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Gariazzo, S., Mena, O., Ramirez, H., & Boubekeur, L. (2017). Primordial power spectrum features in phenomenological descriptions of inflation. Phys. Dark Universe, 17, 38–45.
Abstract: We extend an alternative, phenomenological approach to inflation by means of an equation of state and a sound speed, both of them functions of the number of e-folds and four phenomenological parameters. This approach captures a number of possible inflationary models, including those with non-canonical kinetic terms or scale-dependent non-gaussianities. We perform Markov Chain Monte Carlo analyses using the latest cosmological publicly available measurements, which include Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data from the Planck satellite. Within this parameterization, we discard scale invariance with a significance of about 10 sigma, and the running of the spectral index is constrained as alpha(s) = -0.60(-0.10)(+0.08) x 10(-3) (68% CL errors). The limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio is r < 0.005 at 95% CL from CMB data alone. We find no significant evidence for this alternative parameterization with present cosmological observations. The maximum amplitude of the equilateral non-gaussianity that we obtain, vertical bar f(NL)(equil)vertical bar < 1, is much smaller than the current Planck mission errors, strengthening the case for future high-redshift, all-sky surveys, which could reach the required accuracy on equilateral non-gaussianities.
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Gariazzo, S., Lopez-Honorez, L., & Mena, O. (2015). Primordial power spectrum features and f(NL) constraints. Phys. Rev. D, 92(6), 063510–12pp.
Abstract: The simplest models of inflation predict small non-Gaussianities and a featureless power spectrum. However, there exist a large number of well-motivated theoretical scenarios in which large non-Gaussianties could be generated. In general, in these scenarios the primordial power spectrum will deviate from its standard power law shape. We study, in a model-independent manner, the constraints from future large-scale structure surveys on the local non-Gaussianity parameter f(NL) when the standard power law assumption for the primordial power spectrum is relaxed. If the analyses are restricted to the large-scale-dependent bias induced in the linear matter power spectrum by non-Gaussianites, the errors on the f(NL) parameter could be increased by 60% when exploiting data from the future DESI survey, if dealing with only one possible dark matter tracer. In the same context, a nontrivial bias vertical bar delta f(NL)vertical bar similar to 2.5 could be induced if future data are fitted to the wrong primordial power spectrum. Combining all the possible DESI objects slightly ameliorates the problem, as the forecasted errors on f(NL) would be degraded by 40% when relaxing the assumptions concerning the primordial power spectrum shape. Also, the shift on the non-Gaussianity parameter is reduced in this case, vertical bar delta f(NL)vertical bar similar to 1.6. The addition of cosmic microwave background priors ensures robust future f(NL) bounds, as the forecasted errors obtained including these measurements are almost independent on the primordial power spectrum features, and vertical bar delta f(NL)vertical bar similar to 0.2, close to the standard single-field slow-roll paradigm prediction.
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Gariazzo, S., de Salas, P. F., Pisanti, O., & Consiglio, R. (2022). PArthENoPE revolutions. Comput. Phys. Commun., 271, 108205–13pp.
Abstract: This paper presents the main features of a new and updated version of the program PArthENoPE, which the community has been using for many years for computing the abundances of light elements produced during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. This is the third release of the PArthENoPE code, after the 2008 and the 2018 ones, and will be distributed from the code's website, http://parthenope.na.infn.it. Apart from minor changes, the main improvements in this new version include a revisited implementation of the nuclear rates for the most important reactions of deuterium destruction, H-2(p,gamma) He-3, H-2(d, n)He-3 and H-2(d, p)H-3, and a re-designed GUI, which extends the functionality of the previous one. The new GUI, in particular, supersedes the previous tools for running over grids of parameters with a better management of parallel runs, and it offers a brand-new set of functions for plotting the results. Program summary Program title: PArthENoPE 3.0 CPC Library link to program files: https://doi.org/10.17632/wygr7d8yt9.2 Developer's repository link: http://parthenope.na.infn.it Licensing provisions: GPLv3 Programming language: Fortran 77 and Python Nature of problem: Computation of yields of light elements synthesized in the primordial universe Solution method: Livermore Solver for Ordinary Differential Equations (LSODE) for stiff and nonstiff systems, Python GUI for running and plotting Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Commun. 233 (2018) 237-242 Does the new version supersede the previous version?: Yes Reasons for the new version: Update of the physics and improvements in the GUI Summary of revisions: Update of the physics implemented in the Fortran code and improvements in the GUI functionalities, in particular new plotting functions.
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Di Valentino, E., Gariazzo, S., Giare, W., Melchiorri, A., Mena, O., & Renzi, F. (2023). Novel model-marginalized cosmological bound on the QCD axion mass. Phys. Rev. D, 107(10), 103528–16pp.
Abstract: We present model-marginalized limits on mixed hot dark matter scenarios, which consider both thermal neutrinos and thermal QCD axions. A novel aspect of our analyses is the inclusion of small-scale cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and the South Pole Telescope (SPT), together with those from the Planck satellite and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data. After marginalizing over a number of well-motivated nonminimal background cosmologies, the tightest 95% Confidential Level (CL) upper bound we obtain is 0.21 eV, both for P m nu and ma, from the combination of ACT, Planck and BAO measurements. Restricting the analyses to the standard ?CDM picture, we find P m nu < 0.16 eV and ma < 0.18 eV, both at 95% CL Interestingly, the best background cosmology is never found within the minimal ?CDM plus hot relics, regardless of the datasets exploited in the analyses. The combination of Planck with either BAO, SPT or ACT prefers a universe with a nonzero value of the running in the primordial power spectrum with strong evidence. Small-scale CMB probes, both alone and combined with BAO, either prefer, with substantial evidence, nonflat universes (as in the case of SPT) or a model with a time varying dark energy component (as in the case of ACT).
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Gariazzo, S., Martinez-Mirave, P., Mena, O., Pastor, S., & Tortola, M. (2023). Non-unitary three-neutrino mixing in the early Universe. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 03(3), 046–18pp.
Abstract: Deviations from unitarity in the three-neutrino mixing canonical picture are expected in many physics scenarios beyond the Standard Model. The mixing of new heavy neutral leptons with the three light neutrinos would in principle modify the strength and flavour structure of charged-current and neutral-current interactions with matter. Non-unitarity effects would therefore have an impact on the neutrino decoupling processes in the early Universe and on the value of the effective number of neutrinos, Neff. We calculate the cosmological energy density in the form of radiation with a non-unitary neutrino mixing matrix, addressing the possible interplay between parameters. Highly accurate measurements of Neff from forthcoming cosmological observations can provide independent and complementary limits on the departures from unitarity. For completeness, we relate the scenario of small deviations from unitarity to non-standard neutrino interactions and compare the forecasted constraints to other existing limits in the literature.
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