2009/03/20 by J. Richard Bond, Andrei V. Frolov, Zhiqi Huang +1 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #astro-ph.CO #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.103.071301
published as Phys.Rev.Lett.103:071301,2009 · 4 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2009/03/20 · openalex publication_date 2009/08/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A new class of non-Gaussian curvature fluctuations \ensuremathζpr(x)\ensuremath≡\ensuremathδN(\ensuremathχi) arises from the postinflation preheating behavior of a noninflaton field \ensuremathχi. Its billiardlike chaotic dynamics imprints regular log-spaced narrow spikes in the number of preheating e-folds N(\ensuremathχi). We perform highly accurate lattice simulations of supersymmetry-inspired quartic inflaton and coupling potentials in a separate-universe approximation to compute N(\ensuremathχi) as a function of the (nearly homogeneous) initial condition \ensuremathχi. The superhorizon modes of \ensuremathχi(x) result in positive spiky excursions in \ensuremathζpr and hence negative gravitational potential fluctuations added to the usual sign-independent inflaton-induced perturbations, observably manifested in large cosmic structures and as (polarized) temperature cosmic microwave background cold spots.