Massive galaxy clusters like El Gordo hint at primordial quantum diffusion

It is generally assumed within the standard cosmological model that initial density perturbations are Gaussian at all scales. However, primordial quantum diffusion unavoidably generates non-Gaussian, exponential tails in the distribution of inflationary perturbations. These exponential tails have di...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ezquiaga, Jose María, García-Bellido Capdevila, Juan, Vennin, Vincent
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/708449
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/708449
https://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.121003
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Inflation
Supergravity
Cosmos
Física
Descripción
Sumario:It is generally assumed within the standard cosmological model that initial density perturbations are Gaussian at all scales. However, primordial quantum diffusion unavoidably generates non-Gaussian, exponential tails in the distribution of inflationary perturbations. These exponential tails have direct consequences for the formation of collapsed structures in the Universe, as has been studied in the context of primordial black holes. We show that these tails also affect the very-large-scale structures, making heavy clusters like "El Gordo,"or large voids like the one associated with the cosmic microwave background cold spot, more probable. We compute the halo mass function and cluster abundance as a function of redshift in the presence of exponential tails. We find that quantum diffusion generically enlarges the number of heavy clusters and depletes subhalos, an effect that cannot be captured by the famed fNL corrections. These late-Universe signatures could, thus, be fingerprints of quantum dynamics during inflation that should be incorporated in N-body simulations and checked against astrophysical data