We investigate the enhancement of the curvature perturbations in a single-field slow-roll inflation with a spectator scalar field kinetically coupled to the inflaton. The coupling term with a periodic function of inflaton triggers the exponential growth of the spectator field perturbations, which indirectly amplifies the curvature perturbations to produce a sizable abundance of primordial black holes (PBHs). This scenario is found to be insensitive to the inflationary background. We study two distinct populations of the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) produced in this scenario, i.e., induced by the scalar perturbations during the inflationary era and the radiation-dominated era, respectively. With the appropriate choices of parameter space, we consider two PBH mass windows of great interest. One is PBHs of masses $\mathcal{O}(10^{-12})M_\odot$ that can be a vital component of dark matter, and the predicted total energy spectrum of SGWB shows a unique profile and is detectable by LISA and Taiji. The other is PBHs of masses $\mathcal{O}(10)M_\odot$ which can provide consistent explanation for the LIGO-Virgo events. More interestingly, the predicted gravitational wave signal from the radiation-dominated era may account for the NANOGrav results.
In this paper, we propose a model in which a spectator field non-minimally couples to an inflaton field and the power spectrum of the perturbation of the spectator field at small scales is dramatically enhanced by the sharp feature in the form of non-minimal coupling. At or after the end of inflation, the perturbation of the spectator field is converted into curvature perturbation and leads to the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs). Furthermore, for example, we consider three phenomenological models for generating PBHs with mass function peaked at $\sim10^{-12}M_\odot$ and representing…
We study production of primordial black holes (PBHs) during an early matter-dominated phase. As a source of perturbations, we consider either the inflaton field with a running spectral index or a spectator field that has a blue spectrum and thus provides a significant contribution to the PBH production at small scales. First, we identify the region of the parameter space where a significant fraction of the observed dark matter can be produced, taking into account all current PBH constraints. Then, we present constraints on the amplitude and spectral index of the spectator field as a function o…
We study the evolution of light spectator fields in an asymmetric polynomial potential. During inflation, stochastic fluctuations displace the spectator field from the global minimum of its potential, populating the false vacuum state and thereby allowing for the formation of false vacuum bubbles. By using a lattice simulation, we show that these bubbles begin to contract once they re-enter the horizon and, if sufficiently large, collapse into black holes. This process generally results in the formation of primordial black holes, which, due to the specific shape of their mass function, are con…
Nowadays cosmological inflation is the most accepted mechanism to explain the primordial seeds that led to the structure formation observed in the Universe. Current observations are in well agreement to initial adiabatic conditions, which imply that single-scalar-field inflation may be enough to describe the early Universe. However, there are several scenarios where the existence of more than a single field could be relevant during this period, for instance, the situation where the so-called spectator is present. Within the spectator scenario we can find the possibility that an ultra-light sca…
It has been argued that oscillatory features from spectator fields in the primordial power spectrum could be a probe of alternatives to inflation. In this work, we soften this claim by showing that the frequency and amplitude dependence of the patterns appearing in these scenarios could be mimicked by field interactions during inflation. The degeneracy of the frequency holds for the $n$-point correlation functions, while the degeneracy of the amplitude is broken at the level of non-gaussianities.
Future galaxy surveys promise to probe local primordial non-Gaussianity at unprecedented precision, $σ(f_{\rm NL}) \lesssim 1$. We study the implications for multifield inflation by considering spectator models, where inflation is driven by the inflaton field, but the primordial perturbations are (partially) generated by a second, spectator field. We perform an MCMC likelihood analysis using Planck data to study quantitative predictions for $f_{\rm NL}$ and other observables for a range of such spectator models. We show that models where the primordial perturbations are dominated by the specta…
One-Loop Tensor Power Spectrum from a Non-Canonical Spectator Field during Inflation
Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, UCAS（杭州高等研究院，中国科学院大学）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院理论物理研究所）
With the enhancement mechanism provided by a noncanonical kinetic term with a peak, the amplitude of primordial curvature perturbations can be enhanced by seven orders of magnitude at small scales while keeping to be consistent with observations at large scales. The peak function and inflationary potential are not restricted in this mechanism. We use the Higgs model and T-model as examples to show how abundant primordial black hole dark matter with different mass and scalar induced secondary gravitational waves with different peak frequency are generated. We also show that the enhanced power s…
The inflationary 1-loop tensor power spectrum from an excited spectator scalar field is calculated. Recent studies on primordial black holes suggest that the inflationary curvature perturbation may be huge on small scales. An enhanced curvature perturbation may arise from a drastic enhancement of spectator scalar field fluctuations. In this letter, using the in-in formalism, we calculate 1-loop quantum corrections to primordial gravitational waves by such an excited spectator field with a sharp peak in momentum space. We find scale-invariant loop corrections in this full quantum setup, in cont…
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 …
We study the statistics of the primordial power spectrum in models where massless gauge vectors are coupled to the inflaton, paying special attention to observational implications of having fundamental or effective horizons embedded in a bath of infrared fluctuations. As quantum infrared modes cross the horizon, they classicalize and build a background vector field. We find that the vector experiences a statistical precession phenomenon. Implications for primordial correlators and the interpretation thereof are considered. Firstly, we show how in general two, not only one, additional observabl…
Inspired by the chromo-natural inflation model of Adshead&Wyman, we reshape its scalar content to relax the tension with current observational bounds. Besides an inflaton, the setup includes a spectator sector in which an axion and SU(2) gauge fields are coupled via a Chern-Simons-type term. The result is a viable theory endowed with an alternative production mechanism for gravitational waves during inflation. The gravitational wave signal sourced by the spectator fields can be much larger than the contribution from standard vacuum fluctuations, it is distinguishable from the latter on the bas…
Primordial black hole clustering from spectator fields for interpreting the JWST observations
Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台暗物质与空间天文重点实验室）；School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学天文与空间科学学院）；Department of Physics, College of Sciences, Northeastern University（东北大学理学院物理系）
It has been shown that the observed dark matter (DM) abundance can be produced by amplification of quantum fluctuations of an energetically subdominant scalar field during inflation. In this paper, we study the robustness of this "spectator dark matter" scenario to changes in the expansion rate of the early Universe. Compared to the standard radiation-dominated (RD) scenario, two aspects will change: the DM energy density evolves differently as a function of time, and also the DM isocurvature perturbation spectrum will be different from the result in the RD case. These can impose sizeable chan…
We investigate multi-field signatures of the nonminimally coupled supersymmetric Higgs inflation-type cosmological scenario, focusing on the two-field Higgs-lepton inflation model as a concrete example. This type of inflationary model is realized in a theory beyond the Standard Model embedded in supergravity with a noncanonical Kähler potential. We employ the backward $δN$ formalism to compute cosmological observables, including the scalar and tensor power spectra, the spectral indices, the tensor-to-scalar ratio and the local-type nonlinearity parameter. The trajectory of the inflaton is cont…
We study the primordial scalar and tensor perturbations in inflation scenario involving a spectator dilaton field. In our setup, the rolling spectator dilaton causes a tachyonic instability of gauge fields, leading to a copious production of gauge fields in the superhorizon regime, which generates additional scalar and tensor perturbations through gravitational interactions. Our prime concern is the possibility to enhance the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ relative to the standard result, while satisfying the observational constraints. To this end, we allow the dilaton field to be stabilized befor…
We show that the observed primordial perturbations can be entirely sourced by a light spectator scalar field with a quartic potential, akin to the Higgs boson, provided that the field is sufficiently displaced from vacuum during inflation. The framework relies on the indirect modulation of reheating, which is implemented without any direct coupling between the spectator field and the inflaton and does not require non-renormalisable interactions. The scenario gives rise to local non-Gaussianity with $f_{\rm NL}\simeq 5$ as the typical signal. As an example model where the indirect modulation me…
It is commonly assumed that the stochastic background of gravitational waves on cosmological scales follows an almost scale-independent power spectrum, as generically predicted by the inflationary paradigm. However, it is not inconceivable that the spectrum could have strongly scale-dependent features, generated, e.g., via transient dynamics of spectator axion-gauge fields during inflation. Using the temperature and polarisation maps from the \textit{Planck} and BICEP/Keck datasets, we search for such features, taking the example of a log-normal bump in the primordial tensor spectrum at CMB sc…
We study the stochastic distribution of spectator fields predicted in different slow-roll inflation backgrounds. Spectator fields have a negligible energy density during inflation but may play an important dynamical role later, even giving rise to primordial density perturbations within our observational horizon today. During de-Sitter expansion there is an equilibrium solution for the spectator field which is often used to estimate the stochastic distribution during slow-roll inflation. However slow roll only requires that the Hubble rate varies slowly compared to the Hubble time, while the t…
A new model of thermal inflation is introduced, in which the mass of the thermal waterfall field is dependent on a light spectator scalar field. Using the $δN$ formalism, the "end of inflation" scenario is investigated in order to ascertain whether this model is able to produce the dominant contribution to the primordial curvature perturbation. A multitude of constrains are considered so as to explore the parameter space, with particular emphasis to key observational signatures. For natural values of the parameters, the model is found to yield a sharp prediction for the scalar spectral index a…
We discuss mixed inflaton and spectator field models where both the fields are responsible for the observed density fluctuations. We use the current CMB data to constrain both the general mixed model as well as some specific representative scenarios, and collate the results with the model predictions for the CMB spectral $μ$ distortion. We find the posterior distribution of $μ$ using MCMC chains and demonstrate that the standard single-field inflaton model typically predicts $μ\sim 10^{-8}$ with a relatively narrow distribution, whereas for the mixed models, the distribution turns out to be mu…
We investigate the possibility that the primordial perturbation has two sources: the inflaton and a spectator field, which is not dynamically important during inflation but which after inflation can contribute to the curvature perturbation. The recent Planck results on the power spectrum and non-Gaussianity allow us to put constraints on such mixed models. In the generic case, where no specific model for the inflaton or the spectator is assumed, one finds that in the mixed scenario it is possible to have a large trispectrum with tau_NL >> (f_NL)^2. The constraints on inflation models in the pl…
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…
We study the contribution of spectator massive scalar fields to the inflationary density perturbations through the universal gravitational coupling. We find that such contribution has several remarkable properties: it does not decrease as the mass of the spectator field increases; it has a significant size and cannot be turned off by any adjustable parameters; and it applies to all massive scalars existed during inflation, making the overall effect unexpectedly large. As a result, the primordial density perturbations are anomalously sensitive to the high energy physics.
In the framework of axion-gauge fields models, primordial gravitational wave perturbations could be generated during the inflationary epoch from not only the quantum fluctuation of gravitons but also the dynamics of hidden gauge fields coupled with an axion field. We investigate the evolution of the axion and the gauge field of an additional hidden SU(2) gauge group and those energy densities during and after the inflation. We show that the extra radiation component of the hidden gauge bosons produced by the axion decay can be sizable in the cases where the gauge fields sourced additional grav…
We study one-loop corrections to the two-point correlation function of tensor perturbations in primordial cosmology induced by massless spectator matter fields. Using the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism in cosmological perturbation theory, we employ dimensional regularization and cutoff regularization to study the finite quantum corrections at one-loop arising from isocurvature fields of the massless scalar, fermion and abelian gauge field which are freely propagating on the FRW spacetime. For all cases, we find a logarithmic running of the form $\frac{C}{q^3} \, \frac{H^4}{M^4_p} \log \left( \fra…
In the context of string theory, several conjectural conditions have been proposed for low energy effective field theories not to be in swampland, the UV-incomplete class. The recent ones represented by the de Sitter and trans-Planckian censorship conjectures in particular seem to conflict with the inflation paradigm of the early universe. We first point out that scenarios where inflation is repeated several times (multi-phase inflation) can be easily compatible with these conjectures. In other words, we relax the constraint on the single inflation for the large scale perturbations to only con…
We investigate the clustering property of primordial black holes (PBHs) in a scenario where PBHs can explain the existence of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at high redshifts. We analyze the angular correlation function of PBHs originating from fluctuations of a spectator field which can be regarded as a representative model to explain SMBHs without conflicting with the constraint from the spectral distortion of cosmic microwave background. We argue that the clustering property of PBHs can give a critical test for models with PBHs as the origin of SMBHs and indeed show that the spatial distr…
It has recently been shown that the presence of a spectator pseudoscalar field, coupled to photons through a Chern-Simons term, can amplify the primordial tensor spectrum without observationally disrupting the primordial scalar spectrum. The amplification occurs due to an instability that develops for the vector fields. We consider the extension of previous studies to account for the contribution arising from an inhomogeneous vector background which is generated prior to the onset of inflation. We find that there may be contributions in which net momentum is transferred between the inhomogeneo…
We study the observational signatures of two-form field in the inflationary cosmology. In our setup a two-form field is kinetically coupled to a spectator scalar field and generates sizable gravitational waves and smaller curvature perturbation. We find that the sourced gravitational waves have a distinct signature: they are always statistically anisotropic and their spherical moments are non-zero for hexadecapole and tetrahexacontapole, while the quadrupole moment vanishes. Since their amplitude can reach $\mathcal{O}(10^{-3})$ in the tensor-to-scalar ratio, we expect this novel prediction wi…
This thesis begins with an introduction to the state of the art of modern Cosmology. The field of Particle Cosmology is then introduced and explored, in particular with regard to the study of cosmological inflation. We then introduce a new model of Thermal Inflation, in which the mass of the thermal waterfall field responsible for the inflation is dependent on a light spectator scalar field. The model contains a variety of free parameters, two of which control the power of the coupling term and the non-renormalizable term. We use the $δN$ formalism to investigate the "end of inflation" and mod…
We study the dynamics of a spectator Higgs field which stochastically evolves during inflation onto near-critical trajectories on the edge of a runaway instability. We show that its fluctuations do not produce primordial black holes (PBHs) in sufficient abundance to be the dark matter, nor do they produce significant second-order gravitational waves. First we show that the Higgs produces larger fluctuations on CMB scales than on PBH scales, itself a no-go for a viable PBH scenario. Then we track the superhorizon perturbations nonlinearly through reheating using the delta N formalism to show th…
Background-independent one-loop renormalization of tensor and scalar primordial spectra
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM)（马德里自治大学）；Instituto de Física Teórica UAM-CSIC（马德里自治大学-西班牙国家科学研究委员会理论物理研究所）；Sapienza Università di Roma（罗马智慧大学）；INFN sezione di Roma（罗马意大利国家核物理研究所）
We investigate the possibility of measuring the primordial gravitational wave (GW) signal across 21 decades in frequencies, using the cosmic microwave background (CMB), pulsar timing arrays (PTA), and laser and atomic interferometers. For the CMB and PTA experiments we consider the LiteBIRD mission and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), respectively. For the interferometers we consider space mission proposals including the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), the Big Bang Observer (BBO), the Deci-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (DECIGO), the $μ$Ares experiment, the Dec…
We revisit the idea of generating primordial anisotropies at the end of inflation in models of inflation with gauge fields. To be specific we consider the charged hybrid inflation model where the waterfall field is charged under a U(1) gauge field so the surface of end of inflation is controlled both by inflaton and the gauge fields. Using delta N formalism properly we find that the anisotropies generated at the end of inflation from the gauge field fluctuations are exponentially suppressed on cosmological scales. This is because the gauge field evolves exponentially during inflation while in …
We investigate the non-perturbatively generated axion-like particle (ALP) potential, involving fermions in the dark sector that couple to the ALP, in an early cosmological inflationary stage with the ALP being a spectator field. The potential here deviates from the standard cosine nature due to the presence of the two fermion masses $m_u$ and $m_d$ which couple to the ALP. The ALP is a spectator field during inflation but it starts to oscillate and dominates the energy density of the universe after inflation ends, thereby sourcing isocurvature perturbations, while standard curvature fluctuatio…
