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One Small Step for an Inflaton, One Giant Leap for Inflation: a novel non-Gaussian tail and primordial black holes

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arxiv 2112.13836 v2 pith:RINHMD5D submitted 2021-12-27 astro-ph.CO gr-qchep-phhep-th

classification astro-ph.COgr-qchep-phhep-th
keywords steptailprimordialanalysisblackdistributionevengenerated
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abstract

We report a novel prediction from single-field inflation that even a tiny step in the inflaton potential can change our perception of primordial non-Gaussianities of the curvature perturbation. Our analysis focuses on the tail of probability distribution generated by an upward step transition between two stages of slow-roll evolution. The nontrivial background dynamics with off-attractor behavior is identified. By using a non-perturbative $\delta N$ analysis, we explicitly show that a highly non-Gaussian tail can be generated by a tiny upward step, even when the conventional nonlinearity parameters $f_{NL}$, $g_{NL}$, etc. remain small. With this example, we demonstrate for the first time the sensitive dependence of non-perturbative effects on the tail of probability distribution. Our scenario has an inconceivable application to primordial black holes by either significantly boosting their abundance or completely forbidding their appearance.

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Forward citations

Cited by 8 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Confronting infrared divergences in de Sitter: loops, logarithms and the stochastic formalism

    hep-th 2025-07 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

    The authors show that loop corrections do not alter tree-level time dependence in de Sitter correlators, so secular growth is a regularization artifact, not a physical effect.

  2. How deep is the dip and how tall are the wiggles in inflationary power spectra?

    astro-ph.CO 2025-01 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

    In single-field PBH inflation models, a power-spectrum dip appears precisely when the inflaton velocity does not flip sign, and the peak amplitude scales as the inverse square of the dip amplitude.

  3. Superhorizon curvature perturbations in hybrid inflation revisited

    astro-ph.CO 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

    Hybrid inflation's waterfall tachyonic instability grows isocurvature modes that convert to curvature perturbations at the field-space turn, yielding a k^{3}-peaked spectrum with always-positive f_NL that enhances PBH...

  4. Trispectrum in Extended USR Model with Transition to SR

    astro-ph.CO 2025-09 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    In the two-phase USR-SR inflation model, g_NL = 25 h^3 / (3 (h-6)^3) and tau_NL = 9 h^4 / (h-6)^4, confirmed by both delta-N and in-in formalisms.

  5. Reconstructing Primordial Curvature Perturbations via Scalar-Induced Gravitational Waves with LISA

    astro-ph.CO 2025-01 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    LISA can reconstruct the primordial curvature power spectrum from scalar-induced gravitational waves, with percent-level precision near the peak and Bayesian tests separating SIGWs from other sources.

  6. Evolution of Linear Perturbations under Time-Dependent Hubble Friction I: SR-USR-SR Inflation

    gr-qc 2026-02 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Analytic asymptotics show the dip in the SR-USR-SR curvature power spectrum comes from cancellation between two growing modes, not a constant-versus-growing cancellation.

  7. Primordial Black Hole Formation from the Upward Step Model: Avoiding Overproduction

    astro-ph.CO 2024-12 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    In upward-step inflation, a non-Gaussian cutoff in curvature perturbations sharply suppresses type-I primordial black hole abundance for h above about 5.9, easing PTA overproduction constraints.

  8. A complete analysis of inflation with piecewise quadratic potential

    astro-ph.CO 2024-12 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    A new parameter alpha governs the amplitude, slope, and dip of the curvature power spectrum in piecewise quadratic two-stage inflation, with maximum growth k^5(log k)^2.

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