arXiv subjects

Gabriele Franciolini

Publications and source records attributed to Gabriele Franciolini.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Reconstructing Primordial Curvature Perturbations via Scalar-Induced Gravitational Waves with LISA

Many early universe scenarios predict an enhancement of scalar perturbations at scales currently unconstrained by cosmological probes. These perturbations source gravitational waves (GWs) at second order in perturbation theory, leading to a scalar-induced gravitational wave (SIGW) background. The LISA detector, sensitive to mHz GWs, will be able to constrain curvature perturbations in a new window corresponding to scales $k \in [10^{10}, 10^{14}] \,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$, difficult to probe otherwise. In this work, we forecast the capabilities of LISA to constrain the source of SIGWs using different approaches: i) agnostic, where the spectrum of curvature perturbations is binned in frequency space; ii) template-based, modeling the curvature power spectrum based on motivated classes of models; iii) ab initio, starting from first-principles model of inflation featuring an ultra-slow roll phase. We compare the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. We also discuss the impact on the SIGW spectrum of non-standard thermal histories affecting the kernels of SIGW emission and non-Gaussianity in the statistics of the curvature perturbations. Finally, we propose simple tests to assess whether the signal is compatible with the SIGW hypothesis. The pipeline used is built into the SIGWAY code.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Cosmology and nuclear-physics implications of a subsolar gravitational-wave event

Detecting a compact subsolar object would have profound implications in physics, the reach of which depends on the nature of the object. Here we explore such consequences for a putative subsolar-mass gravitational wave event detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration. We forecast that the nature of a subsolar binary (made of light neutron stars, primordial black holes, or more exotic compact objects) can be inferred with a great statistical confidence level already during the ongoing fourth observing run, based on the large tidal deformability effects on the signal. The detection of a primordial black hole would have implications for cosmology and dark matter scenarios, while the measurement of the tidal deformability of a subsolar neutron star could rule out or confirm the existence of strange stars made of quarks.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Ultra-Slow-Roll Inflation on the Lattice I: Backreaction and Nonlinear Effects

Violating the slow-roll regime during the final stages of inflation can significantly enhance curvature perturbations, a scenario often invoked in models producing primordial black holes and small-scale scalar induced gravitational waves. When perturbations are enhanced, one approaches the regime in which tree-level computations are insufficient, and nonlinear corrections may become relevant. In this work, we conduct lattice simulations of ultra-slow-roll (USR) dynamics to investigate the significance of nonlinear effects, both in terms of backreaction on the background and in the evolution of perturbations. Our systematic study of various USR potentials reveals that nonlinear corrections are significant when the tree-level curvature power spectrum peaks at $\mathcal{P}^{\rm max}_ζ = {\cal O}(10^{-3})-{\cal O}(10^{-2})$, with 5%-20% corrections. Larger enhancements yield even greater differences. We find a simple universal relation between simulation and tree-level quantities $\dotϕ= \dotϕ_{\rm tree}\left(1+\sqrt{\mathcal{P}^{\rm max}_{ζ,\rm tree}}\right)$ at the end of the USR phase, which is valid in all cases we consider. Additionally, we explore how nonlinear interactions during the USR phase affect the clustering and non-Gaussianity of scalar fluctuations, crucial for understanding the phenomenological consequences of USR, such as scalar-induced gravitational waves and primordial black holes. Our findings demonstrate the necessity of going beyond leading order perturbation theory results, through higher-order or non-perturbative computations, to make robust predictions for inflation models exhibiting a USR phase.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Forecasting Constraints on SIGW with Future Pulsar Timing Array Observations

Pulsar Timing Arrays are playing a crucial role in the ongoing gravitational wave astronomy revolution. The current evidence for a stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) at nHz frequencies offers an opportunity to discover cosmological signals and threatens the observability of other subdominant GWs. We explore prospects to constrain second-order scalar-induced GWs (SIGWs) associated with enhanced curvature perturbations in the primordial universe, forecasting realistic future PTA datasets. We assess how the currently observed signal could eventually limit future capabilities to search for GW relics of primordial phenomena and associated phenomenological consequences such as primordial black hole (PBH) formation. Given the sensitivity of PBH abundance to spectral parameters, measuring it remains a challenge for realistic signals. However, future observation could still rule out nearly subsolar mass PBHs formed through standard formation scenarios in some cases. Future progress in constraining PBH models is expected to stem from theoretical advancements in PBH computations, which should help resolve the tension between different computational methods. The analysis is based on and extends the Python code $\texttt{fastPTA}$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Gravitational waves from inflation in LISA: reconstruction pipeline and physics interpretation

Various scenarios of cosmic inflation enhance the amplitude of the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) at frequencies detectable by the LISA detector. We develop tools for a template-based analysis of the SGWB and introduce a template databank to describe well-motivated signals from inflation, prototype their template-based searches, and forecast their reconstruction with LISA. Specifically, we classify seven templates based on their signal frequency shape, and we identify representative fundamental physics models leading to them. By running a template-based analysis, we forecast the accuracy with which LISA can reconstruct the template parameters of representative benchmark signals, with and without galactic and extragalactic foregrounds. We identify the parameter regions that can be probed by LISA within each template. Finally, we investigate how our signal reconstructions shed light on fundamental physics models of inflation: we discuss their impact for measurements of \emph{e.g.,} ~the couplings of inflationary axions to gauge fields; the graviton mass during inflation; the fluctuation seeds of primordial black holes; the consequences of excited states during inflation, and the presence of small-scale spectral features.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Probing modified Hawking evaporation with gravitational waves from the primordial black hole dominated universe

It has been recently proposed that Hawking evaporation might slow down after a black hole has lost about half of its mass. Such an effect, called "memory burden", is parameterized as a suppression in the mass loss rate by negative powers $n$ of the black hole entropy and could considerably extend the lifetime of a black hole. We study the impact of memory burden on the Primordial Black Hole (PBH) reheating scenario. Modified PBH evaporation leads to a significantly longer PBH dominated stage. Requiring that PBHs evaporate prior enough to Big Bang Nucleosynthesis shrinks the allowed PBH mass range. Indeed, we find that for $n>2.5$ the PBH reheating scenario is not viable. The frequency of the Gravitational Waves (GWs) induced by PBH number density fluctuations is bound to be larger than about a Hz, while the amplitude of the GW spectrum is enhanced due to the longer PBH dominated phase. Interestingly, we show that, in some models, the slope of the induced GW spectrum might be sensitive to the modifications to Hawking evaporation, proving it may be possible to test the "memory burden" effect via induced GWs. Lastly, we argue that our results could also apply to general modifications of Hawking evaporation.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Flea on the elephant: Tidal Love numbers in subsolar primordial black hole searches

Detecting subsolar objects in black hole binary mergers is considered a smoking gun signature of primordial black holes. Their supposedly vanishing tidal Love number is generically thought to help distinguish them from other subsolar and more deformable compact objects, such as neutron stars. We show that a large and detectable Love number of primordial black holes can be generated in the presence of even small disturbances of the system, thus potentially jeopardizing their discovery. However, such small perturbations are not tightly bound and are therefore disrupted before the mergers. We show that they leave a characteristic signature in the gravitational waveform that could be observed with current and future gravitational wave detectors. Thus, they may still hint towards the primordial nature of the black holes in the merger. Finally, we demonstrate that disregarding possible environmental effects in the matched-filter search for subsolar gravitational wave events can lead to a decreased sensitivity in the detectors.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Pulsar timing array sensitivity to anisotropies in the gravitational wave background

Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) observations have recently gathered substantial evidence for the existence of a gravitational wave background in the nHz frequency band. Searching for anisotropies in this signal is key to determining its origin, and in particular to distinguish possible astrophysical from cosmological sources. In this work, we assess the sensitivity of current and future pulsar timing arrays to such anisotropies using the full covariance matrix of pulsar timing delays. While current day pulsar timing arrays can only set mildly informative constraints on the dipole and quadrupole, we show that percent level accuracy for several low multipoles can be achieved in the near future. Moreover, we demonstrate that anisotropies in the gravitational wave background and the Hellings-Downs angular correlation, indicating the presence of GWs, are approximately uncorrelated, and can hence be reconstructed independently. These results can be reproduced with \href{https://github.com/Mauropieroni/fastPTA}{\texttt{fastPTA}}, a publicly available Python code to forecast the constraining power of PTA configurations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Footprints of the QCD Crossover on Cosmological Gravitational Waves at Pulsar Timing Arrays

Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs) have reported evidence for a stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background at nHz frequencies, possibly originating in the early Universe. We show that the spectral shape of the low-frequency (causality) tail of GW signals sourced at temperatures around $T\gtrsim 1$ GeV is distinctively affected by confinement of strong interactions (QCD), due to the corresponding sharp decrease in the number of relativistic species. Bayesian analyses in the NANOGrav 15 years and the previous International PTA datasets reveal a significant improvement in the fit with respect to cubic power-law spectra, previously employed for the causality tail. This suggests that the inclusion of Standard Model effects on GWs can have a potentially decisive impact on model selection.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

One loop to rule them all: Perturbativity in the presence of ultra slow-roll dynamics

We discuss the issue of perturbativity in single-field inflationary models with a phase of ultra slow-roll (USR) tailor suited to generate an order-one abundance of primordial black holes (PBHs). More in detail, we impose the condition that loop corrections made up of short-wavelength modes enhanced by the USR dynamics do not alter the tree-level power spectrum of curvature perturbations. In our analysis, the USR phase is preceded and followed by two stages of ordinary slow-roll (SR), and we model the resulting SR/USR/SR dynamics using both instantaneous and smooth transitions. Focusing on scales relevant for CMB observations, we find that it is not possible, with these arguments, to rule out the scenario of PBH formation via USR, not even in the limit of instantaneous transition. However, we also find that loop corrections of short modes on the power spectrum of long modes, even though not large enough to violate perturbativity requirements, remain appreciable and, most importantly, are not tamed in realistic realisations of smooth SR/USR/SR transitions. This makes perturbativity a powerful theoretical tool to constrain USR dynamics. We extend the analysis at any scale beyond those relevant for CMB observations. We find that loop corrections of short modes remain within the few percent if compared to the tree-level power spectrum. However, we also find one notable exception of phenomenological relevance: we show that the so-called dip in the power spectrum of curvature perturbation is an artifact of the tree-level computation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Novel tests of gravity using nano-Hertz stochastic gravitational-wave background signals

Gravity theories that modify General Relativity in the slow-motion regime can introduce nonperturbative corrections to the stochastic gravitational-wave background~(SGWB) from supermassive black-hole binaries in the nano-Hertz band, while remaining perturbative in the highly-relativistic regime and satisfying current post-Newtonian~(PN) constraints. We present a model-agnostic formalism to map such theories into a modified tilt for the SGWB spectrum, showing that negative PN corrections (in particular -2PN) can alleviate the tension in the recent pulsar-timing-array data if the detected SGWB is interpreted as arising from supermassive binaries. Despite being preliminary, current data have already strong constraining power, for example they set a novel (conservative) upper bound on theories with time-varying Newton's constant at least at the level of $\dot{G}/G \lesssim 10^{-5} \text{yr}^{-1}$ for redshift $z=[0.1\div1]$. We also show that NANOGrav data are best fitted by a broken power-law interpolating between a dominant -2PN or -3PN modification at low frequency, and the standard general-relativity scaling at high frequency. Nonetheless, a modified gravity explanation should be confronted with binary eccentricity, environmental effects, nonastrophysical origins of the signal, and scrutinized against statistical uncertainties. These novel tests of gravity will soon become more stringent when combining all pulsar-timing-array facilities and when collecting more data.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Forecasting the sensitivity of Pulsar Timing Arrays to gravitational wave backgrounds

Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) observations hinted towards the existence of a stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) in the nHz frequency band. Still, the nature of the SGWB signal cannot be confidently inferred from current data, and the leading explanation invokes mergers of supermassive black holes. If confirmed, such discovery would not only represent a turning point in our understanding of astrophysics, but it may severely limit the capability of searching for additional cosmological sources in the nHz frequency range. In this work, we build a simple framework to forecast the sensitivity of future PTA configurations and assess the parameter estimation of SGWB, which could consist of several contributions. We release the python code fastPTA implementing this framework and ready to use.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Beyond the far side: Observing black hole mergers beyond the pair-instability mass gap with next-generation gravitational wave detectors

Stellar evolution predicts the existence of a mass gap for black hole remnants produced by pair-instability supernova dynamics, whose lower and upper edges are very uncertain. We study the possibility of constraining the location of the upper end of the pair-instability mass gap, which is believed to appear around ${m_\text{min}} \sim130M_\odot$, using gravitational wave observations of compact binary mergers with next-generation ground-based detectors. While high metallicity may not allow for the formation of first-generation black holes on the "far side" beyond the gap, metal-poor environments containing Population III stars could lead to such heavy black hole mergers. We show that, even in the presence of contamination from other merger channels, next-generation detectors will measure the location of the upper end of the mass gap with a relative precision close to $Δ{m_\text{min}}/{m_\text{min}} \simeq 4\% (N_\text{det}/100 )^{-1/2}$ at 90% C.L., where $N_\text{det} $ is the number of detected mergers with both members beyond the gap. These future observations could reduce current uncertainties in nuclear and astrophysical processes controlling the location of the gap.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

The recent gravitational wave observation by pulsar timing arrays and primordial black holes: the importance of non-gaussianities

We study whether the signal seen by pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) may originate from gravitational waves (GWs) induced by large primordial perturbations. Such perturbations may be accompanied by a sizeable primordial black hole (PBH) abundance. We improve existing analyses and show that PBH overproduction disfavors Gaussian scenarios for scalar-induced GWs at 2σ and single-field inflationary scenarios, accounting for non-Gaussianity, at 3σ as the explanation of the most constraining NANOGrav 15-year data. This tension can be relaxed in models where non-Gaussianites suppress the PBH abundance. On the flip side, the PTA data does not constrain the abundance of PBHs.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Renormalized Primordial Black Holes

The formation of primordial black holes in the early universe may happen through the collapse of large curvature perturbations generated during a non-attractor phase of inflation or through a curvaton-like dynamics after inflation. The fact that such small-scale curvature perturbation is typically non-Gaussian leads to the renormalization of composite operators built up from the smoothed density contrast and entering in the calculation of the primordial black abundance. Such renormalization causes the phenomenon of operator mixing and the appearance of an infinite tower of local, non-local and higher-derivative operators as well as to a sizable shift in the threshold for primordial black hole formation. This hints that the calculation of the primordial black hole abundance is more involved than what generally assumed.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Primordial black holes and their gravitational-wave signatures

In the recent years, primordial black holes (PBHs) have emerged as one of the most interesting and hotly debated topics in cosmology. Among other possibilities, PBHs could explain both some of the signals from binary black hole mergers observed in gravitational wave detectors and an important component of the dark matter in the Universe. Significant progress has been achieved both on the theory side and from the point of view of observations, including new models and more accurate calculations of PBH formation, evolution, clustering, merger rates, as well as new astrophysical and cosmological probes. In this work, we review, analyse and combine the latest developments in order to perform end-to-end calculations of the various gravitational wave signatures of PBHs. Different ways to distinguish PBHs from stellar black holes are emphasized. Finally, we discuss their detectability with LISA, the first planned gravitational-wave observatory in space.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

What is the source of the PTA GW signal?

The most conservative interpretation of the nHz stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) discovered by NANOGrav and other Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) Collaborations is astrophysical, namely that it originates from supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries. However, alternative cosmological models have been proposed, including cosmic strings, phase transitions, domain walls, primordial fluctuations and "audible" axions. We perform a multi-model analysis (MMA) to compare how well these different hypotheses fit the NANOGrav data, both in isolation and in combination with SMBH binaries, and address the questions: Which interpretations fit the data best, and which are disfavoured? We also discuss experimental signatures that can help discriminate between different sources of the PTA GW signal, including fluctuations in the signal strength between frequency bins, individual sources and how the PTA signal extends to higher frequencies.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Scalar-induced gravitational wave interpretation of PTA data: the role of scalar fluctuation propagation speed

Pulsar timing arrays gathered evidence of the presence of a gravitational wave background around nHz frequencies. If the gravitational wave background was induced by large and Gaussian primordial fluctuations, they would then produce too many sub-solar mass primordial black holes. We show that if at the time of gravitational wave generation the universe was dominated by a canonical scalar field, with the same equation of state as standard radiation but a higher propagation speed of fluctuations, one can explain the gravitational wave background with a primordial black hole counterpart consistent with observations. Lastly, we discuss possible ways to test this model with future gravitational wave detectors.

gr-qc↗