Observational constraints on the energy scale of inflation
Abstract
Determining the energy scale of inflation is crucial to understand the nature of inflation in the early Universe. We place observational constraints on the energy scale of the observable part of the inflaton potential by combining the 7-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data with distance measurements from the baryon acoustic oscillations in the distribution of galaxies and the Hubble constant measurement. Our analysis provides an upper limit on this energy scale, 2.3 \times 10^{16} GeV at 95% confidence level. Moreover, we forecast the sensitivity and constraints achievable by the Planck experiment by performing Monte Carlo studies on simulated data. Planck could significantly improve the constraints on the energy scale of inflation and on the shape of the inflaton potential.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1008.5258,
title = {Observational constraints on the energy scale of inflation},
author = {Zong-Kuan Guo and Dominik J. Schwarz and Yuan-Zhong Zhang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1008.5258},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
7 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX, published version