2012/11/30 by Sarah Shandera, Adrienne L. Erickcek, Pat Scott +1 · 2 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Amplitude #Astrophysics #Binary black hole #Bispectrum #Cosmic microwave background #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Gaussian #Gravitational wave #Kurtosis #Mathematics #Non-Gaussianity #Physics #Primordial black hole #Primordial fluctuations #Quantum mechanics #Skewness #Spectral density #Statistical physics #Statistics #astro-ph.CO #gr-qc #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.88.103506
published as Phys. Rev. D 88, 103506 (2013) · 19 pages; v2 is published PRD version
openalex publication_date 2013/11/08 · arxiv created 2013/11/30 · arxiv updated 2013/12/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We describe a general procedure for using number counts of any object to constrain the probability distribution of the primordial fluctuations, allowing for generic weak non-Gaussianity. We apply this procedure to use limits on the abundance of primordial black holes and dark matter ultracompact minihalos to characterize the allowed statistics of primordial fluctuations on very small scales. We present constraints on the power spectrum and the amplitude of the skewness for two different families of non-Gaussian distributions, distinguished by the relative importance of higher moments. Although primordial black holes probe the smallest scales, ultracompact minihalos provide significantly stronger constraints on the power spectrum and so are more likely to eventually provide small-scale constraints on non-Gaussianity.