How Significant are Cosmological Collider Signals in the Planck Data?

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Suman, Petar, Wang, Dong-Gang, Sohn, Wuhyun, Fergusson, James R., Shellard, E. P. S.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Suman, Petar
Wang, Dong-Gang
Sohn, Wuhyun
Fergusson, James R.
Shellard, E. P. S.
author_facet Suman, Petar
Wang, Dong-Gang
Sohn, Wuhyun
Fergusson, James R.
Shellard, E. P. S.
contents The search for primordial non-Gaussianities (PNG) is theoretically well motivated but remains observationally challenging. Tight constraints with low significance for the standard non-Gaussian shapes suggest that detection may lie beyond the reach of near-future experiments. However, tests of PNG are highly template-dependent. From a theory perspective, a whole new family of bispectrum shapes arise in the cosmological collider program, with distinct signatures of heavy particles during inflation. In this work, we provide a class of simplified collider templates for these particles that encompasses a broader range of masses, sound speeds, and interactions. We propose that, given the current state of observations, the most effective strategy to search for PNG signals is through orthogonalizing the collider templates, such that they are uncorrelated with the tightly constrained single field predictions. Using the Modal pipeline and Planck CMB data, we perform a systematic parameter scan of the collider templates with the most significant result reaching $2.4σ$ for spin-0, after taking into account the look-elsewhere effect; indicative results for spin-1 and spin-2 peak near 2$σ$. These results indicate that, with refined collider templates and improved data analysis strategies, there are credible prospects with forthcoming observations to detect PNG and also rule out single field inflation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_17500
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle How Significant are Cosmological Collider Signals in the Planck Data?
Suman, Petar
Wang, Dong-Gang
Sohn, Wuhyun
Fergusson, James R.
Shellard, E. P. S.
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
The search for primordial non-Gaussianities (PNG) is theoretically well motivated but remains observationally challenging. Tight constraints with low significance for the standard non-Gaussian shapes suggest that detection may lie beyond the reach of near-future experiments. However, tests of PNG are highly template-dependent. From a theory perspective, a whole new family of bispectrum shapes arise in the cosmological collider program, with distinct signatures of heavy particles during inflation. In this work, we provide a class of simplified collider templates for these particles that encompasses a broader range of masses, sound speeds, and interactions. We propose that, given the current state of observations, the most effective strategy to search for PNG signals is through orthogonalizing the collider templates, such that they are uncorrelated with the tightly constrained single field predictions. Using the Modal pipeline and Planck CMB data, we perform a systematic parameter scan of the collider templates with the most significant result reaching $2.4σ$ for spin-0, after taking into account the look-elsewhere effect; indicative results for spin-1 and spin-2 peak near 2$σ$. These results indicate that, with refined collider templates and improved data analysis strategies, there are credible prospects with forthcoming observations to detect PNG and also rule out single field inflation.
title How Significant are Cosmological Collider Signals in the Planck Data?
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.17500