Solving peak theory in the presence of local non-gaussianities
Abstract
We compute the probability density distribution of maxima for a scalar random field in the presence of local non-gaussianities. The physics outcome of this analysis is the following. If we focus on maxima whose curvature is larger than a certain threshold for gravitational collapse, our calculations illustrate how the fraction of the Universe's mass in the form of primordial black holes (PBHs) changes in the presence of local non-gaussianities. We find that previous literature on the subject exponentially overestimate, by many orders of magnitude, the impact of local non-gaussianities on the PBH abundance. We explain the origin of this discrepancy, and conclude that, in realistic single-field inflationary models with ultra slow-roll, one can obtain the same abundance found with the gaussian approximation simply changing the peak amplitude of the curvature power spectrum by no more than a factor of two. We comment about the relevance of non-gaussianities for second-order gravitational waves.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2102.04084,
title = {Solving peak theory in the presence of local non-gaussianities},
author = {Flavio Riccardi and Marco Taoso and Alfredo Urbano},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.04084},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
main body of 18 pages + appendices, 16 figures. V2: minor changes. Matches version to appear in JCAP