arXiv subjects

Debika Chowdhury

Publications and source records attributed to Debika Chowdhury.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Exploring cosmological gravitational wave backgrounds through the synergy of LISA and ET

The gravitational wave (GW) interferometers LISA and ET are expected to be functional in the next decade(s), possibly around the same time. They will operate over different frequency ranges, with similar integrated sensitivities to the amplitude of a stochastic GW background (SGWB). We investigate the synergies between these two detectors, in terms of a multi-band detection of a cosmological SGWB characterised by a large amplitude, and a broad frequency spectrum. We develop the notion of integrated sensitivity and propose a novel signal-to-noise (SNR) optimal for characterization of the geometrical properties of the interferometer systems of LISA and ET operating simultaneously. By investigating various examples of SGWBs, such as those arising from cosmological phase transition, cosmic string, primordial inflation, we show that LISA and ET operating together will have the opportunity to assess more effectively the characteristics of the GW spectrum produced by the same cosmological source, but at separate frequency scales. Moreover, the two experiments in tandem can be sensitive to features of early universe cosmic expansion before big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), which affects the SGWB frequency profile, and which would not be possible to detect otherwise, since two different frequency ranges correspond to two different pre-BBN (or post-inflationary) epochs. Besides considering the GW spectrum, we additionally undertake a preliminary study of the sensitivity of LISA and ET to soft limits of higher order tensor correlation functions. Given that these experiments operate at different frequency bands, their synergy constitutes an ideal direct probe of squeezed limits of higher order GW correlators, which can not be measured operating with a single instrument only.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Inflationary magnetogenesis beyond slow-roll and its induced gravitational waves

The origin of magnetic fields observed on both astrophysical and cosmological scales is a compelling problem that has the potential to shed light on the early Universe. We analytically investigate inflationary magnetogenesis in scenarios where a brief departure from slow-roll inflation - akin to mechanisms proposed for primordial black hole formation - leads to enhanced magnetic field generation with a growing power spectrum. Focusing on the Ratra model, we derive an analytic bound on the growth of the magnetic field power spectrum in this context, showing that the spectral index can reach $d \ln {\cal P}_B / d \ln k = 4.75$ during the growth phase. This growth enables amplification from CMB-safe large-scale amplitudes to values of astrophysical relevance. We further compute the stochastic gravitational wave background sourced by the resulting magnetic fields, incorporating their rich spectral features. Under suitable conditions, the induced signal exhibits a characteristic frequency dependence and amplitude within reach of future gravitational wave observatories, providing a distinctive signature of this mechanism and a specific class of templates for upcoming gravitational wave searches.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Cross-correlation between the curvature perturbations and magnetic fields in pure ultra slow roll inflation

Motivated by the aim of producing significant number of primordial black holes, over the past few years, there has been a considerable interest in examining models of inflation involving a single, canonical field, that permit a brief period of ultra slow roll. Earlier, we had examined inflationary magnetogenesis - achieved by breaking the conformal invariance of the electromagnetic action through a coupling to the inflaton - in situations involving departures from slow roll. We had found that a transition from slow roll to ultra slow roll inflation can lead to a strong blue tilt in the spectrum of the magnetic field over small scales and also considerably suppress its strength over large scales. In this work, we consider the scenario of pure ultra slow roll inflation and show that scale invariant magnetic fields can be obtained in such situations with the aid of a non-conformal coupling function that depends on the kinetic energy of the inflaton. Apart from the power spectrum, an important probe of the primordial magnetic fields are the three-point functions, specifically, the cross-correlation between the curvature perturbations and the magnetic fields. We calculate the three-point cross-correlation between the curvature perturbations and the magnetic fields in pure ultra slow roll inflation for the new choice of the non-conformal coupling function. In particular, we examine the validity of the consistency condition that is expected to govern the three-point function in the squeezed limit and comment on the wider implications of the results we obtain.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Dark energy, D-branes, and Pulsar Timing Arrays

Several pulsar timing array (PTA) collaborations recently announced the first detection of a stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background, leaving open the question of its source. We explore the possibility that it originates from cosmic inflation, a guaranteed source of primordial GW. The inflationary GW background amplitude is enhanced at PTA scales by a non-standard early cosmological evolution, driven by Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) scalar dynamics motivated by string theory. The resulting GW energy density has a broken power-law frequency profile, entering the PTA band with a peak amplitude consistent with the recent GW detection. After this initial DBI kination epoch, the dynamics starts a new phase mainly controlled by the scalar potential. It provides a realization of an early dark energy scenario aimed at relaxing the $H_0$ tension, and a late dark energy model which explains the current cosmological acceleration with no need of a cosmological constant. Hence our mechanism - besides providing a possible explanation for the recent PTA results - connects them with testable properties of the physics of the dark universe.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

On the response of the Einstein Telescope to Doppler anisotropies

We study the response function of the Einstein Telescope to kinematic Doppler anisotropies, which represent one of the guaranteed properties of the stochastic gravitational wave background. If the frequency dependence of the stochastic background changes slope within the detector frequency band, the Doppler anisotropic contribution to the signal can not be factorized in a part depending on frequency, and a part depending on direction. For the first time, we study the detector response function to Doppler anisotropies without making any factorizable Ansatz. Moreover, we do not assume that kinematic effects are small, and we derive general formulas valid for any relative velocity among frames. We apply our findings to three well-motivated examples of background profiles: power-law, broken power-law, and models with a resonance motivated by primordial black hole scenarios. We derive the signal-to-noise ratio associated with an optimal estimator for the detection of non-factorizable kinematic anisotropies, and we study it for representative examples.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Circumventing the challenges in the choice of the non-conformal coupling function in inflationary magnetogenesis

[Abridged] As is well known, in order to generate magnetic fields of observed amplitudes during inflation, the conformal invariance of the electromagnetic field has to be broken by coupling it either to the inflaton or to the scalar curvature. Couplings to scalar curvature pose certain challenges even in slow roll inflation and it seems desirable to consider couplings to the inflaton. It can be shown that, in slow roll inflation, to generate nearly scale invariant magnetic fields of adequate strengths, the non-conformal coupling to the inflaton has to be chosen specifically depending on the inflationary model at hand. In a recent work, we had found that, when there arise sharp departures from slow roll inflation leading to strong features in the scalar power spectra, there inevitably arise sharp features in the spectra of the electromagnetic fields, unless the non-conformal coupling functions are extremely fine tuned. In particular, we had found that, if there occurs an epoch of ultra slow roll inflation, then the strength of the magnetic field over large scales can be severely suppressed. In this work, we examine whether these challenges can be circumvented in models of inflation involving two fields. We show that the presence of the additional scalar field allows us to construct coupling functions that lead to magnetic fields of required strengths even when there arise intermediate epochs of ultra slow roll inflation. However, we find that the features in the spectra of the magnetic fields that are induced due to the departures from slow roll inflation cannot be completely ironed out. We make use of the code MagCAMB to calculate the effects of the magnetic fields on the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background and investigate if the spectra with features are broadly consistent with the current constraints.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Suppression of scalar power on large scales and associated bispectra

[Abridged] A sharp cut-off in the primordial scalar power spectrum on large scales has been known to improve the fit to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data when compared to the more standard, nearly scale invariant power spectrum that arises in slow roll inflation. In an earlier work, we had numerically investigated the characteristics of the scalar bispectrum generated in models with kinetically dominated initial conditions. In this work, we compare the scenario with two other competing scenarios (viz. punctuated inflation and a model due to Starobinsky) which also suppress the scalar power in a roughly similar fashion on large scales. We further consider two other scenarios involving inflation of a finite duration, one wherein the scalar field begins on the inflationary attractor and another wherein the field starts with a smaller velocity and evolves towards the attractor. These scenarios too exhibit a sharp drop in power on large scales if the initial conditions on the perturbations for a range of modes are imposed on super-Hubble scales as in the kinetically dominated model. We compare the performance of all the models against the Planck CMB data at the level of power spectra. We also compare the amplitudes and shapes of the scalar non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{_{\rm NL}}$ in all these cases which lead to scalar power spectra of similar form. Interestingly, we find that, in the models wherein the initial conditions on the perturbations are imposed on super-Hubble scales, the consistency relation governing the scalar bispectrum is violated for the large scale modes, whereas the relation is satisfied for all the modes in the other scenarios. These differences in the behavior of the scalar bispectra can conceivably help us observationally discriminate between the various models which lead to scalar power spectra of roughly similar shape.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

On the challenges in the choice of the non-conformal coupling function in inflationary magnetogenesis

Primordial magnetic fields are generated during inflation by considering actions that break the conformal invariance of the electromagnetic field. To break the conformal invariance, the electromagnetic fields are coupled either to the inflaton or to the scalar curvature. Also, a parity violating term is often added to the action in order to enhance the amplitudes of the primordial electromagnetic fields. In this work, we examine the effects of deviations from slow roll inflation on the spectra of non-helical as well as helical electromagnetic fields. We find that, in the case of the coupling to the scalar curvature, there arise certain challenges in generating electromagnetic fields of the desired shapes and strengths even in slow roll inflation. When the field is coupled to the inflaton, it is possible to construct model-dependent coupling functions which lead to nearly scale invariant magnetic fields in slow roll inflation. However, we show that sharp features in the scalar power spectrum generated due to departures from slow roll inflation inevitably lead to strong features in the power spectra of the electromagnetic fields. Moreover, we find that such effects can also considerably suppress the strengths of the generated electromagnetic fields over the scales of cosmological interest. We illustrate these aspects with the aid of specific inflationary models that have been considered to produce specific features in the scalar power spectrum. Further, we find that, in such situations, if the strong features in the electromagnetic power spectra are to be undone, the choice of the coupling function requires considerable fine tuning. We discuss wider implications of the results we obtain.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

The rise of the primordial tensor spectrum from an early scalar-tensor epoch

Primordial gravitational waves (PGW) produced during inflation span a large range of frequencies, carrying information on the dynamics of the primordial universe. During an early scalar-tensor dominated epoch, the amplitude of the PGW spectrum can be enhanced over a wide range of frequencies. To study this phenomenon, we focus on a class of scalar-tensor theories, well motivated by high energy theories of dark energy and dark matter, where the scalar is conformally and disformally coupled to matter during the early cosmological evolution. For a conformally dominated epoch, the PGW spectrum has a flat step-like shape. More interestingly, a disformally dominated epoch is characterised by a peaked spectrum with a broken power-law profile, with slopes depending on the scalar-tensor theory considered. We introduce a graphical tool, called broken power-law sensitivity curve, as a convenient visual indicator for understanding whether a given broken power-law profile can be detected by GW experiments. We then analyse the GW spectra for a variety of representative conformal and disformal models, discussing their detectability prospects with the Einstein Telescope (ET), Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (DECIGO), and Big Bang Observer (BBO).

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Inflation after Planck: Judgment Day

Inflation is considered as the best theory of the early universe by a very large fraction of cosmologists. However, the validity of a scientific model is not decided by counting the number of its supporters and, therefore, this dominance cannot be taken as a proof of its correctness. Throughout its history, many criticisms have been put forward against inflation. The final publication of the Planck Cosmic Microwave Background data represents a benchmark time to study their relevance and to decide whether inflation really deserves its supremacy. In this paper, we categorize the criticisms against inflation, go through all of them in the light of what is now observationally known about the early universe, and try to infer and assess the scientific status of inflation. Although we find that important questions still remain open, we conclude that the inflationary paradigm is not in trouble but, on the contrary, has rather been strengthened by the Planck data.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

Unique contributions to the scalar bispectrum in `just enough inflation'

A scalar field rolling down a potential with a large initial velocity results in inflation of a finite duration. Such a scenario suppresses the scalar power on large scales improving the fit to the cosmological data. We find that the scenario leads to a hitherto unexplored situation wherein the boundary terms dominate the contributions to the scalar bispectrum over the bulk terms. We show that the consistency relation governing the non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{_{\rm NL}}$ is violated on large scales and that the contributions at the initial time can substantially enhance the value of $f_{_{\rm NL}}$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

Cross-correlations between scalar perturbations and magnetic fields in bouncing universes

Bouncing scenarios offer an alternative to the inflationary paradigm for the generation of perturbations in the early universe. Recently, there has been a surge in interest in examining the issue of primordial magnetogenesis in the context of bouncing universes. As in the case of inflation, the conformal invariance of the electromagnetic action needs to be broken in bouncing scenarios in order to generate primordial magnetic fields which correspond to observed strengths today. The non-minimal coupling, which typically depends on a scalar field that possibly drives the homogeneous background, leads to a cross-correlation at the level of the three-point function between the perturbation in the scalar field and the magnetic fields. This has been studied in some detail in the context of inflation and, specifically, it has been established that the three-point function satisfies the so-called consistency relation in the squeezed limit. In this work, we study the cross-correlation between the magnetic fields and the perturbation in an auxiliary scalar field in a certain class of bouncing scenarios. We consider couplings that lead to scale invariant spectra of the magnetic field and evaluate the corresponding cross-correlation between the magnetic field and the perturbation in the scalar field. We find that, when compared to de Sitter inflation, the dimensionless non-Gaussianity parameter that characterizes the amplitude of the cross-correlations proves to be considerably larger in bouncing scenarios. We also show that the aforementioned consistency condition governing the cross-correlation is violated in the bouncing models. We discuss the implications of our results.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Enhancing the cross-correlations between magnetic fields and scalar perturbations through parity violation

One often resorts to a non-minimal coupling of the electromagnetic field in order to generate magnetic fields during inflation. The coupling is expected to depend on a scalar field, possibly the same as the one driving inflation. At the level of three-point functions, such a coupling leads to a non-trivial cross-correlation between the perturbation in the scalar field and the magnetic field. This cross-correlation has been evaluated analytically earlier for the case of non-helical electromagnetic fields. In this work, we numerically compute the cross-correlation for helical magnetic fields. Non-Gaussianities are often generated as modes leave the Hubble radius. The helical electromagnetic modes evolve strongly (when compared to the non-helical case) around Hubble exit and one type of polarization is strongly amplified immediately after Hubble exit. We find that helicity considerably boosts the amplitude of the dimensionless non-Gaussianity parameter that characterizes the amplitude and shape of the cross-correlation between the perturbations in the scalar field and the magnetic field. We discuss the implications of the enhancement in the non-Gaussianity parameter due to parity violation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Viable tensor-to-scalar ratio in a symmetric matter bounce

Matter bounces refer to scenarios wherein the universe contracts at early times as in a matter dominated epoch until the scale factor reaches a minimum, after which it starts expanding. While such scenarios are known to lead to scale invariant spectra of primordial perturbations after the bounce, the challenge has been to construct completely symmetric bounces that lead to a tensor-to-scalar ratio which is small enough to be consistent with the recent cosmological data. In this work, we construct a model involving two scalar fields (a canonical field and a non-canonical ghost field) to drive the symmetric matter bounce and study the evolution of the scalar perturbations in the model. If we consider the scale associated with the bounce to be of the order of the Planck scale, the model is completely described in terms of only one parameter, viz the value of the scale factor at the bounce. We evolve the scalar perturbations numerically across the bounce and evaluate the scalar power spectra after the bounce. We show that, while the scalar and tensor perturbation spectra are scale invariant over scales of cosmological interest, the tensor-to-scalar ratio proves to be much smaller than the current upper bound from the observations of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies by the Planck mission. We also support our numerical analysis with analytical arguments.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

The scalar-scalar-tensor inflationary three-point function in the axion monodromy model

The axion monodromy model involves a canonical scalar field that is governed by a linear potential with superimposed modulations. The modulations in the potential are responsible for a resonant behavior which gives rise to persisting oscillations in the scalar and, to a smaller extent, in the tensor power spectra. Interestingly, such spectra have been shown to lead to an improved fit to the cosmological data than the more conventional, nearly scale invariant, primordial power spectra. The scalar bi-spectrum in the model too exhibits continued modulations and the resonance is known to boost the amplitude of the scalar non-Gaussianity parameter to rather large values. An analytical expression for the scalar bi-spectrum had been arrived at earlier which, in fact, has been used to compare the model with the cosmic microwave background anisotropies at the level of three-point functions involving scalars. In this work, with future applications in mind, we arrive at a similar analytical template for the scalar-scalar-tensor cross-correlation. We also analytically establish the consistency relation (in the squeezed limit) for this three-point function. We conclude with a summary of the main results obtained.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Duality and scale invariant magnetic fields from bouncing universes

Recently, we had numerically shown that, for a non-minimal coupling that is a simple power of the scale factor, scale invariant magnetic fields arise in a class of bouncing universes. In this work, we {\it analytically} evaluate the spectrum of magnetic and electric fields generated in a sub-class of such models. We illustrate that, for cosmological scales which have wavenumbers much smaller than the wavenumber associated with the bounce, the shape of the spectrum is preserved across the bounce. Using the analytic solutions obtained, we also illustrate that the problem of backreaction is severe at the bounce. Finally, we show that the power spectrum of the magnetic field remains invariant under a two parameter family of transformations of the non-minimal coupling function.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

The tensor bi-spectrum in a matter bounce

Matter bounces are bouncing scenarios wherein the universe contracts as in a matter dominated phase at early times. Such scenarios are known to lead to a scale invariant spectrum of tensor perturbations just as de Sitter inflation does. In this work, we examine if the tensor bi-spectrum can discriminate between the inflationary and the bouncing scenarios. Using the Maldacena formalism, we analytically evaluate the tensor bi-spectrum in a matter bounce for an arbitrary triangular configuration of the wavevectors. We show that, over scales of cosmological interest, the non-Gaussianity parameter $h_{_{\rm NL}}$ that characterizes the amplitude of the tensor bi-spectrum is quite small when compared to the corresponding values in de Sitter inflation. During inflation, the amplitude of the tensor perturbations freeze on super-Hubble scales, a behavior that results in the so-called consistency condition relating the tensor bi-spectrum and the power spectrum in the squeezed limit. In contrast, in the bouncing scenarios, the amplitude of the tensor perturbations grow strongly as one approaches the bounce, which suggests that the consistency condition will not be valid in such situations. We explicitly show that the consistency relation is indeed violated in the matter bounce. We discuss the implications of the results.

astro-ph.CO↗