Enhanced curvature perturbation and primordial black hole formation in two-stage inflation with a break

Apr 3, 2024
53 pages
Published in:
  • JCAP 07 (2024) 076
  • Published: Jul 29, 2024
e-Print:
Report number:
  • YITP-24-25

Citations per year

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Abstract: (IOP)
We investigate a model of R2^{2}-gravity with a non-minimally coupled scalar field thatgives rise to two-stage inflation with a break, that is, with an intermediate stage whereinflation momentarily halts. We find that the power spectrum of the primordial curvatureperturbation is significantly enhanced at the break scale, which can account for the primordialblack hole (PBH) formation, without affecting the CMB constraint on large scales. The behavior ofthe curvature perturbation is carefully analyzed and we find a few notable new features in thespectrum. In particular, we find that the k3^{3} growth of the spectrum of toward the end of thefirst stage of inflation. We argue that this is a universal feature common to all two-stage modelswhere the field dominating the second stage is heavy during the first stage. By appropriatelytuning the model parameters, we find that our model can realize the scenario of PBHs as the colddark matter of the Universe. We also find that we can choose the parameters so that the spectrumof the induced gravitational waves from the enhanced curvature perturbation fits the NANOGrav-15yrdata of pulsar timing array observation.
Note:
  • 53 pages, 14 figures, 1 table
  • inflation
  • primordial black holes
  • curvature: perturbation
  • black hole: primordial
  • curvature: primordial
  • coupling: scalar
  • gravitational radiation: induced
  • black hole: formation
  • power spectrum: primordial
  • field theory: scalar