Curvaton in light of the ACT results

TL;DR

Recent ACT and SPT-3G data support the curvaton model as a viable explanation for primordial perturbations, with future surveys like SPHEREx poised to distinguish it from single-field inflation through bispectrum analysis.

Contribution

The paper reanalyzes the simplest curvaton model constraints using latest CMB data, showing its compatibility with observations and potential for future discrimination.

Findings

Curvaton model predictions align with current observational data.

Inclusion of SPT-3G data supports the curvaton scenario.

Future large-scale structure surveys can differentiate models via bispectrum.

Abstract

The latest results from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Collaboration have moved the preferred perturbation spectral index $n_{\rm s}$ closer towards one. We reanalyse constraints on the simplest version of the curvaton model, using $n_{\rm s}$ and the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$. We show that in the massless curvaton case the model gives the same locus of $n_{\rm s}$-$r$ predictions as the power-law model $V(\phi) \propto \phi^p$, but with a different and more elegant physical interpretation. The model gives an excellent account of current observational data, both in the regime where the curvaton dominates the observed perturbations and with an admixture of inflaton-originated perturbations of up to about one-third of the total. Addition of the newest South Pole Telescope SPT-3G D1 dataset maintains this conclusion in favor of the curvaton model. Forthcoming large-scale structure surveys, such as that of the recently-launched SPHEREx probe, could discriminate between curvaton and single-field inflation models using the bispectrum.