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Ultracompact Minihalos as Probes of Inflationary Cosmology
Grigor Aslanyan1,2, Layne C Price1,3, Jenni Adams4
1Department of Physics, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019 Auckland, New Zealand.
Physical Review Letters
|October 15, 2016
Summary
Primordial density perturbations from cosmic inflation can form early dark matter minihalos. These minihalos provide new constraints on inflation, linking it to dark matter research.
Area of Science:
- Cosmology
- Astrophysics
- Particle Physics
Background:
- Cosmological inflation predicts primordial density perturbations across all scales.
- Perturbations smaller than cosmic microwave background scales can form early ultracompact minihalos.
- These minihalos are composed of cold dark matter.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the formation of ultracompact minihalos from primordial density perturbations.
- To explore the potential of minihalos as probes of cosmological inflation.
- To establish constraints on inflation using dark matter minihalo properties.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of density perturbations generated during cosmological inflation.
- Modeling the formation of isolated ultracompact minihalos at small scales.
- Investigating observational signatures of minihalos, such as pulsar timing data and gamma-ray emissions.
Main Results:
- Sufficiently large amplitude perturbations can lead to pre-standard structure formation of minihalos.
- Minihalos are detectable through their effects on pulsar timing.
- Minihalos are potential sources of observable gamma-ray signals.
Conclusions:
- The study establishes significant constraints on cosmological inflation by considering dark matter minihalos.
- This research connects the study of inflation with the nature of dark matter.
- The observable window for inflation is extended by analyzing these small-scale structures.
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