English

Constraints on primordial black holes from $N_{\text{eff}}$ : scalar induced gravitational waves as an extra radiation component

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2025-01-07 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

In June 2023, multiple pulsar timing array collaborations provided evidence for the existence of a stochastic gravitational wave background. Scalar induced gravitational waves (SIGWs), as one of the most likely sources of stochastic gravitational waves, have received widespread attention. When primordial curvature perturbations on small scales are sufficiently large, \acp{PBH} inevitably form, concurrently producing SIGWs with significant observable effects. These SIGWs can serve as an additional radiation component, influencing the relativistic degrees of freedom NeffN_{\text{eff}}. Taking into account primordial non-Gaussianity, we study the energy density spectrum of SIGWs up to the third order and use the current observational data of NeffN_{\text{eff}} to constrain small-scale primordial curvature perturbations and the abundance of \acp{PBH}.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2410.10111,
  title  = {Constraints on primordial black holes from $N_{\text{eff}}$ : scalar induced gravitational waves as an extra radiation component},
  author = {Jing-Zhi Zhou and Yu-Ting Kuang and Zhe Chang and H. Lü},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.10111},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Accepted for publication in ApJ on 2025 January 5