One small step for an inflaton, one giant leap for inflation: A novel non-Gaussian tail and primordial black holes
We report a novel prediction from single-field inflation that even a tiny step in the inflaton potential can change our perception of primordial non-Gaussianities of the curvature perturbation. Our analysis focuses on the tail of probability distribution generated by an upward step transition betwee...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Physics Letters B |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269322005950 |
| _version_ | 1811344245600026624 |
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| author | Yi-Fu Cai Xiao-Han Ma Misao Sasaki Dong-Gang Wang Zihan Zhou |
| author_facet | Yi-Fu Cai Xiao-Han Ma Misao Sasaki Dong-Gang Wang Zihan Zhou |
| author_sort | Yi-Fu Cai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We report a novel prediction from single-field inflation that even a tiny step in the inflaton potential can change our perception of primordial non-Gaussianities of the curvature perturbation. Our analysis focuses on the tail of probability distribution generated by an upward step transition between two stages of slow-roll evolution. The nontrivial background dynamics with off-attractor behavior is identified. By using a non-perturbative δN analysis, we explicitly show that a highly non-Gaussian tail can be generated by a tiny upward step, even when the conventional nonlinearity parameters fNLlocal, gNLlocal, etc. remain small. With this example, we demonstrate for the first time the sensitive dependence of non-perturbative effects on the tail of probability distribution. Our scenario has an inconceivable application to primordial black holes by either significantly boosting their abundance or completely forbidding their appearance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T19:44:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-680baba28f634536818ec70bd5cc7734 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0370-2693 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T19:44:23Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Physics Letters B |
| spelling | doaj.art-680baba28f634536818ec70bd5cc77342022-12-22T02:32:47ZengElsevierPhysics Letters B0370-26932022-11-01834137461One small step for an inflaton, one giant leap for inflation: A novel non-Gaussian tail and primordial black holesYi-Fu Cai0Xiao-Han Ma1Misao Sasaki2Dong-Gang Wang3Zihan Zhou4Department of Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China; CAS Key Laboratory for Researches in Galaxies and Cosmology, School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, ChinaDepartment of Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China; CAS Key Laboratory for Researches in Galaxies and Cosmology, School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, ChinaKavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo, Chiba 277-8583, Japan; Center for Gravitational Physics, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan; Leung Center for Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, TaiwanDepartment of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge, CB3 0WA, UKDepartment of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USAWe report a novel prediction from single-field inflation that even a tiny step in the inflaton potential can change our perception of primordial non-Gaussianities of the curvature perturbation. Our analysis focuses on the tail of probability distribution generated by an upward step transition between two stages of slow-roll evolution. The nontrivial background dynamics with off-attractor behavior is identified. By using a non-perturbative δN analysis, we explicitly show that a highly non-Gaussian tail can be generated by a tiny upward step, even when the conventional nonlinearity parameters fNLlocal, gNLlocal, etc. remain small. With this example, we demonstrate for the first time the sensitive dependence of non-perturbative effects on the tail of probability distribution. Our scenario has an inconceivable application to primordial black holes by either significantly boosting their abundance or completely forbidding their appearance.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269322005950 |
| spellingShingle | Yi-Fu Cai Xiao-Han Ma Misao Sasaki Dong-Gang Wang Zihan Zhou One small step for an inflaton, one giant leap for inflation: A novel non-Gaussian tail and primordial black holes Physics Letters B |
| title | One small step for an inflaton, one giant leap for inflation: A novel non-Gaussian tail and primordial black holes |
| title_full | One small step for an inflaton, one giant leap for inflation: A novel non-Gaussian tail and primordial black holes |
| title_fullStr | One small step for an inflaton, one giant leap for inflation: A novel non-Gaussian tail and primordial black holes |
| title_full_unstemmed | One small step for an inflaton, one giant leap for inflation: A novel non-Gaussian tail and primordial black holes |
| title_short | One small step for an inflaton, one giant leap for inflation: A novel non-Gaussian tail and primordial black holes |
| title_sort | one small step for an inflaton one giant leap for inflation a novel non gaussian tail and primordial black holes |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269322005950 |
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