Related papers: Primordial Sharp Features through the Nonlinear Re…
We consider the presence and evolution of primordial density perturbations in a cosmological model based on a simple ansatz which captures -- by providing a set of effective gravitational field equations -- the strength of the enhanced…
In this thesis, we discuss several instances in which non-linear behaviour affects cosmological evolution in the early Universe. We begin by reviewing the standard cosmological model and the tools used to understand it theoretically and to…
We report on a new class of fast-roll inflationary models. In a huge part of its parameter space, inflationary perturbations exhibit quite unusual phenomena such as scalar and tensor modes freezing out at widely different times, as well as…
The effects that large scale fluctuations had on small scale isothermal modes at the epoch of recombination are analysed. We find that: (a) Albeit the fact that primordial fluctuations were at this epoch still well in the linear regime, a…
We develop methods to calculate the curvature power spectrum in models where features in the inflaton potential nonlinearly excite modes and generate high frequency features in the spectrum. The first nontrivial effect of excitations…
We investigate thermal inflation in double-screen entropic cosmology. We find that its realization is general, resulting from the system evolution from non-equilibrium to equilibrium. Furthermore, going beyond the background evolution, we…
Cosmological inflation remains to be a unique mechanism of generation of plausible initial conditions in the early universe. In particular, it generates the primordial quasiclassical perturbations with power spectrum determined by the…
Oscillations in the frequency profile of the scalar-induced contribution to the stochastic gravitational wave background are a characteristic signal for small-scale features during inflation. We investigate how this oscillatory frequency…
We investigate constraints on power spectra of the primordial curvature and tensor perturbations with priors based on single-field slow-roll inflation models. We stochastically draw the Hubble slow-roll parameters and generate the…
It is commonly assumed that the stochastic background of gravitational waves on cosmological scales follows an almost scale-independent power spectrum, as generically predicted by the inflationary paradigm. However, it is not inconceivable…
Scalar perturbations during inflation can be substantially amplified by tiny features in the inflaton potential. A bump-like feature behaves like a local speed-breaker and lowers the speed of the scalar field, thereby locally enhancing the…
We revisit the problem of constraining steps in the inflationary potential with cosmological data. We argue that a step in the inflationary potential produces qualitatively similar oscillations in the primordial power spectrum,…
We draw attention to the possibility that inflation (i.e. accelerated expansion) might continue after the end of slow roll, during a period of fast oscillations of the inflaton field \phi . This phenomenon takes place when a mild…
Many models of inflation predict oscillatory features in the bispectrum of primordial fluctuations. Since it has been shown that primordial non-Gaussianity can lead to a scale-dependent halo bias, we investigate the effect of oscillations…
In inflation cosmologies, cosmic structure develops through the gravitational instability of the inevitable quantum noise in primordial scalar fields. I show how the acceleration of the universe defines the shape of the primordial spectrum…
Quantum fluctuations created during inflation can account for the observed matter distribution in the linear regime if the universe has two components of dark matter, one which is cold and collisionless, and the other which is hot and free…
We study non-linear contributions to the power spectrum of the curvature perturbation on super-horizon scales, produced during slow-roll inflation driven by a canonical single scalar field. We find that on large scales the linear power…
The latest analysis of the cosmic microwave background by the Planck team finds more smoothing of the acoustic peaks in the temperature power spectrum than predicted by $\Lambda$CDM. Here we investigate whether this additional smoothing can…
This paper investigates the effects of nonvanishing spatial curvature on the propagation of primordial gravitational waves produced during inflation. In particular, we consider tensor perturbations over a homogeneous and isotropic…
We describe models of single-field inflation with small and sharp step features in the potential (and sound speed) of the inflaton field, in the context of the Effective Field Theory of Inflation. This approach allows us to study the…