Related papers: Non-Gaussian bubbles in the sky
We study the evolution of cosmological perturbations on large scales, up to second order, for a perfect fluid with generic equation of state. Taking advantage of super-horizon conservation laws, it is possible to follow the evolution of the…
We suggest a path integral formulation for the tunneling cosmological state, which admits a consistent renormalization and renormalization group (RG) improvement in particle physics applications of quantum cosmology. We apply this…
The bispectrum of the microwave background sky is a possible discriminator between inflationary and defect models of structure formation in the Universe. The bispectrum, which is the analogue of the temperature 3-point correlation function…
Fluctuations in the intensity and polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the large-scale distribution of matter in the universe each contain clues about the nature of the earliest moments of time. The next generation of…
We consider an alternative scenario of inflation which can account for a spatially open universe. It is similar to the old inflation in which the bubble nucleation occurs in the sea of false vacuum, but differs from it in that the second…
The primordial curvature perturbation \zeta may be generated by some curvaton field \sigma, which is negligible during inflation and has more or less negligible interactions until it decays. In the current scenario, the curvaton starts to…
Observing the relics of collisions between bubble universes would provide direct evidence for the existence of an eternally inflating Multiverse; the non-observation of such events can also provide important constraints on inflationary…
The presence of multiple fields during inflation might seed a detectable amount of non-Gaussianity in the curvature perturbations, which in turn becomes observable in present data sets like the cosmic microwave background (CMB) or the large…
We propose novel structure formation scenarios based on a non-singular higher curvature cosmological model. The model is motivated by the $R^2$ coupling of a scalar field appearing in the string theory, and in our scenarios the universe has…
In the curvaton scenario, primordial curvature perturbations are produced by a second field that is sub-dominant during inflation. Depending on how the curvaton decays [possibly producing baryon number, lepton number, or cold dark matter…
We propose that several of the anomalies that have been observed at large angular scales in the CMB have a common origin in a cosmic bounce that took place before the inflationary era. The bounce introduces a new physical scale in the…
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…
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…
We explore extensions of hybrid inflationary models in the context of supersymmetric D-term inflation. We point out that a large variety of inflationary scenarios can be encountered when the field content is extended. It is not only…
For simple inflationary models, we provide a consistent and complete scheme by which the macro-physical details of early universe inflation may be determined explicitly from the underlying micro-physical theory. We examine inflationary…
We investigate the formation of primordial black holes in curvaton models of inflation, where the curvature perturbation is not only generated by the inflaton but also by a light scalar field (the curvaton) that decays after inflation.…
It was recently shown that gravitons with a very small mass should have formed a Bose-Einstein condensate in the very early Universe, whose density and quantum potential can account for the dark matter and dark energy in the Universe…
The reheating of the universe after hybrid inflation proceeds through the nucleation and subsequent collision of large concentrations of energy density in the form of bubble-like structures moving at relativistic speeds. This generates a…
Cosmic inflation may have led to non-Gaussian initial conditions that cannot be fully parametrised by 3- and/or 4-point functions. In this work, we discuss various strategies to search for primordial non-Gaussianity beyond polyspectra with…
We investigate the cosmic variance of the skewness of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies in an inflationary model which leads to the baryon isocurvature scenario for the cosmic structure formation. In this model, the baryon…