Stochastic axionlike curvaton: Non-Gaussianity and primordial black holes without a large power spectrum

Chen, Chao; Ghoshal, Anish; Tasinato, Gianmassimo; Tomberg, Eemeli

doi:10.1103/physrevd.111.063539

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Stochastic axionlike curvaton: Non-Gaussianity and primordial black holes without a large power spectrum

Chao Chen, Anish Ghoshal

, Gianmassimo Tasinato

, Eemeli Tomberg

Physical Review D, Volume: 111, Issue: 6, Start page: 063539

Swansea University Author: Gianmassimo Tasinato

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DOI (Published version): 10.1103/physrevd.111.063539

Abstract

We discuss a mechanism of primordial black hole (PBH) formation that does not require specific features in the inflationary potential, revisiting previous literature. In this mechanism, a light spectator field evolves stochastically during inflation and remains subdominant during the post-inflationa...

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Published in:	Physical Review D
ISSN:	2470-0010 2470-0029
Published:	American Physical Society (APS) 2025
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69038

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Even though the curvature power spectrum stays small at all scales, rare perturbations of the field probe a local maximum in its potential, leading to non-Gaussian tails in the distribution of curvature fluctuations, and to copious PBH production. For a concrete axionlike particle (ALP) scenario we analytically determine the distribution of the compaction function for perturbations, showing that it is characterized by a heavy tail, which produces an extended PBH mass distribution. We find the ALP mass and decay constant to be correlated with the PBH mass, for instance, an ALP with a mass =5.4×1014  eV and a decay constant =4.6×10−5 ⁢Pl can lead to PBHs of mass PBH=1021  g as the entire dark matter of the universe, and is testable in future PBH observations via lensing in the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and mergers detectable in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and Einstein Telescope gravitational wave detectors. We then extend our analysis to mixed ALP and PBH dark matter and Higgs-like spectator fields. We find that PBHs cluster strongly over all cosmological scales, clashing with cosmic microwave background isocurvature bounds. 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spelling	2025-04-07T10:37:50.7051498 v2 69038 2025-03-05 Stochastic axionlike curvaton: Non-Gaussianity and primordial black holes without a large power spectrum cb754b073d1e4949c5e3db97744d3301 0000-0002-9835-4864 Gianmassimo Tasinato Gianmassimo Tasinato true false 2025-03-05 BGPS We discuss a mechanism of primordial black hole (PBH) formation that does not require specific features in the inflationary potential, revisiting previous literature. In this mechanism, a light spectator field evolves stochastically during inflation and remains subdominant during the post-inflationary era. Even though the curvature power spectrum stays small at all scales, rare perturbations of the field probe a local maximum in its potential, leading to non-Gaussian tails in the distribution of curvature fluctuations, and to copious PBH production. For a concrete axionlike particle (ALP) scenario we analytically determine the distribution of the compaction function for perturbations, showing that it is characterized by a heavy tail, which produces an extended PBH mass distribution. We find the ALP mass and decay constant to be correlated with the PBH mass, for instance, an ALP with a mass =5.4×1014 eV and a decay constant =4.6×10−5 ⁢Pl can lead to PBHs of mass PBH=1021 g as the entire dark matter of the universe, and is testable in future PBH observations via lensing in the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and mergers detectable in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and Einstein Telescope gravitational wave detectors. We then extend our analysis to mixed ALP and PBH dark matter and Higgs-like spectator fields. We find that PBHs cluster strongly over all cosmological scales, clashing with cosmic microwave background isocurvature bounds. We argue that this problem is shared by all PBH production from inflationary models that depend solely on large non-Gaussianity without a peak in the curvature power spectrum and discuss possible remedies. Journal Article Physical Review D 111 6 063539 American Physical Society (APS) 2470-0010 2470-0029 19 3 2025 2025-03-19 10.1103/physrevd.111.063539 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) C. C. is supported by NSFC (Grant No. 12433002). The work of G. T. is partially funded by STFC Grant No. ST/X000648/1. This work was supported by the Estonian Research Council Grant No. PRG1055 and by the EU through the European Regional Development Fund CoE program TK133 “The Dark Side of the Universe.” E. T. was supported by the Lancaster–Manchester–Sheffield Consortium for Fundamental Physics under STFC Grant No. ST/T001038/1. The authors thank Devanshu Sharma and Spyros Sypsas for discussions. C. C. thanks the Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for support. 2025-04-07T10:37:50.7051498 2025-03-05T16:36:04.9989213 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Physics Chao Chen 1 Anish Ghoshal 0000-0001-7045-302x 2 Gianmassimo Tasinato 0000-0002-9835-4864 3 Eemeli Tomberg 0000-0002-6158-747x 4 69038__33920__9cf8deb864c64fc1afd16f899ab929fc.pdf 69038.VOR.pdf 2025-04-01T14:51:35.6646691 Output 966437 application/pdf Version of Record true Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Stochastic axionlike curvaton: Non-Gaussianity and primordial black holes without a large power spectrum
spellingShingle	Stochastic axionlike curvaton: Non-Gaussianity and primordial black holes without a large power spectrum Gianmassimo Tasinato
title_short	Stochastic axionlike curvaton: Non-Gaussianity and primordial black holes without a large power spectrum
title_full	Stochastic axionlike curvaton: Non-Gaussianity and primordial black holes without a large power spectrum
title_fullStr	Stochastic axionlike curvaton: Non-Gaussianity and primordial black holes without a large power spectrum
title_full_unstemmed	Stochastic axionlike curvaton: Non-Gaussianity and primordial black holes without a large power spectrum
title_sort	Stochastic axionlike curvaton: Non-Gaussianity and primordial black holes without a large power spectrum
author_id_str_mv	cb754b073d1e4949c5e3db97744d3301
author_id_fullname_str_mv	cb754b073d1e4949c5e3db97744d3301_***_Gianmassimo Tasinato
author	Gianmassimo Tasinato
author2	Chao Chen Anish Ghoshal Gianmassimo Tasinato Eemeli Tomberg
format	Journal article
container_title	Physical Review D
container_volume	111
container_issue	6
container_start_page	063539
publishDate	2025
institution	Swansea University
issn	2470-0010 2470-0029
doi_str_mv	10.1103/physrevd.111.063539
publisher	American Physical Society (APS)
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
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department_str	School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Physics{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Physics
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description	We discuss a mechanism of primordial black hole (PBH) formation that does not require specific features in the inflationary potential, revisiting previous literature. In this mechanism, a light spectator field evolves stochastically during inflation and remains subdominant during the post-inflationary era. Even though the curvature power spectrum stays small at all scales, rare perturbations of the field probe a local maximum in its potential, leading to non-Gaussian tails in the distribution of curvature fluctuations, and to copious PBH production. For a concrete axionlike particle (ALP) scenario we analytically determine the distribution of the compaction function for perturbations, showing that it is characterized by a heavy tail, which produces an extended PBH mass distribution. We find the ALP mass and decay constant to be correlated with the PBH mass, for instance, an ALP with a mass =5.4×1014 eV and a decay constant =4.6×10−5 ⁢Pl can lead to PBHs of mass PBH=1021 g as the entire dark matter of the universe, and is testable in future PBH observations via lensing in the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and mergers detectable in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and Einstein Telescope gravitational wave detectors. We then extend our analysis to mixed ALP and PBH dark matter and Higgs-like spectator fields. We find that PBHs cluster strongly over all cosmological scales, clashing with cosmic microwave background isocurvature bounds. We argue that this problem is shared by all PBH production from inflationary models that depend solely on large non-Gaussianity without a peak in the curvature power spectrum and discuss possible remedies.
published_date	2025-03-19T05:46:14Z
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score	11.065032

Stochastic axionlike curvaton: Non-Gaussianity and primordial black holes without a large power spectrum

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