Planck-suppressed operators
- D.A.M.T.P., Cambridge University, Cambridge, CB3 0WA (United Kingdom)
- Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)
- Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)
We show that the recent Planck limits on primordial non-Gaussianity impose strong constraints on light hidden sector fields coupled to the inflaton via operators suppressed by a high mass scale Λ. We study a simple effective field theory in which a hidden sector field is coupled to a shift-symmetric inflaton via arbitrary operators up to dimension five. Self-interactions in the hidden sector lead to non-Gaussianity in the curvature perturbations. To be consistent with the Planck limit on local non-Gaussianity, the coupling to any hidden sector with light fields and natural cubic couplings must be suppressed by a very high scale Λ > 10{sup 5}H. Even if the hidden sector has Gaussian correlations, nonlinearities in the mixing with the inflaton still lead to non-Gaussian curvature perturbations. In this case, the non-Gaussianity is of the equilateral or orthogonal type, and the Planck data requires Λ > 10{sup 2}H.
- OSTI ID:
- 22369801
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2014, Issue 01; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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