BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:researchseminars.org CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-CALNAME:researchseminars.org BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Matthijs van der Wild (University of Freiburg) DTSTART:20200511T220000Z DTEND:20200511T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/1 DESCRIPTION:Title: Quantum Gravitational Predictions in Inflationary Scalar-Tensor Theories \nby Matthijs van der Wild (University of Freiburg) as part of CosmoCo nβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\nAbstract\nThe recent observations by Planck allow generalisations of the traditional single-field inflationary models in the form of scalar-tensor theories. These theories have in common that they exhibit a non-minimal coupling of the inflaton field to gravity. Thi s non-minimal coupling could imply that the effects of quantum gravity are enhanced with respect to the predictions of general relativity. In this t alk I will present one formalism of quantum gravity called quantum geometr odynamics\, and show how this formalism can be used to systematically deri ve predictions of quantum gravitational effects in the inflationary observ ables\, and will briefly comment on the experimental observability of thes e effects in general inflationary scalar-tensor theories.\n\nRecorded vide o of talk: https://w ww.youtube.com/watch?v=alUnWdC22zs\n\nTalk based in part on:
\n[1904.12861] Quantum gravitational corrections to the inflationary power spectra in scalar-tensor theories
\n[1712.08543] Quantum gr avitational corrections from the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for scalar-tensor theories\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/1/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Amanda Weltman (University of Cape Town) DTSTART:20200511T220000Z DTEND:20200511T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/2 DESCRIPTION:Title: Fast Radio Bursts and Cosmology\nby Amanda Weltman (University of Ca pe Town) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\nAbstract\nFast R adio Bursts are an exciting new area of study in transient and radio astro nomy\, with a plethora of possible physical driving mechanisms.They also h old the potential to be tools for understanding our universe on cosmologic al scales as well as for probing some fundamental physics questions. In th is talk we will take a gentle stroll through some of these ideas and intro duce the HIRAX experiment\, hosted in South Africa\, the next state of th e art radio interferometer for detecting and localising Fast Radio Bursts. \n\nVideo of talk: h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WswfvsmnOm8\n\nRelevant papers:
\n[arxiv: 1909.02821] Probing Diffu se Gas with Fast Radio Bursts
\n[arxiv: 1905.07132] Fast Radio Burst Cosmology & HIRAX
\n\ nOther References:
\nFRB Theory wiki: https://frbtheorycat.org/index.php/Main_Page
\nA Living Theory Catalogue for FRBs: https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.05836
\nAmanda Weltman talk on "FRBs and Cosmology" a t Cosmology Talks\, hosted by Shaun Hotchkiss\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/2/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:William H. Kinney (University at Buffalo) DTSTART:20200504T220000Z DTEND:20200504T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/3 DESCRIPTION:Title: Eternal Hilltop Inflation\nby William H. Kinney (University at Buffa lo) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\nAbstract\nEternal inf lation has long been known to be generic in large-field inflation models\, where one or more scales in the problem exceed the Planck scale. I consid er the case of small-field inflation\, in the limit of hilltop-type potent ials\, where the region in field space admitting eternal inflation is expo nentially small. In particular\, I consider a simplified model of the hill top in which the evolution of the inflaton is at all times dominated by qu antum evolution instead of classical slow roll\, and show that eternal inf lation occurs even when all scales in the potential are arbitrarily far be low the Planck scale. This provides a simple and clear demonstration that quantum effects at energy scales very small relative to the Planck scale c an have an order-unity or larger effect on the global structure of spaceti me. I comment on such models in light of recently proposed "Swampland" con jectures.\n\nVideo of Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL3m4M4IZi4\n\nRelevant Papers :
\n[1601.08140] Eternal Hil ltop Inflation\, by Gabriela Barenboim\, William H. Kinney\, Wan-Il Pa rk
\n[1811.11698] Eternal I nflation and the Refined Swampland Conjecture\, by William H. Kinney\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/3/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Benjamin Wallisch (IAS & UCSD) DTSTART:20200501T220000Z DTEND:20200501T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/4 DESCRIPTION:Title: Constraining Primordial Features Beyond the Linear Regime\nby Benjam in Wallisch (IAS & UCSD) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\n Abstract\nCharacterizing the nature of inflation is one of the main challe nges in cosmology. Oscillatory features in the power spectrum of primordia l density fluctuations are an important signature of inflationary physics beyond its simplest incarnations. In this talk\, I will show that we can r eliably search for these imprints in the distribution of galaxies in the l ate-time universe. This is based on the insight that the impact of nonline ar evolution of the density fluctuations is a tractable problem. Consequen tly\, we can use the full statistical power of current and future galaxy s urveys to search for these inflationary imprints. By generalizing the stan dard BAO analysis\, we infer the most stringent constraints on primordial features to date from the BOSS DR12 dataset.\n\nVideo of Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =jVRXaeHSk9o\n\nRelevant Paper: [1906.08758] Primordial Features from Linear to Nonlinear Scales\ , by Florian Beutler\, Matteo Biagetti\, Daniel Green\, Anže Slosar\, Ben jamin Wallisch\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/4/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Eemeli Tomberg (NICPB\, Tallinn) DTSTART:20200415T220000Z DTEND:20200415T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/5 DESCRIPTION:Title: Preheating in Higgs-like Palatini Inflation\nby Eemeli Tomberg (NICP B\, Tallinn) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\nAbstract\nI discuss preheating in a plateau model similar to Higgs inflation\, but wit h the Palatini formulation of general relativity. Due to the shape of the inflaton potential\, the oscillation amplitude of the inflaton field stays almost constant for many oscillations\, so that the field returns repeate dly to the plateau. This has drastic implications on reheating dynamics: t he leading channel of particle production is a tachyonic instability of th e inflaton field itself. This leads to an almost instantaneous reheating. \n\nVideo of Talk: h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWskD0Pmcqo\n\nTalk based on [1902.10148] Preheating in Palatini Higgs inflation\, by Javier Rubio\, Eemeli S. Tomberg\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/5/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:João Caldeira (Fermilab) DTSTART:20200501T220000Z DTEND:20200501T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/6 DESCRIPTION:Title: Comparing Methods of Uncertainty Quantification in Deep Learning Algorit hms\nby João Caldeira (Fermilab) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology fr om Home\n\n\nAbstract\nWe present a comparison of methods for uncertainty quantification (UQ) in deep learning algorithms in the context of a simple physical system. Three of the most common uncertainty quantification meth ods – Bayesian Neural Networks (BNN)\, Concrete Dropout (CD)\, and Deep Ensembles (DE) – are compared to the standard analytic error propagation . We discuss this comparison in terms endemic to both machine learning ("e pistemic" and "aleatoric") and the physical sciences ("statistical" and "s ystematic"). The comparisons are presented in terms of simulated experimen tal measurements of a single pendulum – a prototypical physical system f or studying measurement and analysis techniques. Our results highlight som e pitfalls that may occur when using these UQ methods. For example\, when the variation of noise in the training set is small\, all methods predicte d the same relative uncertainty independently of the inputs. This issue is particularly hard to avoid in BNN. On the other hand\, when the test set contains samples far from the training distribution\, we found that no met hods sufficiently increased the uncertainties associated to their predicti ons. This problem was particularly clear for CD. In light of these results \, we make some recommendations for usage and interpretation of UQ methods .\n\nVideo of talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3UYWQMP_Hs\n\nRelevant Paper: [2004.10710] Deeply Uncertain: Compari ng Methods of Uncertainty Quantification in Deep Learning Algorithms\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/6/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Nicolás Bernal (Antonio Narino University) DTSTART:20200507T220000Z DTEND:20200507T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/7 DESCRIPTION:Title: Boosting Ultraviolet Freeze-in\nby Nicolás Bernal (Antonio Narino U niversity) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\nAbstract\nWe p resent a novel UV freeze-in mechanism for enhancing the dark matter abunda nce in cosmologies where inflation is followed by an epoch dominated by a fluid stiffer than radiation. In such scenarios\, even a small radiation a bundance\, produced for instance by instantaneous preheating effects\, wil l eventually dominate the total energy density of the Universe without the need for a complete inflaton decay. For the sake of concreteness\, we foc us in non-oscillatory (NO) quintessential inflation models\, albeit our tr eatment is rather general and can be extended to other scenarios. The high temperature of the initial thermal bath together with the absence of subs equent entropy injections into the Standard Model plasma translates into a highly-effective UV DM freeze-in. In particular\, we find that\, during k ination\, an enhancement in the DM abundance is generically obtained for a ny production cross-section not-decreasing with temperature.\n\nVideo of T alk: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=j0M36IY36E0\n\nRelevant Papers:
\n[2004.13706] Boosting Ultraviolet Freeze-in in NO Models\, by Nicolás Bernal\, Javier Rubio\, Hardi Veermäe
\n[1909.07992] Ultraviolet Freeze-i n and Non-Standard Cosmologies\, by Nicolás Bernal\, Fatemeh Elahi\, Carlos Maldonado\, James Unwin
\n[1803.01866] Spin-2 Portal Dark Matter\, by Nicolas Bernal\, Mair a Dutra\, Yann Mambrini\, Keith A. Olive\, Marco Peloso\, Mathias Pierre\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/7/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Chandrima Ganguly (University of Cambridge) DTSTART:20200503T220000Z DTEND:20200503T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/8 DESCRIPTION:Title: Mixmasters That Bounce\nby Chandrima Ganguly (University of Cambridg e) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\nAbstract\nBouncing cos mologies have been studied as alternatives to inflation. They face an isot ropy problem as the anisotropies increase in the contracting phase. In thi s work\, we study isotropy in the most general anisotropic\, spatially hom ogeneous cosmology - called the Bianchi IX universe. We show that a quadra tic equation of state which acts like a super-stiff fluid reminiscent of E kpyrosis at high energies is able to produce a bounce in this universe. We also introduce a novel isotropisation mechanism using a negative anisotro pic pressures that looks like shear viscosity and show that it isotropises the Bianchi IX cosmology and also mitigates the chaotic Mixmaster behavio ur that these models are known for.\n\nVideo of Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKXPpyUY _Ok\n\nRelevant Papers:
\n[1710.00747] Evolution of Cyclic Mixmaster Universes with Non-comoving Radiation\, by Chandrima Ganguly\, John D. Barrow
\n[1703.05969] Cyclic Mixmaster Universes\, by John D. Barrow\, Chandrima Ganguly
\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/8/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:José Luis Bernal (Johns Hopkins University) DTSTART:20200511T220000Z DTEND:20200511T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/9 DESCRIPTION:Title: Robustness of BAO Constraints to Beyond ΛCDM Cosmologies AND the Cosmic Expansion History from Line Intensity Mapping\nby José Luis Bernal ( Johns Hopkins University) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\ nAbstract\nBaryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) measurements are key to cons train cosmology at low redshift. While the standard BAO analysis is claime d to return model-independent constraints of the expansion history of the Universe\, it assumes a LCDM fiducial cosmology. This assumption may limit the validity and robustness of BAO measurements to constrain beyond-LCDM cosmologies\, challenging their model-independent nature. We demonstrate t hat standard BAO analysis assuming a fiducial LCDM cosmology is unbiased w hen using synthetic power spectra from extended cosmologies\, and find tha t the H0 tension cannot be solved by modifying only the neutrino phase shi ft. In addition\, we explore the potential of using the intensity mapping of molecular lines to extend BAO measurements to higher redshifts and the implications for the H0 tension.\n\nVideo of Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiTcAUXIUO4 \n\nRelevant Papers:
\n[ 2004.07263] Robustness of baryon acoustic oscillations constraints to beyo nd-$Λ$CDM cosmologies\, by José Luis Bernal\, Tristan L. Smith\, Kim berly K. Boddy\, Marc Kamionkowski
\n[1907.10065] The Cosmic Expansion History from Line-Intensity Map ping\, by José Luis Bernal\, Patrick C. Breysse\, Ely D. Kovetz
\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/9/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Yuanyuan Zhang (Fermilab) DTSTART:20200511T220000Z DTEND:20200511T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/10 DESCRIPTION:Title: Systematic Studies in Galaxy Cluster Cosmology\nby Yuanyuan Zhang ( Fermilab) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\nAbstract\nConst raining LambdaCDM cosmology with galaxy cluster abundance is one of the fu ndamental goals of the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Many thousands of cluster s out to redshift 0.65 have been identified in DES data. Weak lensing and multi-wavelength studies with X-ray data and cosmic microwave background a re performed to provide inputs to the cosmology constraint analysis\, and studies about systematic effects are being conducted with simulation data. In this talk\, I will discuss current progress on DES galaxy cluster cosm ology analyses and especially the current systematic effect limits.\n\nVid eo of Talk: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdrFkrs84yY\n\nRelevant Papers:
\nDark Energy Sur vey Year 1 results: weak lensing mass calibration of redMaPPer galaxy clus ters\, by T. McClintock et al.
\nDark Energy Surveyed Year 1 results : calibration of cluster mis-centring in the redMaPPer catalogues\, by Y. Zhang et al.
\nDark Energy Survey Year 1 results: validation of weak lensing cluster member contamination estimate s from P(z) decomposition\, by T. N. Varga et al.
\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/10/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Steffen Hagstotz (Stockholm University) DTSTART:20200511T220000Z DTEND:20200511T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/11 DESCRIPTION:Title: Bounds on Light Sterile Neutrinos from Cosmology and Laboratory\nby Steffen Hagstotz (Stockholm University) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\nAbstract\nI will present new constraints on sterile neutri no properties obtained from both cosmological and direct measurements. For the first time\, we model the sterile in a full 3+1 framework coupled via oscillations to all other neutrino flavours and consistently calculate th e abundance and cosmological perturbations. CMB data dominates the resulti ng limits on mass splitting and the mixing matrix elements. In addition\, we translate the cosmological bounds to the mass parameters directly probe d by laboratory searches and obtain the strongest currently available limi ts. I will also show that various hints of eV-scale sterile neutrinos from short-baseline oscillation experiments are in severe tension with our cos mological constraints.\n\nVideo of Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDaNnS_QpvY\n\nPa per: [2003.02289] Bounds on lig ht sterile neutrino mass and mixing from cosmology and laboratory searches \, by Steffen Hagstotz\, Pablo F. de Salas\, Stefano Gariazzo\, Martin a Gerbino\, Massimiliano Lattanzi\, Sunny Vagnozzi\, Katherine Freese\, Se rgio Pastor
\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/11/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Yuhsin Tsai (University of Maryland) DTSTART:20200504T220000Z DTEND:20200504T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/12 DESCRIPTION:Title: Determining the Neutrino Lifetime from Cosmology\nby Yuhsin Tsai (U niversity of Maryland) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\nAb stract\nIn the next decade\, improvements in the CMB and Large Scale Struc ture (LSS) measurements will make the universe an excellent laboratory for new physics in the neutrino sector. Besides knowing the sum of neutrino m asses\, we can better answer questions about neutrino properties\, such as how long the SM neutrinos can live? In this talk\, I will explain the LSS signals of neutrino decay and show that the future tomographic survey of LSS can improve the lifetime bound on neutrinos to seven orders of magnitu de\, from order 10 years to 10^8 years. If neutrinos decay on timescales less than O(100) million years\, the observations may allow\, not just the first measurement of the sum of neutrino masses\, but also the determinat ion of the neutrino lifetime from cosmology.\n\nVideo of Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =x9pMepDjdN8\n\nPaper: [200 2.08401] Determining the Neutrino Lifetime from Cosmology\, by Zackari a Chacko\, Abhish Dev\, Peizhi Du\, Vivian Poulin\, Yuhsin Tsai\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/12/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Robert Reischke (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology) DTSTART:20200511T220000Z DTEND:20200511T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/13 DESCRIPTION:Title: Axions Facing the Large-Scale Structure\nby Robert Reischke (Techni on - Israel Institute of Technology) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology fro m Home\n\n\nAbstract\nAxion-like particles (ALP) are an interesting Dark M atter (DM) candidate\, since their production mechanism\, motivated from p article physics\, is non-thermal. They can therefore assume very low masse s while still producing the correct relic abundance. Due to their low mass they can leave observable imprints in the large-scale structure of the Un iverse which can be used to constrain the allowed ALP mass range. In this talk I will briefly describe the production mechanism of ALPs in the post- inflationary scenario and how they affect the large-scale distribution of matter. By confronting the theoretical predictions with CMB primary anisot ropies\, CMB lensing and galaxy clusters\, the parameter space of ALPs\, e specially its mass\, can be constrained. I will also highlight that the AL P model explored here fits a real feature present in the primary CMB\, whi ch is\, however\, not supported by galaxy clusters.\n\nVideo of Talk: http s://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieFmSWjIuLQ\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/13/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Robert Lilow (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology) DTSTART:20200511T220000Z DTEND:20200511T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/14 DESCRIPTION:Title: Probing Structure Growth with Constrained Realizations of the Local Uni verse\nby Robert Lilow (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\nAbstract\nThe distribution o f structures in the local Universe and their flows provide a valuable prob e of cosmic structure formation. One way to access this information is to reconstruct the density and velocity fields of these structures\, using th e distribution of observable galaxies. However\, since observations of a f inite set of galaxies are contaminated by shot noise\, there is in fact an ensemble of possible reconstructions that are all compatible with the obs ervations within the expected noise. In this talk\, I present a method to generate such an ensemble of so-called constrained realizations based on t he final release of the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS)\, the densest all-sky redshift survey to date. This approach combines a noise-suppressing minim um-variance estimator with a generator of random mock galaxy catalogues. A fter explaining the method\, I show the resulting reconstructions and demo nstrate how we can combine them with the Cosmicflows-3 catalogue of galaxy distances to constrain the cosmic growth rate as well as the motion of th e Local Group with respect to the CMB. I finish with an outlook on applyin g this method to the future all-sky spectral redshift survey SPHEREx.\n\nV ideo of Talk: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFCOAcHZzQY\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/14/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Jose María Ezquiaga (University of Chicago) DTSTART:20200511T220000Z DTEND:20200511T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/15 DESCRIPTION:Title: Exploring the Exponential Tail of Inflationary Perturbations\nby Jo se María Ezquiaga (University of Chicago) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmolo gy from Home\n\n\nAbstract\nTypically when we work with the primordial spe ctrum of inflationary perturbations we approximate it as nearly Gaussian d ue to the tight CMB constraints. However\, away from its maximum\, the dis tribution is poorly known. We develop a generic\, non-perturbative method to compute the tails of these distributions\, which we find to decay expon entially thus being unavoidably non-Gaussian. Knowing the tails precisely is relevant for example for rare\, extreme objects such as primordial blac k holes. Applying this new technique\, we find that potentials with an inf lection point overproduce PBHs\, unless slow roll is violated.\n\nVideo of Talk: https://www.y outube.com/watch?v=dicQJ73FyE8\n\nPaper: [1912.05399] The exponential tail of inflationary fluctuatio ns: consequences for primordial black holes\, by Jose María Ezquiaga\ , Juan García-Bellido\, Vincent Vennin
\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/15/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Tommi Tenkanen (Johns Hopkins University) DTSTART:20200512T220000Z DTEND:20200512T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/16 DESCRIPTION:Title: Dark Matter from Scalar Field Fluctuations\nby Tommi Tenkanen (John s Hopkins University) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\nAbs tract\nThe observed dark matter (DM) abundance in the Universe can be full y accounted for by a minimally coupled spectator scalar field that was lig ht during cosmic inflation. In this scenario\, dark matter was produced du ring inflation by amplification of quantum fluctuations of the spectator f ield. I will discuss the DM isocurvature perturbations that are unavoidabl y generated in such scenarios and the circumstances under which they are n ot problematic for the viability of non-thermal DM models. I will also dis cuss implications of DM isocurvature for structure formation\, showing tha t the scenario has interesting consequences which allow one to test models where DM is only gravitationally coupled. The talk is based on 1905.01214.\n\nRecorded Video\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/16/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Soubhik Kumar (University of Maryland) DTSTART:20200512T220000Z DTEND:20200512T230000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T225704Z UID:CosmoConB/17 DESCRIPTION:Title: Cosmological Collider Physics and the Curvaton\nby Soubhik Kumar (U niversity of Maryland) as part of CosmoConβ - Cosmology from Home\n\n\nAb stract\nIn this talk\, I will analyze primordial non-Gaussianity (NG) sign atures of extremely heavy particles within a simple alternative to the sta ndard inflationary paradigm\, namely the curvaton scenario\, where the pri mordial fluctuations and the inflationary spacetime expansion are sourced by the curvaton and the inflaton fields\, respectively. I will describe ho w this scenario can allow for orders of magnitude larger heavy-particle me diated NG compared to those in standard inflation\, and also describe a si mple model in which particles with masses up to 50 times larger than Hubbl e scale can still lead to observable on-shell NG signals which would have been completely negligible in the standard scenario. This brings several w ell-motivated particle physics signatures within the reach of the Cosmolog ical Collider program which aims to do on-shell mass and spin spectroscopy of Hubble-scale particles during inflation.\n\nRecorded Video\n\nPaper: 1908.11378\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CosmoConB/17/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR