Abstract
Cosmological inflation generates primordial density perturbations on all scales, including those far too small to contribute to the cosmic microwave background. At these scales, isolated ultracompact minihalos of dark matter can form well before standard structure formation, if the perturbations have sufficient amplitude. Minihalos affect pulsar timing data and are potentially bright sources of gamma rays. The resulting constraints significantly extend the observable window of inflation in the presence of cold dark matter, coupling two of the key problems in modern cosmology.
- Received 29 December 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.141102
© 2016 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Viewpoint
Cosmic Clues from Mini Clumps of Dark Matter
Published 28 September 2016
Searches for ultracompact clumps of cold dark matter have come up empty, but these nondetections place new limits on the early expansion history of the Universe.
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