arXiv subjects

Jun'ichi Yokoyama

Publications and source records attributed to Jun'ichi Yokoyama.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

Constraints on the time variation of the fine structure constant by the 5-year WMAP data

The constraints on the time variation of the fine structure constant at recombination epoch relative to its present value, $Δα/α\equiv (α_{\mathrm{rec}} - α_{\mathrm{now}})/α_{\mathrm{now}}$, are obtained from the analysis of the 5-year WMAP cosmic microwave background data. As a result of Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo analysis, it is found that, contrary to the analysis based on the previous WMAP data, the mean value of $Δα/α=-0.0009$ does not change significantly whether we use the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) measurement of the Hubble parameter as a prior or not. The resultant 95% confidence ranges of $Δα/α$ are $-0.028 < Δα/α< 0.026$ with HST prior and $-0.050 < Δα/α< 0.042$ without HST prior.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Higgsflation at the GUT scale in a Higgsless Universe

We revisit inflation in induced gravity. Our focus is on models where the low scale Planck mass is completely determined by the breaking of the scaling symmetry in the field theory sector. The Higgs-like field which breaks the symmetry with a GUT-scale vacuum expectation value has non-minimal couplings to the curvature, induced by the gravitational couplings of the other light fields in the theory, so that its expectation value controls the gravitational strength. This field can drive inflation, and give a low energy universe in very good agreement with the cosmological observations. The low energy dynamics of the Standard Model cannot be unitarized by the Higgsflaton, which decouples from the low energy theory, both because it picks up a large mass and because its direct couplings to the low energy modes are weakened. Instead, the short distance behavior of the Standard Model may be regulated by the dynamics of other light degrees of freedom, such as in Higgsless models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Formation of intermediate-mass black holes as primordial black holes in the inflationary cosmology with running spectral index

Formation of primordial black holes (PBHs) on astrophysical mass scales is a natural consequence of inflationary cosmology if the primordial perturbation spectrum has a large and negative running of the spectral index as observationally inferred today, because double inflation is required to explain it and fluctuations on some astrophysical scales are enhanced in the field oscillation regime in between. It is argued that PBHs thus produced can serve as intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) which act as the observed ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) by choosing appropriate values of the model parameters in their natural ranges. Our scenario can be observationally tested in near future because the mass of PBHs is uniquely determined once we specify the values of the spectral index and its running on large scales.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Probing reheating temperature of the universe with gravitational wave background

Thermal history of the universe after big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) is well understood both theoretically and observationally, and recent cosmological observations also begin to reveal the inflationary dynamics. However, the epoch between inflation and BBN is scarcely known. In this paper we show that the detection of the stochastic gravitational wave background around 1Hz provides useful information about thermal history well before BBN. In particular, the reheating temperature of the universe may be determined by future space-based laser interferometer experiments such as DECIGO and/or BBO if it is around 10^{6-9} GeV, depending on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and dilution factor $F$.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Single-field inflation, anomalous enhancement of superhorizon fluctuations, and non-Gaussianity in primordial black hole formation

We show a text-book potential for single-field inflation, namely, the Coleman-Weinberg model can induce double inflation and formation of primordial black holes (PBHs), because fluctuations that leave the horizon near the end of first inflation are anomalously enhanced at the onset of second inflation when the time-dependent mode turns to a growing mode rather than a decaying mode. The mass of PBHs produced in this mechanism lies in several discrete ranges depending on the model parameters. We also calculate the effects of non-Gaussian statistics due to higher-order interactions on the abundance of PBHs, which turns out to be small.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Affleck Dine leptogenesis via multiple flat directions

We investigate the Affleck-Dine mechanism when multiple flat directions have large values simultaneously. We consider in detail the case when both $LH_u$ and $H_uH_d$ flat directions are operative with a non-renormalizable superpotential. In case Hubble induced A-terms are present for these two flat directions, their initial values are determined completely by the potential and there are no ambiguities how they are mixed. Moreover, CP is violated even when the Hubble parameter is large due to the Hubble induced A-term and cross coupling in F-term, so that the lepton asymmetry is generated just after the end of inflation. As a result, compared with the case of single flat direction, the resultant lepton-to-entropy ratio is enhanced by a factor of $H_{osc}/m_{3/2}$, where $H_{osc}$ is the Hubble parameter at the onset of oscillation and $m_{3/2}$ is the gravitino mass. However, when Hubble induced A-terms do not exist, there remains indefiniteness of initial phases and CP is violated spontaneously by the phase difference between initial phase and potential minima of the hidden-sector induced A-terms. Therefore, CP-violation is not effective until the onset of the oscillation of scalar fields around the origin and there is suppression factor from thermal effect as is the case of single flat direction. In this case, the amplitude of baryon isocurvature perturbation imposes constraints on the model parameters.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Constraints on scalar-tensor models of dark energy from observational and local gravity tests

We construct a family of viable scalar-tensor models of dark energy (DE) which possess a phase of late-time acceleration preceded by a standard matter era, while at the same time satisfying the local gravity constraints (LGC). The coupling Q between the scalar field and the non-relativistic matter in the Einstein frame is assumed to be constant in our scenario, which is a generalization of f(R) gravity theories corresponding to the coupling Q=-1/sqrt{6}. We find that these models can be made compatible with local gravity constraints even when |Q| is of the order of unity through a chameleon mechanism, if the scalar-field potential is chosen to have a sufficiently large mass in the high-curvature regions. We show that these models generally lead to the divergence of the equation of state of DE, which occur at smaller redshifts as the deviation from the LambdaCDM model become more significant. We also study the evolution of matter density perturbations and employ them to place bounds on the coupling |Q| as well as model parameters of the field potential from observations of the matter power spectrum and the CMB anisotropies. We find that, as long as |Q| is smaller than the order of unity, there exist allowed parameter regions that are consistent with both observational and local gravity constraints.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Space laser interferometers can determine the thermal history of the early Universe

It is shown that space-based gravitational wave detectors such as DECIGO and/or Big Bang Observer (BBO) will provide us with invaluable information on the cosmic thermal history after inflation and they will be able to determine the reheat temperature $T_R$ provided that it lies in the range preferred by the cosmological gravitino problem, $T_R\sim 10^{5-9}$ GeV. Therefore it is strongly desired that they will be put into practice as soon as possible.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

Generation of Large-Scale Magnetic Fields in Single-Field Inflation

We consider the generation of large-scale magnetic fields in slow-roll inflation. The inflaton field is described in a supergravity framework where the conformal invariance of the electromagnetic field is generically and naturally broken. For each class of inflationary scenarios, we determine the functional dependence of the gauge coupling that is consistent with the observations on the magnetic field strength at various astrophysical scales and, at the same time, avoid a back-reaction problem. Then, we study whether the required coupling functions can naturally emerge in well-motivated, possibly string-inspired, models. We argue that this is non trivial and can be realized only for a restricted class of scenarios. This includes power-law inflation where the inflaton field is interpreted as a modulus. However, this scenario seems to be consistent only if the energy scale of inflation is low and the reheating stage prolonged. Another reasonable possibility appears to be small field models since no back-reaction problem is present in this case but, unfortunately, the corresponding scenario cannot be justified in a stringy framework. Finally, large field models do not lead to sensible model building.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Effective Search Templates for a Primordial Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background

We calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the stochastic gravitational-wave background in an extreme case that its spectrum has a sharp falloff with its amplitude close to the detection threshold. Such a spectral feature is a characteristic imprint of the change in the number of relativistic degrees of freedom on the stochastic background generated during inflation in the early Universe. We find that, although SNR is maximal with the correct template which is proportional to the assumed real spectrum, its sensitivity to the shape of template is fairly weak indicating that a simple power-law template is sufficient to detect the signature.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2007

Power Spectrum of the Density Perturbations From Smooth Hybrid New Inflation Model

We numerically investigate density perturbations generated in the smooth hybrid new inflation model, a kind of double inflation model that is designed to reproduce the running spectral index suggested by the WMAP results. We confirm that this model provides the running spectral index within 1sigma range of the three year WMAP result. In addition, we find a sharp and strong peak on the spectrum of primordial curvature perturbation at small scales. This originates from amplification of fluctuation in the first inflaton fields due to parametric resonance, which takes place in the oscillatory phase between two inflationary regime. Formation probability of primordial black holes (PBHs) is discussed as a consequence of such peak.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

Time variation of proton-electron mass ratio and fine structure constant with runaway dilaton

Recent astrophysical observations indicate that the proton-electron mass ratio and the fine structure constant have gone through nontrivial time evolution. We discuss their time variation in the context of a dilaton runaway scenario with gauge coupling unification at the string scale $M_{\rm s}$. We show that the choice of adjustable parameters allows them to fit the same order magnitude of both variations and their (opposite) signs in such a scenario.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Thermal background can solve the cosmological moduli problem

It is shown that the coherent field oscillation of moduli fields with weak or TeV scale masses can dissipate its energy efficiently if they have a derivative coupling to standard bosonic fields in a thermal state. This mechanism may provide a new solution to the cosmological moduli problem in some special situations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Weighing neutrinos in the presence of a running primordial spectral index

The three-year WMAP(WMAP3), combined with other cosmological observations from galaxy clustering and Type Ia Supernova (SNIa), prefers a non-vanishing running of the primordial spectral index independent of the low CMB multipoles. Motivated by this feature we study cosmological constraint on the neutrino mass, which severely depends on what prior we adopt for the spectral shape of primordial fluctuations, taking possible running into account. As a result we find a more stringent constraint on the sum of the three neutrino masses, m_ν< 0.76eV (2 σ), compared with m_ν< 0.90eV (2 σ) for the case where power-law prior is adopted to the primordial spectral shape.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Scale dependence of the primordial spectrum from combining the three-year WMAP, Galaxy Clustering, Supernovae, and Lyman-alpha forests

We probe the scale dependence of the primordial spectrum in the light of the three-year WMAP (WMAP3) alone and WMAP3 in combination with the other cosmological observations such as galaxy clustering and Type Ia Supernova (SNIa). We pay particular attention to the combination with the Lyman $α$ (Ly$α$) forest. Different from the first-year WMAP (WMAP1), WMAP3's preference on the running of the scalar spectral index on the large scales is now fairly independent of the low CMB multipoles $\ell$. A combination with the galaxy power spectrum from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) prefers a negative running to larger than 2$σ$, regardless the presence of low $\ell$ CMB ($2\le \ell \le 23$) or not. On the other hand if we focus on the Power Law $Λ$CDM cosmology with only six parameters (matter density $Ω_m h^2$, baryon density $Ω_b h^2$, Hubble Constant $H_0$, optical depth $τ$, the spectral index, $n_s$, and the amplitude, $A_s$, of the scalar perturbation spectrum) when we drop the low $\ell$ CMB contributions WMAP3 is consistent with the Harrison-Zel'dovich-Peebles scale-invariant spectrum ($n_s=1$ and no tensor contributions) at $\sim 1σ$. When assuming a simple power law primordial spectral index or a constant running, in case one drops the low $\ell$ contributions ($2\le \ell \le 23$) WMAP3 is consistent with the other observations better, such as the inferred value of $σ_8$. We also find, using a spectral shape with a minimal extension of the running spectral index model, LUQAS$+$ CROFT Ly$α$ and SDSS Ly$α$ exhibit somewhat different preference on the spectral shape.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Density fluctuations in one-field inflation

Any one-field inflation is actually realized in a multifield configuration because the inflaton must have couplings with other fields to reheat the universe and is coupled to all other fields at least gravitationally. In all single inflaton models, it is explicitly or implicitly assumed that the heavier fields are stuck to their potential minima during inflation, which are time-dependent in general. We present a formalism to calculate curvature perturbations in such a time-dependent background and show that the proper expression can be obtained using a single-field analysis with a reduced potential in which all these heavy fields are situated at their respective, time-dependent minima. Our results provide a firm ground on the conventional calculation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Hiding cosmic strings in supergravity D-term inflation

The influence of higher-order terms in the Kähler potential of the supergravity D-term inflation model on the density perturbation is studied. We show that these terms can make the inflaton potential flatter, which lowers the energy scale of inflation under the COBE/WMAP normalization. As a result, the mass per unit length of cosmic strings, which are produced at the end of inflation, can be reduced to a harmless but detectable level without introducing a tiny Yukawa coupling. Our scenario can naturally be implemented in models with a low cut-off as in Type I or Type IIB orientifold models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

Can oscillating scalar fields decay into particles with a large thermal mass?

We calculate the dissipation rate of a coherently oscillating scalar field in a thermal environment using nonequilibrium quantum field theory and apply it to the reheating stage after cosmic inflation. It is shown that the rate is nonvanishing even when particles coupled to the oscillating inflaton field have a larger thermal mass than it, and therefore the cosmic temperature can be much higher than inflaton's mass even in the absence of preheating. Its cosmological implications are also discussed.

hep-ph↗