arXiv subjects

Kazunori Nakayama

Publications and source records attributed to Kazunori Nakayama.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

The R-axion and non-Gaussianity

We study cosmological implications of an R-axion, a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson associated with spontaneous breaking of an U(1)_R symmetry, focusing on its quantum fluctuations generated during inflation. We show that, in the anomaly mediation, the R-axion decays into a pair of gravitinos, which eventually decay into the visible particles producing the neutralino LSP. As a result, the quantum fluctuations of the R-axion are inherited by the cold dark matter isocurvature density perturbation with potentially large non-Gaussianity. The constraints on the inflation scale and the initial misalignment are derived.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

Diffuse gamma-ray background and cosmic-ray positrons from annihilating dark matter

We study the annihilating dark matter contribution to the extra-galactic diffuse gamma-ray background spectrum, motivated by the recent observations of cosmic-ray positron/electron anomalies. The observed diffuse gamma-ray flux provides stringent constraint on dark matter models and we present upper bounds on the annihilation cross section of the dark matter. It is found that for the case of cored dark matter halo profile, the diffuse gamma-rays give more stringent bound compared with gamma-rays from the Galactic center. The Fermi satellite will make the bound stronger.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Positron/Gamma-Ray Signatures of Dark Matter Annihilation and Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis

The positron excess observed by the PAMELA experiment may come from dark matter annihilation, if the annihilation cross section is large enough. We show that the dark matter annihilation scenarios to explain the positron excess may also be compatible with the discrepancy of the cosmic lithium abundances between theory and observations. The wino-like neutralino in the supersymmetric standard model is a good example for it. This scenario may be confirmed by Fermi satellite experiment.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

Cosmic Rays from Dark Matter Annihilation and Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis

Recent measurements of cosmic-ray electron and positron fluxes by PAMELA and ATIC experiments may indicate the existence of annihilating dark matter with large annihilation cross section. We show that the dark matter annihilation in the big-bang nucleosynthesis epoch affects the light element abundances, and it gives stringent constraints on such annihilating dark matter scenarios for the case of hadronic annihilation. Constraints on leptonically annihilating dark matter models are less severer.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

Upward muon signals at neutrino detectors as a probe of dark matter properties

We study upward muon flux at neutrino detectors such as Super-Kamiokande resulting from high-energy neutrinos produced by the dark matter annihilation/decay at the Galactic center. In particular, we distinguish showering and non-showering muons as their energy loss processes inside the detector, and show that this information is useful for discriminating dark matter models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

Phenomenological Aspects of Horava-Lifshitz Cosmology

We show that, assuming the dispersion relation proposed recently by Horava in the context of quantum gravity, radiation energy density exhibits a peculiar dependence on the scale factor; the radiation energy density decreases proportional to a^{-6}. This simple scaling can have an impact on cosmology. As an example, we show that the resultant baryon asymmetry as well as the stochastic gravity waves can be enhanced. We also discuss current observational constraint on the dispersion relation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2009

Signatures of dark matter annihilation in the light of PAMELA/ATIC anomaly

Recent measurements of cosmic-ray electron and positron fluxes by PAMELA and ATIC experiments may indicate the existence of annihilating dark matter with large annihilation cross section. We discuss its possible relation to other astrophysical/cosmological observations : gamma-rays, neutrinos, and big-bang nucleosynthesis. It is shown that they give stringent constraints on some annihilating dark matter models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

Neutrino Signals from Annihilating/Decaying Dark Matter in the Light of Recent Measurements of Cosmic Ray Electron/Positron Fluxes

The excess of cosmic-ray electron and positron fluxes measured by the PAMELA satellite and ATIC balloon experiments may be interpreted as the signals of the dark matter annihilation or decay into leptons. In this letter we show that the dark matter annihilation/decay which reproduces the electron/positron excess may yield a significant amount of high-energy neutrinos from the Galactic center. In the case, future kilometer-square size experiments may confirm such a scenario, or even the Super-Kamiokande results already put constraints on some dark matter models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

A General Analysis of Non-Gaussianity from Isocurvature Perturbations

Light scalars may be ubiquitous in nature, and their quantum fluctuations can produce large non-Gaussianity in the cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropy. The non-Gaussianity may be accompanied with a small admixture of isocurvature perturbations, which often have correlations with the curvature perturbations. We present a general method to calculate the non-Gaussianity in the adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations with and without correlations, and see how it works in several explicit examples. We also show that they leave distinct signatures on the bispectrum of the cosmic microwave background temperature fluctuations.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Cosmological Moduli Problem from Thermal Effects

We estimate the cosmological abundance of a modulus field that has dilatonic couplings to gauge fields, paying particular attention to thermal corrections on the modulus potential. We find that a certain amount of the modulus coherent oscillations is necessarily induced by a linear thermal effect. We argue that such an estimate provides the smallest possible modulus abundance for a given thermal history of the Universe. As an example we apply our results to a saxion, a bosonic supersymmetric partner of an axion, and derive a tight bound on the reheating temperature. We emphasize that the problem cannot be avoided by fine-tuning the initial deviation of the modulus field, since the minimal amount of the modulus is induced by the dynamics of the scalar potential.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Hilltop Non-Gaussianity

We study non-Gaussianity induced by a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson with a cosine-type scalar potential. We focus on how the non-Gaussianity is affected when the pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson rolls down from near the top of the scalar potential where the deviation from a quadratic potential is large. We find that the resultant non-Gaussianity is similar to that obtained in the quadratic potential, if the pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson accounts for the curvature perturbation; the non-Gaussianity is enhanced, otherwise.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Non-Gaussianity from Baryon Asymmetry

We study a scenario that large non-Gaussianity arises from the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. There are baryogenesis scenarios containing a light scalar field, which may result in baryonic isocurvature perturbations with some amount of non-Gaussianity. As an explicit example we consider the Affleck-Dine mechanism and show that a flat direction of the supersymmeteric standard model can generate large non-Gaussianity in the curvature perturbations, satisfying the observational constraints on the baryonic isocurvature perturbations. The sign of a non-linearity parameter, f_{NL}, is negative, if the Affleck-Dine mechanism accounts for the observed baryon asymmetry; otherwise it can be either positive or negative.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Non-Gaussianity from isocurvature perturbations

We develop a formalism to study non-Gaussianity in both curvature and isocurvature perturbations. It is shown that non-Gaussianity in the isocurvature perturbation between dark matter and photons leaves distinct signatures in the CMB temperature fluctuations, which may be confirmed in future experiments, or possibly, even in the currently available observational data. As an explicit example, we consider the QCD axion and show that it can actually induce sizable non-Gaussianity for the inflationary scale, H_{inf} = O(10^9 - 10^{11})GeV.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Direct/indirect detection signatures of nonthermally produced dark matter

We study direct and indirect detection possibilities of neutralino dark matter produced non-thermally by e.g. the decay of long-lived particles, as is easily implemented in the case of anomaly or mirage mediation models. In this scenario, large self-annihilation cross sections are required to account for the present dark matter abundance, and it leads to significant enhancement of the gamma-ray signature from the Galactic Center and the positron flux from the dark matter annihilation. It is found that GLAST and PAMELA will find the signal or give tight constraints on such nonthermal production scenarios of neutralino dark matter.

hep-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

Solving Cosmological Problems of Supersymmetric Axion Models in an Inflationary Universe

We revisit inflationary cosmology of axion models in the light of recent developments on the inflaton decay in supergravity. We find that all the cosmological difficulties, including gravitino, axino overproduction and axionic isocurvature fluctuation, can be avoided if the saxion field has large initial amplitude during inflation and decays before big-bang nucleosynthesis.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Cosmological implications of supersymmetric axion models

We derive general constraints on supersymmetric extension of axion models, in particular paying careful attention to the cosmological effects of saxion. It is found that for every mass range of the saxion from keV to TeV, severe constraints on the energy density of the saxion are imposed. Together with constraints from axino we obtain stringent upper bounds on the reheating temperature.

hep-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↗