Primordial features as probes of baryogenesis from supersymmetric flat directions

TL;DR

This paper explores how primordial features in the cosmic microwave background can serve as unique probes of baryogenesis mechanisms involving supersymmetric flat directions, updating parameter constraints with recent data.

Contribution

It demonstrates that primordial features can reveal details of high-energy baryogenesis models, linking inflationary fluctuations to baryon asymmetry generation.

Findings

Updated viable parameter space for baryogenesis with recent CMB constraints

Primordial features can detect signatures of both light and heavy modes in the Affleck-Dine mechanism

Correlated imprints on curvature and isocurvature perturbations provide evidence for the mechanism

Abstract

The Affleck-Dine mechanism is a leading baryogenesis scenario in which scalar condensates form coherently during inflation along supersymmetric flat directions that are lifted by supersymmetry-breaking effects. We update the viable parameter space for baryogenesis using recent Cosmic Microwave Background constraints on baryon-density isocurvature perturbations, taking the quantum fluctuations of the scalar condensate generated during inflation as initial conditions. We then show that primordial features arising from the inflaton sector can serve as a unique probe of baryogenesis models, whose mechanisms are otherwise difficult to access directly due to their high energy scales. These primordial features leave correlated imprints, such as sharp feature signals and clock signals, on both the curvature and baryon-density isocurvature perturbations, providing direct evidence for the existence of both light and heavy modes involved in the Affleck-Dine mechanism.