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Keisuke Inomata

Publications and source records attributed to Keisuke Inomata.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Enhancement of Gravitational Waves Induced by Scalar Perturbations due to a Sudden Transition from an Early Matter Era to the Radiation Era

We study gravitational waves induced from the primordial scalar perturbations at second order around the reheating of the Universe. We consider reheating scenarios in which a transition from an early matter dominated era to the radiation dominated era completes within a timescale much shorter than the Hubble time at that time. We find that an enhanced production of induced gravitational waves occurs just after the reheating transition because of fast oscillations of scalar modes well inside the Hubble horizon. This enhancement mechanism just after an early matter-dominated era is much more efficient than a previously known enhancement mechanism during an early matter era, and we show that the induced gravitational waves could be detectable by future observations if the reheating temperature $T_{\text{R}}$ is in the range $T_\text{R} \lesssim 7\times 10^{-2}$GeV or $20 \, \text{GeV} \lesssim T_\text{R} \lesssim 2 \times 10^7 \, \text{GeV}$. This is the case even if the scalar perturbations on small scales are not enhanced relative to those on large scales, probed by the observations of the cosmic microwave background.

astro-ph.CO↗

Questions on calculation of primordial power spectrum with large spikes: the resonance model case

Inflationary models predicting a scale-dependent large amplification of the density perturbations have recently attracted a lot of attention because the amplified perturbations can seed a sizable amount of primordial black holes (PBHs) and stochastic background of gravitational waves (GWs). While the power spectra in these models are computed based on the linear equation of motion, it is not obvious whether loop corrections are negligible when such a large amplification occurs during inflation. In this paper, as a first step to discuss the loop corrections in such models, we use the in-in formalism and calculate the one-loop scalar power spectrum numerically and analytically in an illustrative model where the density perturbations are resonantly amplified due to oscillatory features in the inflaton potential. Our calculation is technically new in that the amplified perturbations are numerically taken into account in the in-in formalism for the first time. In arriving at our analytical estimates, we highlight the role that the Wronskian condition of perturbations, automatically satisfied in our model, plays in obtaining the correct estimates. We also discuss the necessary conditions for subdominant loop corrections in this model. We find that, for the typical parameter space leading to the $\mathcal O(10^7)$ amplification of the power spectrum required for a sufficient PBH production, the one-loop power spectrum dominates over the tree-level one, indicating the breakdown of the perturbation theory.

astro-ph.CO↗

Gravitational Waves Induced by Scalar Perturbations during a Gradual Transition from an Early Matter Era to the Radiation Era

We revisit the effects of an early matter-dominated era on gravitational waves induced by scalar perturbations. We carefully take into account the evolution of the gravitational potential, the source of these induced gravitational waves, during a gradual transition from an early matter-dominated era to the radiation-dominated era, where the transition timescale is comparable to the Hubble time at that time. Realizations of such a gradual transition include the standard perturbative reheating with a constant decay rate. Contrary to previous works, we find that the presence of an early matter-dominated era does not necessarily enhance the induced gravitational waves due to the decay of the gravitational potential around the transition from an early matter-dominated era to the radiation-dominated era.

astro-ph.CO↗

Traces of a Heavy Field in Gravitational Waves

We discuss gravitational waves (GWs) induced by a heavy spectator field that starts to oscillate during inflation. During the oscillation of the spectator field, its effective mass can also oscillate in some potentials. This mass oscillation can resonantly amplify the spectator field fluctuations. We show that these amplified fluctuations can induce large GWs, which could be investigated by future gravitational wave observations. This kind of induced GW can be produced even if the spectator field does not have any interaction with other fields except for gravitational interaction.

astro-ph.CO↗

Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier White Paper:Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter

Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) are a viable candidate to comprise some or all of the dark matter and provide a unique window into the high-energy physics of the early universe. This white paper discusses the scientific motivation, current status, and future reach of observational searches for PBHs. Future observational facilities supported by DOE, NSF, and NASA will provide unprecedented sensitivity to PBHs. However, devoted analysis pipelines and theoretical modeling are required to fully leverage these novel data. The search for PBHs constitutes a low-cost, high-reward science case with significant impact on the high energy physics community.

hep-ph↗

Amplification of Primordial Perturbations from the Rise or Fall of the Inflaton

The next generation of cosmic microwave background, gravitational wave, and large scale structure, experiments will provide an unprecedented opportunity to probe the primordial power spectrum on small scales. An exciting possibility for what lurks on small scales is a sharp rise in the primordial power spectrum: This can lead to the formation of primordial black holes, providing a dark matter candidate or the black holes observed by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration. In this work we develop a mechanism for the amplification of the small-scale primordial power spectrum, in the context of single-field inflation with a step-like feature in the inflaton potential. Specifically, we consider both the upward and the downward step in the potential. We also discuss the possibility of the strong coupling between perturbations because the rapid changes of the potential derivatives with the time-dependent field value, caused by the step-like feature, could make the coupling stronger. As a result, we find that the perturbations can remain weakly coupled yet sufficiently enhanced if the step realizes the rapid changes of the potential derivatives in some fraction of an e-fold, $\mathcal O(\mathcal P_{\mathcal R}^{1/2}) \lesssim ΔN < 1$, where $\mathcal P_\mathcal R$ is the power spectrum of the curvature perturbation at that time. We also discuss the PBH formation rate from the inflaton trapping at the local minimum, which can occur in the potential with an upward step.

astro-ph.CO↗

Spectral Distortion Anisotropy from Inflation for Primordial Black Holes

Single field inflationary models that seek to greatly enhance small scale power in order to form primordial black holes predict both a squeezed bispectrum that is enhanced by this small scale power and a potentially detectable enhancement of CMB spectral distortions. Despite this combination, spectral distortion anisotropy on CMB scales remains small since the squeezed bispectrum represents an unobservable modulation of the scale rather than local amplitude for the short wavelength acoustic power that dissipates and forms the $μ$ spectral distortion. The leading order amplitude effect comes from the local modulation of acoustic dissipation at the beginning of the $μ$ epoch at the end of thermalization by a long wavelength mode that is correlated with CMB anisotropy itself. Compensating factors from the suppression by the square of the ratio the comoving horizon at thermalization to the smallest detectable primary CMB scales ($\sim 0.0005$) and maximal allowed enhancement of $μ$ ($\sim 5000$) leaves a signal in the $μT$ cross spectrum that is still well beyond the capabilities of PIXIE or LiteBIRD due to sensitivity and resolution while remaining much larger than in single field slow roll inflation and potentially observable.

astro-ph.CO↗

Bound on Induced Gravitational Waves during Inflation Era

We put the upper bound on the gravitational waves (GWs) induced by the scalar-field fluctuations during the inflation. In particular, we focus on the case where the scalar fluctuations get amplified within some subhorizon scales by some mechanism during the inflation. Since the energy conservation law leads to the upper bound on the energy density of the scalar fluctuations, the amplitudes of the scalar fluctuations are constrained and therefore the induced GWs are also. Taking into account this, we derive the upper bound on the induced GWs. As a result, we find that the GW power spectrum must be $\mathcal P_h \lesssim \mathcal O(ε^2 (k/k_*)^2)$ up to the logarithmic factor, where $ε$ is the slow-roll parameter and $k_*$ is the peak scale of the scalar-field fluctuations.

astro-ph.CO↗

Primordial Black Holes Arise When The Inflaton Falls

Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) have entered the forefront of theoretical cosmology, due their potential role in phenomena ranging from gravitational waves, to dark matter, to galaxy formation. While producing PBHs from inflationary fluctuations naively would seem to require a large deceleration of the inflaton from its velocity at the horizon exit of CMB scales, in this work we demonstrate that an acceleration from a relatively small downward step in the potential that is transited in much less than an e-fold amplifies fluctuations as well. Depending on the location of the step, such PBHs could explain dark matter or the black holes detected by the gravitational wave interferometers. The perturbation enhancement has a natural interpretation as particle production due to the non-adiabatic transition associated with the step.

astro-ph.CO↗

NANOGrav results and LIGO-Virgo primordial black holes in axion-like curvaton model

We discuss a possible connection between the recent NANOGrav results and the primordial black holes (PBHs) for the LIGO-Virgo events. In particular, we focus on the axion-like curvaton model, which provides a sizable amount of PBHs and GWs induced by scalar perturbations around the NANOGrav frequency range. The inevitable non-Gaussianity of this model suppresses the induced GWs associated with PBHs for the LIGO-Virgo events to be compatible with the NANOGrav results. We show that the axion-like curvaton model can account for PBHs for the LIGO-Virgo events and the NANOGrav results simultaneously.

astro-ph.CO↗

Analytic solutions of scalar perturbations induced by scalar perturbations

We study scalar perturbations induced by scalar perturbations through the non-linear interaction appearing at second order in perturbations. We derive analytic solutions of the induced scalar perturbations in a perfect fluid. In particular, we consider the perturbations in a radiation-dominated era and a matter-dominated era. With the analytic solutions, we also discuss the power spectra of the induced perturbations.

gr-qc↗

Gravitational Wave Production right after a Primordial Black Hole Evaporation

We discuss the footprint of evaporation of primordial black holes (PBHs) on stochastic gravitational waves (GWs) induced by scalar perturbations. We consider the case where PBHs once dominated the Universe but eventually evaporated before the big bang nucleosynthesis. The reheating through the PBH evaporation could end with a sudden change in the equation of state of the Universe compared to the conventional reheating caused by particle decay. We show that this "sudden reheating" by the PBH evaporation enhances the induced GWs, whose amount depends on the length of the PBH-dominated era and the width of the PBH mass function. We explore the possibility to constrain the primordial abundance of the evaporating PBHs by observing the induced GWs. We find that the abundance parameter $β\gtrsim 10^{-5} \text{ - }10^{-8}$ for $\mathcal{O}(10^3 \text{ - } 10^5) \, \text{g}$ PBHs can be constrained by future GW observations if the width of the mass function is smaller than about a hundredth of the mass.

astro-ph.CO↗

Standard Model Prediction for Cosmological 21cm Circular Polarization

Before cosmic reionization, hydrogen atoms acquire a spin polarization quadrupole through interaction with the anisotropic 21-cm radiation field. The interaction of this quadrupole with anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation field gives a net spin orientation to the hydrogen atoms. The 21-cm radiation emitted by these spin-oriented hydrogen atoms is circularly polarized. Here, we reformulate succinctly the derivation of the expression for this circular polarization in terms of Cartesian (rather than spherical) tensors. We then compute the angular power spectrum of the observed Stokes-$V$ parameter in the standard $Λ$CDM cosmological model and show how it depends on redshift, or equivalently, the observed frequency.

astro-ph.CO↗

Window function dependence of the novel mass function of primordial black holes

We investigate the ambiguity of the novel mass function of primordial black holes, which has succeeded in identifying the black hole mass in a given configuration of fluctuations, due to the choice of window function of smoothed density fluctuations. We find that while the window function dependence of the exponential factor in the novel mass function is the same as the one in the conventional mass function around the top-hat scale, the dependences are different on other scales, which leads to the narrower mass function in the novel formulation for some window functions.

astro-ph.CO↗

Gauge Independence of Induced Gravitational Waves

We study gauge (in)dependence of the gravitational waves (GWs) induced from curvature perturbations. For the GWs produced in a radiation-dominated era, we find that the observable (late-time) GWs in the TT gauge and in the Newtonian gauge are the same in contrast to a claim in the literature. We also mention the interpretation of the gauge dependence of the tensor perturbations which appears in the context of the induced GWs.

gr-qc↗

Chiral photons from chiral gravitational waves

We show that a parity-breaking uniform (averaged over all directions on the sky) circular polarization of amplitude $V_{00} \simeq 2.6 \times 10^{-17}\, Δχ(r/0.06)$ can be induced by chiral gravitational-wave (GW) background with tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and chirality parameter $Δχ$ (which is $\pm1$ for a maximally chiral background). We also show, however, that a uniform circular polarization can arise from a realization of a non-chiral GW background that spontaneously breaks parity. The magnitude of this polarization is drawn from a distribution of root-variance $\sqrt{< V_{00}^2>} \simeq 1.5\times 10^{-18}\, (r/0.06)^{1/2}$ implying that the chirality parameter must be $Δχ\gtrsim 0.12 (r/0.06)^{-1/2}$ to establish that the GW background is chiral. Although these values are too small to be detected by any experiment in the foreseeable future, the calculation is a proof of principle that cosmological parity breaking in the form of a chiral gravitational-wave background can be imprinted in the chirality of the photons in the cosmic microwave background. It also illustrates how a seemingly parity-breaking cosmological signal can arise from parity-conserving physics.

astro-ph.CO↗

Circular polarization of the cosmic microwave background from vector and tensor perturbations

Circular polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) can be induced by Faraday conversion of the primordial linearly polarized radiation as it propagates through a birefringent medium. Recent work has shown that the dominant source of birefringence from primordial density perturbations is the anisotropic background CMB. Here we extend prior work to allow for the additional birefringence that may arise from primordial vector and tensor perturbations. We derive the formulas for the power spectrum of the induced circular polarization and apply those to the standard cosmology. We find the root-variance of the induced circular polarization to be $\sqrt{ }\sim 3\times 10^{-14}$ for scalar perturbations and $\sqrt{ }\sim 7\times 10^{-18} (r/0.06)$ for tensor perturbations with a tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$.

astro-ph.CO↗

Gravitational waves induced by scalar perturbations as probes of the small-scale primordial spectrum

Compared to primordial perturbations on large scales, roughly larger than $1$ megaparsec, those on smaller scales are not severely constrained. We revisit the issue of probing small-scale primordial perturbations using gravitational waves (GWs), based on the fact that, when large-amplitude primordial perturbations on small scales exist, GWs with relatively large amplitudes are induced at second order in scalar perturbations, and these induced GWs can be probed by both existing and planned gravitational-wave projects. We use accurate methods to calculate these induced GWs and take into account sensitivities of different experiments to induced GWs carefully, to report existing and expected limits on the small-scale primordial spectrum.

astro-ph.CO↗