Models of the Primordial Standard Clock

Abstract

Oscillating massive fields in the primordial universe can be used as Standard Clocks. The ticks of these oscillations induce features in the density perturbations, which directly record the time evolution of the scale factor of the primordial universe, thus if detected, provide a direct evidence for the inflation scenario or the alternatives. In this paper, we construct a full inflationary model of primordial Standard Clock and study its predictions on the density perturbations. This model provides a full realization of several key features proposed previously. We compare the theoretical predictions from inflation and alternative scenarios with the Planck 2013 temperature data on Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), and identify a statistically marginal but interesting candidate. We discuss how future CMB temperature and polarization data, non-Gaussianity analysis and Large Scale Structure data may be used to further test or constrain the Standard Clock signals.

54 pages; v2, minor revision for JCAP

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• On the Effective Field Theory for Quasi-Single Field Inflation
• On the inflationary massive field with a curved field manifold
• Untangling features in the primordial spectra
• A Direct Probe of the Evolutionary History of the Primordial Universe
• Late time sky as a probe of steps and oscillations in primordial Universe
• Quantum quenches during inflation
• Optimising Inflationary Features the Bayesian Way
• Scalar induced gravitational waves review
• Schwinger-Keldysh mechanism in extended quasi single field inflation