Related papers: Cosmological Collider Physics
We present the results of a set of cosmological N-body simulations with standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmology but characterized by a scale-dependent primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type featuring a power-law dependence of the $f_{\rm…
Small-scale clumps of dark matter are gravitationally bounded structures that have masses comparable to or lower than stellar masses and consist of noninteracting or weakly interacting dark matter particles. In this paper, the current…
The late-time effect of primordial non-Gaussianity offers a window into the physics of inflation and the very early Universe. In this work we study the consequences of a particular class of primordial non-Gaussianity that is fully…
Since it is commonly believed that the observed large-scale structure of the Universe is an imprint of quantum fluctuations existing at the very early stage of its evolution, it is reasonable to pose the question: Do the effects of quantum…
We entertain a new paradigm according to which the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry is generated as a large-scale quantum fluctuation over the baryon-symmetric state that occurred during the cosmic inflation.
The cosmological constant problem is turned around to argue for a new foundational physics postulate underlying a consistent quantum theory of gravity and matter, such as string theory. This postulate is a quantum equivalence principle…
Massive particles produced during inflation leave specific signatures in soft limits of correlation functions of primordial fluctuations. When the Goldstone boson of broken time translations acquires a reduced speed of sound, implying that…
The generation of white noise on large scales is a generic property of the dynamics of physical systems described by local non-linear partial differential equations. Non-linearities prevent the small scale dynamics from being erased by…
Positively-curved, oscillatory universes are studied within the context of Loop Quantum Cosmology subject to a consistent semi-classical treatment. The semi-classical effects are reformulated in terms of an effective phantom fluid with a…
One of the unique features of quantum gravity is the lack of local observables and the completeness of boundary observables. We show that the existence of boundary observables for particles with mass…
The fundamental constants at recombination can differ from their present-day values due to degeneracies in cosmological parameters, raising the possibility of yet-undiscovered physics coupled directly to the Standard Model. We study the…
We study, using numerical simulations, the dynamical evolution of self-gravitating point particles in static euclidean space, starting from a simple class of infinite ``shuffled lattice'' initial conditions. These are obtained by applying…
We consider the puzzle of cosmic voids bounded by two dimensional structures of galactic clusters as also a puzzle pointed out by Weinberg: How can the mass of a typical elementary particle depend on a cosmic parameter like the Hubble…
The understanding of the primordial mechanism that seeded the cosmic structures we observe today in the sky is one of the major goals in cosmology. The leading paradigm for such a mechanism is provided by the inflationary scenario, a period…
We investigate a conformal invariant gravitational model which is taken to hold at pre-inflationary era. The conformal invariance allows to make a dynamical distinction between the two unit systems (or conformal frames) usually used in…
It is generally expected that heavy fields are present during inflation, which can leave their imprint in late-time cosmological observables. The main signature of these fields is a small amount of distinctly shaped non-Gaussianity, which…
Quantum field theory, which is generally used to describe the origin of large-scale gravitational perturbations during cosmic inflation, has been shown to omit an important physical effect in curved space-time, the nonlocal entanglement…
The comparison of the Standard Cosmological Model (SCM) with astronomical observations, i.e. theory versus experiment, and with the Minimal Standard Model (MSM) in particle physics, i.e. theory versus theory, is discussed. The main issue of…
Non-linear gravitational clustering in a universe dominated by dark energy, modelled by a `quintessence' scalar field, and cold dark matter with space-time varying mass is studied. Models of this type, where the variable mass is induced by…
Cosmological perturbations, originating in the quantum fluctuations of the fields that drive inflation, are observed to be nearly scale invariant at the largest scales. At smaller scales, however, perturbations are not severely constrained…