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A bstract We consider gravitational sound wave signals produced by a first-order phase transition in a theory with a generic renormalizable thermal effective potential of power law form. We find the frequency and amplitude of the gravitational wave signal can be related in a straightforward manner to the parameters of the thermal effective potential. This leads to a general conclusion; if the mass of the dark Higgs is less than 1% of the dark Higgs vacuum expectation value, then the gravitational wave signal will be unobservable at all upcoming and planned gravitational wave observatories. Although the understanding of gravitational wave production at cosmological phase transitions is still evolving, we expect this result to be robust. 

Abstract Dark matter annihilation in dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies near the Milky Way has the potential to produce a detectable signature in gamma-rays. The amplitude of this signal depends on the dark matter density in a dSph, the dark matter particle mass, the number of photons produced in an annihilation, and the possibly velocity-dependent dark matter annihilation cross section. We argue that if the amplitude of the annihilation signal from multiple dSphs can be measured, it is possible to determine the velocity-dependence of the annihilation cross section. However, we show that doing so will require improved constraints on the dSph density profiles, including control of possible sources of systematic uncertainty. Making reasonable assumptions about future improvements, we make forecasts for the ability of current and future experiments — including Fermi, CTA and AMEGO — to constrain the dark matter annihilation velocity dependence. 

Abstract The luminosity function of active galactic nuclei (AGN) probes the history of supermassive black hole assembly and growth across cosmic time. To mitigate selection biases, we present a consistent analysis of the AGN luminosity functions (LFs) derived for both X-ray and mid-infrared (MIR) selected AGN in the XMM-Large Scale Structure field. There are 4268 AGN used to construct the MIR luminosity function (IRLF) and 3427 AGN used to construct the X-ray luminosity function (XLF), providing the largest census of the AGN population out to z = 4 in both bands with significant reduction in uncertainties. We are able for the first time to see the knee of the IRLF at z > 2 and observe a flattening of the faint-end slope as redshift increases. The bolometric luminosity density, a proxy for the cosmic black hole accretion history, computed from our LFs, shows a peak at z ≈ 2.25, consistent with recent estimates of the peak in the star formation rate density (SFRD). However, at earlier epochs, the AGN luminosity density is flatter than the SFRD. If confirmed, this result suggests that the build up of black hole mass outpaces the growth of stellar mass in high-mass systems at z ≳ 2.5. This is consistent with observations of redshift z ∼ 6 quasars that lie above the local M − σ relationship. The luminosity density derived from the IRLF is higher than that from the XLF at all redshifts. This is consistent with the dominant role of obscured AGN activity in the cosmic growth of supermassive black holes.