Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Jun'ichi Yokoyama

Publications and source records attributed to Jun'ichi Yokoyama.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
arXiv2005

Neutralino Dark Matter from Heavy Gravitino Decay

We propose a new scenario of non-thermal production of neutralino cold dark matter, in which the overproduction problem of lightest supersymmetric particles (LSPs) in the standard thermal history is naturally solved. The mechanism requires a heavy modulus field which decays mainly to ordinary particles releasing large entropy to dilute gravitinos produced just after inflation and thermal relics of LSPs. Significant amount of gravitinos are also pair-produced at the decay, which subsequently decay into the neutralinos. We identify the regions of the parameter space in which the requisite abundance of the neutralino dark matter is obtained without spoiling the big-bang nucleosynthesis by injection of hadronic showers from gravitino decay. The neutralino abundance obtained in this mechanism is insensitive to the details of the superparticle mass spectrum, unlike the standard thermal abundance. We also briefly mention the testability of the scenario in future experiments.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2005

Constraining Cosmological Parameters by the Cosmic Inversion Method

We investigate the question of how tightly we can constrain the cosmological parameters by using the ``cosmic inversion'' method in which we directly reconstruct the power spectrum of primordial curvature perturbations, $P(k)$, from the temperature and polarization spectra of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In a previous paper, we suggested that it may be possible to constrain the cosmological parameters using the fact that the reconstructed $P(k)$ does not depend on how many polarization data we incorporate in our inversion procedure if and only if the correct values of the cosmological parameters are used. The advantage of this approach is that we need no assumption regarding the functional form of $P(k)$. In this paper, we estimate typical errors in the determination of the cosmological parameters when our method is applied to the PLANCK observation. We investigate constraints on $h$, $Ω_b$, $Ω_m$, and $Ω_Λ$ through Monte Carlo simulations.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2004

Reconstructing the Primordial Spectrum with CMB Temperature and Polarization

We develop a new method to reconstruct the power spectrum of primordial curvature perturbations, $P(k)$, by using both the temperature and polarization spectra of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We test this method using several mock primordial spectra having non-trivial features including the one with an oscillatory component, and find that the spectrum can be reconstructed with a few percent accuracy by an iterative procedure in an ideal situation in which there is no observational error in the CMB data. In particular, although the previous ``cosmic inversion'' method, which used only the temperature fluctuations, suffered from large numerical errors around some specific values of $k$ that correspond to nodes in a transfer function, these errors are found to disappear almost completely in the new method.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2004

Smooth hybrid inflation in supergravity with a running spectral index and early star formation

It is shown that in a smooth hybrid inflation model in supergravity adiabatic fluctuations with a running spectral index with $\ns >1$ on a large scale and $\ns <1$ on a smaller scale can be naturally generated, as favored by the first-year data of WMAP. It is due to the balance between the nonrenormalizable term in the superpotential and the supergravity effect. However, since smooth hybrid inflation does not last long enough to reproduce the central value of observation, we invoke new inflation after the first inflation. Its initial condition is set dynamically during smooth hybrid inflation and the spectrum of fluctuations generated in this regime can have an appropriate shape to realize early star formation as found by WMAP. Hence two new features of WMAP observations are theoretically explained in a unified manner.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2004

Fate of oscillating scalar fields in the thermal bath and their cosmological implications

Relaxation process of a coherent scalar field oscillation in the thermal bath is investigated using nonequilibrium quantum field theory. The Langevin-type equation of motion is obtained which has a memory term and both additive and multiplicative noise terms. The dissipation rate of the oscillating scalar field is calculated for various interactions such as Yukawa coupling, three-body scalar interaction, and biquadratic interaction. When the background temperature is larger than the oscillation frequency, the dissipation rate arising from the interactions with fermions is suppressed due to the Pauli blocking, while it is enhanced for interactions with bosons due to the induced effect. In both cases, we find that the microphysical detailed balance relation drives the oscillating field to a thermal equilibrium state. That is, for low-momentum modes, the classical fluctuation-dissipation theorem holds and they relax to a state the equipartition law is satisfied, while higher-momentum modes reach the state the number density of each quanta consists of the thermal boson distribution function and zero-point vacuum contribution. The temperature-dependent dissipation rates obtained here are applied to the late reheating phase of inflationary universe. It is found that in some cases the reheat temperature may take somewhat different value from the conventional estimates, and in an extreme case the inflaton can dissipate its energy without linear interactions that leads to its decay. Furthermore the evaporation rate of the Affleck-Dine field at the onset of its oscillation is calculated.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2004

Reconstructing the Primordial Spectrum from WMAP Data by the Cosmic Inversion Method

We reconstruct the primordial spectrum of the curvature perturbation, $P(k)$, from the observational data of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) by the cosmic inversion method developed recently. In contrast to conventional parameter-fitting methods, our method can potentially reproduce small features in $P(k)$ with good accuracy. As a result, we obtain a complicated oscillatory $P(k)$. We confirm that this reconstructed $P(k)$ recovers the WMAP angular power spectrum with resolution up to $Δ\ell \simeq 5$. Similar oscillatory features are found, however, in simulations using artificial cosmic microwave background data generated from a scale-invariant $P(k)$ with random errors that mimic observation. In order to examine the statistical significance of the nontrivial features, including the oscillatory behaviors, therefore, we consider a method to quantify the deviation from scale-invariance and apply it to the $P(k)$ reconstructed from the WMAP data. We find that there are possible deviations from scale-invariance around $k \simeq 1.5\times10^{-2}$ and $2.6\times10^{-2}{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2004

Production and dilution of gravitinos by modulus decay

We study the cosmological consequences of generic scalar fields like moduli which decay only through gravitationally suppressed interactions. We consider a new production mechanism of gravitinos from moduli decay, which might be more effective than previously known mechanisms, and calculate the final gravitino-to-entropy ratio to compare with the constraints imposed by successful big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) etc., taking possible hadronic decays of gravitinos into account. We find the modulus mass smaller than $\sim 10^4$ TeV is excluded. On the other hand, inflation models with high reheating temperatures $T_{R,\rm inf} \sim 10^{16}$ GeV can be compatible with BBN thanks to the late-time entropy production from the moduli decay if model parameters are appropriately chosen.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Chaotic hybrid new inflation in supergravity with a running spectral index

We propose an inflation model in supergravity, in which chaotic and hybrid inflation occurs successively, followed by new inflation. During hybrid inflation, adiabatic fluctuations with a running spectral index with $\ns >1$ on a large scale and $\ns <1$ on a smaller scale are generated, as favored by recent results of the first year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. The initial condition of new inflation is also set dynamically during hybrid inflation, and its duration and the amplitude of density fluctuations take appropriate values to help early star formation to realize early reionization.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Inflation with a running spectral index in supergravity

The first year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data favors primordial adiabatic fluctuation with a running spectral index with $\ns >1$ on a large scale and $\ns <1$ on a smaller scale. The model building of inflation that predicts perturbations with such a spectrum is a challenge, because most models predict fluctuations with either $\ns >1$ (hybrid inflation) or $\ns <1$ (new, chaotic, or topological inflation). We give a sensible particle physics model in supergravity that accommodates the desired running of the spectral index using double inflation.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Issues on the cosmological constant

Some issues of the cosmological constant or dark energy are briefly reviewed. There are an increasing number of observations that constrain the equation of state of dark energy more stringently and favor the time-independent cosmological constant. Then a plausible model of dark energy would be a theory with degenerate perturbative vacua in which its origin is explained by a nonperturbative effect so that, unlike quintessence, k-essence etc., it is separable from the perturbative problem why its amplitude is smaller than the Planckian density by a factor of $\order (10^{-120})$.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2003

Quantitative evolution of global strings from the Lagrangian viewpoint

We clarify the quantitative nature of the cosmological evolution of a global string network, that is, the energy density, peculiar velocity, velocity squared, Lorentz factor, formation rate of loops, and emission rate of Nambu-Goldstone bosons, based on a new type of numerical simulation of scalar fields in Eulerian meshes. We give a detailed explanation of a method to extract the above-mentioned quantities to characterize string evolution by analyzing scalar fields in Eulerian meshes from a Lagrangian viewpoint. We confirm our previous claim that the number of long strings per horizon volume in a global string network is smaller than in the case of a local string network by a factor of $\sim$10 even under cosmological situations, and its reason is clarified.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Stabilizing dilaton and baryogenesis

Entropy production by the dilaton decay is studied in the model where the dilaton acquires potential via gaugino condensation in the hidden gauge group. Its effect on the Affleck-Dine baryogenesis is investigated with and without non-renormalizable terms in the potential. It is shown that the baryon asymmetry produced by this mechanism with the higher-dimensional terms is diluted by the dilaton decay and can be regulated to the observed value.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Cosmic Inversion II --An iterative method for reproducing the primordial spectrum from the CMB data--

Pursuing the original idea proposed in our previous paper (Paper I), we improve the method to determine the shape of the initial curvature perturbation spectrum $P(k)$ from the CMB data. The thickness of the last scattering surface (LSS) and the integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect, which we neglect in Paper I, are taken into account and an iterative method is newly developed. The new method can reproduce the primordial power spectra with a high accuracy, given the correct values of the cosmological parameters. Conversely, there appear spurious peaks and dips in the reconstructed power spectrum if we use the cosmological parameters slightly different from the true values, while there appear regions of negative $P(k)$ in some cases if we use substantially different values. In other words, the tacit assumption that the cosmological parameters can be determined for an assumed initial spectrum is verified by our reconstruction method. In addition, it could be a new tool to constrain the cosmological parameters without recourse to models of the primordial power spectra.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2002

Lagrangian evolution of global strings

We establish a method to trace the Lagrangian evolution of extended objects consisting of a multicomponent scalar field in terms of a numerical calculation of field equations in three dimensional Eulerian meshes. We apply our method to the cosmological evolution of global strings and evaluate the energy density, peculiar velocity, Lorentz factor, formation rate of loops, and emission rate of Nambu-Goldstone (NG) bosons. We confirm the scaling behavior with a number of long strings per horizon volume smaller than the case of local strings by a factor of $\sim$ 10. The strategy and the method established here are applicable to a variety of fields in physics.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2002

Degenerate vacua as the origin of the dark energy

I propose a new mechanism to account for the observed tiny but finite dark energy in terms of a non-Abelian Higgs theory, which has infinitely many perturbative vacua characterized by a winding number, in the framework of inflationary cosmology without introducing any tiny numbers.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2002

Vacuum selection by inflation as the origin of the dark energy

I propose a new mechanism to account for the observed tiny but finite dark energy in terms of a non-Abelian Higgs theory, which has infinitely many perturbative vacua characterized by a winding number, in the framework of inflationary cosmology. Inflation homogenizes field configuration and practically realizes a perturbative vacuum with vanishing winding number, which is expressed by a superposition of eigenstates of the Hamiltonian with different vacuum energy density. As a result, we naturally find a nonvanishing vacuum energy density with fairly large probability, under the assumption that the cosmological constant vanishes in some vacuum state. Since the predicted magnitude of dark energy is exponentially suppressed by the instanton action, we can fit observation without introducing any tiny parameters.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2002

On the origin of the cosmological constant

Under the assumption that the cosmological constant vanishes in the true ground state with lowest possible energy density, we argue that the observed small but finite vacuum-like energy density can be explained if we consider a theory with two or more degenerate perturbative vacua, which are unstable due to quantum tunneling, and if we still live in one of such states. An example is given making use of the topological vacua in non-Abelian gauge theories.

gr-qc↗