On the dark radiation problem in the axiverse

String scenarios generically predict that we live in a so called axiverse: the Universe with about a hundred of light axion species which are decoupled from the Standard Model particles. However, the axions can couple to the inflaton which leads to their production after inflation. Then, these axions remain in the expanding Universe contributing to the dark radiation component, which is severely bounded from present cosmological data. We place a general constraint on the axion production rate and apply it to several variants of reasonable inflaton-to-axion couplings. The limit merely constrains the number of ultralight axions and the relative strength of inflaton-to-axion coupling. It is valid in both large and small field inflationary models irrespectively of the axion energy scales and masses. Thus, the limit is complementary to those associated with the Universe overclosure and axion isocurvature fluctuations. In particular, a hundred of axions is forbidden if inflaton universally couples to all the fields at reheating. In the case of gravitational sector being responsible for the reheating of the Universe (which is a natural option in all inflationary models with modified gravity), the axion production can be efficient. We find that in the Starobinsky R-2-inflation even a single axion (e.g. the standard QCD-axion) is in tension with the Planck data, making the model inconsistent with the axiverse. The general conclusion is that an inflation with inefficient reheating mechanism and low reheating temperature may be in tension with the presence of light scalars.

Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Cosmological implications from two decades of spectroscopic surveys at the Apache Point Observatory

Johan Comparat, Jean-Paul Richard Kneib, Anand Stéphane Raichoor, Amélie Tamone, Andrei Variu, Yuting Wang, Cheng Zhao, Zheng Zheng

We present the cosmological implications from final measurements of clustering using galaxies, quasars, and Ly alpha forests from the completed Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) lineage of experiments in large-scale structure. These experiments, composed of data from SDSS, SDSS-II, BOSS, and eBOSS, offer independent measurements of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements of angular-diameter distances and Hubble distances relative to the sound horizon, r(d), from eight different samples and six measurements of the growth rate parameter, f sigma(g), from redshift-space distortions (RSD). This composite sample is the most constraining of its kind and allows us to perform a comprehensive assessment of the cosmological model after two decades of dedicated spectroscopic observation. We show that the BAO data alone are able to rule out dark-energy-free models at more than eight standard deviations in an extension to the flat, Lambda CDM model that allows for curvature. When combined with Planck Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurements of temperature and polarization, under the same model, the BAO data provide nearly an order of magnitude improvement on curvature constraints relative to primary CMB constraints alone. Independent of distance measurements, the SDSS RSD data complement weak lensing measurements from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) in demonstrating a preference for a flat Lambda CDM cosmological model when combined with Planck measurements. The combined BAO and RSD measurements indicate a sigma(g) = 0.85 +/- 0.03, implying a growth rate that is consistent with predictions from Planck temperature and polarization data and with General Relativity. When combining the results of SDSS BAO and RSD, Planck, Pantheon Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), and DES weak lensing and clustering measurements, all multiple-parameter extensions remain consistent with a Lambda CDM model. Regardless of cosmological model, the precision on each of the three parameters, Omega(Lambda), H-0, and sigma(g), remains at roughly 1%, showing changes of less than 0.6% in the central values between models. In a model that allows for free curvature and a time-evolving equation of state for dark energy, the combined samples produce a constraint Omega(k) = -0.0022 +/- 0.0022. The dark energy constraints lead to w(0) = -0.909 +/- 0.081 and w(a) = -049(-0.30)(+0.35), corresponding to an equation of state of w(p) = -1.018 +/- 0.032 at a pivot redshift z(p) = 0.29 and a Dark Energy Task Force Figure of Merit of 94. The inverse distance ladder measurement under this model yields H-0 = 68.18 +/- 0.79 km s(-1) Mpc(-1) , remaining in tension with several direct determination methods; the BAO data allow Hubble constant estimates that are robust against the assumption of the cosmological model. In addition, the BAO data allow estimates of H-0 that are independent of the CMB data, with similar central values and precision under a Lambda CDM model. Our most constraining combination of data gives the upper limit on the sum of neutrino masses at Sigma m(v) < 0.115 eV (95% confidence). Finally, we consider the improvements in cosmology constraints over the last decade by comparing our results to a sample representative of the period 2000-2010. We compute the relative gain across the five dimensions spanned by w, Omega(k) , Sigma m(v),H-0, and sigma(g) and find that the SDSS BAO and RSD data reduce the total posterior volume by a factor of 40 relative to the previous generation. Adding again the Planck, DES, and Pantheon SN Ia samples leads to an overall contraction in the five-dimensional posterior volume of 3 orders of magnitude.

AMER PHYSICAL SOC2021

Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters

Fabio Finelli, Jan Hamann, Julien Lesgourgues

This paper presents the first cosmological results based on Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and lensing-potential power spectra. We find that the Planck spectra at high multipoles (l greater than or similar to 40) are extremely well described by the standard spatially-flat six-parameter ACDM cosmology with a power-law spectrum of adiabatic scalar perturbations. Within the context of this cosmology, the Planck data determine the cosmological parameters to high precision: the angular size of the sound horizon at recombination, the physical densities of baryons and cold dark matter, and the scalar spectral index are estimated to be theta* = (1.04147 +/- 0.00062) x 10(-2), Omega(b)h(2) = 0.02205 +/- 0.00028, Omega(c)h(2) = 0.1199 +/- 0.0027, and n(s) = 0.9603 +/- 0.0073, respectively (note that in this abstract we quote 68% errors on measured parameters and 95% upper limits on other parameters). For this cosmology, we find a low value of the Hubble constant, H-0 = (67.3 +/- 1.2) km s(-1) Mpc(-1), and a high value of the matter density parameter, Omega(m) = 0.315 +/- 0.017. These values are in tension with recent direct measurements of H-0 and the magnitude-redshift relation for Type Ia supernovae, but are in excellent agreement with geometrical constraints from baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) surveys. Including curvature, we find that the Universe is consistent with spatial flatness to percent level precision using Planck CMB data alone. We use high-resolution CMB data together with Planck to provide greater control on extragalactic foreground components in an investigation of extensions to the six-parameter ACDM model. We present selected results from a large grid of cosmological models, using a range of additional astrophysical data sets in addition to Planck and high-resolution CMB data. None of these models are favoured over the standard six-parameter ACDM cosmology. The deviation of the scalar spectral index from unity is insensitive to the addition of tensor modes and to changes in the matter content of the Universe. We find an upper limit of r(0.002) < 0.11 on the tensor-to-scalar ratio. There is no evidence for additional neutrino-like relativistic particles beyond the three families of neutrinos in the standard model. Using BAO and CMB data, we find N-eff = 3.30 +/- 0.27 for the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, and an upper limit of 0.23 eV for the sum of neutrino masses. Our results are in excellent agreement with big bang nucleosynthesis and the standard value of N-eff = 3.046. We find no evidence for dynamical dark energy; using BAO and CMB data, the dark energy equation of state parameter is constrained to be w = -1.13(-0.10)(+0.13). We also use the Planck data to set limits on a possible variation of the fine-structure constant, dark matter annihilation and primordial magnetic fields. Despite the success of the six-parameter ACDM model in describing the Planck data at high multipoles, we note that this cosmology does not provide a good fit to the temperature power spectrum at low multipoles. The unusual shape of the spectrum in the multipole range 20 less than or similar to l less than or similar to 40 was seen previously in the WMAP data and is a real feature of the primordial CMB anisotropies. The poor fit to the spectrum at low multipoles is not of decisive significance, but is an "anomaly" in an otherwise self-consistent analysis of the Planck temperature data.

Edp Sciences S A2014

On initial conditions for the Hot Big Bang

We analyse the process of reheating the Universe in the electroweak theory where the Higgs field plays a role of the inflaton. We estimate the maximal temperature of the Universe and fix the initial conditions for radiation-dominated phase of the Universe expansion in the framework of the Standard Model (SM) and of the νMSM - the minimal extension of the SM by three right-handed singlet fermions. We show that the inflationary epoch is followed by a matter dominated stage related to the Higgs field oscillations. We investigate the energy transfer from Higgs-inflaton to the SM particles and show that the radiation dominated phase of the Universe expansion starts at temperature Tr (3-15) × 1013GeV, where the upper bound depends on the Higgs boson mass. We estimate the production rate of singlet fermions at preheating and find that their concentrations at T r are negligibly small. This suggests that the sterile neutrino Dark Matter (DM) production and baryogenesis in the νMSM with Higgs-driven inflation are low energy phenomena, having nothing to do with inflation. We study then a modification of the νMSM, adding to its Lagrangian higher dimensional operators suppressed by the Planck scale. The role of these operators in Higgs-driven inflation is clarified. We find that these operators do not contribute to the production of Warm Dark Matter (WDM) and to baryogenesis. We also demonstrate that the sterile neutrino with mass exceeding 100keV (a Cold Dark Matter (CDM) candidate) can be created during the reheating stage of the Universe in necessary amounts. We argue that the mass of DM sterile neutrino should not exceed few MeV in order not to overclose the Universe. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd and SISSA.