Primordial black holes and associated gravitational waves in axion monodromy inflation

TL;DR

This paper investigates how axion monodromy inflation can produce primordial black holes across a wide mass range and generate detectable gravitational waves, linking early universe physics with observational prospects.

Contribution

It explores the parameter space of axion monodromy inflation that favors primordial black hole formation and studies associated gravitational wave signals for detection.

Findings

Primordial black holes can form with masses from 10^8 grams to 20 solar masses.

Associated gravitational waves could be detected by pulsar timing arrays and interferometers.

The model links inflationary physics to observable gravitational wave signatures.

Abstract

In the axion monodromy inflation, the inflation is driven by the axion with super-Planckian field values in a monomial potential with superimposed sinusoidal modulations. The coupling of the axion to massless gauge fields can induce copious particle production during inflation, resulting in large non-Gaussian curvature perturbation that leads to the formation of primordial black holes. In this paper, we explore the parameter space in the axion monodromy inflation model that favors the formation of primordial black holes with masses ranging from $10^8$ grams to $20$ solar masses. We also study the associated gravitational waves and their detection in pulsar timing arrays and interferometry experiments.