arXiv subjects

Mario Ballardini

Publications and source records attributed to Mario Ballardini.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Beyond {\Lambda}CDM with the SKA Observatory -- II: Unveiling the Secrets of the Early Universe

The origins of the universe remain one of the biggest mysteries in modern cosmology. While the Planck satellite has provided a wealth of information about the early universe, there is still much to be discovered. The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) offers a unique opportunity to probe the universe's infancy, going beyond the current limitations of our knowledge. By measuring the power spectrum of biased tracers of the dark matter distribution on the largest cosmological scales and exploring beyond 2-point statistics, SKAO will enable us to refine our understanding of the primordial universe, including the shape of the inflationary power spectrum and the presence of primordial non-Gaussianity. In this chapter we will review recent works looking at the potential of SKAO's surveys, and how synergies with other surveys can revolutionize our understanding of the origins of the cosmos.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Searching for primordial features with radio surveys: synergy between the power spectrum and bispectrum

We present a comprehensive forecasting framework to assess the detection of primordial oscillatory features by exploiting the synergy between future neutral hydrogen (HI) intensity mapping (IM) surveys and cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements. Focusing on next-generation single-dish (SKAO) and interferometric (HIRAX) radio configurations, we perform a joint analysis of the redshift-space power spectrum and bispectrum, consistently incorporating scale-dependent bias, redshift-space distortions, and non-Gaussian covariance. We investigate phenomenological templates with linear and logarithmic primordial oscillations, together with a physically motivated sharp-feature model. We find that including the large-scale structure bispectrum improves marginalised constraints on feature amplitudes by $30$--$40\%$ relative to the power spectrum alone and helps break parameter degeneracies. In several cases, the bispectrum contains more information on the power-spectrum feature parameters than the power spectrum itself. Much of this gain arises from the late-time gravitational contribution, which inherits the oscillatory structure of the primordial feature signal and acts as an independent source of information. While the CMB angular power spectrum is crucial for constraining low oscillation frequencies, joint interferometric IM analyses ($P+B$) outperform CMB amplitude constraints by up to $75\%$ in the linear regime. We also show that, despite non-Gaussian covariance degrading the independent constraining power of the bispectrum by $55$--$90\%$, the combined HI+CMB probe achieves percent-level precision on the frequency of primordial features, providing a powerful test of non-slow-roll inflation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Signals from the early Universe: a comprehensive search for primordial features in Planck CMB datasets

We investigate the presence of primordial oscillatory features in measurements of CMB anisotropies through a systematic comparison of phenomenological templates. Building upon previous searches for primordial features using Planck data, we compare the full PR3 legacy release with the PR4 (NPIPE) processing to assess how the results depend on the choice of CMB maps and likelihood framework. To maximise our sensitivity to rapidly varying oscillatory signals, we employ unbinned likelihoods. We find that several previously reported indications of oscillatory structure persist across different analyses, although none attains global statistical significance. Furthermore, some anomalies reported in earlier studies are substantially reduced when updated to the new versions of the CamSpec likelihood using Planck PR4 products. For all templates considered, we identify a small number of frequencies in the range $\omega \sim 10-100$ that improve the fit to the CMB data by up to $\Delta\chi^2 \simeq -10$ to $-15$ relative to the featureless reference model. However, this improvement is not supported by a Bayesian model comparison. The inclusion of three or four additional parameters can reduces the overall predictability of the feature models and leads to an Occam penalty. Finally, after properly accounting for the look-elsewhere effect, the significance of the preferred frequencies is reduced, corresponding to a global statistical significance of at most $2.6\sigma$. We present forecasts for forthcoming CMB experiments, highlighting the decisive role of next-generation polarisation measurements in distinguishing genuine primordial oscillations from statistical fluctuations and modelling systematics. The upper bounds or uncertainties on the feature amplitudes, expected from the combination of SO and LiteBIRD, improve by more than one order of magnitude.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Knot reconstruction of the scalar primordial power spectrum with Planck, ACT, and SPT CMB data

We investigate a non-parametric Bayesian method for reconstructing the primordial power spectrum (PPS) of scalar perturbations using temperature and polarisation data from the {\em Planck}, ACT, and SPT CMB experiments. This reconstruction method is based on linear splines for the PPS between nodes in $k$-space whose amplitudes and positions are allowed to vary. All three data sets consistently show no significant deviations from a power-law form in the range $0.005 \lesssim k\,\mathrm{Mpc} \lesssim 0.16$ independent of the number of knots adopted to perform the reconstruction. The addition of high-resolution CMB measurements from ACT and SPT slightly improves the range of scales of the scalar PPS which are well constrained around a power law up to $k \simeq 0.25\,\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ and $k \simeq 0.2\,\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$, respectively. At large scales, a potential oscillatory feature in the primordial power spectrum appears when we consider six or more nodes. We test the robustness of the methodology and our results by varying the detailed number of knots from $N=2$ to $N=10$. We have used the reconstructed scalar PPS to derive several quantities related to inflationary dynamics, such as the effective scalar spectral index, which describes the dependence of the PPS on the scales and parameters associated with the effective field theory of inflation, to provide information on possible departures from the standard single-field canonical case. Finally, we investigate whether the excess of smoothing in the region of the acoustic peaks of the CMB anisotropy temperature power spectrum in the \textit{Planck} PR3 data is degenerate with our reconstructions of the PPS, but find no significant correlation between them.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Scalar-Tensor Gravity and DESI 2024 BAO data

We discuss the implications of the DESI 2024 BAO data on scalar-tensor models of gravity. We consider four representative models: induced gravity (IG, equivalent to Jordan-Brans-Dicke), where we either fix today's value of the effective gravitational constant on cosmological scales to the Newton's constant or allow them to differ, Jordan-Brans-Dicke supplemented with a Galileon term (BDG), and early modified gravity (EMG) with a conformal coupling. In this way it is possible to investigate how different modified gravity models compare with each other when confronted with DESI 2024 BAO data. Compared to previous analyses, for all of these models, the combination of Planck and DESI data favors a larger value of the key parameter of the theory, such as the nonminimal coupling to gravity or the Galileon term, leading also to a larger value of $H_0$, due to the known degeneracy between these parameters. These new results are mainly driven by the first two redshift bins of DESI. In BDG, in which we find the largest value for $H_0$ among the models considered, the combination of Planck and DESI is consistent with CCHP results and reduces the $H_0$ tension with the SH0ES measurement to $1.2\sigma$ (compared to $4.5\sigma$ of $\Lambda$CDM in our Planck + DESI analysis).

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Refining the nonlinear modelling of primordial oscillatory features

Primordial oscillatory features in the power spectrum of curvature perturbations are sensitive probes of the dynamics of the early Universe and can provide insights beyond the standard inflationary scenario. While these features have been the focus of extensive studies using cosmic microwave background anisotropy data, large-scale structure surveys now provide competitive constraints with the opportunity to probe their effects at smaller scales with higher precision. In this paper, we present a complete description of the nonlinear model for primordial oscillatory features in the context of time-sliced perturbation theory extending the results already presented in the literature. We derive analytical expressions including novel contributions such as the mixed term between primordial oscillations and baryon acoustic oscillations, and we also calculate the corrections arising from the specific envelope of the oscillatory pattern, corresponding to a scale-dependent amplitude. These results are compared with N-body simulations using the COLA method and show consistent behaviour across different scales. Although the corrections are found to be small, they represent an important step to fully characterising the nonlinear imprints of primordial features on the matter power spectrum. Our results offer new calculations to be tested with future cosmological surveys that seek to detect these subtle signatures in the matter distribution.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Third-order corrections to the slow-roll expansion: calculation and constraints with Planck, ACT, SPT, and BICEP/Keck

We investigate the primordial power spectra (PPS) of scalar and tensor perturbations, derived through the slow-roll approximation. By solving the Mukhanov-Sasaki equation and the tensor perturbation equation with Green's function techniques, we extend the PPS calculations to third-order corrections, providing a comprehensive perturbative expansion in terms of slow-roll parameters. We investigate the accuracy of the analytic predictions with the numerical solutions of the perturbation equations for a selection of single-field slow-roll inflationary models. We derive the constraints on the Hubble flow functions $\epsilon_i$ from Planck, ACT, SPT, and BICEP/Keck data. We find an upper bound $\epsilon_1 \lesssim 0.002$ at 95\% CL dominated by BICEP/Keck data and robust to all the different combination of datasets. We derive the constraint $\epsilon_2 \simeq 0.031 \pm 0.004$ at 68\% confidence level (CL) from the combination of Planck data and late-time probes such as baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift space distortions, and supernovae data at first order in the slow-roll expansion. The uncertainty on $\epsilon_2$ gets larger including second- and third-order corrections, allowing for a non-vanishing running and running of the running respectively, leading to $\epsilon_2 \simeq 0.034 \pm 0.007$ at 68\% CL. We find $\epsilon_3 \simeq 0.1 \pm 0.4$ at 95\% CL both at second and at third order in the slow-roll expansion of the spectra. $\epsilon_4$ remains always unconstrained. The combination of Planck and SPT data leads to slightly tighter constraints on $\epsilon_2$ and $\epsilon_3$. On the contrary, the combination of Planck data with ACT measurements, which point to higher values of the scalar spectral index compared to Planck findings, leads to shifts in the means and maximum likelihood values for $\epsilon_2$ and $\epsilon_3$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Chasing cosmic inflation: constraints for inflationary models and reheating insights

We investigate the impact of different choice of prior's range for the reheating epoch on cosmic inflation parameter inference in light of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy measurements from the {\em Planck} 2018 legacy release in combination with BICEP/Keck Array 2018 data and additional late-time cosmological observations such as uncalibrated Type Ia supernovae from the Pantheon catalogue, baryon acoustic oscillations and redshift space distortions from SDSS/BOSS/eBOSS. Here, we explore in particular the implications for the combination of reheating and inflationary-model parameter space considering $R+R^2$ inflation and a broad class of $\alpha$-attractor and D-brane models. Propagating the uncertainties due to an unknown reheating phase, these inflationary models completely cover the $n_{\rm s}$-$r$ parameter space allowed by {\em Planck} and BICEP/Keck data and represent good targets for future CMB and large-scale structure experiments. We perform a Bayesian model comparison of inflationary models, taking into account the reheating uncertainties assuming a conservative but accurate modelling of inflationary predictions. $R+R^2$ inflation, T-model $\alpha$-attractor inflation for $n=1$, E-model $\alpha$-attractor inflation for $n=1/2$, and KKLT inflation for $p=5$ are the better performing models, with none being preferred at a statistically significant level.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Probing Early Modification of Gravity with Planck, ACT and SPT

We consider a model of early modified gravity (EMG) that was recently proposed as a candidate to resolve the Hubble tension. The model consists in a scalar field $\sigma$ with a non-minimal coupling (NMC) to the Ricci curvature of the form $F(\sigma) = M_{\mathrm{pl}}^2+\xi\sigma^2$ and an effective mass induced by a quartic potential $V(\sigma) = \lambda \sigma^4/4$. We present the first analyses of the EMG model in light of the latest ACT DR4 and SPT-3G data in combination with full Planck data, and find a $\gtrsim 2\sigma$ preference for a non-zero EMG contribution from a combination of primary CMB data alone, mostly driven by ACT DR4 data. This is different from popular 'Early Dark Energy' models, which are detected only when the high-$\ell$ information from Planck temperature is removed. We find that the NMC plays a key role in controlling the evolution of density perturbations that is favored by the data over the minimally coupled case. Including measurements of supernovae luminosity distance from Pantheon+, baryonic acoustic oscillations and growth factor from BOSS, and CMB lensing of Planck leaves the preference unaffected. In the EMG model, the tension with S$H_0$ES is alleviated from $\sim 6\sigma$ to $\sim 3\sigma$. Further adding S$H_0$ES data rise the detection of the EMG model above $5\sigma$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Unraveling the CMB lack-of-correlation anomaly with the cosmological gravitational wave background

Since the very first observations, the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) has revealed on large-scales unexpected features known as anomalies, which challenge the standard $\Lambda$ cold dark matter ($\Lambda$CDM) cosmological model. One such anomaly is the "lack-of-correlation", where the measured two-point angular correlation function of CMB temperature anisotropies is compatible with zero, differently from the predictions of the standard model. This anomaly could indicate a deviation from the standard model, unknown systematics, or simply a rare realization of the model itself. In this study, we explore the possibility that the lack-of-correlation anomaly is a consequence of living in a rare realization of the standard model, by leveraging the potential information provided by the cosmological gravitational wave background (CGWB) detectable by future gravitational wave (GW) interferometers. We analyze both constrained and unconstrained realizations of the CGWB to investigate the extent of information that GWs can offer. To quantify the impact of the CGWB on the lack-of-correlation anomaly, we employ established estimators and introduce a new estimator that addresses the "look-elsewhere" effect. Additionally, we consider three different maximum multipoles, denoted as $\ell_{\rm max}$, to account for the anticipated capabilities of future GW detectors ($\ell_{\rm max} = 4, 6, 10$). Summarizing our findings for the case of $\ell_{\rm max} = 4$, we identify the angular range $[63^\circ - 180^\circ]$ as the region where future observations of the CGWB maximize the probability of rejecting the standard model. Furthermore, we calculate the expected significance of this observation, demonstrating that 98.81% (81.67%) of the GW realizations enhance the current significance of the anomaly when considering the full-sky (masked) Planck SMICA map as our CMB sky.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

On the primordial origin of the smoothing excess in the $Planck$ temperature power spectrum in light of LSS data

The {\em Planck} DR3 measurements of the temperature and polarization anisotropies power spectra of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) show an excess of smoothing of the acoustic peaks with respect to $Λ$CDM, often quantified by a phenomenological parameter $A_{\rm L}$. A specific feature superimposed to the primordial power spectrum has been suggested as a physical solution for this smoothing excess. Here, we investigate the impact of this specific localized oscillation with a frequency linear in the wavenumber, designed to mimic the smoothing of CMB temperature spectrum corresponding to $A_{\rm L} \simeq 1.1-1.2$ on the matter power spectrum. We verify the goodness of the predictions in perturbation theory at next-to-leading order with a set of N-body simulations, a necessary step to study the non-linear damping of these primordial oscillations. We show that for a large portion of the parameter space, the amplitude of this primordial oscillation can be strongly damped on the observed nonlinear matter power spectrum at $z=0$, but a larger signal is still persistent at $z \lesssim 2$ and is therefore a target for future galaxy surveys at high redshifts. From an analysis of the BOSS DR12 two-point correlation function, we find ${\cal A}_{\rm lin} < 0.26$ at 95\% CL by keeping the frequency fixed to the best-fit of {\em Planck} data.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Report of the Topical Group on Cosmic Probes of Fundamental Physics for for Snowmass 2021

Cosmic Probes of Fundamental Physics take two primary forms: Very high energy particles (cosmic rays, neutrinos, and gamma rays) and gravitational waves. Already today, these probes give access to fundamental physics not available by any other means, helping elucidate the underlying theory that completes the Standard Model. The last decade has witnessed a revolution of exciting discoveries such as the detection of high-energy neutrinos and gravitational waves. The scope for major developments in the next decades is dramatic, as we detail in this report.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Type Ia supernovae data with scalar-tensor gravity

We study the use of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in the context of scalar-tensor theories of gravity, taking as a working example induced gravity, equivalent to Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory. Winking at accurate and precision cosmology, we test the correction introduced by a time variation of the Newton's constant, predicted by scalar-tensor theories, on the SNe distance modulus relation. We find that for induced gravity the coupling parameter is constrained from $ξ< 0.0095$ (95\% CL) using Pantheon SNe data alone down to $ξ< 0.00063$ (95\% CL) in combination with {\em Planck} data release DR3 and a compilation of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) measurements from BOSS DR12. In this minimal case the improvements in terms of constraints on the cosmological parameters coming from the addition of SNe data to cosmic microwave background (CMB) and BAO measurements is limited, $\sim7\%$ on the 95\% CL upper bound on $ξ$. Allowing for the value of the gravitational constant today to depart from the Newton constant, we find that the addition of SNe further tightens the constraints obtained by CMB and BAO data on the standard cosmological parameters and by 22\% on the coupling parameter, i.e., $ξ< 0.00064$ at 95\% CL. We finally show that in this class of modified gravity models the use a prior on the absolute magnitude $M_B$ in combination with the Pantheon SNe sample leads to results which are very consistent with those obtained by imposing a prior on $H_0$, as happens for other {\em early-type} models which accommodate a larger value of $H_0$ compared to the $Λ$CDM results.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Cosmological constraints on the gravitational constant

We study the variation of the gravitational Newton's constant on cosmological scales in scalar-tensor theories of gravity. We focus on the simplest models of scalar-tensor theories with a coupling to the Ricci scalar of the form $F(σ) = N_{pl}^2 + ξσ^2$, such as extended Jordan-Brans-Dicke ($N_{pl}=0$), or a non-minimally coupled scalar field with $N_{pl}=M_{pl}$, which permits the gravitational constant to vary self-consistently in time and space. In addition, we allow the gravitational constant to differ from the Newton's constant $G$, i.e. $G_{\rm eff}(z=0) = G(1+Δ)^2$. Combining the information from {\em Planck} 2018 CMB temperature, polarization and lensing, together with a compilation of BAO measurements from BOSS, we constrain the imbalance to $Δ= -0.022 \pm 0.023$ (68% CL) and the coupling to $10^3\, ξ< 0.82$ (95% CL) for JBD and for a non-minimally coupled scalar field we constrain the imbalance to $Δ> -0.018$ ($< 0.021$) and the coupling parameter to $ξ< 0.089$ ($ξ> - 0.041$) both at 95% CL. These constraints correspond to a variation of the gravitational constant now respect to the one in the radiation era to be smaller than 3% (95% CL) and to the ratio of the gravitational Newton's constant measured from cosmological scales and the one measured in a Cavendish-like experiment to be smaller than 4-15% (95% CL). With current data, we observe that the degeneracy between $Δ$, the coupling $ξ$, and $H_0$ allows for a larger value of the Hubble constant increasing the agreement between the measurement of the Hubble constant by the SH0ES team and its value inferred by CMB data. Future data such as the combination of CMB anisotropies from LiteBIRD and CMB-S4, and large-scale structures galaxy clustering from DESI and galaxy shear from LSST will reduce the uncertainty to $σ(Δ) = 0.004$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Cosmology Intertwined: A Review of the Particle Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology Associated with the Cosmological Tensions and Anomalies

In this paper we will list a few important goals that need to be addressed in the next decade, also taking into account the current discordances between the different cosmological probes, such as the disagreement in the value of the Hubble constant $H_0$, the $σ_8$--$S_8$ tension, and other less statistically significant anomalies. While these discordances can still be in part the result of systematic errors, their persistence after several years of accurate analysis strongly hints at cracks in the standard cosmological scenario and the necessity for new physics or generalisations beyond the standard model. In this paper, we focus on the $5.0\,σ$ tension between the {\it Planck} CMB estimate of the Hubble constant $H_0$ and the SH0ES collaboration measurements. After showing the $H_0$ evaluations made from different teams using different methods and geometric calibrations, we list a few interesting new physics models that could alleviate this tension and discuss how the next decade's experiments will be crucial. Moreover, we focus on the tension of the {\it Planck} CMB data with weak lensing measurements and redshift surveys, about the value of the matter energy density $Ω_m$, and the amplitude or rate of the growth of structure ($σ_8,fσ_8$). We list a few interesting models proposed for alleviating this tension, and we discuss the importance of trying to fit a full array of data with a single model and not just one parameter at a time. Additionally, we present a wide range of other less discussed anomalies at a statistical significance level lower than the $H_0$--$S_8$ tensions which may also constitute hints towards new physics, and we discuss possible generic theoretical approaches that can collectively explain the non-standard nature of these signals.[Abridged]

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

New constraints on primordial features from the galaxy two-point correlation function

Features in the primordial power spectrum represent the imprinted signal in the density perturbations of the physics and evolution of the early Universe. A measurement of such signals will represents the need to go beyond the minimal assumption made for the initial conditions of the cosmological perturbations. For the first time, we study different templates with undamped oscillations or a bump from the two-point correlation function measured from BOSS DR12 galaxies constraining the amplitude of the features to be at most a few percent. Constraints are competitive to the ones obtained with {\em Planck} DR3.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Constraining the neutrino mass using a multi-tracer combination of two galaxy surveys and CMB lensing

Measuring the total neutrino mass is one of the most exciting opportunities available with next-generation cosmological data sets. We study the possibility of detecting the total neutrino mass using large-scale clustering in 21cm intensity mapping and photometric galaxy surveys, together with CMB information. We include the scale-dependent halo bias contribution due to the presence of massive neutrinos, and use a multi-tracer analysis in order to reduce cosmic variance. The multi-tracer combination of an SKAO-MID 21cm intensity map with Stage~4 CMB dramatically shrinks the uncertainty on total neutrino mass to $σ(M_ν) \simeq 45\,$meV, using only linear clustering information ($k_{\rm max} = 0.1\, h/$Mpc) and without a prior on optical depth. When we add to the multi-tracer the clustering information expected from LSST, the forecast is $σ(M_ν) \simeq 12\,$meV.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Cosmological parameter forecasts by a joint 2D tomographic approach to CMB and galaxy clustering

The cross-correlation between the cosmic microwave background (CMB) fields and matter tracers carries important cosmological information. In this paper, we forecast by a signal-to-noise ratio analysis the information contained in the cross-correlation of the CMB anisotropy fields with source counts for future cosmological observations and its impact on cosmological parameters uncertainties, using a joint tomographic analysis. We include temperature, polarization and lensing for the CMB fields and galaxy number counts for the matter tracers. By restricting ourselves to quasi-linear scales, we forecast by a Fisher matrix formalism the relative importance of the cross-correlation of source counts with the CMB in the constraints on the parameters for several cosmological models. We obtain that the CMB-number counts cross-correlation can improve the dark energy Figure of Merit (FoM) at most up to a factor $\sim 2$ for LiteBIRD+CMB-S4 $\times$ SKA1 compared to the uncorrelated combination of both probes and will enable the Euclid-like photometric survey to reach the highest FoM among those considered here. We also forecast how CMB-galaxy clustering cross-correlation could increase the FoM of the neutrino sector, also enabling a statistically significant ($\gtrsim$ 3$σ$ for LiteBIRD+CMB-S4 $\times$ SPHEREx) detection of the minimal neutrino mass allowed in a normal hierarchy by using quasi-linear scales only. Analogously, we find that the uncertainty in the local primordial non-Gaussianity could be as low as $σ(f_{\rm NL}) \sim 1.5-2$ by using two-point statistics only with the combination of CMB and radio surveys such as EMU and SKA1. Our results highlight the additional constraining power of the cross-correlation between CMB and galaxy clustering from future surveys which is mainly based on quasi-linear scales and therefore sufficiently robust to non-linear effects.

astro-ph.CO↗