv = $cosmo->dcomov_vol( $z );
returns the differential comoving volume at a given redshift,
$z, for the current cosmology. Does not work if
omega_matter and omega_lambda are both 0.0.
sig: t() = $cosmo->lookback_time( zmax() ) sig: t() = $cosmo->lookback_time( zmin(), zmax() )
my $delta_t = $cosmo->lookback_time( [$zmin,] $zmax );
Returns the lookback time between $zmin and $zmax. If
$zmin is not supplied it defaults to 0.0.
sig: absmag() = $cosmo->abs_mag( appmag(), z() )
my $absolute_mag = $cosmo->abs_mag( $apparent_mag, $z );
Returns the absolute magnitude - excluding K and evolutionary corrections - for the given apparent magnitude.
sig: appmag() = $cosmo->app_mag( absmag(), z() )
my $apparent_mag = $cosmo->app_mag( $absolute_mag, $z );
Returns the apparent magnitude for a given absolute magnitude. As with abs_mag, the K- and evolutionary-corrections are left up to the user.
sig: lumin() = $cosmo->luminosity( flux(), z() )
my $lumin = $cosmo->luminosity( $flux, $z );
Returns the luminosity of a source of a given flux. As with abs_mag, the K- and evolutionary-corrections are left up to the user.
The spatial units of the flux must be cm^-2, so
a flux in erg/cm^2/s will be converted into
a luminosity in erg/s.
sig: flux() = $cosmo->flux( lumin(), z() )
my $flux = $cosmo->flux( $lumin, $z );
Returns the flux of a source of a given luminosity.
As with abs_mag, the K- and evolutionary-corrections are left
up to the user.
The spatial units of the flux is cm^-2, so
a luminosity in erg/s will be converted into
a flux in erg/cm^2/s.
Add ability to request a particular unit; for example
have $cosmo->lum_dist() return cm rather than
Mpc.
Add the ability to use Pen's approximations (``Analytical Fit to the Luminosity Distance for Flat Cosmologies with a Cosmological Constant'', 1999, ApJS, 120, 49).
There is currently no method to calculate the age of the universe at a given redshift.
Thanks to Brad Holden for trying out early versions of this module and for providing some of the test code.
The cosmology routines make use of code based on routines from
NUMERICAL METHODS: FORTRAN Programs, (c) John H. Mathews 1994 NUMERICAL METHODS for Mathematics, Science and Engineering, 2nd Ed, 1992 Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 07632, U.S.A.
The ``Integration Technique'' section of the documentation is based on that from from the Math::Integral::Romberg module by Eric Boesch (available on CPAN).
PDL, the Math::Integral::Romberg manpage.
Copyright (C) Douglas Burke <djburke @ cpan.org> 1999, 2000, 2001.
All rights reserved. There is no warranty. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.