Priya Goyal, Pravabati Chingangbam

The small but measurable effect of weak gravitational lensing on the cosmic microwave background radiation provide information about the large-scale distribution of matter in the universe. We use the all sky distribution of matter, as represented by the {\em convergence map} that is inferred from CMB lensing measurement by Planck survey, to test the fundamental assumption of Statistical Isotropy (SI) of the universe. For the analysis we use the $\alpha$ statistic that is devised from the contour Minkowski tensor, a tensorial generalization of the scalar Minkowski functional, the contour length. In essence, the $\alpha$ statistic captures the ellipticity of isofield contours at any chosen threshold value of a smooth random field and provides a measure of anisotropy. The SI of the observed convergence map is tested against the suite of realistic simulations of the convergence map provided by the Planck collaboration. We first carry out a global analysis using the full sky data after applying the galactic and point sources mask. We find that the observed data is consistent with SI. Further we carry out a local search for departure from SI in small patches of the sky using $\alpha$. This analysis reveals several sky patches which exhibit deviations from simulations with statistical significance higher than 95\% confidence level (CL). Our analysis indicates that the source of the anomalous behaviour of most of the outlier patches is inaccurate estimation of noise. We identify two outlier patches which exhibit anomalous behaviour originating from departure from SI at higher than 95\% CL. Most of the anomalous patches are found to be located roughly along the ecliptic plane or in proximity to the ecliptic poles.

Isidro Gómez-Vargas, J. Alberto Vázquez, Ricardo Medel Esquivel, Ricardo García-Salcedo

The relevance of non-parametric reconstructions of cosmological functions lies in the possibility of analyzing the observational data independently of any theoretical model. Several techniques exist and, recently, Artificial Neural Networks have been incorporated to this type of analysis. By using Artificial Neural Networks we present a new strategy to perform non-parametric data reconstructions without any preliminary statistical or theoretical assumptions and even for small observational datasets. In particular, we reconstruct cosmological observables from cosmic chronometers, $f\sigma_8$ measurements and the distance modulus of the Type Ia supernovae. In addition, we introduce a first approach to generate synthetic covariance matrices through a variational autoencoder, for which we employ the covariance matrix of the Type Ia supernovae compilation. To test the usefulness of our developed methods, with the neural network models we generated random data points mostly absent in the original datasets and performed a Bayesian analysis on some simple dark energy models. Some of our findings point out to slight deviations from the $\Lambda$CDM standard model, contrary to the expected values coming from the original datasets.

T. Gessey-Jones, W. J. Handley

We theoretically and observationally investigate different choices of initial conditions for the primordial mode function that are imposed during an epoch preceding inflation. By deriving predictions for the observables resulting from several alternate quantum vacuum prescriptions we show some choices of vacua are theoretically observationally distinguishable from others. Comparing these predictions to the Planck 2018 observations via a Bayesian analysis shows no significant evidence to favour any of the quantum vacuum prescriptions over the others. In addition we consider frozen initial conditions, representing a white-noise initial state at the big-bang singularity. Under certain assumptions the cosmological concordance model and frozen initial conditions are found to produce identical predictions for the cosmic microwave background anisotropies. Frozen initial conditions may thus provide an alternative theoretic paradigm to explain observations that were previously understood in terms of the inflation of a quantum vacuum.

J. Iguaz, P. D. Serpico, T. Siegert

We revisit the constraints on evaporating primordial black holes (PBHs) from the isotropic X-ray and soft gamma-ray background in the mass range $10^{16}-10^{18}$ g. We find that they are stronger than usually inferred due to two neglected effects: i) The contribution of the annihilation radiation due to positrons emitted in the evaporation process. ii) The high-latitude, Galactic contribution to the measured isotropic flux. We study the dependence of the bounds from the datasets used, the positron annihilation conditions, and the inclusion of the astrophysical background. We derive competitive bounds excluding non-spinning PBH with monochromatic mass function as the totality of dark matter for masses below about 1.6$\times 10^{17}\,$g. We also show that the inclusion of spin and/or an extended, log-normal mass function lead to tighter bounds. Our study suggests that the isotropic flux is an extremely promising target for future missions in improving the sensitivity to PBHs as candidates for dark matter.

David Cyncynates, Tudor Giurgica-Tiron

Real scalar fields with attractive self-interaction may form self-bound states, called oscillons. These dense objects are ubiquitous in leading theories of dark matter and inflation; of particular interest are long-lived oscillons which survive past $14$ Gyr, offering dramatic astrophysical signatures into the present day. We introduce a new formalism for computing the properties of oscillons with improved accuracy, which we apply to study the internal structure of oscillons and to identify the physical mechanisms responsible for oscillon longevity. In particular, we show how imposing realistic boundary conditions naturally selects a near-minimally radiating solution, and how oscillon longevity arises from its geometry. Further, we introduce a natural vocabulary for the issue of oscillon stability, which we use to predict new features in oscillon evolution. This framework allows for new efficient algorithms, which we use to address questions of whether and to what extent long-lived oscillons are fine-tuned. Finally, we construct a family of potentials supporting ultra-long-lived oscillons, with lifetimes in excess of $10^{17}$ years.

Suhail Dhawan, Justin Alsing, Sunny Vagnozzi

Inferring high-fidelity constraints on the spatial curvature parameter, $\Omega_{\rm K}$, under as few assumptions as possible, is of fundamental importance in cosmology. We propose a method to non-parametrically infer $\Omega_{\rm K}$ from late-Universe probes alone. Using Gaussian Processes (GP) to reconstruct the expansion history, we combine Cosmic Chronometers (CC) and Type Ia Supernovae (SNe~Ia) data to infer constraints on curvature, marginalized over the expansion history, calibration of the CC and SNe~Ia data, and the GP hyper-parameters. The obtained constraints on $\Omega_{\rm K}$ are free from parametric model assumptions for the expansion history, and are insensitive to the overall calibration of both the CC and SNe~Ia data (being sensitive only to relative distances and expansion rates). Applying this method to \textit{Pantheon} SNe~Ia and the latest compilation of CCs, we find $\Omega_{\rm K} = -0.03 \pm 0.26$, consistent with spatial flatness at the $\mathcal{O}(10^{-1})$ level, and independent of any early-Universe probes. Applying our methodology to future Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and SNe~Ia data from upcoming Stage IV surveys, we forecast the ability to constrain $\Omega_{\rm K}$ at the $\mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$ level.