arXiv subjects

S. I. Vilchinskii

Publications and source records attributed to S. I. Vilchinskii.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Vector dark matter production during inflation in the gradient-expansion formalism

A massive vector field is a highly promising candidate for dark matter in the Universe. A salient property of dark matter is its negligible or null coupling to ordinary matter, with the exception of gravitational interaction. This poses a significant challenge in producing the requisite amount of dark particles through processes within the Standard Model. In this study, we examine the production of a vector field during inflation due to its direct interaction with the inflaton field through kinetic and axionlike couplings as well as the field-dependent mass. The gradient-expansion formalism, previously proposed for massless Abelian gauge fields, is extended to include the longitudinal polarization of a massive vector field. We derive a coupled system of equations of motion for a set of bilinear functions of the vector field. This enables us to address the nonlinear dynamics of inflationary vector field production, including backreaction on background evolution. To illustrate this point, we apply our general formalism to a low-mass vector field whose kinetic and mass terms are coupled to the inflaton via the Ratra-type exponential function. The present study investigates the production of its transverse and longitudinal polarization components in a benchmark inflationary model with a quadratic inflaton potential. It has been demonstrated that pure mass coupling is able to enhance only the longitudinal components. By turning on also the kinetic coupling, one can get different scenarios. As the coupling function decreases, the primary contribution to the energy density is derived from the transverse polarizations of the vector field. Conversely, for an increasing coupling function, the longitudinal component becomes increasingly significant and rapidly propels the system into the strong backreaction regime.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Reheating ACTs on Starobinsky and Higgs inflation

In the recent sixth data release (DR6) of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) collaboration, the value of $n_{\rm s}=0.9743 \pm 0.0034$ for the scalar spectral index is reported, which excludes the Starobinsky and Higgs inflationary models at $2σ$ level. In this paper, we perform a Bayesian inference of the parameters of the Starobinsky or Higgs inflationary model with non-instantaneous reheating using the Markov chain Monte Carlo method. For the analysis, we use observational data on the cosmic microwave background collected by the Planck and ACT collaborations and on baryonic acoustic oscillations from the DESI collaboration. The reheating stage is modelled by a single parameter $R_{\rm reh}$. Using the modified Boltzmann code CLASS and the cobaya software with the GetDist package, we perform a direct inference of the model parameter space and obtain their posterior distributions. Using the Kullback--Leibler divergence, we estimate the information gain from the data, yielding $2.52$ bits for the reheating parameter. Inclusion of the ACT DR6 data provides $75\%$ more information about the reheating stage compared to analysis without ACT data. We draw constraints on the reheating temperature and the average equation of state. While the former can vary within $10$ orders of magnitude, values in the $95\%$ credible interval indicate a sufficiently low reheating temperature; for the latter there is a clear preference for values greater than $0.5$, which means that the conventional equations of state for dust $ω=0$ and relativistic matter $ω=1/3$ are excluded with more than $2σ$ level of significance. However, there still is a big part of parameter space where Starobinsky and Higgs inflationary models exhibit a high degree of consistency with the latest observational data, particularly from ACT DR6. Therefore, it is premature to reject these models.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Hypermagnetogenesis from axion inflation: Model-independent estimates

Axion inflation coupled to the Standard Model (SM) hypercharge gauge sector represents an attractive scenario for the generation of primordial hypermagnetic fields. The description of this scenario is, however, complicated by the Schwinger effect, which gives rise to highly nonlinear dynamics. Hypermagnetogenesis during axion inflation in the absence of nonlinear effects is well studied and known to result in a hypermagnetic energy density that scales like $H^4\,e^{2πξ}/ξ^5$, where $ξ$ is proportional to the time derivative of the axion-vector coupling in units of the Hubble rate $H$. In this paper, we generalize this result to the full SM case by consistently taking into account the Schwinger pair production of all SM fermions. To this end, we employ the novel gradient-expansion formalism that we recently developed in [2109.01651], and which is based on a set of vacuum expectation values for bilinear hyperelectromagnetic functions in position space. We parametrize the numerical output of our formalism in terms of three parameters ($ξ$, $H$, and $Δ$, where the latter accounts for the damping of subhorizon gauge-field modes because of the finite conductivity of the medium) and work out semianalytical fit functions that describe our numerical results with high accuracy. Finally, we validate our results by comparing them to existing estimates in the literature as well as to the explicit numerical results in a specific inflationary model, which leads to good overall agreement. We conclude that the systematic uncertainties in the description of hypermagnetogenesis during axion inflation, which previously spanned up to several orders of magnitude, are now reduced to typically less than 1 order of magnitude, which paves the way for further phenomenological studies.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Gauge-field production during axion inflation in the gradient expansion formalism

We study the explosive production of gauge fields during axion inflation in a novel gradient expansion formalism that describes the time evolution of a set of bilinear electromagnetic functions in position space. Based on this formalism, we are able to simultaneously account for two important effects that have thus far been mostly treated in isolation: (i) the backreaction of the produced gauge fields on the evolution of the inflaton field and (ii) the Schwinger pair production of charged particles in the strong gauge-field background. This allows us to show that the suppression of the gauge-field production due to the Schwinger effect can prevent the backreaction in scenarios in which it would otherwise be relevant. Moreover, we point out that the induced current, $\boldsymbol{J} = σ\boldsymbol{E}$, also dampens the Bunch-Davies vacuum fluctuations deep inside the Hubble horizon. We describe this suppression by a new parameter $Δ$ that is related to the time integral over the conductivity $σ$ which hence renders the description of the entire system inherently nonlocal in time. Finally, we demonstrate how our formalism can be used to construct highly accurate solutions for the mode functions of the gauge field in Fourier space, which serves as a starting point for a wealth of further phenomenological applications, including the phenomenology of primordial perturbations and baryogenesis.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Chirality production during axion inflation

We study the generation of the chiral charge during axion inflation where the pseudoscalar inflaton field $ϕ$ couples axially to the electromagnetic field through the term $(β/M_p)ϕ\,\boldsymbol{E}\cdot\boldsymbol{B}$ with dimensionless coupling constant $β$. To describe the evolution of electromagnetic field and determine $\langle\boldsymbol{E}\cdot\boldsymbol{B}\rangle$ sourcing the chiral asymmetry during inflation due to the chiral anomaly, we employ the gradient expansion formalism. It operates with a set of vacuum expectation values of bilinear electromagnetic functions and allows us to take into account the backreaction of generated fields on the inflaton evolution as well as the Schwinger production of charged fermions. In addition, we include the chiral magnetic effect contribution to the electric current $\boldsymbol{j}_{\rm CME}=e^{2}/(2π^2)μ_{5}\boldsymbol{B}$, where $μ_5$ is the chiral chemical potential which quantifies the chiral charge production. Solving a set of equations for the inflaton field, scale factor, quadratic functions of the electromagnetic field, and the chiral charge density (chiral chemical potential), we find that the chirality production is quite efficient leading to the generation of a large chemical potential at the end of axion inflation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

s- and p-superfluidity of Fermi atoms in Bose-Fermi mixtures

The p-wave superfluid is characterized by nontrivial topological characteristics essential for fault-tolerant quantum state manipulation. However, the practical realization of the p-wave state remains a challenging problem. We study the s- and p-wave superfluidity in mixtures of fermionic and spinor bosonic gases and derive a general set of the gap equations for these superfluid states. Numerically solving the gap equations for the s-wave state, we quantify the physical conditions for the realization of the pure p-wave state in a well-controlled environment of atomic physics in the absence of an admixture of the s-wave state.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Generation of an electromagnetic field nonminimally coupled to gravity during Higgs inflation

In the framework of Higgs inflation, we consider the electromagnetic field nonminimally coupled to gravity via the parity-preserving $\propto RF^{2}$ and parity-violating $\propto RF\tilde{F}$ terms. Using the perturbation theory to the leading order in these couplings, we study the generation of the electromagnetic field during the inflation stage. We derive the effective kinetic and axial coupling functions arising in the Einstein frame in the usual metric as well as Palatini formulations of gravity. For both formulations, we determine the power spectrum, energy density, and helicality of the generated electromagnetic fields for different values of the nonminimal coupling constants. Finally, we estimate the maximal present-day magnitude of the magnetic field as $10^{-14}-10^{-15}\,$G with the correlation length of order 10 pc.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Gradient expansion formalism for magnetogenesis in the kinetic coupling model

In order to describe magnetogenesis during inflation in the kinetic coupling model, we utilize a gradient expansion which is based on the fact that only long-wavelength (superhorizon) modes undergo amplification. For this purpose, we introduce a set of functions (bilinear combinations of electromagnetic fields with an arbitrary number of spatial curls) satisfying an infinite chain of equations. Apart from the usual mode enhancement due to interaction with the inflaton, these equations also take into account the fact that the number of relevant modes constantly grows during inflation. Truncating this chain, we show that even with a relatively small number of equations, it is possible to describe the electric and magnetic energy densities with a few percent accuracy during the whole inflation stage. We arrive at this conclusion for different types of coupling functions (increasing, decreasing, and nonmonotonic) in the regime with strong backreaction and its absence.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Schwinger production of scalar particles during and after inflation from the first principles

By using the first-principles approach, we derive a system of three quantum kinetic equations governing the production and evolution of charged scalar particles by an electric field in an expanding universe. Analyzing the ultraviolet asymptotic behavior of the kinetic functions, we found the divergent parts of the electric current and the energy-momentum tensor of the produced particles and determined the corresponding counterterms. The renormalized system of equations is used to study the generation of electromagnetic fields during and after inflation in the kinetic coupling model $\mathcal{L}_{\rm EM}=-(1/4)f^{2}(ϕ)F_{μν}F^{μν}$ with the Ratra coupling function $f=\exp(βϕ/M_{p})$. It is found that the electric current of created particles is retarded with respect to the electric field. This leads to an oscillatory behavior of both quantities in agreement with the results obtained previously in phenomenological kinetic and hydrodynamical approaches.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Kinetic approach to the Schwinger effect during inflation

Using the kinetic approach, we study the impact of the charged particles dynamics due to the Schwinger effect on the electric field evolution during inflation. As a simple model of the electric field generation, we consider the kinetic coupling of the electromagnetic field to the inflaton via the term $f^{2}(ϕ)F_{μν}F^{μν}$ with the Ratra coupling function $f=\exp(βϕ/M_{p})$. The production of charged particles is taken into account in the Boltzmann kinetic equation through the Schwinger source term. Produced particles are thermalized due to collisions which we model by using the collision integral in the self-consistent relaxation time approximation. We found that the current of created particles exhibits a non-Markovian character and cannot be described by a simple Ohm's law relation $j\propto E$. On the contrary, the electric current as well as the electric field are oscillatory functions of time with decreasing amplitudes and a phase difference due to the ballistic motion of charged carriers. Our qualitative results are checked by using a hydrodynamic approach. Deriving a closed system of equations for the number, current, and energy densities of charged particles and determining its solution, we find a good agreement with the results obtained in the kinetic approach.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Backreaction of electromagnetic fields and the Schwinger effect in pseudoscalar inflation magnetogenesis

We study magnetogenesis in axionlike inflation driven by a pseudoscalar field $ϕ$ coupled axially to the electromagnetic (EM) field $(β/M_{p})ϕF_{μν}\tilde{F}^{μν}$ with dimensionless coupling constant $β$. A set of equations for the inflaton field, scale factor, and expectation values of quadratic functions of the EM field is derived. These equations take into account the Schwinger effect and the backreaction of generated EM fields on the Universe expansion. It is found that the backreaction becomes important when the EM energy density reaches the value $ρ_{\rm EM}\sim (\sqrt{2ε}/β)ρ_{\rm inf}$ ($ε$ is the slow-roll parameter and $ρ_{\rm inf}$ is the energy density of the inflaton) slowing down the inflaton rolling and terminating magnetogenesis. The Schwinger effect becomes relevant when the electric energy density exceeds the value $ρ_{E}\sim α_{\rm EM}^{-3} (ρ_{\rm tot}^{2}/M_{p}^{4})$, where $ρ_{\rm tot}=3H^{2}M_{p}^{2}$ is the total energy density and $α_{\rm EM}$ is the EM coupling constant. For large $β$, produced charged particles could constitute a significant part of the Universe energy density even before the preheating stage. Numerically studying magnetogenesis in the $α$-attractor model of inflation, we find that it is possible to generate helical magnetic fields with the maximal strength $10^{-15}\,{\rm G}$, however, only with the correlation length of order $1\,{\rm pc}$ at present.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Influence of backreaction of electric fields and Schwinger effect on inflationary magnetogenesis

We study the generation of electromagnetic fields during inflation when the conformal invariance of Maxwell's action is broken by the kinetic coupling $f^{2}(ϕ)F_{μν}F^{μν}$ of the electromagnetic field to the inflaton field $ϕ$. We consider the case where the coupling function $f(ϕ)$ decreases in time during inflation and, as a result, the electric component of the energy density dominates over the magnetic one. The system of equations which governs the joint evolution of the scale factor, inflaton field, and electric energy density is derived. The backreaction occurs when the electric energy density becomes as large as the product of the slow-roll parameter $ε$ and inflaton energy density, $ρ_{E}\sim ερ_{\rm inf}$. It affects the inflaton field evolution and leads to the scale-invariant electric power spectrum and the magnetic one which is blue with the spectral index $n_{B}=2$ for any decreasing coupling function. This gives an upper limit on the present-day value of observed magnetic fields below $10^{-22}\,{\rm G}$. It is worth emphasizing that since the effective electric charge of particles $e_{\rm eff}=e/f$ is suppressed by the coupling function, the Schwinger effect becomes important only at the late stages of inflation when the inflaton field is close to the minimum of its potential. The Schwinger effect abruptly decreases the value of the electric field, helping to finish the inflation stage and enter the stage of preheating. It effectively produces the charged particles, implementing the Schwinger reheating scenario even before the fast oscillations of the inflaton. The numerical analysis is carried out in the Starobinsky model of inflation for the powerlike $f\propto a^α$ and Ratra-type $f=\exp(βϕ/M_{p})$ coupling functions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

p-wave superfluidity in mixtures of ultracold Fermi and spinor Bose gases

We reveal that the p-wave superfluid can be realized in a mixture of fermionic and F=1 bosonic gases. We derive a general set of the gap equations for gaps in the s- and p-channels. It is found that the spin-spin bose-fermi interactions favor the p-wave pairing and naturally suppress the pairing in the s-channel. The gap equations for the polar phase of p-wave superfluid fermions are numerically solved. It is shown that a pure p-wave superfluid can be observed in a well-controlled environment of atomic physics.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Stable Hopf solitons in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates

We reveal that Hopf solitons can be stabilized in rotating atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. The Hopfion is a matter-wave vortex complex which carries two independent winding numbers. Such a topological solitonic structure results from a superfluid flow of atoms simultaneously quantized in poloidal and toroidal directions. In the framework of a dissipative mean-field model we observe different unstable evolution scenarios of the Hopfions. We demonstrate energetic and dynamical stability of the Hopf solitons under experimentally feasible conditions.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Generation and decay of persistent current in a toroidal Bose-Einstein condensate

Persistent current, or "flow without friction", as well as quantum vortices are the hallmarks of superfluidity. Recently a very long-lived persistent flow of atoms has been experimentally observed in Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in a ring-shaped potential. This enables fundamental studies of superfluidity and may lead to applications in high-precision metrology and atomtronics. We overview our recent theoretical studies of the generation of the persistent current in a stirred toroidal atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, and discuss our new investigation of the hysteresis in the atomtronic circuit.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Vortices in a toroidal Bose-Einstein condensate with a rotating weak link

Motivated by a recent experiment [K.C. Wright et. al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 025302 (2013)], we investigate deterministic discontinuous jumps between quantized circulation states in a toroidally trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. These phase slips are induced by vortex excitations created by a rotating weak link. We analyze influence of a localized condensate density depletion and atomic superflows, governed by the rotating barrier, on the energetic and dynamical stability of the vortices in the ring-shaped condensate. We simulate in a three-dimensional dissipative mean field model the dynamics of the condensate using parameters similar to the experimental conditions. Moreover, we consider the dynamics of the stirred condensate far beyond the experimentally explored region and reveal surprising manifestations of complex vortex dynamics.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Vortex excitation in a stirred toroidal Bose-Einstein condensate

Motivated by the recent experiment [Wright et al., Phys. Rev. A 88, 063633 (2013)], we investigate formation of vortices in an annular BEC stirred by a narrow blue-detuned optical beam. In the framework of a two-dimensional mean field model, we study the dissipative dynamics of the condensate with parameters matched to the experimental conditions. Vortex-antivortex pairs appear near the center of the stirrer in the bulk of the condensate for slow motion of the stirring beam. When the barrier angular velocity is above some critical value, an outer edge surface mode develops and breaks into the vortices entering the condensate annulus. We determine the conditions for creation of the vortex excitations in the stirred toroidal condensate and compare our results with the experimental observations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2013

Stability of persistent currents in spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

Motivated by a recent experiment [S. Beattie, S. Moulder, R. J. Fletcher, and Z. Hadzibabic, PRL 110, 025301 (2013)] we study the superflow of atomic spinor Bose-Einstein condensates optically trapped in a ring-shaped geometry. Within a dissipative mean-field approach we simulate a two-component condensate in conditions adapted to the experiment. In qualitative agreement with the experimental findings, we observe persistent currents, if the spin-population imbalance is above some well-defined `critical' value. The triply charged vortices decay in quantized steps. The vortex lines escape from the center of the ring through dynamically created regions in the condensate annulus with reduced density of one component filled by atoms of the other component. The vortices then leave the ring-shaped high density region of the condensate and finally decay into elementary excitations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗