Related papers: Primordial perturbations from ultra-slow-roll sing…
Recently, it has been claimed that inflationary models with an inflection point in the scalar potential can produce a large resonance in the power spectrum of curvature perturbation. In this paper however we show that the previous analyses…
We investigate loop corrections to the primordial fluctuations in the single-field inflationary paradigm from spectator fields that experience a smooth transition of their vacuum expectation values. We show that when the phase transition…
Using the Effective Field Theory (EFT) framework of single field inflation, we investigate the possibility of the formation of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) in the Slow Roll (SR) to Ultra Slow Roll (USR) sharp transition. We demonstrate…
For primordial black holes (PBH) to be the dark matter in single-field inflation, the slow-roll approximation must be violated by at least ${\cal O}(1)$ in order to enhance the curvature power spectrum within the required number of efolds…
We construct an analytically solvable simplified model that captures the essential features for primordial black hole (PBH) production in most models of single-field inflation. The construction makes use of the Wands duality between the…
We develop in this thesis the principles governing the production of our universe's primordial inhomogeneities during its early phase of inflation. As a guiding thread we ask what physics during inflation can lead to perturbations so large…
The decrease of both the rolling speed of the inflaton and the sound speed of the curvature perturbations can amplify the curvature perturbations during inflation so as to generate a sizable amount of primordial black holes. In the…
Primordial black hole (PBH) abundance limits constrain the primordial power spectrum, and hence models of inflation, on scales far smaller than those probed by cosmological observations. Single field inflation models which are compatible…
The constant-roll inflation with small positive value of the constant-roll parameter $\beta\equiv \frac{\ddot\phi}{H\dot\phi}={\rm const.}$ has been known to produce a slightly red-tilted curvature power spectrum compatible with the current…
These lecture notes are based on those presented at the Theoretical Aspects of Astroparticle Physics, Cosmology and Gravitation School at the Galileo Galilee Institute in Florence in 2021, https://agenda.infn.it/event/24368/. They aim to…
During the preheating process at the end of inflation the amplification of field fluctuations can lead to the amplification of curvature perturbations. If the curvature perturbations on small scales are sufficiently large, primordial black…
Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) may form in the early Universe, from the gravitational collapse of large density perturbations, generated by large quantum fluctuations during inflation. Since PBHs form from rare over-densities, their…
The generation of large curvature perturbations associated with the production of primordial black holes is studied in the context of a Higgs inflaton. To enable this amplification, we consider an inflationary model in which the tree-level…
We investigate the enhancement of the power spectra large enough to produce primordial black holes in models with multiple scalar fields. We present analytic solutions for the perturbations in the case of constant turns without the need for…
We propose a model of inflation capable of generating a population of light black holes (about $10^{-16}$ - $10^{-14}$ solar masses) that might account for a significant fraction of the dark matter in the Universe. The effective potential…
The next generation of cosmic microwave background, gravitational wave, and large scale structure, experiments will provide an unprecedented opportunity to probe the primordial power spectrum on small scales. An exciting possibility for…
We present new single field inflationary scenarios that produce the critical abundance of primordial black holes as dark matter reconstructing the inflaton potential from an input power spectrum. The method is exact in the slow roll…
In the context of transient constant-roll inflation near a local maximum, we derive the non-perturbative field redefinition that relates a Gaussian random field with the true non-Gaussian curvature perturbation. Our analysis shows the…
With the detection of gravitational waves from merging binary black holes, over the last few years, there has been a considerable interest in the literature to understand if these black holes could have originated in the early universe. If…
We investigate the accuracy of the slow-roll approximation for calculating perturbation spectra generated during inflation. The Hamilton-Jacobi formalism is used to evolve inflationary models with different histories. Models are identified…