CMB spectral distortion constraints on thermal inflation
- Department of Physics, KAIST, Daejeon 34141 (Korea, Republic of)
- Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 34055 (Korea, Republic of)
- School of Undergraduate Studies, College of Transdisciplinary Studies, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu 42988 (Korea, Republic of)
Thermal inflation is a second epoch of exponential expansion at typical energy scales V {sup 1/4} ∼ 10{sup 6} {sup ∼} {sup 8} GeV. If the usual primordial inflation is followed by thermal inflation, the primordial power spectrum is only modestly redshifted on large scales, but strongly suppressed on scales smaller than the horizon size at the beginning of thermal inflation, k > k {sub b} = a {sub b} H {sub b}. We calculate the spectral distortion of the cosmic microwave background generated by the dissipation of acoustic waves in this context. For k {sub b} || 10{sup 3} Mpc{sup −1}, thermal inflation results in a large suppression of the μ-distortion amplitude, predicting that it falls well below the standard value of μ ≅ 2× 10{sup −8}. Thus, future spectral distortion experiments, similar to PIXIE, can place new limits on the thermal inflation scenario, constraining k {sub b} ∼> 10{sup 3} Mpc{sup −1} if μ ≅ 2× 10{sup −8} were found.
- OSTI ID:
- 22667711
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2017, Issue 08; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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