Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userCosmic Microwave Background Trispectrum and Primordial Magnetic Field Limits
154
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
Primordial magnetic fields will generate non-Gaussian signals in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) as magnetic stresses and the temperature anisotropy they induce depend quadratically on the magnetic field. We compute a new measure of magnetic non-Gaussianity, the CMB trispectrum, on large angular scales, sourced via the Sachs-Wolfe effect. The trispectra induced by magnetic energy density and by magnetic scalar anisotropic stress are found to have typical magnitudes of approximately a few times 10^{-29} and 10^{-19}, respectively. Observational limits on CMB non-Gaussianity from WMAP data allow us to conservatively set upper limits of a nG, and plausibly sub-nG, on the present value of the primordial cosmic magnetic field. This represents the tightest limit so far on the strength of primordial magnetic fields, on Mpc scales, and is better than limits from the CMB bispectrum and all modes in the CMB power spectrum. Thus, the CMB trispectrum is a new and more sensitive probe of primordial magnetic fields on large scales.
rate research
Read More
Cosmic magnetic fields are observed to be coherent on large scales and could have a primordial origin. Non-Gaussian signals in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) are generated by primordial magnetic fields as the magnetic stresses and temperature anisotropy they induce depend quadratically on the magnetic field. We compute the CMB scalar trispectrum on large angular scales, for nearly scale-invariant magnetic fields, sourced via the Sachs-Wolfe effect. The trispectra induced by magnetic energy density and by magnetic scalar anisotropic stress are found to have typical magnitudes of approximately $10^{-29}$ and $10^{-19}$, respectively. The scalar anisotropic stress trispectrum is also calculated in the flat-sky approximation and yields a similar result. Observational limits on CMB non-Gaussianity from the Planck mission data allow us to set upper limits of $B_0 lesssim 0.6 $ nG on the present value of the primordial cosmic magnetic field. Considering the inflationary magnetic curvature mode in the trispectrum can further tighten the magnetic field upper limit to $B_0 lesssim 0.05 $ nG. These sub-nanoGauss constraints from the magnetic trispectrum are the most stringent limits so far on the strength of primordial magnetic fields, on megaparsec scales, significantly better than the limits obtained from the CMB bispectrum and the CMB power spectrum.
If primordial black holes (PBHs) form directly from inhomogeneities in the early Universe, then the number in the mass range $10^5 -10^{12}M_{odot}$ is severely constrained by upper limits to the $mu$ distortion in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). This is because inhomogeneities on these scales will be dissipated by Silk damping in the redshift interval $5times 10^4lesssim zlesssim2times 10^6$. If the primordial fluctuations on a given mass scale have a Gaussian distribution and PBHs form on the high-$sigma$ tail, as in the simplest scenarios, then the $mu$ constraints exclude PBHs in this mass range from playing any interesting cosmological role. Only if the fluctuations are highly non-Gaussian, or form through some mechanism unrelated to the primordial fluctuations, can this conclusion be obviated.
Primordial magnetic fields lead to non-Gaussian signals in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) even at the lowest order, as magnetic stresses and the temperature anisotropy they induce depend quadratically on the magnetic field. In contrast, CMB non-Gaussianity due to inflationary scalar perturbations arises only as a higher order effect. Apart from a compensated scalar mode, stochastic primordial magnetic fields also produce scalar anisotropic stress that remains uncompensated till neutrino decoupling. This gives rise to an adiabatic-like scalar perturbation mode that evolves passively thereafter (called the passive mode). We compute the CMB reduced bispectrum ($b_{l_{_1}l_{_2}l_{_3}}$) induced by this passive mode, sourced via the Sachs-Wolfe effect, on large angular scales. For any configuration of bispectrum, taking a partial sum over mode-coupling terms, we find a typical value of $l_1(l_1+1)l_3(l_3+1) b_{l_{_1}l_{_2}l_{_3}} sim 6-9 times 10^{-16}$, for a magnetic field of $B_0 sim 3$ nG, assuming a nearly scale-invariant magnetic spectrum . We also evaluate, in full, the bispectrum for the squeezed collinear configuration over all angular mode-coupling terms and find $l_1(l_1+1)l_3(l_3+1) b_{l_{_1}l_{_2}l_{_3}} approx -1.4 times 10^{-16}$. These values are more than $sim 10^6$ times larger than the previously calculated magnetic compensated scalar mode CMB bispectrum. Observational limits on the bispectrum from WMAP7 data allow us to set upper limits of $B_0 sim 2$ nG on the present value of the cosmic magnetic field of primordial origin. This is over 10 times more stringent than earlier limits on $B_0$ based on the compensated mode bispectrum.
A dynamical scalar field represents the simplest generalization of a pure Cosmological Constant as a candidate to explain the recent evidence in favour of the accelerated cosmic expansion. We review the dynamical properties of such a component, and argue that, even if the background expectation value of this field is fixed and the equation of state is the same as a Cosmological Constant, scalar field fluctuations can still be used to distinguish the two components. We compare predicted spectra of Cosmic Microvave Background (CMB) anisotropies in tracking scalar field cosmologies with the present CMB data, in order to get constraints on the amount and equation of state of dark energy. High precision experiments like SNAP, {sc Planck} and {sc SNfactory}, together with the data on Large Scale Structure, are needed to probe this issue with the necessary accuracy. Here we show the intriguing result that, with a strong prior on the value of the Hubble constant today, the assumption of a flat universe, and consistency relations between amplitude and spectral index of primordial gravitational waves, the present CMB data at $1sigma$ give indication of a dark energy equation of state larger than -1, while the ordinary Cosmological Constant is recovered at $2sigma$.
Primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) can source gravitational wave background (GWB). In this paper, we investigate the possible constraints on small-scale PMF considering the ongoing and forthcoming direct detection observations of GWB. In contrast to the conventional cosmological probes, e.g., cosmic microwave background anisotropies, which are useful to investigate large-scale PMFs ($>1 {rm Mpc}$), the direct detection experiments of GWB can explore small-scale PMFs whose scales correspond to the observed frequencies of GWB. We show that future ground-based or space-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors give a strong constraint of about $10^{2} {rm nG}$ on much smaller scales of about $kapprox 10^{12} {rm Mpc}^{-1}$. We also demonstrate that pulsar timing arrays have a potential to strongly constrain PMFs. The current limits on GWB from pulsar timing arrays can put the tight constraint on the amplitude of the PMFs of about $30 {rm nG}$ whose coherent length is of about $kapprox 10^{6} {rm Mpc}^{-1}$. The future experiments for the direct detection of GWB by the Square Kilometre Array could give much tighter constraints on the amplitude of PMFs about $5 {rm nG}$ on $kapprox 10^{6} {rm Mpc}^{-1}$, on which scales, it is difficult to reach by using the cosmological observations.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
