Abstract: We investigate the production of gravitational waves (GWs) during preheating with monomial/polynomial inflationary potentials, considering a trilinear coupling & phi;x2 between a singlet inflaton & phi; and a daughter scalar field x. For sufficiently large couplings, the trilinear interaction leads to an exponential production of x particles and, as a result, a large stochastic GW background (SGWB) is generated throughout the process. We study the linear and non-linear dynamics of preheating with lattice simulations, following the production of GWs through all relevant stages. We find that large couplings lead to SGWBs with amplitudes today that can reach up to h2 �(0) GW <^> 5 & BULL; 10-9. These backgrounds are however peaked at high frequencies fp > 5 & BULL; 106 Hz, which makes them undetectable by current/planned GW observatories. As the amount of GWs produced is in any case remarkable, we discuss the prospects for probing the SGWB indirectly by using constraints on the effective number of relativistic species in the universe Neff.

Abstract: By constantly monitoring a very large portion of the sky, neutrino telescopes are well-designed to detect neutrinos emitted by transient astrophysical events. Real-time searches with the ANTARES telescope have been performed to look for neutrino candidates coincident with gamma-ray bursts detected by the Swift and Fermi satellites, high-energy neutrino events registered by IceCube, transient events from blazars monitored by HAWC, photon-neutrino coincidences by AMON notices and gravitational wave candidates observed by LIGO/Virgo. By requiring temporal coincidence, this approach increases the sensitivity and the significance of a potential discovery. This paper summarises the results of the followup performed of the ANTARES telescope between January 2014 and February 2022, which corresponds to the end of the data-taking period.

Abstract: In this work, a search for nuclearites of strange quark matter by using nine years of ANTARES data taken in the period 2009-2017 is presented. The passage through matter of these particles is simulated taking into account a detailed description of the detector response to nuclearites and of the data acquisition conditions. A down-going flux of cosmic nuclearites with Galactic velocities (beta = 10(-3)) was considered for this study. The mass threshold for detecting these particles at the detector level is 4 x 10(13) GeV/c(2). Upper limits on the nuclearite flux for masses up to 10(17) GeV/c(2) at the level of similar to 5 x 10(-17) cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1) are obtained. These are the first upper limits on nuclearites established with a neutrino telescope and the most stringent ever set for Galactic velocities.

Abstract: We consider the impact of Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) effects on the Dymnikova regular black hole. The minimum length scale introduced by the GUP modifies the energy density associated with the gravitational source, referred to as the Dymnikova vacuum, based on its analogy with the gravitational counterpart of the Schwinger effect. We present an approximated analytical solution (together with exact numerical results for comparison) that encompasses a wide range of black hole sizes, whose properties crucially depend on the ratio between the de Sitter core radius and the GUP scale. The emergence of a wormhole inside the de Sitter core in the innermost region of the object is one of the most relevant features of this family of solutions. Our findings demonstrate that these solutions remain singularity free, confirming the robustness of the Dymnikova regular black hole under GUP corrections. Regarding energy conditions, we find that the violation of the strong, weak, and null energy conditions which is characteristic of the pure Dymnikova case does not occur at Planckian scales in the GUP corrected solution. This contrast suggests a departure from conventional expectations and highlights the influence of quantum corrections and the GUP in modifying the energy conditions near the Planck scale.

Abstract: The recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope have led to a surprising discovery of a significant density of massive galaxies with masses of M >= 10(10.5)M(circle dot) at redshifts of approximately z similar to 10. This corresponds to a stellar mass density of roughly rho* similar to 10(6)M(circle dot) Mpc(-3). Despite making conservative assumptions regarding galaxy formation, this finding may not be compatible with the standard.CDM cosmology that is favored by observations of CMB Anisotropies from the Planck satellite. In this paper, we confirm the substantial discrepancy with Planck's results within the.CDM framework. Assuming a value of is an element of = 0.2 for the efficiency of converting baryons into stars, we indeed find that the.CDM model is excluded at more than 99.7% confidence level (C.L.). An even more significant exclusion is found for is an element of similar to 0.1, while a better agreement, but still in tension at more than 95%, is obtained for is an element of = 0.32. This tension, as already discussed in the literature, could arise either from systematics in the JWST measurements or from new physics. Here, as a last-ditch effort, we point out that disregarding the large angular scale polarization obtained by Planck, which allows for significantly larger values of the matter clustering parameter sigma(8), could lead to better agreement between Planck and JWST within the.CDM framework. Assuming.CDM and no systematics in the current JWST results, this implies either an unknown systematic error in current large angular scale CMB polarization measurements or an unidentified physical mechanism that could lower the expected amount of CMB polarization produced during the epoch of reionization. Interestingly, the model compatible with Planck temperature-only data and JWST observation also favors a higher Hubble constant H-0 = 69.0 +/- 1.1 km/s/Mpc at 68% C.L., in better agreement with observations based on SN-Ia luminosity distances.