arXiv subjects

Md Riajul Haque

Publications and source records attributed to Md Riajul Haque.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Constraining the history of reheating with the NANOGrav 15-year data

Over the last few years, primordial black holes (PBHs) have emerged as a strong candidate for cold dark matter. A significant number of PBHs are produced when the strength of the primordial scalar power spectrum is enhanced on small scales (compared to the COBE normalized values on large scales). Such primordial spectra also inevitably lead to strong amplification of the scalar-induced, secondary gravitational waves (GWs) at higher frequencies. The recent detection of the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) by the pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) has opened up the possibility of directly probing the very early universe. Different studies have shown that, when PBHs are assumed to have been formed during the epoch of radiation domination, the mechanism for the amplification of the scalar-induced GWs that is required to explain the PTA data can overproduce the PBHs over some ranges of masses. In this work, we assume a specific functional form for the primordial scalar power spectrum and examine the production of PBHs and the scalar-induced secondary GWs during the phase of reheating, which precedes the standard epoch of radiation domination. Specifically, we account for the uncertainties in the conditions for the formation of PBHs and ensure that the extent of PBHs produced remains within the observational bounds. We find that the scalar-induced SGWB generated during a phase of reheating with a steeper equation of state (than that of radiation) fit the NANOGrav 15-year data with a stronger Bayesian evidence than the astrophysical scenario involving GWs produced by merging supermassive binary black holes.

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arXiv2024

Memory burden effect mimics reheating signatures on SGWB from ultra-low mass PBH domination

Ultra-low mass primordial black holes (PBH), briefly dominating the expansion of the universe, would leave detectable imprints in the secondary stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB). Such a scenario leads to a characteristic doubly peaked spectrum of SGWB and strongly depends on the Hawking evaporation of such light PBHs. However, these observable signatures are significantly altered if the memory burden effect during the evaporation of PBHs is taken into account. We show that for the SGWB induced by PBH density fluctuations, the memory burden effects on the Hawking evaporation of ultra-low mass PBHs can mimic the signal arising due to the non-standard reheating epoch before PBH domination. Finally, we point out that this degeneracy can be broken by the simultaneous detection of the first peak in the SGWB, which is typically induced by the inflationary adiabatic perturbations.

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arXiv2024

Gravitational wave signatures of cogenesis from a burdened PBH

We explore the possibility of explaining the observed dark matter (DM) relic abundance, along with matter-antimatter asymmetry, entirely from the evaporation of primordial black holes (PBH) beyond the semi-classical approximation. We find that, depending on the timing of modification to the semi-classical approximation and the efficiency of the backreaction, it is possible to produce the correct DM abundance for PBHs with masses $\gtrsim\mathcal{O}(10^3)$ g, whereas producing the right amount of baryon asymmetry requires light PBHs with masses $\lesssim\mathcal{O}(10^3)$ g, satisfying bounds on the PBH mass from the Cosmic Microwave Background and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. However, in a simplistic scenario, achieving both {\it simultaneously} is not feasible, typically because of the stringent Lyman-$α$ constraint on warm dark matter mass. In addition to DM and baryon asymmetry, we also investigate the impact of memory burden on dark radiation, evaporated from PBH, constrained by the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom $ΔN_{\rm eff}$. Furthermore, we demonstrate how induced gravitational waves from PBH density fluctuations can provide a window to test the memory-burden effects, thereby placing constraints on either the DM mass scale or the scale of leptogenesis.

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arXiv2024

Leptogenesis, primordial gravitational waves, and PBH-induced reheating

We explore the possibility of producing the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe uniquely from the evaporation of primordial black holes (PBH) that are formed in an inflaton-dominated background. Considering the inflaton $(ϕ)$ to oscillate in a monomial potential $V(ϕ)\proptoϕ^n$, we show, it is possible to obtain the desired baryon asymmetry via vanilla leptogenesis from evaporating PBHs of initial mass $\lesssim 10$ g. We find that the allowed parameter space is heavily dependent on the shape of the inflaton potential during reheating (determined by the exponent of the potential $n$), the energy density of PBHs (determined by $β$), and the nature of the coupling between the inflaton and the Standard Model (SM). To complete the minimal gravitational framework, we also include in our analysis the gravitational leptogenesis set-up through inflaton scattering via exchange of graviton, which opens up an even larger window for PBH mass, depending on the background equation of state. We finally illustrate that such gravitational leptogenesis scenarios can be tested with upcoming gravitational wave (GW) detectors, courtesy of the blue-tilted primordial GW with inflationary origin, thus paving a way to probe a PBH-induced reheating together with leptogenesis.

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arXiv2024

Primordial black hole versus inflaton

We compare the dark matter(DM) production processes and its parameters space in the background of reheating obtained from two chief systems in the early Universe: the inflaton $ϕ$ and the primordial black holes (PBHs). We concentrated on the mechanism where DMs are universally produced only from the PBH decay and the generation of the standard model plasma from both inflton and PBHs. Whereas the distribution of Primordial Black Holes behaves like dust, the inflaton phenomenology depends strongly on its equation of state after the inflationary phase, which in turn is conditioned by the nature of the potential $V(ϕ)$. Depending upon the initial mass and population of PBHs, a large range of DM mass is shown to be viable if reheating is controlled by PBHs itself. Inflaton-dominated reheating is observed to further widen such possibilities depending on the initial population of black holes and its mass as well as the coupling of the inflaton to the standard model sector.

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arXiv2024

Quantum effects on the evaporation of PBHs: contributions to dark matter

We compute the relic abundance of dark matter in the presence of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) beyond the semiclassical approximation. We take into account the quantum corrections due to the memory burden effect, which is assumed to suppress the black hole evaporation rate by the inverse power of its own entropy. Such quantum effect significantly enhances the lifetime, rendering the possibility of PBH mass $\lesssim 10^{9}$ g being the sole dark matter (DM) candidate. However, Nature can not rule out the existence of fundamental particles such as DM. We, therefore, include the possibility of populating the dark sector by the decay of PBHs to those fundamental particles, adding the contribution to stable PBH whose lifetime is extended due to the quantum corrections. Depending on the strength of the burden effect, we show that a wide range of parameter space opens up in the initial PBH mass and fundamental dark matter mass plane that respects the correct relic abundance.

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arXiv2024

Gravitational neutrino reheating

Despite having important cosmological implications, the reheating phase is believed to play a crucial role in cosmology and particle physics model building. Conventionally, the model of reheating with an arbitrary coupling of inflaton to massless fields naturally lacks precise prediction and hence difficult to verify through observation. In this paper, we propose a simple and natural reheating mechanism where the particle physics model, namely the Type-I seesaw is shown to play a major role in the entire reheating process where inflaton is coupled with all the fields only gravitationally. Besides successfully resolving the well-known neutrino mass and baryon asymmetry problems, this scenario offers successful reheating, predicts distinct primordial gravitational wave spectrum and non-vanishing lowest active neutrino mass. Our novel mechanism opens up a new avenue of integrating particle physics and cosmology in the context of reheating.

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arXiv2023

Inflaton phenomenology via reheating in light of primordial gravitational waves and the latest BICEP/$Keck$ data

We are in the era of precision cosmology which offers us a unique opportunity to investigate beyond standard model physics. Toward this endeavor, inflaton is assumed to be a perfect new physics candidate. In this submission, we explore the phenomenological impact of the latest observation of PLANCK and BICEP/$Keck$ data on the physics of inflation. We particularly study three different models of inflation, namely $α$-attractor E, T, and the minimal plateau model. We further consider two different post-inflationary reheating dynamics driven by inflaton decaying into bosons and fermions. Given the latest data in the inflationary $(n_s-r)$ plane, we derive detailed phenomenological constraints on different inflaton parameters and the associated physical quantities, such as inflationary $e$-folding number, $N_{ k}$, reheating temperatures $T_{\rm re}$. Apart from considering direct observational data, we further incorporate the bounds from primordial gravitational waves (PGWs) and different theoretical constraints. Rather than in the laboratory, our results illustrate the potential of present and future cosmological observations to look for new physics in the sky.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Gravitational reheating

Our present understanding of the reheating phase is incomplete due to a lack of observations. Apart from its cosmological implications, the reheating should play a vital role in particle physics and inflation model building. Conventionally reheating dynamics are modeled by invoking arbitrary coupling among the inflaton and daughter fields. Such an approach lacks robust cosmological predictions due to its arbitrary couplings and is difficult to verify through observation. In this paper, we propose a minimal reheating scenario where the inflaton is coupled with all the daughter fields only gravitationally. Besides being successful in reheating the Universe, the scenario offers a strong cosmological prediction of the primordial gravitational wave spectrum and discards a large number of possible models of dark matter and inflation that are otherwise consistent with Planck.

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arXiv2023

Primordial Black Hole Reheating

Post-inflationary reheating phase is usually said to be solely governed by the decay of coherently oscillating inflaton into radiation. In this submission, we explore a new avenue toward reheating through the evaporation of primordial black holes (PBHs). After the inflation, if PBHs form, depending on its initial mass, abundance, and inflaton coupling with the radiation, we found two physically distinct possibilities of reheating the universe. In one possibility, the thermal bath is solely obtained from the decay of PBHs while inflaton plays the role of dominant energy component in the entire process. In the other possibility, we found that PBHs itself dominate the total energy budget of the Universe during the course of evolution, and then its subsequent evaporation leads to radiation dominated universe. Furthermore, we analyze the impact of both monochromatic and extended PBH mass functions and estimate the detailed parameter ranges for which those distinct reheating histories are realized.

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arXiv2022

Gravitational dark matter: free streaming and phase space distribution

Gravitational dark matter (DM) is the simplest possible scenario that has recently gained interest in the early universe cosmology. In this scenario, DM is assumed to be produced from the decaying inflaton through the gravitational interaction during reheating. Gravitational production from the radiation bath will be ignored as our analysis shows it to be suppressed for a wide range of reheating temperatures. Ignoring any other internal parameters except the DM mass and spin, a particular inflation model such as $α$-attractor, with a specific scalar spectral index $(n_s)$ has been shown to uniquely fix the dark matter mass. For fermion type dark matter we found the mass $m_f$ should be within $(10^4 - 10^{13})$ GeV, and for boson type DM, the mass $m_{s/X}$ turned out to be within $(10^{-8}-10^{13})$ GeV. Interestingly, if the inflaton equation of state $ω_ϕ\rightarrow 1/3$, the DM mass also approaches towards unique value, $m_f \sim 10^{10}$ GeV and $m_{s/X} \sim 10^3\,(\,8\times 10^3\,)$ GeV irrespective of the value of $ω_ϕ$. We further analyzed the phase space distribution $(f_Y)$, and free streaming length $(λ_{fs})$ of these gravitationally produced DM. $f_Y$, which is believed to encode important information about DM, is shown to contain a characteristic primary peak at the initial time where the gravitational production is maximum for both fermion/boson. Apart from this fermionic phase-space distribution function contains an additional peak near the inflaton and fermion mass equality ($m_Y=m_ϕ$) arising for $ω_ϕ>5/9$. Since dark matter is produced during the reheating phase, gravitational instability forming small-scale DM structures during this period will encode those phase space information and be observed at present. Crucial condition $λ_{fs} <λ_{re}$ of forming such a small scale DM structure has been analyzed in detail.

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arXiv2021

Decoding the phases of early and late time reheating through imprints on primordial gravitational waves

Primordial gravitational waves (GWs) carry the imprints of the dynamics of the universe during its earliest stages. With a variety of GW detectors being proposed to operate over a wide range of frequencies, there is great expectation that observations of primordial GWs can provide us with an unprecedented window to the physics operating during inflation and reheating. In this work, we closely examine the effects of the regime of reheating on the spectrum of primordial GWs observed today. We consider a scenario wherein the phase of reheating is described by an averaged equation of state (EoS) parameter with an abrupt transition to radiation domination as well as a scenario wherein there is a gradual change in the effective EoS parameter to that of radiation due to the perturbative decay of the inflaton. We show that the perturbative decay of the inflaton leads to oscillations in the spectrum of GWs, which, if observed, can possibly help us decipher finer aspects of the reheating mechanism. We also examine the effects of a secondary phase of reheating arising due to a brief epoch driven possibly by an exotic, non-canonical, scalar field. Interestingly, we find that, for suitable values of the EoS parameter governing the secondary phase of reheating, the GWs can be of the strength as suggested by the recent NANOGrav observations. We conclude with a discussion of the wider implications of our analysis.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Probing the reheating phase through primordial magnetic field and CMB

Inflationary magnetogenesis has long been assumed to be the most promising mechanism for producing large-scale magnetic fields in our universe. However, generically, such models are plagued with either backreaction or strong coupling problems within the standard framework. This paper has shown that the reheating phase can play a crucial role in alleviating those problems along with CMB. Assuming the electrical conductivity to be negligible during the entire period of reheating, the classic Faraday electromagnetic induction changes the magnetic field's dynamics drastically. Our detailed analysis reveals that this physical phenomenon not only converts a large class of magnetogenesis model observationally viable without any theoretical problem but also can uniquely fix the perturbative average inflaton equation of state, $ω_ϕ = (p+2)/(p+2)$ during reheating given a specific value of the large scale magnetic field. This observation hints the inflaton to assume the potential of form $V(ϕ) \sim ϕ^p$ near its minimum with $p \gtrsim 3.5$ if one considers the limit of the present-day strength of the large scale magnetic field to be $\mathcal{P}_{B0}^{\frac{1}{2}} \gtrsim 10^{-18}$ G. Our analysis opens up a new avenue towards constraining the inflationary and magnetogenesis model together via reheating.

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arXiv2020

Two phase reheating: CMB constraints on inflaton and dark matter phenomenology

We propose a two-phase reheating scenario where the initial preheating dynamics is described by an effective dynamics followed by the standard perturbative reheating. Some of the important universal results of lattice simulation during preheating have been considered as crucial inputs in our two-phase dynamics. In this framework, detailed phenomenological constraints have been obtained on the inflaton couplings with reheating fields, and dark matter parameters in terms of CMB constrained inflationary scalar spectral index. It is observed that the conventional reheating scenario generically predicts the maximum reheating temperature $T_{re}^{max} \simeq 10^{15}$ GeV, corresponding to an almost instantaneous transition from the end of inflation to radiation domination. This fact will naturally lead to the problem of non-perturbative inflaton decay, which is in direct conflict with the perturbative reheating itself. Taking into account this by incorporating effective non-perturbative dynamics as the initial phase, our model of two-phase reheating scenarios also predicts model-independent maximum reheating temperature, which does not correspond to the instantaneous process. Further, $T_{re}^{max}$ is predicted to lie within $(10^{13}, 10^{10})$ GeV if CMB constraints on inflaton couplings with different reheating field are taken into account. We have further studied in detail the dark matter phenomenology in a model-independent manner and show how dark matter parameter space can be constrained through CMB parameters via the inflaton spectral index. Considering dark matter production during reheating via the Freeze-in mechanism, its parameter space has been observed to be highly constrained by our two-phase reheating than the constraints predicted by the conventional reheating scenarios, which are believed to theoretically incomplete.

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arXiv2019

Reheating Constraints on Inflaton, Dark Matter: Swampland Conjecture

In this paper, we studied the phenomenological consequences of recently proposed swampland conjecture on the inflationary models though constraints on reheating. If dark matter is assumed to be produced during reheating, the conjecture will provide further constraints on the dark matter parameter space through its current relic abundance. As has been pointed out already and also analyzed in our present paper any successful inflationary scenario is in clear tension with the aforementioned conjecture in its current form. However considering the swampland parameters to be free and constrained by the inflationary observables, we studied in detail its consequence on the reheating and dark matter phenomenology. We point out the connection between swampland conjecture and the scalar spectral index $n_s$ by PLANCK within current $2 σ$ range, and associated constraints imposed on the reheating temperature and the dark matter annihilation cross-section.

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