Browsing by Subject "EARLY UNIVERSE"
Now showing items 1-5 of 5
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(2017)We investigate the CMB mu distortion in models where two uncorrelated sources contribute to primordial perturbations. We parameterise each source by an amplitude, tilt, running and running of the running. We perform a detailed analysis of the distribution signal as function of the model parameters, highlighting the differences compared to single-source models. As a specific example, we also investigate the mixed inflaton-curvaton scenario. We find that the mu distortion could efficiently break degeneracies of curvaton parameters especially when combined with future sensitivity of probing the tensor-to-scalar ratio r. For example, assuming bounds mu <0.5 x 10(-8) and r <0.01, the curvaton contribution should either vanish or the curvaton should dominate primordial perturbations and its slow-roll parameter eta(chi) is constrained to the interval -0.007 <eta(chi) <0.045.
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(2017)We derive an effective dimensionally reduced theory for the Standard Model augmented by a real singlet scalar. We treat the singlet as a superheavy field and integrate it out, leaving an effective theory involving only the Higgs and SU(2)(L) x U(1)(y) gauge fields, identical to the one studied previously for the Standard Model. This opens up the possibility of efficiently computing the order and strength of the electroweak phase transition, numerically and nonperturbatively, in this extension of the Standard Model. Understanding the phase diagram is crucial for models of electroweak baryogenesis and for studying the production of gravitational waves at thermal phase transitions.
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(2016)A nearby source of Lyman-Werner (LW) photons is thought to be a central component in dissociating H-2 and allowing for the formation of a direct collapse black hole seed. Nearby sources are also expected to produce copious amounts of hydrogen ionizing photons and X-ray photons. We study here the feedback effects of the X-ray photons by including a spectrum due to high-mass X-ray binaries on top of a galaxy with a stellar spectrum. We explicitly trace photon packages emerging from the nearby source and track the radiative and chemical effects of the multifrequency source (E-photon = 0.76 eV -> 7500 eV). We find that X-rays have a strongly negative feedback effect, compared to a stellar only source, when the radiative source is placed at a separation greater than greater than or similar to 1 kpc. The X-rays heat the low and medium density gas in the envelope surrounding the collapsing halo suppressing the mass inflow. The result is a smaller enclosed mass compared to the stellar only case. However, for separations of less than or similar to 1 kpc, the feedback effects of the X-rays becomes somewhat neutral. The enhanced LW intensity at close separations dissociates more H-2 and this gas is heated due to stellar photons alone, the addition of X-rays is then not significant. This distance dependence of X-ray feedback suggests that a Goldilocks zone exists close to a forming galaxy where X-ray photons have a much smaller negative feedback effect and ideal conditions exist for creating massive black hole seeds.
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(2017)The appearance of supermassive black holes at very early times(1-3) in the Universe is a challenge to our understanding of star and black hole formation. The direct-collapse(4,5) black hole scenario provides a potential solution. A prerequisite for forming a direct-collapse black hole is that the formation of (much less massive) population III stars be avoided(6,7); this can be achieved by destroying H-2 by means of Lyman-Werner radiation (photons of energy around 12.6 eV). Here we show that two conditions must be met in the protogalaxy that will host the direct-collapse black hole. First, prior star formation must be delayed; this can be achieved with a background LymanWerner flux of J(BG) greater than or similar to 100J(21) (J(21) is the intensity of background radiation in units of 10(-21) erg cm(-2) s(-1) Hz(-1) sr(-1)). Second, an intense burst of Lyman-Werner radiation from a neighbouring star-bursting protogalaxy is required, just before the gas cloud undergoes gravitational collapse, to suppress star formation completely. Using high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations that include full radiative transfer, we find that these two conditions inevitably move the host protogalaxy onto the isothermal atomic cooling track, without the deleterious effects of either photo-evaporating the gas or polluting it with heavy elements. These atomically cooled, massive protogalaxies are expected ultimately to form a direct-collapse black hole of mass 10(4)-10(5)M circle dot.
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(2018)With increasing temperatures, Schwinger pair production changes from a quantum tunneling to a classical, thermal process, determined by a worldline sphaleron. We show this and calculate the corresponding rate of pair production for both spinor and scalar quantum electrodynamics, including the semiclassical prefactor. For electron-positron pair production from a thermal bath of photons and in the presence of an electric field, the rate we derive is faster than both perturbative photon fusion and the zero temperature Schwinger process. We work to all-orders in the coupling and hence our results are also relevant to the pair production of (strongly coupled) magnetic monopoles in heavy-ion collisions.
