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P. Conzinu

Publications and source records attributed to P. Conzinu.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Constraints on the Pre-Big Bang scenario from a cosmological interpretation of the NANOGrav data

We discuss a recently proposed fit of the 15-year data set obtained from the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) in terms of a relic stochastic background of primordial gravitons, produced in the context of the string cosmology pre-big bang scenario. We show that such interpretation cannot be reconciled with a phenomenologically viable minimal version of such scenario, while it can be allowed if one considers an equally viable but generalised, non-minimal version of pre-big bang evolution. Maintaining the $S$-duality symmetry throughout the high-curvature string phase is possible although somewhat disfavoured. The implications of this non-minimal scenario for the power spectrum of curvature perturbations are also briefly discussed.

hep-th

From the string vacuum to FLRW or de Sitter via $\alpha'$ corrections

We first make more precise a recent "Hamiltonian" reformulation of the Hohm-Zwiebach approach to the tree-level, $O(d,d)$-invariant string cosmology equations at all orders in the $\alpha'$ expansion, and recall how it allows to give a simple characterization of a large class of cosmological scenarios connecting, through a non-singular bounce, two duality-related perturbative solutions at early and late times. We then discuss the effects of adding to the action a non-perturbative, $O(d,d)$-breaking, dilaton potential $V(\phi)$. The resulting cosmological solutions, assumed to approach at early times the perturbative string vacuum (with vanishing curvature and string coupling), can stabilize the dilaton at late times and simultaneously approach either a matter-dominated FLRW cosmology or a de-Sitter-like inflationary phase, depending on initial conditions and on the properties of $V(\phi)$ at moderate-coupling. We also identify a general mechanism for generating isotropic late-time attractors from a large basin of anisotropic initial conditions.

hep-th

Primordial Black Holes from Pre-Big Bang inflation

We discuss the possibility of producing a significant fraction of dark matter in the form of primordial black holes in the context of the pre-big bang inflationary scenario. We take into account, to this purpose, the enhancement of curvature perturbations possibly induced by a variation of the sound-speed parameter $c_s$ during the string phase of high-curvature inflation. After imposing all relevant observational constraints, we find that the considered class of models is compatible with the production of a large amount of primordial black holes in the mass range relevant to dark matter, provided the sound-speed parameter is confined in a rather narrow range of values, $0.003 < c_s < 0.01$.

gr-qc