Non-isotropy in the CMB power spectrum in single field inflation
Abstract
Contaldi et al. [1] have suggested that an initial period of kinetic energy domination in single field inflation may explain the lack of CMB power at large angular scales. We note that in this situation it is natural that there also be a spatial gradient in the initial value of the inflaton field, and that this can provide a spatial asymmetry in the observed CMB power spectrum, manifest at low multipoles. We investigate the nature of this asymmetry and comment on its relation to possible anomalies at low multipoles.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0703455,
title = {Non-isotropy in the CMB power spectrum in single field inflation},
author = {John F. Donoghue and Koushik Dutta and Andreas Ross},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0703455},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
25 pages, 12 figures. In this revised version, we include the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, which was missing from the original. This modifies some results in the low multipoles. The comparison with experiment is slightly better but the change is not statistically significant