Clustering of primordial black holes from quantum diffusion during inflation

Perex

When primordial inhomogeneities are produced with sufficiently large amplitude in the early universe, they may subsequently collapse into primordial black holes. I will explain why the effect of quantum diffusion during inflation needs to be taken into account in such a case, and how the statistics of cosmological fluctuations can be predicted within the formalism of stochastic inflation. Quantum diffusion leads to a peculiar type of non-Gaussianity that cannot be captured by perturbative parametrisations. This leaves specific imprints on the statistics of collapsed structures that I will discuss. In particular, I will present recent results on the clustering of primordial black holes, which conditions the rate at which they merge and emit gravitational waves.