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Cai, Yi-Fu

Publications and source records attributed to Cai, Yi-Fu.

15 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Primordial black hole mass functions as a probe of cosmic origin

Here, we discuss a novel window to probe the origin of our universe via the mass functions of primordial black holes (PBHs). The mass functions of PBHs are simply estimated using the conventional Press-Schechter formalism for two paradigms of cosmic origin, including inflationary ΛCDM and bounce cosmology. The standard inflationary ΛCDM model cannot generate an appreciable number of massive PBHs; however, non-trivial inflation models with blue-tilted power spectra at small scales and matter bounce cosmology provide formation mechanisms for heavy PBHs, which in turn, may seed the observed supermassive black holes (SMBHs). By fitting the SMBH mass functions at high redshift (z ~ 6) derived from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey (CFHQS) quasars, for two paradigms of cosmic origin, we derive constraints on the PBH density fraction $f$ PBH at z ~ 6 and the characteristic mass M $\ast$ , with the prior assumption that all SMBHs stem from PBHs. We demonstrate that this newly proposed procedure, relying on astronomical measurements that utilize deep-field surveys of SMBHs at high redshift, can be used to constrain models of cosmic origin. Additionally, although not the main focus of this paper, we evolve the mass function from z ~ 6 to z ~ 0 through an assumption of 3 × 10 8 -year Eddington’s accretion, and give a rough estimation of $f$ PBH at z ~ 0.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Matter bounce cosmology with a generalized single field: non-Gaussianity and an extended no-go theorem

We extend the matter bounce scenario to a more general theory in which the background dynamics and cosmological perturbations are generated by a k -essence scalar field with an arbitrary sound speed. When the sound speed is small, the curvature perturbation is enhanced, and the tensor-to-scalar ratio, which is excessively large in the original model, can be sufficiently suppressed to be consistent with observational bounds. Then, we study the primordial three-point correlation function generated during the matter-dominated contraction stage and find that it only depends on the sound speed parameter. Similar to the canonical case, the shape of the bispectrum is mainly dominated by a local form, though for some specific sound speed values a new shape emerges and the scaling behaviour changes. Meanwhile, a small sound speed also results in a large amplitude of non-Gaussianities, which is disfavored by current observations. As a result, it does not seem possible to suppress the tensor-to-scalar ratio without amplifying the production of non-Gaussianities beyond current observational constraints (and vice versa). This suggests an extension of the previously conjectured no-go theorem in single field nonsingular matter bounce cosmologies, which rules out a large class of models. However, the non-Gaussianity results remain as a distinguishable signature of matter bounce cosmology and have the potential to be detected by observations in the near future.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Differentiating G-inflation from string gas cosmology using the effective field theory approach

A characteristic signature of String Gas Cosmology is primordial power spectra for scalar and tensor modes which are almost scale-invariant but with a red tilt for scalar modes but a blue tilt for tensor modes. This feature, however, can also be realized in the so-called G-inflation model, in which Horndeski operators are introduced which leads to a blue tensor tilt by softly breaking the Null Energy Condition. In this article we search for potential observational differences between these two cosmologies by performing detailed perturbation analyses based on the Effective Field Theory approach. Our results show that, although both two models produce blue tilted tensor perturbations, they behave differently in three aspects. Firstly, String Gas Cosmology predicts a specific consistency relation between the index of the scalar modes n {sub s} and that of tensor ones n {sub t} , which is hard to be reproduced by G-inflation. Secondly, String Gas Cosmology typically predicts non-Gaussianities which are highly suppressed on observable scales, while G-inflation gives rise to observationally large non-Gaussianities because the kinetic terms in the action become important during inflation. However, after finely tuning the model parameters of G-inflation it is possible to obtain a blue tensor spectrum and negligible non-Gaussianities with a degeneracy between the two models. This degeneracy can be broken by a third observable, namely the scale dependence of the nonlinearity parameter, which vanishes for G-inflation but has a blue tilt in the case of String Gas Cosmology. Therefore, we conclude that String Gas Cosmology is in principle observationally distinguishable from the single field inflationary cosmology, even allowing for modifications such as G-inflation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Features from the non-attractor beginning of inflation

We study the effects of the non-attractor initial conditions for the canonical single-field inflation. The non-attractor stage can last only several e -folding numbers, and should be followed by hilltop inflation. This two-stage evolution leads to large scale suppression in the primordial power spectrum, which is favored by recent observations. Moreover we give a detailed calculation of primordial non-Gaussianity due to the ''from non-attractor to slow-roll'' transition, and find step features in the local and equilateral shapes. We conclude that a plateau-like inflaton potential with an initial non-attractor phase yields interesting features in both power spectrum and bispectrum.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

New model of axion monodromy inflation and its cosmological implications

We propose a new realization of axion monodromy inflation in which axion monodromy arises from torsional cycles in a type IIB compactification. A class of monomial potentials is obtained with specific values for the power index. Moreover, the inflaton mass changes profile due to the couplings between various fields after compactification. Consequently, the potential obtains a step-like profile at some critical scale. We study the cosmological implications of one concrete realization of this model. At the background level, it realizes a sufficiently long inflationary stage, which allows for the violation of the slow-roll conditions for a short period of time when the inflaton is close to the critical scale. Accordingly, the Hubble horizon is perturbed and affects the dynamics of primordial cosmological perturbations. In particular, we analyze the angular power spectrum of B-mode polarization and find a boost on very large scales. We also find that the amplitude of scalar perturbations is suppressed near the critical scale. Thus our model provides an interpretation for the low-ℓ suppression of temperature anisotropies in the CMB power spectrum. We examine these effects and confront the model to observations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Scale-dependent CMB power asymmetry from primordial speed of sound and a generalized δ N formalism

We explore a plausible mechanism that the hemispherical power asymmetry in the CMB is produced by the spatial variation of the primordial sound speed parameter. We suggest that in a generalized approach of the δ N formalism the local e-folding number may depend on some other primordial parameters besides the initial values of inflaton. Here the δ N formalism is extended by considering the effects of a spatially varying sound speed parameter caused by a super-Hubble perturbation of a light field. Using this generalized δ N formalism, we systematically calculate the asymmetric primordial spectrum in the model of multi-speed inflation by taking into account the constraints of primordial non-Gaussianities. We further discuss specific model constraints, and the corresponding asymmetry amplitudes are found to be scale-dependent, which can accommodate current observations of the power asymmetry at different length scales.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Bounce inflation cosmology with Standard Model Higgs boson

It is of great interest to connect cosmology in the early universe to the Standard Model of particle physics. In this paper, we try to construct a bounce inflation model with the standard model Higgs boson, where the one loop correction is taken into account in the effective potential of Higgs field. In this model, a Galileon term has been introduced to eliminate the ghost mode when bounce happens. Moreover, due to the fact that the Fermion loop correction can make part of the Higgs potential negative, one naturally obtains a large equation of state(EoS) parameter in the contracting phase, which can eliminate the anisotropy problem. After the bounce, the model can drive the universe into the standard higgs inflation phase, which can generate nearly scale-invariant power spectrum.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Nonsingular bouncing cosmologies in light of BICEP2

We confront various nonsingular bouncing cosmologies with the recently released BICEP2 data and investigate the observational constraints on their parameter space. In particular, within the context of the effective field approach, we analyze the constraints on the matter bounce curvaton scenario with a light scalar field, and the new matter bounce cosmology model in which the universe successively experiences a period of matter contraction and an ekpyrotic phase. Additionally, we consider three nonsingular bouncing cosmologies obtained in the framework of modified gravity theories, namely the Hořava-Lifshitz bounce model, the f(T) bounce model, and loop quantum cosmology.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Non-singular bounce scenarios in loop quantum cosmology and the effective field description

A non-singular bouncing cosmology is generically obtained in loop quantum cosmology due to non-perturbative quantum gravity effects. A similar picture can be achieved in standard general relativity in the presence of a scalar field with a non-standard kinetic term such that at high energy densities the field evolves into a ghost condensate and causes a non-singular bounce. During the bouncing phase, the perturbations can be stabilized by introducing a Horndeski operator. Taking the matter content to be a dust field and an ekpyrotic scalar field, we compare the dynamics in loop quantum cosmology and in a non-singular bouncing effective field model with a non-standard kinetic term at both the background and perturbative levels. We find that these two settings share many important properties, including the result that they both generate scale-invariant scalar perturbations. This shows that some quantum gravity effects of the very early universe may be mimicked by effective field models.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Two field matter bounce cosmology

We re-examine the non-singular Matter Bounce scenario first developed in [20], which starts with a matter-dominated period of contraction and transitions into an Ekpyrotic phase of contraction. We consider both matter fields, the first of which plays the role of regular matter, and the second of which is responsible for the non-singular bounce. Since the dominant matter field is massive, the induced curvature fluctuations are initially not scale-invariant, whereas the fluctuations of the second scalar field (which are initially entropy fluctuations) are scale-invariant. We study the transfer of the initial entropy perturbations into curvature fluctuations in the matter-dominated phase of contraction and show that the latter become nearly scale invariant on large scales but are blue tilted on small scales. We study the evolution of both curvature and entropy fluctuations through the bounce, and show that both have a scale-invariant spectrum which is blue-tilted on small scales. However, we find that the entropy fluctuations have an amplitude that is much smaller than that of the curvature perturbations, due to gravitational amplification of curvature perturbations during the bounce phase.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Bounce and cyclic cosmology in extended nonlinear massive gravity

We investigate non-singular bounce and cyclic cosmological evolutions in a universe governed by the extended nonlinear massive gravity, in which the graviton mass is promoted to a scalar-field potential. The extra freedom of the theory can lead to certain energy conditions violations and drive cyclicity with two different mechanisms: either with a suitably chosen scalar-field potential under a given Stückelberg-scalar function, or with a suitably chosen Stückelberg-scalar function under a given scalar-field potential. Our analysis shows that extended nonlinear massive gravity can alter significantly the evolution of the universe at both early and late times.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Towards a nonsingular bouncing cosmology

We present a nonsingular bouncing cosmology using single scalar field matter with non-trivial potential and non-standard kinetic term. The potential sources a dynamical attractor solution with Ekpyrotic contraction which washes out small amplitude anisotropies. At high energy densities the field evolves into a ghost condensate, leading to a nonsingular bounce. Following the bounce there is a smooth transition to standard expanding radiation and matter dominated phases. Using linear cosmological perturbation theory we track each Fourier mode of the curvature fluctuation throughout the entire cosmic evolution. Using standard matching conditions for nonsingular bouncing cosmologies we verify that the spectral index does not change during the bounce. We show there is a controlled period of exponential growth of the fluctuation amplitude for the perturbations (but not for gravitational waves) around the bounce point which does not invalidate the perturbative treatment. This growth induces a natural suppression mechanism for the tensor to scalar ratio of fluctuations. Moreover, we study the generation of the primordial power spectrum of curvature fluctuations for various types of initial conditions. For the pure vacuum initial condition, on scales which exit the Hubble radius in the phase of Ekpyrotic contraction, the spectrum is deeply blue. For thermal particle initial condition, one possibility for generating a scale-invariant spectrum makes use of a special value of the background equation of state during the contracting Ekpyrotic phase. If the Ekpyrotic phase is preceded by a period of matter-dominated contraction, the primordial power spectrum is nearly scale-invariant on large scales (scales which exit the Hubble radius in the matter-dominated phase) but acquires a large blue tilt on small scales. Thus, our model provides a realization of the 'matter bounce' scenario which is free of the anisotropy problem.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗