Cosmological Perturbations Research Articles

Cosmological teleparallel perturbations

There has been growing interest in f(ℚ) gravity, which has led to significant advancements in the field. However, it is important to note that most studies in this area were based on the coincident gauge, thus overlooking the impact of the connection degrees of freedom. In this work, we pay special attention to the connection when studying perturbations in general teleparallel, metric teleparallel, and symmetric teleparallel theories of gravity. We do not just examine perturbations in the metric, but also in the affine connection. To illustrate this, we investigate cosmological perturbations in f(G), f(𝕋), and f(ℚ) gravity with and without matter in form of an additional scalar field for spatially flat and curved FLRW geometries. Our perturbative analysis reveals that for general f(ℚ) backgrounds, there are up to seven degrees of freedom, depending on the background connection. This is in perfect agreement with the upper bound on degrees of freedom established for the first time in https://doi.org/10.1002/prop.202300185 Fortschr. Phys. 71 (2023) 2300185. In f(G) and f(𝕋) gravity theories, only two tensor modes propagate in the gravity sector on generic curved cosmological backgrounds, indicating strong coupling problems. In the context of f(ℚ) cosmology, we find that for a particular background connection, where all seven modes propagate, there is at least one ghost degree of freedom. For all other choices of the connection the ghost can be avoided at the cost of strong coupling problem, where only four degrees of freedom propagate. Hence, all of the cosmologies within the teleparallel families of theories in form of f(G), f(ℚ), and f(𝕋) suffer either from strong coupling or from ghost instabilities. A direct coupling of the matter field to the connection or non-minimal couplings might alter these results.

Temporal evolution of cosmological density perturbations of the Bose–Einstein condensate dark matter

Dark matter is assumed to be composed of scalar boson particles that form Bose–Einstein condensate during the cosmic evolution of the Universe when the temperature of the dark matter is below the critical temperature Tcr\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$T_{cr}$$\\end{document}. At around a redshift z∼1200\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$z\\sim 1200$$\\end{document}, the normal dark matter converted to Bose–Einstein condensate dark matter through a first-order phase transition and continued to complete the condensation process for nearly 106\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$10^6$$\\end{document} years, until then, both phases coexist. In this manuscript, considering Bose–Einstein condensate dark matter as a Gross–Pitaevskii–Poisson system, we study the time evolution of density contrast of Bose–Einstein condensate dark matter using cosmological linear perturbation theory following previous works on the subject. The evolution equation contains quantum pressure due to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and self-interaction pressure terms. We solve the temporal density contrast equation of Bose–Einstein condensate dark matter analytically for both the Thomas-Fermi limit and the non-interacting case where the expansion rule follows similarly to that of the Einstein–de Sitter Universe. In addition, we also numerically analyze the temporal nature of the evolution of density contrast of Bose–Einstein condensate dark matter for the complete equation without applying any approximation. We find that the Bose–Einstein condensate model of dark matter could modify the temporal nature of density contrast evolution due to the presence of self-interaction and quantum pressure terms, which shows significant differences with respect to the conventional standard cold dark matter, and successfully solves the small-scale problems in the context of cosmological structure formation.

Conserved cosmological perturbations in ultraslow-roll inflation and bouncing scenarios

Conserved cosmological perturbations in ultraslow-roll inflation and bouncing scenarios

On covariant perturbations with scalar field in modified Gauss–Bonnet gravity

We investigate cosmological perturbations of f(G) gravity in the presence of a scalar field. Using the 1+3\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$1+3$$\\end{document} covariant formalism, we present the energy overdensity perturbation equations responsible for large scale structure formation. After applying harmonic decomposition method together with the redshift transformation technique, we obtain the fully perturbed equations in redshift space. The equations are solved to study the growth of matter overdensities contrast with redshift. For both short- and long-wavelength modes, we obtain numerical results for particular functional form f(G) models and scalar field. We find that, for this choice the energy overdensity perturbations decay with increase in redshift. However, for both short- and long-wavelength modes, the perturbations which include amplitude effects due to the f(G) models with a scalar field do differ remarkably from those in Λ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\Lambda $$\\end{document}CDM. The results reduce to GR results in the limit of f(G)→G\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$f(G)\\rightarrow G$$\\end{document} and in the absence of scalar field.

Higgs inflation model with non-minimal coupling in hybrid Palatini approach

In this paper, we propose a hybrid metric Palatini approach in which the Palatini scalar curvature is non minimally coupled to the scalar field. We derive Einstein's field equations, i.e., the equations of motion of the scalar field. Furthermore, the background and perturbative parameters are obtained by means of Friedmann equations in the slow roll regime. The analysis of cosmological perturbations allowed us to obtain the main inflationary parameters, e.g., the scalar spectral index and tensor to scalar ratio r. From this perspective, as an application of our analysis, we consider the Higgs field with quartic potential, which plays the inflaton role, and show that predictions of Higgs hybrid inflation are in good agreement with recent observational data [Astron. Astrophys. 641, 61 (2020)].

Gravitational waves in New General Relativity

The models of New General Relativity have recently got attention of research community, and there are some works studying their dynamical properties. The formal aspects of this investigation have been mostly restricted to the primary constraints in the Hamiltonian analysis. However, it is by far not enough for counting their degrees of freedom or judging whether they are any good and viable. In this paper we study linearised equations in vacuum around the trivial Minkowski tetrad. By taking the approach of cosmological perturbation theory we show that the numbers of primary constraints are very easily seen without any need of genuine Hamiltonian techniques, and give the full count of linearised degrees of freedom in the weak field limit of each and every version of New General Relativity without matter.

Improving precision and accuracy in cosmology with model-independent spectrum and bispectrum

A new and promising avenue was recently developed for analyzing large-scale structure data with a model-independent approach, in which the linear power spectrum shape is parametrized with a large number of freely varying wavebands rather than by assuming specific cosmological models. We call this method FreePower. Here we show, using a Fisher matrix approach, that precision of this method for the case of the one-loop power spectrum is greatly improved with the inclusion of the tree-level bispectrum. We also show that accuracy can be similarly improved by employing perturbation theory kernels whose structure is entirely determined by symmetries instead of evolution equations valid in particular models (like in the usual Einstein-de Sitter approximation). The main result is that with the Euclid survey one can precisely measure the Hubble function, distance and (k-independent) growth rate f(z) in seven redshift bins in the range z ∈ [0.6, 2.0]. The typical errors for the lower zbins are around 1% (for H), 0.7–1% (for D), and 2–3% (for f). The use of general perturbation theory allows us, for the first time, to study constraints on the nonlinear kernels of cosmological perturbations, that is, beyond the linear growth factor, showing that they can be probed at the 10–20% level. We find that the combination of spectrum and bispectrum is particularly effective in constraining the perturbation parameters, both at linear and quadratic order.

WarmSPy: a numerical study of cosmological perturbations in warm inflation

We present WarmSPy, a numerical code in Python designed to solve for the perturbations' equations in warm inflation models and compute the corresponding scalar power spectrum at CMB horizon crossing. In models of warm inflation, a radiation bath of temperature T during inflation induces a dissipation (friction) rate of strength Q ∝ Tc /ϕm in the equation of motion for the inflaton field ϕ. While for a temperature-independent dissipation rate (c = 0) an analytic expression for the scalar power spectrum exists, in the case of a non-zero value for c the set of equations can only be solved numerically. For c > 0 (c < 0), the coupling between the perturbations in the inflaton field and radiation induces a growing (decaying) mode in the scalar perturbations, generally parameterized by a multiplicative function G(Q) which we refer to as the scalar dissipation function. Using WarmSPy, we provide an analytic fit for G(Q) for the cases of c = {3,1,-1}, corresponding to three cases that have been realized in physical models. Compared to previous literature results, our fits are more robust and valid over a broader range of dissipation strengths Q ∈ [10-7,104]. Additionally, for the first time, we numerically assess the stability of the scalar dissipation function against various model parameters, inflationary histories as well as the effects of metric perturbations. As a whole, the results do not depend appreciably on most of the parameters in the analysis, except for the dissipation index c, providing evidence for the universal behaviour of the scalar dissipation function G(Q).

Unification: Emergent universe followed by inflation and dark epochs from multi-field theory

A two scalar field model that incorporates non Riemannian Measures of integration or usually called Two Measures Theory (TMT) is introduced, in order to unify the early and present universe. In the Einstein frame a K-essence is generated and as a consequence for the early universe, we can have a Non Singular Emergent universe followed by Inflation and for the present universe dark epochs with consistent generation of dark energy (DE), dark matter (DM) and stiff matter. The scale invariance is introduced and then is spontaneously broken from the integration of the degrees of freedom associated with the modified measures. The resulting effective potentials and K-essence in the Einstein frame produce three flat regions corresponding to the different epochs mentioned before. For the first flat region we can associate an emergent and an inflationary universe. Here for a parameter-space region this flat plateau possesses a non singular stable emergent universe solution which characterizes an initial epoch of evolution that precedes the inflationary scenario. Also assuming this first plateau, we study the inflation in the framework of the slow-roll approximation. In this scenario under the slow roll approximation we obtain a linear combination that is a constant. The corresponding cosmological perturbations in our model are determined and we also obtain the different constrains on the parameter-space from the Planck data.In the following flat region DE and also the DM, which does not need to be introduced separately, it is instead a result of a K-essence induced by the multi measures, multi field theory. Also stiff matter component is automatically generated from the K-essence theory from two scalar fields. From the perturbative analysis associated to the perturbation solution of background, we find a correlation between the two scalars. Besides, we obtain that our model during the dark epoch has a behavior of tracking freezing model.

Minimal basis for exact time dependent kernels in cosmological perturbation theory and application to ΛCDM and w 0 wa CDM

We derive a minimal basis of kernels furnishing the perturbative expansion of the density contrast and velocity divergence in powers of the initial density field that is applicable to cosmological models with arbitrary expansion history, thereby relaxing the commonly adopted Einstein-de-Sitter (EdS) approximation. For this class of cosmological models, the non-linear kernels are at every order given by a sum of terms, each of which factorizes into a time-dependent growth factor and a wavenumber-dependent basis function. We show how to reduce the set of basis functions to a minimal amount, and give explicit expressions up to order n = 5. We find that for this minimal basis choice, each basis function individually displays the expected scaling behaviour due to momentum conservation, being non-trivial at n ≥ 4. This is a highly desirable property for numerical evaluation of loop corrections. In addition, it allows us to match the density field to an effective field theory (EFT) description for cosmologies with an arbitrary expansion history, which we explicitly derive at order four. We evaluate the differences to the EdS approximation for ΛCDM and w 0 wa CDM, paying special attention to the irreducible cosmology dependence that cannot be absorbed into EFT terms for the one-loop bispectrum. Finally, we provide algebraic recursion relations for a special generalization of the EdS approximation that retains its simplicity and is relevant for mixed hot and cold dark matter models.

IKKT thermodynamics and early universe cosmology

Matrix theory is a proposed non-perturbative definition of superstring theory in which space is emergent. Recently, it was shown that space-time can emerge with a scale-invariant spectrum of cosmological perturbations which is sourced by thermal fluctuations of the BFSS model at finite temperature. Inspired by these results, we begin a study of the IKKT model at finite temperature. We find that in this model, which is closely related to the BFSS model at finite temperature, thermal fluctuations can also source a scale-invariant spectrum of scalar and tensor fluctuations.

A clarification on prevailing misconceptions in unimodular gravity

The traditional presentation of Unimodular Gravity (UG) consists on indicating that it is an alternative theory of gravity that restricts the generic diffeomorphism invariance of General Relativity. In particular, as often encountered in the literature, unlike General Relativity, Unimodular Gravity is invariant solely under volume-preserving diffeomorphisms. That characterization of UG has led to some confusion and incorrect statements in various treatments on the subject. For instance, sometimes it is claimed (mistakenly) that only spacetime metrics such that |det gμν | = 1 can be considered as valid solutions of the theory. Additionally, that same (incorrect) statement is often invoked to argue that some particular gauges (e.g. the Newtonian or synchronous gauge) are not allowed when dealing with cosmological perturbation theory in UG. The present article is devoted to clarify those and other misconceptions regarding the notion of diffeomorphism invariance, in general, and its usage in the context of UG, in particular.

Uniform Asymptotic Approximation Method with Pöschl–Teller Potential

In this paper, we study analytical approximate solutions for second-order homogeneous differential equations with the existence of only two turning points (but without poles) by using the uniform asymptotic approximation (UAA) method. To be more concrete, we consider the Pöschl–Teller (PT) potential, for which analytical solutions are known. Depending on the values of the parameters involved in the PT potential, we find that the upper bounds of the errors of the approximate solutions in general are ≲0.15∼10% for the first-order approximation of the UAA method. The approximations can be easily extended to high orders, for which the errors are expected to be much smaller. Such obtained analytical solutions can be used to study cosmological perturbations in the framework of quantum cosmology as well as quasi-normal modes of black holes.

Perturbations and stability conditions of k-essence and kinetic gravity braiding models in two-field measure theory

We study cosmological perturbations for k-essence and kinetic gravity braiding models in the context of the two-field measure theory (TMT). Considering scalar perturbations and the uniform field gauge, we obtain the sound speed of the fields and present a stability analysis by means of the kinetic matrix and the mass eigenvalues. For k-essence models, in the two-field measure theory, the speed of propagation of the field is modified completely due to the new measure field and it gives rise to crucial differences with respect to the case without new measure. The stability analysis gives a physical viable model for the Universe. For the kinetic gravity braiding models in the two-field measure theory we get that, in general, the speed of perturbations is equal to the speed of light which is a consequence of the properties of the new measure field. In the latter case, there is always a ghost field. Furthermore, we calculate general expressions for the mass eigenvalues and find, for an explicit example, the existence of tachyonic instabilities.

Synchronous coordinates and gauge-invariant observables in cosmological spacetimes

We consider the relational approach to construct gauge-invariant observables in cosmological perturbation theory using synchronous coordinates. We construct dynamical synchronous coordinates as non-local scalar functionals of the metric perturbation in the fully non-linear theory in an arbitrary gauge. We show that the observables defined in this dynamical coordinate system are gauge-independent, and that the full perturbed metric has the expected form in these coordinates. Our construction generalises the familiar synchronous gauge in linearised gravity, widely used in cosmological perturbation theory, to the non-linear theory. We also work out the expressions for the gauge-invariant Einstein equation, sourced either by an ideal fluid or a scalar field up to second order in perturbation theory, and give explicit expressions for the Hubble rate—as measured by synchronous observers or by observers co-moving with the matter field—up to that order. Finally, we consider quantised linear perturbations around Minkowski and de Sitter backgrounds, and compute the two-point function of the gauge-invariant metric perturbation in synchronous coordinates, starting with two-point function in a general linear covariant gauge. Although the gauge-fixed two-point function contains gauge modes, we show that the resulting gauge-invariant two-point function only contains the physical tensor modes and it is thus positive, i. e. it has a spectral representation.

Confronting the Chaplygin gas with data: Background and perturbed cosmic dynamics

In this paper, we undertake a unified study of background dynamics and cosmological perturbations in the presence of the Chaplygin gas (CG). This is done by first constraining the background cosmological parameters of different Chaplygin gas models with SNeIa and [Formula: see text] data for detailed statistical analysis of the CG models. Based on the statistical criteria we followed, none of the models has substantial observational support, but we show that the so-called “original” and “extended/generalised” Chaplygin gas models have some observational support and less observational support, respectively, whereas the “modified” and “modified generalised” Chaplygin gas models miss out on the category less observational support, but cannot be ruled out. The so-called “generalised” cosmic Chaplygin gas model, on the other hand, falls under the no observational support category of the statistical criterion and can be ruled out. The models which are statistically accepted are considered for perturbation level in both theoretical and observational aspects. We also apply the [Formula: see text] covariant formalism of perturbation theory and derive the evolution equations of the fluctuations in the matter density contrast of the matter–Chaplygin gas system for the models with some or less statistical support. The solutions to these coupled systems of equations are then computed in both short-wavelength and long-wavelength modes. Then we feed these observationally restricted parameters into the analysis of cosmological perturbations to address the growth of density contrast through redshift. Using the most recent linear growth of the data [Formula: see text], CG models are considered to study the linear growth of the structure.

Gauge fixing in cosmological perturbations of Unimodular Gravity

With focus on the cosmological evolution of linear perturbations of matter and geometry, we calculate the equivalent expressions to that of the Newtonian and Synchronous gauges within the framework of Unimodular Gravity, being these two gauges commonly used and implemented in Boltzmann codes. An important aspect of our analysis is the inclusion of the energy-momentum current violation, as well as its perturbations. Moreover, for the first time we demonstrate that it is possible to fix both gauges consistently, although as it has been already noticed in previous literature, neither of them is recovered in the sense of the dynamics given in General Relativity for matter and metric fluctuations. Specifically, we show that since the unimodular constraint at the level of linear perturbations lead to only one degree of freedom of scalar modes of metric fluctuations, the dynamics in Unimodular Gravity forces to keep the anisotropic stress in the Newtonian gauge, whereas the cold dark matter comoving frame can not be set in the Synchronous gauge. The physical implications on the density contrast of cold dark matter is reviewed, and the Sachs-Wolfe effect is obtained and compared with previous results in the literature of cosmological perturbations in Unimodular Gravity.

Primordial non-Gaussianity f NL and anisotropies in scalar-induced gravitational waves

Primordial non-Gaussianity encodes vital information of the physics of the early universe, particularly during the inflationary epoch. To explore the local-type primordial non-Gaussianity f NL, we study the anisotropies in gravitational wave background induced by the linear cosmological scalar perturbations during radiation domination in the early universe. We provide the first complete analysis to the angular power spectrum of such scalar-induced gravitational waves. The spectrum is expressed in terms of the initial inhomogeneities, the Sachs-Wolfe effect, and their crossing. It is anticipated to have frequency dependence and multipole dependence, i.e., Cℓ (ν) ∝ [ℓ(ℓ+1)]-1 with ν being a frequency and ℓ referring to the ℓ-th spherical harmonic multipole. In particular, the initial inhomogeneites in this background depend on gravitational-wave frequency. These properties are potentially useful for the component separation, foreground removal, and breaking degeneracies in model parameters, making the non-Gaussian parameter f NL measurable. Further, theoretical expectations may be tested by space-borne gravitational-wave detectors in future.

Why is zero spatial curvature special?

Evidence for almost spatial flatness of the Universe has been provided from several observational probes, including the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) from galaxy clustering data. However, other than inflation, and in this case only in the limit of infinite time, there is no strong a priori motivation for a spatially flat Universe. Using the renormalization group (RG) technique in curved spacetime, we present in this work a theoretical motivation for spatial flatness. Starting from a general spacetime, the first step of the RG, coarse-graining, gives a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metric with a set of parameters. Then, we study the rescaling properties of the curvature parameter, and find that zero spatial curvature of the FLRW metric is singled out as the unique scale-free, non-singular background for cosmological perturbations.

Multi-field inflation with large scalar fluctuations: non-Gaussianity and perturbativity

Recently multi-field inflation models that can produce large scalar fluctuations on small scales have drawn a lot of attention, primarily because they could lead to primordial black hole production and generation of large second-order gravitational waves. In this work, we focus on models where the scalar fields responsible for inflation live on a hyperbolic field space. In this case, geometrical destabilisation and non-geodesic motion are responsible for the peak in the scalar power spectrum. We present new results for scalar non-Gaussianity and discuss its dependence on the model's parameters. On scales around the peak, we typically find that the non-Gaussianity is large and close to local in form. We validate our results by employing two different numerical techniques, utilising the transport approach, based on full cosmological perturbation theory, and the δN formalism, based on the separate universe approximation. We discuss implications of our results for the perturbativity of the underlying theory, focusing in particular on versions of these models with potentially relevant phenomenology at interferometer scales.