Related papers: Spectral Index in Curvaton Scenario
The physics of primordial black holes can be affected by the non-Gaussian statistics of the density fluctuations that generate them. Therefore, it is important to have good theoretical control of the higher-order correlation functions for…
It is shown that in a smooth hybrid inflation model in supergravity adiabatic fluctuations with a running spectral index with $\ns >1$ on a large scale and $\ns <1$ on a smaller scale can be naturally generated, as favored by the first-year…
We consider a two component hybrid inflation model, in which two fields drive inflation. Our results show that this model generates an observable non-gaussian contribution to the curvature spectrum, within the limits allowed by the recent…
If the initial state of the inflaton field is taken to have a thermal distribution instead of the conventional zero particle vacuum state then the curvature power spectrum gets modified by a temperature dependent factor such that the…
We outline the expected constraints on non-Gaussianity from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with current and future experiments, focusing on both the third (f_{NL}) and fourth-order (g_{NL} and \tau_{NL}) amplitudes of the local…
The standard mechanism for producing the observed scale-invariant power spectrum from adiabatic vacuum fluctuations relies on first order derivative of fields in the action for curvature perturbations. It has been proven…
The inflationary paradigm enjoys a very wide acceptance in the cosmological community, due in large part to the fact that it is said to "naturally account" for a nearly scale independent power primordial spectrum of fluctuations which is in…
With Planck cosmic microwave background observations, we established the spectral amplitude and tilt of the primordial power spectrum. Evidence of a red spectral tilt ($n_\mathrm{s}=0.96$) at $8\sigma$ provides strong support for the…
We study the covariance in the angular power spectrum estimates of CMB fluctuations when the primordial fluctuations are non-Gaussian. The non-Gaussian covariance comes from a nonzero connected four-point correlation function -- or the…
In this work, we constrain the spectral index $n_t$ of the primordial gravitational wave power spectrum in a universe with sterile neutrinos by using the Planck temperature data, the WMAP 9-year polarization data, the baryon acoustic…
We investigate a scenario where the supersymmetric partners of two right-handed neutrinos (sneutrinos) work as mixed inflaton and curvaton, motivated by the fact that the curvaton contribution to scalar perturbations can reduce the…
Recent second-order perturbation computations have provided an accurate prediction for the primordial gravitational potential $\Phi(x)$ in scenarios in which cosmological perturbations are generated either during or after inflation. This…
We develop a complete set of tools for CMB forecasting, simulation and estimation of primordial running bispectra, arising from a variety of curvaton and single-field (DBI) models of Inflation. We validate our pipeline using mock CMB…
Primordial non-Gaussianity signatures of extremely heavy particles are re-examined within a simple alternative to the standard inflationary paradigm, in which the primordial fluctuations and the inflationary spacetime expansion are sourced…
Measurements of CMB temperature fluctuations by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) indicate that the fluctuation amplitude in one half of the sky differs from the amplitude in the other half. We show that such an asymmetry…
We reconsider the original model of quadratic hybrid inflation in light of the WMAP three-year results and study the possibility of obtaining a spectral index of primordial density perturbations, $n_s$, smaller than one from this model. The…
We investigate primordial non-Gaussianity (NG) arising from the explicit $U(1)$ symmetry-breaking interactions during inflation involving a nearly massless axial component of a complex scalar field $P$. We analyze the induced NG parameter…
We study a class of N=1 Supergravity inflationary models in which the evolution of the inflaton dynamics is controlled by a single power in the inflaton field at the point where the observed density fluctuations are produced, in the context…
We study the planar regime of curvature perturbations for single field inflationary models in an axially symmetric Bianchi I background. In a theory with standard scalar field action, the power spectrum for such modes has a pole as the…
Standard inflation with one scalar field produces primordial perturbations with a nearly flat ('Harrison-Zeldovich') power spectrum. Here we consider first, a double inflation spectrum, and second, a massive scalar field with an interaction…