163 research outputs found
Primordial Black Holes from Inflation and non-Gaussianity
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 inaccuracies in the
estimate of the mass fraction as well as on the clustering properties of the
primordial black holes.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, v2: matching published versio
Stochastic gravitational-wave background at 3G detectors as a smoking gun for microscopic dark matter relics
Microscopic horizonless relics could form in the early universe either
directly through gravitational collapse or as stable remnants of the Hawking
evaporation of primordial black holes. In both cases they completely or
partially evade cosmological constraints arising from Hawking evaporation and
in certain mass ranges can explain the entirety of the dark matter. We
systematically explore the stochastic gravitational-wave background associated
with the formation of microscopic dark-matter relics in various scenarios,
adopting an agnostic approach and discussing the limitations introduced by
existing constraints, possible ways to circumvent the latter, and expected
astrophysical foregrounds. Interestingly, this signal is at most marginally
detectable with current interferometers but could be detectable by
third-generations instruments such as the Einstein Telescope, strengthening
their potential as discovery machines.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Lensing constraints on ultradense dark matter halos
Cosmological observations precisely measure primordial variations in the
density of the Universe at megaparsec and larger scales, but much smaller
scales remain poorly constrained. However, sufficiently large initial
perturbations at small scales can lead to an abundance of ultradense dark
matter minihalos that form during the radiation epoch and survive into the
late-time Universe. Because of their early formation, these objects can be
compact enough to produce detectable microlensing signatures. We investigate
whether the EROS, OGLE, and HSC surveys can probe these halos by fully
accounting for finite source size and extended lens effects. We find that
current data may already constrain the amplitudes of primordial curvature
perturbations in a new region of parameter space, but this conclusion is
strongly sensitive to yet undetermined details about the internal structures of
these ultradense halos. Under optimistic assumptions, current and future HSC
data would constrain a power spectrum that features an enhancement at scales , and an amplitude as low as may be accessible. This is a particularly interesting regime because
it connects to primordial black hole formation in a portion of the
LIGO/Virgo/Kagra mass range and the production of scalar-induced gravitational
waves in the nanohertz frequency range reachable by pulsar timing arrays. These
prospects motivate further study of the ultradense halo formation scenario to
clarify their internal structures.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures. v2: matching published versio
The Ineludible non-Gaussianity of the Primordial Black Hole Abundance
We study the formation of primordial black holes when they are generated by
the collapse of large overdensities in the early universe. Since the density
contrast is related to the comoving curvature perturbation by a nonlinear
relation, the overdensity statistics is unavoidably non-Gaussian. We show that
the abundance of primordial black holes at formation may not be captured by a
perturbative approach which retains the first few cumulants of the non-Gaussian
probability distribution. We provide two techniques to calculate the
non-Gaussian abundance of primordial black holes at formation, one based on
peak theory and the other on threshold statistics. Our results show that the
unavoidable non-Gaussian nature of the inhomogeneities in the energy density
makes it harder to generate PBHs. We provide simple (semi-)analytical
expressions to calculate the non-Gaussian abundances of the primordial black
holes and show that for both narrow and broad power spectra the gaussian case
from threshold statistics is reproduced by increasing the amplitude of the
power spectrum by a factor .Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures, matching published versio
Testing Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter through LISA
The idea that primordial black holes (PBHs) can comprise most of the dark
matter of the universe has recently reacquired a lot of momentum. Observational
constraints, however, rule out this possibility for most of the PBH masses,
with a notable exception around . These light PBHs may be
originated when a sizeable comoving curvature perturbation generated during
inflation re-enters the horizon during the radiation phase. During such a
stage, it is unavoidable that gravitational waves (GWs) are generated. Since
their source is quadratic in the curvature perturbations, these GWs are
generated fully non-Gaussian. Their frequency today is about the mHz, which is
exactly the range where the LISA mission has the maximum of its sensitivity.
This is certainly an impressive coincidence. We show that this scenario of PBHs
as dark matter can be tested by LISA by measuring the GW two-point correlator.
On the other hand, we show that the short observation time (as compared to the
age of the universe) and propagation effects of the GWs across the perturbed
universe from the production point to the LISA detector suppress the bispectrum
to an unobservable level. This suppression is completely general and not
specific to our model.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures. v3: matching published versio
The JWST High Redshift Observations and Primordial Non-Gaussianity
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 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.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Primordial black holes from inflation and quantum diffusion
Primordial black holes as dark matter may be generated in single-field models
of inflation thanks to the enhancement at small scales of the comoving
curvature perturbation. This mechanism requires leaving the slow-roll phase to
enter a non-attractor phase during which the inflaton travels across a plateau
and its velocity drops down exponentially. We argue that quantum diffusion has
a significant impact on the primordial black hole mass fraction making the
classical standard prediction not trustable.Comment: 25+12 pages, 12 figures. v3: Appendix added with comments in response
to arXiv:1807.0905
- …