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Register a new userUpdated Constraints and Forecasts on Primordial Tensor Modes
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We present new, tight, constraints on the cosmological background of gravitational waves (GWs) using the latest measurements of CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies provided by the Planck, BICEP2 and Keck Array experiments. These constraints are further improved when the GW contribution $N^{rm GW}_{rm eff}$ to the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom $N_{rm eff}$ is also considered. Parametrizing the tensor spectrum as a power law with tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$, tilt $n_mathrm{t}$ and pivot $0.01,mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$, and assuming a minimum value of $r=0.001$, we find $r < 0.089$, $n_mathrm{t} = 1.7^{+2.1}_{-2.0}$ ($95%,mathrm{CL}$, no $N^{rm GW}_{rm eff}$) and $r < 0.082$, $n_mathrm{t} = -0.05^{+0.58}_{-0.87}$ ($95%,mathrm{CL}$, with $N^{rm GW}_{rm eff}$). When the recently released $95,mathrm{GHz}$ data from Keck Array are added to the analysis, the constraints on $r$ are improved to $r < 0.067$ ($95%,mathrm{CL}$, no $N^{rm GW}_{rm eff}$), $r < 0.061$ ($95%,mathrm{CL}$, with $N^{rm GW}_{rm eff}$). We discuss the limits coming from direct detection experiments such as LIGO-Virgo, pulsar timing (European Pulsar Timing Array) and CMB spectral distortions (FIRAS). Finally, we show future constraints achievable from a COrE-like mission: if the tensor-to-scalar ratio is of order $10^{-2}$ and the inflationary consistency relation $n_mathrm{t} = -r/8$ holds, COrE will be able to constrain $n_mathrm{t}$ with an error of $0.16$ at $95%,mathrm{CL}$. In the case that lensing $B$-modes can be subtracted to $10%$ of their power, a feasible goal for COrE, these limits will be improved to $0.11$ at $95%,mathrm{CL}$.
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We constrain cosmological models where the primordial perturbations have both an adiabatic and a (possibly correlated) cold dark matter (CDM) or baryon isocurvature component. We use both a phenomenological approach, where the primordial power spectra are parametrized with amplitudes and spectral indices, and a slow-roll two-field inflation approach where slow-roll parameters are used as primary parameters. In the phenomenological case, with CMB data, the upper limit to the CDM isocurvature fraction is alpha<6.4% at k=0.002Mpc^{-1} and 15.4% at k=0.01Mpc^{-1}. The median 95% range for the non-adiabatic contribution to the CMB temperature variance is -0.030<alpha_T<0.049. Including the supernova (or large-scale structure, LSS) data, these limits become: alpha<7.0%, 13.7%, and -0.048<alpha_T< 0.042 (or alpha<10.2%, 16.0%, and -0.071<alpha_T<0.024). The CMB constraint on the tensor-to-scalar ratio, r<0.26 at k=0.01Mpc^{-1}, is not affected by the nonadiabatic modes. In the slow-roll two-field inflation approach, the spectral indices are constrained close to 1. This leads to tighter limits on the isocurvature fraction, with the CMB data alpha<2.6% at k=0.01Mpc^{-1}, but the constraint on alpha_T is not much affected, -0.058<alpha_T<0.045. Including SN (or LSS) data, these limits become: alpha< 3.2% and -0.056<alpha_T<0.030 (or alpha<3.4% and -0.063<alpha_T<-0.008). When all spectral indices are close to each other the isocurvature fraction is somewhat degenerate with the tensor-to-scalar ratio. In addition to the generally correlated models, we study also special cases where the perturbation modes are uncorrelated or fully (anti)correlated. We calculate Bayesian evidences (model probabilities) in 21 different cases for our nonadiabatic models and for the corresponding adiabatic models, and find that in all cases the data support the pure adiabatic model.
We revise the cosmological phenomenology of Macroscopic Dark Matter (MDM) candidates, also commonly dubbed as Macros. A possible signature of MDM is the capture of baryons from the cosmological plasma in the pre-recombination epoch, with the consequent injection of high-energy photons in the baryon-photon plasma. By keeping a phenomenological approach, we consider two broad classes of MDM in which Macros are composed either of ordinary matter or antimatter. In both scenarios, we also analyze the impact of a non-vanishing electric charge carried by Macros. We derive constraints on the Macro parameter space from three cosmological processes: the change in the baryon density between the end of the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) and the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) decoupling, the production of spectral distortions in the CMB and the kinetic coupling between charged MDM and baryons at the time of recombination. In the case of neutral Macros we find that the tightest constraints are set by the baryon density condition in most of the parameter space. For Macros composed of ordinary matter and with binding energy $I$, this leads to the following bound on the reduced cross-section: $sigma_X/M_X lesssim 6.8 cdot 10^{-7} left(I/mathrm{MeV}right)^{-1.56} , text{cm}^2 , text{g}^{-1}$. Charged Macros with surface potential $V_X$, instead, are mainly constrained by the tight coupling with baryons, resulting in $sigma_X/M_X lesssim 2 cdot 10^{-11} left(|V_X|/mathrm{MeV}right)^{-2} text{cm}^2 , text{g}^{-1}$. Finally, we show that future CMB spectral distortions experiments, like PIXIE and SuperPIXIE, would have the sensitivity to probe larger regions of the parameter space: this would allow either for a possible evidence or for an improvement of the current bounds on Macros as dark matter candidates.
Hawking radiation from primordial black holes (PBH) can ionize and heat up neutral gas during the cosmic dark ages, leaving imprints on the global 21cm signal of neutral hydrogen. We use the global 21cm signal to constrain the abundance of spinning PBHs in mass range of $[2 times 10^{13}, 10^{18}]$ grams. We consider several extended PBH distribution models. Our results show that 21cm can set the most stringent PBH bounds in our mass window. Compared with constraints set by {it{Planck}} cosmic microwave background (CMB) data, 21-cm limits are more stringent by about two orders of magnitudes. PBHs with higher spin are typically more strongly constrained. Our 21cm constraints for the monochromatic mass distribution rule out spinless PBHs with initial mass below $1.4 times 10^{17} {rm{g}}$, whereas extreme Kerr PBHs with reduced initial spin of $a_0=0.999$ are excluded as the dominant dark matter component for masses below $6 times 10^{17} {rm{g}}$. We also derived limits for the log-normal, power-law and critical collapse distributions.
We update the method of the Holmberg & Flynn (2000) study, including an updated model of the Milky Ways interstellar gas, radial velocities, an updated reddening map, and a careful statistical analysis, to bound the allowed surface density and scale height of a dark disk. We pay careful attention to the self-consistency of the model, including the gravitational influence of the dark disk on other disk components, and to the net velocity of the tracer stars. We find that the data set exhibits a non-zero bulk velocity in the vertical direction as well as a displacement from the expected location at the Galactic midplane. If not properly accounted for, these features would bias the bound toward low dark disk mass. We therefore perform our analysis two ways. In the first, traditional method, we subtract the mean velocity and displacement from the tracers phase space distributions. In the second method, we perform a non-equilibrium version of the HF method to derive a bound on the dark disk parameters for an oscillating tracer distribution. Despite updates in the mass model and reddening map, the traditional method results remain consistent with those of HF2000. The second, non-equilibrium technique, however, allows a surface density as large as $14, M_odot,{rm pc}^{-2}$ (and as small as 0), demonstrating much weaker constraints. For both techniques, the bound on surface density is weaker for larger scale height. In future analyses of Gaia data, it will be important to verify whether the tracer populations are in equilibrium.
Measuring spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is attracting considerable attention as a probe of high energy particle physics in the cosmological context, since PIXIE and PRISM have recently been proposed. In this paper, CMB distortions due to resonant
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