Leverage on small-scale primordial non-Gaussianity through cross-correlations between CMB E-mode and μ-distortion anisotropies

Multifield inflation models and non-Bunch–Davies vacuum initial conditions both predict sizeable non-Gaussian primordial perturbations and anisotropic μ-type spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) blackbody. While CMB anisotropies allow us to probe non-Gaussianity at wavenumbe...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Remazeilles, Mathieu, Ravenni, Andrea, Chluba, Jens
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/279965
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/279965
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:(cosmology:) cosmic background radiation
(cosmology:) early Universe
(cosmology:) inflation
Methods: analytical
Descripción
Sumario:Multifield inflation models and non-Bunch–Davies vacuum initial conditions both predict sizeable non-Gaussian primordial perturbations and anisotropic μ-type spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) blackbody. While CMB anisotropies allow us to probe non-Gaussianity at wavenumbers k≃0.05Mpc−1⁠, μ-distortion anisotropies are related to non-Gaussianity of primordial perturbation modes with much larger wavenumbers, k≃740Mpc−1⁠. Through cross-correlations between CMB and μ-distortion anisotropies, one can therefore shed light on the aforementioned inflation models. We investigate the ability of a future CMB satellite imager like LiteBIRD to measure μT and μE cross-power spectra between anisotropic μ-distortions and CMB temperature and E-mode polarization anisotropies in the presence of foregrounds, and derive LiteBIRD forecasts on fμNL(k≃740Mpc−1)⁠. We show that μE cross-correlations with CMB polarization provide more constraining power on fμNL than μT cross-correlations in the presence of foregrounds, and the joint combination of μT and μE observables adds further leverage to the detection of small-scale primordial non-Gaussianity. For multifield inflation, we find that LiteBIRD would detect fμNL=4500 at 5σ significance after foreground removal, and achieve a minimum error of σ(fμNL=0)≃800 at 68 per cent CL by combining CMB temperature and polarization. Due to the huge dynamic range of wavenumbers between CMB and μ-distortion anisotropies, such large fμNL values would still be consistent with current CMB constraints in the case of very mild scale dependence of primordial non-Gaussianity. Anisotropic spectral distortions thus provide a new path, complementary to CMB B-modes, to probe inflation with LiteBIRD.