arXiv subjects

Sukannya Bhattacharya

Publications and source records attributed to Sukannya Bhattacharya.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Study in the noncanonical domain of Goldstone inflation

Recent observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) indicate that a successful theory of cosmological inflation needs to have flat potential of the inflaton scalar field. Realizing the inflaton to be a pseudo-Nambu Goldstone boson (pNGB) could ensure the flatness and the sub-Planckian scales related to the dynamics of the paradigm. In this work, we have taken the most general form of such a scenario: Goldstone inflation, and studied the model in the noncanonical domain. Natural inflation is a limiting case of this model, which is also studied here in the noncanonical regime. Our result is compared with the recent release by Planck collaboration and it is shown that for some combination of the model parameters, a Goldstone inflationary model in the noncanonical realisation obeys the current observational bounds. Then, we studied the era of reheating after the end of inflation. For different choice of model parameters, constraints on the reheating temperature ($T_{\rm re}$) and number of e-folds during reheating($N_{\rm re}$) for the allowed inflationary observables (e.g. scalar spectral index($n_s$) and tensor to scalar ratio($r$)) are predicted for this model.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

Phenomenological implications of the Friedberg-Lee transformation in a neutrino mass model with $μτ$-flavored CP symmetry

We propose a neutrino mass model with $μτ$-flavored CP symmetry, where the effective light neutrino Lagrangian enjoys an additional invariance under a Friedberg-Lee (FL) transformation on the left-handed flavor neutrino fields, that leads to a highly predictive and testable scenario. While both types of the light neutrino mass ordering, i.e., Normal Ordering (NO) as well as the Inverted Ordering (IO) are allowed, the absolute scale of neutrino masses is fixed by the vanishing determinant of light Majorana neutrino mass matrix $M_ν$. We show that for both types of mass ordering, whilst the atmospheric mixing angle $θ_{23}$ is in general nonmaximal ($θ_{23}\neq π/4$), the Dirac CP phase $δ$ is exactly maximal ($δ=π/2,3π/2$) for IO and nearly maximal for NO owing to $\cosδ\propto \sinθ_{13}$. For the NO, very tiny nonvanishing Majorana CP violation might appear through one of the Majorana phases $β$; otherwise the model predicts vanishing Majorana CP violation. Thus, despite the fact, that from the measurement of $θ_{23}$, it is difficult to rule out the model, any large deviation of $δ$ from its maximality, will surely falsify the scenario. For a comprehensive numerical analysis, beside fitting the neutrino oscillation global fit data, we also present a study on the $ν_μ\rightarrow ν_e$ oscillation which is expected to show up Dirac CP violation in different long baseline experiments. Finally, assuming purely astrophysical sources, we calculate the Ultra High Energy (UHE) neutrino flavor flux ratios at neutrino telescopes, such as IceCube, from which statements on the octant of $θ_{23}$ could be made in our model.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Confronting Kähler moduli inflation with CMB data

In models of inflation obtained from string compactification, moduli vacuum misalignment leads to an epoch in the post-inflationary history of the universe when the energy density is dominated by cold moduli particles. This effect leads to a modification in the number of $e$-foldings ($N_{\rm pivot}$) between horizon exit of the CMB modes and the end of inflation. Taking Kähler moduli inflation as a prototype, the shift in $e$-foldings turns out to be a function of the model parameters which also determines the inflationary observables. We analyse this scenario numerically using publicly available {\sc{ModeChord}} and {\sc{CosmoMC}} with the latest \emph{Planck+BICEP2/Keck array} data to constrain the model parameters and $N_{\rm pivot}$. In light of the present and future precision data, the results show the importance of careful consideration of any post-inflationary non-standard epoch, as well as of the effects of reheating.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Attractor Models in Scalar-Tensor Theories of Inflation

In this work we study the cosmological attractor models of inflation in connection with certain scalar-tensor theories of gravity, e.g $f(R)$ gravity and Brans-Dicke theory. For some particular choices of the functional degrees of freedom in these theories, one obtains Starobinsky like predictions in the ($n_s$-$r$) observable plane. We have demonstrated that these choices in the Lagrangian density of certain $f(R)$ and Brans-Dicke theories fulfil the condition of the cosmological attractors. That explains why known predictions of $f(R)$ and Brans-Dicke theories in certain cases appear to be the predictions of the much discussed attractor theories. In addition, we did an analysis showing how the predictions of an attractor model is preserved with respect to the variation in the functional freedom of the theory.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Constraining Warm Inflation with CMB data

We confront the warm inflation observational predictions directly with the latest CMB data. We focus on a linear temperature (T) dissipative coefficient combined with the simplest model of inflation, a quartic chaotic potential. Although excluded in its standard cold inflation version, dissipation reduces the tensor-to-scalar ratio and brings the quartic chaotic model within the observable allowed range. We will use the CosmoMC package to derive constraints on the model parameters: the combination of coupling constants giving rise to dissipation, the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom contributing to the thermal bath, and the quartic coupling in the inflaton potential. We do not assume a priori a power-law primordial spectrum, neither we fix the no. of e-folds at the horizon exit. The relation between the no. of e-folds and the comoving scale at horizon crossing is derived from the dynamics, depending on the parameters of the model, which allows us to obtain the $k$-dependent primordial power spectrum. We study the two possibilities considered in the literature for the spectrum, with the inflaton fluctuations having a thermal or a non-thermal origin, and discuss the ability of the data to constraint the model parameters.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Constraints on Kähler moduli inflation from reheating

We present predictions of the Kähler moduli inflation model for the spectral tilt by parametrising the reheating epoch by an effective equation-of-state parameter and the number of e-foldings of reheating; and taking into account the post-inflationary history of the model. This model has an epoch in which the energy density of the universe is dominated by cold moduli particles. We compare our results with data from the PLANCK mission and find that exotic reheating (with effective equation of state $w_{\rm re}$ greater than 1/3) is required to match the observations. For canonical reheating case with $w_{\rm re} = 0$, we deduce $\text{log}_{10}(T_{\rm re}/10^3~ \text{GeV}) \simeq 1190 (n_s - 0.956)$. We also analyse our results in the context of observations being planned for the future and their projected sensitivities.

hep-ph↗