paper

Gravitational waves from primordial black hole dominance: The effect of inflaton decay rate

arXiv:2504.05875 · doi:10.1016/j.dark.2025.101991

Abstract

In this work, we explore primordial black holes (PBH) formation scenario during the post-inflationary preheating stage dominated by the inflaton field. We consider, in particular, a model-independent parametrization of the Gaussian peak inflationary power spectrum that leads to amplified inflationary density fluctuations before the end of inflation. These modes can reenter the horizon during preheating and could experience instabilities that trigger the production of PBH. This is estimated with the Khlopov-Polnarev (KP) formalism that takes into account non-spherical effects. We derive an accurate analytical expression for the mass fraction under the KP formalism that fits well with the numerical evaluation. Particularly, we focus on ultra-light PBH of masses and study their evolution and (possible) dominance after the decay of the inflation field into radiation and before the PBH evaporation via Hawking radiation. These considerations alter the previous estimates of induced gravitational waves (GWs) from PBH dominance and set new targets for detecting stochastic GW backgrounds with future detectors, provided that these achieve significantly enhanced experimental sensitivity, as current planned instruments do not yet possess sufficient sensitivity for detection.

arXiv comment31 pages, 9 figures

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