Marco Peloso’s research while affiliated with University of Padua and other places

The longitudinal components of massive vector fields generated during inflation constitute a well-motivated dark matter candidate, with interesting phenomenological implications. During the epoch of radiation domination following inflation, their spectrum exhibits a peak at small scales, whose amplitude and position are governed by the parameters of the dark matter model. We calculate the stochastic gravitational wave spectrum induced at second order in fluctuations by such a longitudinal vector peak. We demonstrate that the amplitude of the gravitational wave spectrum can, in principle, reach significant values at nano-Hertz frequencies or lower. This result suggests a novel gravitational wave probe to test inflationary vector dark matter scenarios, independent from assumptions on the coupling of dark vectors to the Standard Model. Additionally, we derive new analytical formulas for the longitudinal vector transfer functions during radiation domination, offering a valuable tool for characterising the convolution integrals that govern the properties of the induced gravitational waves.

A spectator axion-gauge sector, minimally coupled to the inflaton, with the axion experiencing a momentary stage of fast roll during cosmological inflation, can generate unique signatures in primordial density fluctuations and the gravitational wave background. We present the first lattice simulation of this system using a novel hybrid numerical scheme. This approach solves the fully nonlinear dynamics of the axion-gauge sector while treating the gravitational interaction between the axion and inflaton linearly. Initially, we test the validity of the WKB approximation in the linear regime. We then investigate strong backreaction dynamics within the axion-gauge sector. Our findings reveal that backreaction significantly suppresses the growth of the gauge field and the amplitude of scalar perturbations. The simulation also allows us to analyze the non-Gaussianity of scalar fluctuations, including higher-order statistics. We show that, although non-Gaussianity is suppressed by strong backreaction, it remains higher than in the minimal model where the axion coincides with the inflaton. Our results highlight the need for simulations to make robust predictions to test against data from gravitational wave interferometers and large-scale structure surveys.

The first direct measurement of gravitational waves by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations has opened up new avenues to explore our Universe. This white paper outlines the challenges and gains expected in gravitational-wave searches at frequencies above the LIGO/Virgo band. The scarcity of possible astrophysical sources in most of this frequency range provides a unique opportunity to discover physics beyond the Standard Model operating both in the early and late Universe, and we highlight some of the most promising of these sources. We review several detector concepts that have been proposed to take up this challenge, and compare their expected sensitivity with the signal strength predicted in various models. This report is the summary of a series of workshops on the topic of high-frequency gravitational wave detection, held in 2019 (ICTP, Trieste, Italy), 2021 (online) and 2023 (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland).

Many early universe scenarios predict an enhancement of scalar perturbations at scales currently unconstrained by cosmological probes. These perturbations source gravitational waves (GWs) at second order in perturbation theory, leading to a scalar-induced gravitational wave (SIGW) background. The LISA detector, sensitive to mHz GWs, will be able to constrain curvature perturbations in a new window corresponding to scales $k \in [10^{10}, 10^{14}] \,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$, difficult to probe otherwise. In this work, we forecast the capabilities of LISA to constrain the source of SIGWs using different approaches: i) agnostic, where the spectrum of curvature perturbations is binned in frequency space; ii) template-based, modeling the curvature power spectrum based on motivated classes of models; iii) ab initio, starting from first-principles model of inflation featuring an ultra-slow roll phase. We compare the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. We also discuss the impact on the SIGW spectrum of non-standard thermal histories affecting the kernels of SIGW emission and non-Gaussianity in the statistics of the curvature perturbations. Finally, we propose simple tests to assess whether the signal is compatible with the SIGW hypothesis. The pipeline used is built into the SIGWAY code.

The original model of axion natural inflation produces a tensor-to-scalar ratio above the experimental limit. Aligned axion inflation admits inflationary trajectories that originate near a saddle point of the two-field potential, and terminate due to the instability of the orthogonal direction. The phenomenology of these solutions is within the current constraints, and a range of parameters will be probed by the next stage CMB experiments. We provide the analytic solution for these trajectories and very compact analytic expressions for the associated phenomenology. For parameters leading to the observed value for the scalar spectral tilt the extension of the inflationary trajectory is sub-Planckian. However, one eigenvalue of the axion kinetic matrix (in the basis that diagonalizes the potential) is trans-Planckian. Finally, we discuss the post-inflationary evolution after the instability. In some cases, the fields reach a second inflationary valley, connected to a minimum. Multiple stages of inflation might be a more general occurrence in multiple-field inflationary models with trajectories starting next to critical points.

A Chern-Simons interaction between a pseudo-scalar field and a U(1) gauge field results in the generation of a chiral gravitational wave background. The detection of this signal is contrasted by the fact that this coupling also generates primordial scalar perturbations, on which strong limits exist, particularly at CMB scales. In this study, we propose a new extension of this mechanism characterized by a non-canonical kinetic term for the pseudo-scalar. We find that a decrease of the sound speed of the pseudo-scalar field highly suppresses the sourced scalar with respect to the sourced tensor modes, thus effectively allowing for the production of a greater tensor signal. Contrary to the case of a canonical axion inflaton, it is in this case possible for the sourced tensor modes to dominate over the vacuum ones without violating the non-Gaussianity constraints from the scalar sector, which results in a nearly totally polarized tensor signal at CMB scales. We also study the extension of this mechanisms to the multiple field case, in which the axion is not the inflaton.

Various scenarios of cosmic inflation enhance the amplitude of the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) at frequencies detectable by the LISA detector. We develop tools for a template-based analysis of the SGWB and introduce a template databank to describe well-motivated signals from inflation, prototype their template-based searches, and forecast their reconstruction with LISA. Specifically, we classify seven templates based on their signal frequency shape, and we identify representative fundamental physics models leading to them. By running a template-based analysis, we forecast the accuracy with which LISA can reconstruct the template parameters of representative benchmark signals, with and without galactic and extragalactic foregrounds. We identify the parameter regions that can be probed by LISA within each template. Finally, we investigate how our signal reconstructions shed light on fundamental physics models of inflation: we discuss their impact for measurements of e.g., the couplings of inflationary axions to gauge fields; the graviton mass during inflation; the fluctuation seeds of primordial black holes; the consequences of excited states during inflation, and the presence of small-scale spectral features.

In the search for stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds (SGWB) of cosmological origin with LISA, it is crucial to account for realistic complications in the noise and astrophysical foreground modeling that may impact the signal reconstruction. To address these challenges, we updated the $\texttt{SGWBinner}$ code to incorporate both variable noise levels across LISA arms and more complex foreground spectral shapes. Our findings suggest that, while moderate variations of the noise amplitudes have a minimal impact, poor foreground modeling (i.e., templates requiring many free parameters) significantly degrades the reconstruction of cosmological signals. This underlines the importance of accurate modeling and subtraction of the astrophysical foregrounds to characterize possible cosmological components. To perform this more challenging analysis, we have integrated the $\texttt{JAX}$ framework, which significantly improves the computational efficiency of the code, in the $\texttt{SGWBinner}$ code, enabling faster Bayesian likelihood sampling and more effective exploration of complex SGWB signals.

The original model of axion natural inflation produces a tensor-to-scalar ratio above the experimental limit. Aligned axion inflation admits inflationary trajectories that originate near a saddle point of the two-field potential, and terminate due to the instability of the orthogonal direction. The phenomenology of these solutions is within the current constraints, and a range of parameters will be probed by the next stage CMB experiments. We provide the analytic solution for these trajectories and very compact analytic expressions for the associated phenomenology. For parameters leading to the observed value for the scalar spectral tilt the extension of the inflationary trajectory is sub-Planckian. However, one eigenvalue of the axion kinetic matrix (in the basis that diagonalizes the potential) is trans-Planckian. Finally, we discuss the post-inflationary evolution after the instability. In some cases, the fields reach a second inflationary valley, connected to a minimum. Multiple stages of inflation might be a more general occurrence in multiple-field inflationary models with trajectories starting next to critical points.