Related papers: Non-thermal Histories and Implications for Structu…
We critically review the role of cosmological moduli in determining the post-inflationary history of the universe. Moduli are ubiquitous in string and M-theory constructions of beyond the Standard Model physics, where they parametrize the…
The thermal and expansion history of the Universe before big bang nucleosynthesis is unknown. We investigate the evolution of cosmological perturbations through the transition from an early matter era to radiation domination. We treat…
Decay of the inflaton or moduli which dominated the energy density of the universe at early times leads to a matter to radiation transition epoch. We consider non-thermal sterile dark matter particles produced as decay product during such…
Thermal inflation, a brief low energy inflation after the primordial inflation, resolves the moduli problem in the context of supersymmetric cosmology. In the thermal inflation scenario, the primordial power spectrum is modestly redshifted…
In cosmological scenarios with thermal inflation, extra eras of moduli matter domination, thermal inflation and flaton matter domination exist between primordial inflation and the radiation domination of Big Bang nucleosynthesis. During…
Non-thermal histories for the early universe have received notable attention as they are a rich source of phenomenology, while also being well motivated by top-down approaches to beyond the Standard Model physics. The early (pre-BBN) matter…
We consider the consequences of a matter power spectrum which rises on small scales until eventually being cutoff by microphysical processes associated with the particle nature of dark matter. Evolving the perturbations of a weakly…
In this talk I discuss recent developments in moduli stabilisation, SUSY breaking and chiral D-brane models together with several interesting features of cosmological models built in the framework of type IIB string compactifications. I…
It is usually assumed that dark matter is produced during the radiation dominated era. There is, however, no direct evidence for radiation domination prior to big-bang nucleosynthesis. Two non-standard thermal histories are considered. In…
If low-energy SUSY exists, LHC data favors a high mass scale for scalar superpartners (above a TeV), while sfermions and the dark matter can be parametrically lighter -- leading to a so-called split-spectrum. When combining this fact with…
Within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), LHC bounds suggest that scalar superpartner masses are far above the electroweak scale. Given a high superpartner mass, nonthermal dark matter is a viable alternative to WIMP dark…
We investigate the evolution of density perturbations in dark matter, including the new combined effects of finite number density and non-zero velocity dispersion. Using a truncated BBGKY hierarchy, we derive analytical expressions for the…
We consider cosmological scenarios in which density perturbations are generated by the quantum fluctuations of the inflaton field at early times; the late time dynamics involves a modulus which first dominates the energy density of the…
We investigate the statistical nature of the dark matter particles produced in bouncing cosmology, especially, the evolution of its thermal fluctuations. By explicitly deriving and solving the equation of motion of super-horizon mode, we…
The evolution of the Universe between inflation and the onset of big bang nucleosynthesis is difficult to probe and largely unconstrained. This ignorance profoundly limits our understanding of dark matter: we cannot calculate its thermal…
We study the scenario of higgsino dark matter in the context of a non-standard cosmology with a period of matter-domination prior to Big-Bang nucleosynthesis. Matter-domination changes the dark matter relic abundance if it ends via…
The dark energy dominated warm dark matter (WDM) model is a promising alternative cosmological scenario. We explore large-scale structure formation in this paradigm. We do this in two different ways: with the halo model approach and with…
In standard cosmology, the growth of structure becomes significant following matter-radiation equality. In non-thermal histories, where an effectively matter-dominated phase occurs due to scalar oscillations prior to Big Bang…
Dark matter may be coupled to dark radiation: light degrees of freedom that mediate forces between dark sector particles. Cosmological constraints favor dark radiation that is colder than Standard Model radiation. In models with fixed…
A period of early matter domination can give rise to the correct dark matter abundance for a broad range of dark matter annihilation rate $\langle \sigma_{\rm ann} v \rangle_{\rm f}$. Here, we examine this scenario for situations where…