Description:

The gravitational production and propagation of heavy particles during inflation can imprint distinctive signatures in the non-Gaussianity of primordial density fluctuations. This opens a unique window for the direct detection of particles with masses up to the inflationary Hubble scale (≲ 10¹³ GeV) through precision cosmology. In this talk, I will elaborate on the characteristic features of these signatures, along with an important caveat: a suppression effect that emerges for particles heavier than the Hubble scale. I will then introduce a class of mechanisms that can overcome this suppression, extending observational sensitivity to particles with masses as large as ~60 times the Hubble scale.

Arushi Bodas, Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Chicago

Host: Adrian Thompson