We study the ability of future weak lensing (WL) surveys to constrain primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type. We use a large ensemble of simulated WL maps with survey specifications relevant to Euclid and LSST. The simulations assume Cold Dark Matter cosmologies that vary certain parameters around fiducial values: the non-Gaussianity parameter f_NL, the matter density parameter Omega_m, the amplitude of the matter power spectrum sigma_8, the spectral index of the primordial power spectrum n_s, and the dark-energy equation-of-state parameter w_0. We assess the sensitivity of the cosmic shear correlation functions, the third-order aperture mass statistics, and the abundance of shear peaks to these parameters. We find that each of the considered probes provides unmarginalized constraints of Delta f_NL ~ 20 on f_NL. Marginalized constraints from any individual WL probe are much weaker due to strong correlations between parameters. However, the parameter errors can be substantially reduced by combining information from different WL probes. Combining all WL probes yields the following marginal (68% confidence level) uncertainties: Delta f_NL ~ 50, Delta Omega_m ~ 0.002, Delta sigma_8 ~ 0.004, Delta n_s ~ 0.007, and Delta w_0 ~ 0.03. We examine the bias induced by neglecting f_NL on the constraints on the other parameters. We find sigma_8 and w_0 to be the most affected. Moreover, neglecting non-Gaussianity leads to a severe underestimation of the uncertainties in the other cosmological parameters.
Primordial non-Gaussianity is a potentially powerful discriminant of the physical mechanisms that generated the cosmological fluctuations observed today. Any detection of non-Gaussianity would have profound implications for our understanding of cosmic structure formation. In this paper, we review past and current efforts in the search for primordial non-Gaussianity in the large scale structure of the Universe.
Primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) create a large squeezed-type non-Gaussianity in tensor perturbation, which generates non-Gaussian temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We for the first time derive an observational constraint on such a tensor non-Gaussianity from observed CMB maps. Analyzing temperature maps of the WMAP 7-year data, we find that such a tensor non-Gaussianity is consistent with zero. This gives an upper bound on PMF strength smoothed on $1 ~ {\rm Mpc}$ as $B_{1 ~ \rm Mpc} < 3.1 ~{\rm nG}$ at $95%$ C.L.
The merger rate of primordial black holes depends on their initial clustering. In the absence of primordial non-Gaussianity correlating short and large-scales, primordial black holes are distributed à la Poisson at the time of their formation. However, primordial non-Gaussianity of the local-type may correlate primordial black holes on large-scales. We show that future experiments looking for CMB $μ$-distortion would test the hypothesis of initial primordial black hole clustering induced by local non-Gaussianity, while existing limits already show that significant non-Gaussianity is necessary …
We derive a formula for the halo/galaxy bispectrum on the basis of the integrated Perturbation Theory (iPT). In addition to the gravity-induced non-Gaussianity, we consider the non-Gaussianity of the primordial curvature perturbations, and investigate in detail the effect of such primordial non-Gaussianity on the large-scale halo/galaxy bispectrum. In iPT, the effects of primordial non-Gaussianity are wholly encapsulated in the linear (primordial) polyspectra, and we systematically calculate the contributions to the large-scale behaviors arising from the three types of primordial bispectrum (l…
We study the halo mass function in the presence of the kurtosis type of primordial non-Gaussianity. The kurtosis corresponds to the trispectrum as defined in Fourier space. The primordial trispectrum is commonly characterized by two parameters, $τ_{\rm NL}$ and $g_{\rm NL}$. As applications of the derived non-Gaussian mass function, we consider the effect on the abundance of void structure, the effect on early star formation and on formation of the most massive object at high redshift. We show that by comparing the effects of primordial non-Gaussianity on cluster abundance with that on void ab…
Study of primordial non-Gaussianity $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ and $g_{\mathrm{NL}}$ with the cross-correlations between the scalar-induced gravitational waves and the cosmic microwave background
Here we review the present status of modelling of and searching for primordial non-Gaussianity of cosmological perturbations. After introducing the models for non-Gaussianity generation during inflation, we discuss the search for non-Gaussian signatures in the Cosmic Microwave Background and in the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe.
Several bright and massive galaxy candidates at high redshifts have been recently observed by the James Webb Space Telescope. Such early massive galaxies seem difficult to reconcile with standard $Λ$ Cold Dark Matter model predictions. We discuss under which circumstances such observed massive galaxy candidates can be explained by introducing primordial non-Gaussianity in the initial conditions of the cosmological perturbations.
Angular bispectrum and trispectrum of scalar-induced gravitational waves: all contributions from primordial non-Gaussianity $f_\mathrm{NL}$ and $g_\mathrm{NL}$
We describe a general procedure for using number counts of any object to constrain the probability distribution of the primordial fluctuations, allowing for generic weak non-Gaussianity. We apply this procedure to use limits on the abundance of primordial black holes and dark matter ultracompact minihalos (UCMHs) to characterize the allowed statistics of primordial fluctuations on very small scales. We present constraints on the power spectrum and the amplitude of the skewness for two different families of non-Gaussian distributions, distinguished by the relative importance of higher moments. …
We study the non-Gaussian features in single-field slow-roll inflationary scenario where inflation is preceded by a radiation era. In such a scenario both bispectrum and trispectrum non-Gaussianities are enhanced. Interestingly, the trispectrum in this scenario does not depend up on the slow-roll parameters and thus $τ_{NL}$ is larger than $f_{NL}$ which can be a signature of such a pre-inflationary radiation era.
Primordial black holes may owe their origin to the small-scale enhancement of the comoving curvature perturbation generated during inflation. Their mass fraction at formation is markedly sensitive to possible non-Gaussianities in such large, but rare fluctuations. We discuss a path-integral formulation which provides the exact mass fraction of primordial black holes at formation in the presence of non-Gaussianity. Through a couple of classes of models, one based on single-field inflation and the other on spectator fields, we show that restricting to a Gaussian statistics may lead to severe ina…
Enormous information about interactions is contained in the non-Gaussianities of the primordial curvature perturbations, which are essential to break the degeneracy of inflationary models. We study the primordial bispectra for G-inflation models predicting both sharp and broad peaks in the primordial scalar power spectrum. We calculate the non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ in the equilateral limit and squeezed limit numerically, and confirm that the consistency relation holds in these models. Even though $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ becomes large at the scales before the power spectrum reaches …
Anisotropic stress perturbations induced by primordial Gaussian vector fields create non-Gaussianity in curvature perturbations. We found that such non-Gaussianity closely resembles the local-type non-Gaussianity parametrized by $f_{\rm NL}$, and generates scale-dependent bias in large-scale structures. We also found a simple relationship between the scale-dependent bias and the power spectrum of the vector fields. When the vector fields are interpreted as primordial magnetic fields, the effective $f_{\rm NL}$ is shown to be always negative. The scale-dependent bias provides a new approach to …
We calculate tensor bispectrum in a theory of massive tensor gravitons which predicts blue-tilted and largely amplified primordial gravitational waves. We find that a new 3-point interaction can produce a larger tensor bispectrum than the conventional one from general relativity. The bispectrum peaks at the squeezed configuration and its slope towards the squeezed limit is determined by the graviton mass. This squeezed tensor bispectrum may be observed as the quadrupolar modulation of the tensor power spectrum by interferometers.
We study the scale dependent bias of the halo power spectrum arising from primordial non-Gaussianity. We present an analytic result of the halo bias including up to the trispectrum contributions. We find the scale dependent bias opens a new possibility of probing the relation between the non-linearity parameters $\fnl$ and $\tnl$.
A significant abundance of primordial black hole (PBH) dark matter can be produced by curvature perturbations with power spectrum $Δ_ζ^2(k_{\mathrm{peak}})\sim \mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$ at small scales, associated with the generation of observable scalar induced gravitational waves (SIGWs). However, the primordial non-Gaussianity may play a non-negligible role, which is not usually considered. We propose two inflation models that predict double peaks of order $\mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$ in the power spectrum and study the effects of primordial non-Gaussianity on PBHs and SIGWs. This model is driven by …
Loop quantum cosmology (LQC) provides a resolution of the classical big bang singularity in the deep Planck era. The evolution, prior to the usual slow-roll inflation, naturally generates excited states at the onset of the slow-roll inflation. It is expected that these quantum gravitational effects could leave its fingerprints on the primordial perturbation spectrum and non-Gaussianity, and lead to some observational evidences in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). While the impact of the quantum effects on the primordial perturbation spectrum has been already studied and constrained by cur…
We investigate future constraints on primordial local-type non-Gaussianity from 21 cm angular power spectrum from minihalos. We particularly focus on the trispectrum of primordial curvature perturbations which are characterized by the non-linearity parameters $τ_{\rm NL}$ and $g_{\rm NL}$. We show that future measurements of minihalo 21 cm angular power spectrum can probe these non-linearity parameters with an unprecedented precision of $τ_{\rm NL}\sim30$ and $g_{\rm NL}\sim2\times10^3$ for Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and $τ_{\rm NL}\sim0.6$ and $g_{\rm NL}\sim8\times10^2$ for Fast Fourier Tr…
Isotropy, anisotropies and non-Gaussianity in the scalar-induced gravitational-wave background: diagrammatic approach for primordial non-Gaussianity up to arbitrary order
Hangzhou Normal University(杭州师范大学);Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院高能物理研究所);National Astronomical Observatory of Japan(日本国立天文台);SOKENDAI(综合研究大学院大学);China Agricultural University(中国农业大学);KEK(高能加速器研究机构);The University of Tokyo(东京大学)
When dealing with observables, one needs to generalize the bias relation between the observed galaxy fluctuation field to the underlying matter distribution in a gauge-invariant way. We provide such relation at second-order in perturbation theory adopting the local Eulerian bias model and starting from the observationally motivated uniform-redshift gauge. Our computation includes the presence of primordial non-Gaussianity. We show that large scale-dependent relativistic effects in the Eulerian bias arise independently from the presence of some primordial non-Gaussianity. Furthermore, the Euler…
We discuss quantum gravitational loop effects to observable quantities such as curvature power spectrum and primordial non-Gaussianity of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. We first review the previously shown case where one gets a time dependence for zeta-zeta correlator due to loop corrections. Then we investigate the effect of loop corrections to primordial non-Gaussianity of CMB. We conclude that, even with a single scalar inflaton, one might get a huge value for non-Gaussianity which would exceed the observed value by at least 30 orders of magnitude. Finally we discuss the conse…
We investigate primordial non-Gaussianity and dark matter isocurvature fluctuations in the modulated reheating and the curvaton scenarios. In these scenarios, large non-Gaussianity can be generated, on the other hand, depending on how dark matter is produced, too large isocurvature fluctuations can also arise, which is inconsistent with current observations. In this paper, we study this issue in a mixed scenario where the curvature fluctuations can also be produced from the inflaton fluctuations as well as those from a light scalar field such as the modulus and the curvaton. We show that primo…
We address the dual challenge of estimating deviations from Gaussianity arising in models of the Early Universe, whilst retaining information necessary to assess whether a detection of non-Gaussianity is primordial. We do this by constructing a new statistic, the bispectrum-related power spectrum, which is constructed from a map of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The estimator is optimised for primordial non-Gaussianity detection, but can also be useful in distinguishing primordial non-Gaussianity from secondary non-Gaussianity, such as may arise from unsubtracted point sources, or residuals …
We present N-body cosmological numerical simulations including a primordial non-Gaussianity in the density fluctuation field quantified by the non-linear parameter $f_{NL}$. We have used MPGRAFIC code to produce initial conditions and the Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) code RAMSES to evolve the large scale structure formation. We estimated the higher order momenta of the initial distribution of density fluctuations, investigated the redshift evolution of the non-linear power spectrum and estimated the discrepancy introduced by the primordial non-Gaussianity in the non-linear power spectrum.
Since the first limit on the (local) primordial non-Gaussianity parameter, fNL, was obtained from COBE data in 2002, observations of the CMB have been playing a central role in constraining the amplitudes of various forms of non-Gaussianity in primordial fluctuations. The current 68% limit from the 7-year WMAP data is fNL=32+/-21, and the Planck satellite is expected to reduce the uncertainty by a factor of four in a few years from now. If fNL>>1 is found by Planck with high statistical significance, all single-field models of inflation would be ruled out. Moreover, if the Planck satellite fin…
We explore the possibility of detecting primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type using weak lensing peak counts. We measure the peak abundance in sets of simulated weak lensing maps corresponding to three models f_NL={0, +100, -100}. Using survey specifications similar to those of Euclid and without assuming any knowledge of the lens and source redshifts, we find the peak functions of the non-Gaussian models with f_NL=+-100 to differ by up to 15% from the Gaussian peak function at the high-mass end. For the assumed survey parameters, the probability of fitting an f_NL=0 peak function to th…
Primordial non-Gaussianity generated in an inflationary model where inflation is preceded by a radiation era is discussed. It is shown that both bispectrum and trispectrum non-Gaussianities are enhanced due to the presence of pre-inflationary radiation era. One distinguishing feature of such a scenario is that the trispectrum non-Gaussianity is larger than the bispectrum one.
We analytically derive a more accurate formula for the power spectrum of the biased objects with the primordial non-Gaussianity parameterized not only by the non-linearity parameter fNL, but also by gNL and tauNL which characterize the trispectrum of the primordial curvature perturbations. We adopt the integrated perturbation theory which was constructed in Matsubara (2011). We discuss an inequality between fNL and tauNL in the context of the scale-dependent bias, by introducing a stochasticity parameter. We also mention higher order loop corrections into the scale-dependency of the bias param…
We know very little about primordial curvature perturbations on scales smaller than about a Mpc. Measurements of the mu-type distortion of the CMB spectrum provide the unique opportunity to probe these scales over the unexplored range from 50 to 10^4 Mpc^-1. This is a very clean probe, in that it relies only on well-understood linear evolution. We point out that correlations between mu-distortion and temperature anisotropies can be used to test Gaussianity at these very small scales. In particular the mu-T cross correlation is proportional to the very squeezed limit of the primordial bispectru…
Primordial non-Gaussianity is a sensitive probe of the inflationary era, with a number of important theoretical targets living an order of magnitude beyond the reach of current CMB constraints. Maps of the large-scale structure of the universe, in principle, have the raw statistical power to reach these targets, but the complications of nonlinear evolution are thought to present serious, if not insurmountable, obstacles to reaching these goals. In this paper, we will argue that the challenge presented by nonlinear structure formation has been overstated. The information encoded in primordial n…
We show that the ability to probe primordial non-Gaussianity with cluster counts is drastically improved by adding the excess variance of counts which contains information on the clustering. The conflicting dependences of changing the mass threshold and including primordial non-Gaussianity on the mass function and biasing indicate that the self-calibrated cluster counts well break the degeneracy between primordial non-Gaussianity and the observable-mass relation. Based on the Fisher matrix analysis, we show that the count variance improves constraints on f_NL by more than an order of magnitude…
Non-Gaussianities of dynamical origin are disentangled from primordial ones using the formalism of large deviation statistics with spherical collapse dynamics. This is achieved by relying on accurate analytical predictions for the one-point probability distribution function (PDF) and the two-point clustering of spherically-averaged cosmic densities (sphere bias). Sphere bias extends the idea of halo bias to intermediate density environments and voids as underdense regions. In the presence of primordial non-Gaussianity, sphere bias displays a strong scale dependence relevant for both high and l…
We investigate the halo bias in the case where the primordial curvature fluctuations, $Φ$, are sourced from both a Gaussian random field and a Gaussian-squared field, as $Φ({\bf x}) = ϕ({\bf x}) + ψ({\bf x})^2 - <ψ({\bf x})^2>$, so-called "ungaussiton model". We employ the peak-background split formula and find a new scale-dependence in the halo bias induced from the Gaussian-squared field.
We study the effects of gravitational lensing on the estimation of non-Gaussianity from the bispectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies. We find that the effect of lensing on the bispectrum may qualitatively be described as a smoothing of the acoustic features analogous to the temperature power spectrum. In contrast to previous results, for a Planck-like experiment which is cosmic-variance limited to L=2000, we find that lensing causes no significant degradation of our ability to constrain the non-Gaussianity amplitude fNL for both local and equilateral configu…
We present a comprehensive study of primordial fluctuations generated from G-inflation, in which the inflaton Lagrangian is of the form $K(ϕ, X)-G(ϕ, X)\Boxϕ$ with $X=-(\partialϕ)^2/2$. The Lagrangian still gives rise to second-order gravitational and scalar field equations, and thus offers a more generic class of single-field inflation than ever studied, with a richer phenomenology. We compute the power spectrum and the bispectrum, and clarify how the non-Gaussian amplitude depends upon parameters such as the sound speed. In so doing we try to keep as great generality as possible, allowing fo…
The generation of large-scale magnetic fields in inflationary cosmology is explored, in particular, in a kind of moduli inflation motivated by racetrack inflation in the context of the Type IIB string theory. In this model, the conformal invariance of the hypercharge electromagnetic fields is broken thanks to the coupling of both the scalar and pseudoscalar fields to the hypercharge electromagnetic fields. The following three cosmological observable quantities are first evaluated: The current magnetic field strength on the Hubble horizon scale, which is much smaller than the upper limit from t…
Implications of Pulsar Timing Array Data for Scalar-Induced Gravitational Waves and Primordial Black Holes: Primordial Non-Gaussianity $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ Considered
Estimators for weak lensing observables such as shear and convergence generally have non-linear corrections, which, in principle, make weak lensing power spectra sensitive to primordial non-Gaussianity. In this paper, we quantitatively evaluate these contributions for weak lensing auto- and cross-correlation power spectra, and show that they are strongly suppressed by projection effects. This is a consequence of the central limit theorem, which suppresses departures from Gaussianity when the projection reaches over several correlation lengths of the density field, L_P~55 [Mpc/h]. Furthermore, …
In this paper, we explore a detectable imprint of massive fields with integer spins $s \geq 2$, which may be predicted from string theory. It was shown that such a massive non-zero spin field can generate the squeezed primordial bispectrum which depends on the angle between the two wavenumbers. We show that considering the contribution from the massive spin-2 field, the angular dependent primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) yields a strong scale dependence in the bias parameter for the galaxy alignment, which becomes prominent at small scales. As another example of an angular dependent PNG, we als…
We consider the early Universe scenario which allows for production of non-Gaussian curvature perturbations at small scales. We study the peculiarities of a formation of primordial black holes (PBHs) connected with the non-Gaussianity. In particular, we show that PBH constraints on the values of curvature perturbation power spectrum amplitude are strongly dependent on the shape of perturbations and can significantly (by two orders of magnitude) deviate from the usual Gaussian limit ${\cal P}_ζ\lesssim 10^{-2}$. We give examples of PBH mass spectra calculations and PBH constraints for the parti…
We present a systematic study of galaxy bias in the presence of primordial non-Gaussianity in General Relativity (GR) at second order in perturbation theory. The non-linearity of the Poisson equation in GR and primordial non-Gaussianity are consistently included. We show that the inclusion of non-local primordial non-Gaussianity in addition to local non-Gaussianity is important to show the absence of the modulation of small scale clustering by the long-wavelength mode in the single field slow-roll inflation. We study the bispectrum of the relativistic galaxy density in several gauges and ident…
Evolution and abundance of the large-scale structures we observe today, such as clusters of galaxies, is sensitive to the statistical properties of dark matter primordial density fluctuations, which is assumed to follow a Gaussian probability distribution function. Within this assumption, a significant disagreement have been found between clusters counts made by Planck and their prediction when calibrated by CMB angular power spectrum. The purpose of this work is to relax the Gaussianty assumption and test if Non-Gaussianity in dark matter primordial density fluctuations, could alleviate the t…
Primordial non-Gaussianity is a potentially powerful discriminant of the physical mechanisms that generated the cosmological fluctuations observed today. Any detection of significant non-Gaussianity would thus have profound implications for our understanding of cosmic structure formation. The large scale mass distribution in the Universe is a sensitive probe of the nature of initial conditions. Recent theoretical progress together with rapid developments in observational techniques will enable us to critically confront predictions of inflationary scenarios and set constraints as competitive as…
Primordial non-Gaussianity encodes valuable information about the physics of inflation, including the spectrum of particles and interactions. Significant improvements in our understanding of non-Gaussanity beyond Planck require information from large-scale structure. The most promising approach to utilize this information comes from the scale-dependent bias of halos. For local non-Gaussanity, the improvements available are well studied but the potential for non-Gaussianity beyond the local type, including equilateral and quasi-single field inflation, is much less well understood. In this paper…
We present a new probe of primordial non-Gaussianity via the 21cm radiation from minihalos at high redshifts. We calculate the fluctuations in the brightness temperature (measured against the cosmic microwave background) of the 21cm background from minihalos containing HI at redshift \sim 6-20, and find a significant enhancement due to small non-Gaussianity with amplitude f_NL \leq 1. This enhancement can be attributed to the nonlinear bias which is strongly increased in the presence of non-Gaussianity. We show that our results are robust against changes in the assumed mass function and some p…
We study the impact of primordial non-Gaussianity on the density profile of dark matter halos by using the semi-analytical model introduced recently by Dalal {\it et al.} which relates the peaks of the initial linear density field to the final density profile of dark matter halos. Models with primordial non-Gaussianity typically produce an initial density field that differs from that produced in Gaussian models. We use the path-integral formulation of excursion set theory to calculate the non-Gaussian corrections to the peak profile and derive the statistics of the peaks of non-Gaussian densit…
If dark energy and dark matter interact via exchange of energy and momentum, then this may affect the galaxy power spectrum on large scales. When this happens, it may be degenerate with the signal from primordial non-Gaussianity via scale-dependent bias. We consider a class of interacting dark energy models and show that the matter overdensity is scale-dependent on large scales. We estimate the effective non-Gaussianity arising from the large-scale effects of interaction in the dark sector. The signal of dark sector interaction can be disentangled from a primordial non-Gaussian signal by measu…
The large-scale clustering of galaxies can serve as a probe of primordial non-Gaussianity in the Universe competitive with the anisotropies of the CMB. Here, we present improved theoretical predictions which include an important, previously overlooked correction to the bias. We demonstrate that the new predictions are able to reproduce the results of N-body simulations, explaining the significant departures seen from previous theoretical results. These refined predictions open the way to accurate constraints on primordial physics with large-scale structure surveys.
We study the signature of primordial non-Gaussianity imprinted on the power spectrum of the 21-cm line differential brightness temperature during dark ages. Employing the perturbative treatment of gravitational clustering, we quantitatively estimate the effects of the non-Gaussian and one-loop corrections on the 21-cm power spectrum. The potential impact of the use of the 21-cm power spectrum for the constraint on local-type primordial non-Gaussianity is investigated based on the Fisher matrix analysis. Our results show that the 21-cm power spectrum for an array with a baseline of several tens…
We measure two higher-order power spectra involving weighted cubic and squared temperature anisotropy maps from WMAP 5-year data to study the trispectrum generated by primordial non-Gaussianity. Using these measurements combined with Gaussian and noise simulations, we constrain the cubic order non-Gaussianity parameters τ_{NL}, and g_{NL}. With V+W-band data out to l_{max}=600, we find -7.4 < g_{\rm NL}/10^5 < 8.2 and -0.6 < τ_{\rm NL}/10^4 < 3.3 improving the previous COBE-based limit on τ_{\rm NL} < 10^8 nearly four orders of magnitude with WMAP. We find that the ratio of trispectrum to bisp…