Related papers: B-Pol: Detecting Primordial Gravitational Waves Ge…
Measuring the imprint of primordial gravitational waves in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarisation field is one of the main goals in modern cosmology. However, the so called $B$-mode polarisation can be generated by different…
The B-mode polarization in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies at large angular scales provides a smoking-gun evidence for the primordial gravitational waves (GWs). It is often stated that a discovery of the GWs establishes…
Inflation provides a unified paradigm for understanding the isotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the flatness problem, and the origin of large-scale structure. Although the physics responsible for inflation is not yet well…
In this work we analyse in detail the possibility of using small and intermediate-scale gravitational wave anisotropies to constrain the inflationary particle content. First, we develop a phenomenological approach focusing on anisotropies…
The cosmic microwave background polarization is rich of cosmological information complementary to those from temperature anisotropies. Linear polarization can be decomposed uniquely in two components of opposite parities, called E and B.…
Recently, BICEP2 measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) $B$-mode polarization has indicated the presence of primordial gravitational waves at degree angular scales, inferring the tensor-to-scalar ratio of $r=0.2$ and a…
We summarize the physical mechanism by which the Cosmic Microwave Background acquires a small degree of polarization. We discuss the imprint left by gravitational waves and the use of polarization as a test of the inflationary paradigm. We…
Near comoving wavenumber k, the gravitational-wave background (GWB) from inflation carries information about the physical conditions near two moments in cosmic history: the moment when k ``left the horizon'' during inflation, and the moment…
A period of inflation in the early universe produces a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of gravitational waves over a huge range in wavelength. If the amplitude of this gravitational wave background is large enough to be detectable with…
In forthcoming years, connections between cosmology and particle physics will be made increasingly important with the advent of a new generation of cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. Here, we review a number of these links. Our…
Cosmological Birefringence (CB), a rotation of the polarization plane of radiation coming to us from distant astrophysical sources, may reveal parity violation in either the electromagnetic or gravitational sectors of the fundamental…
Primordial gravitational waves leave a characteristic imprint on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) in the form of $B$-mode polarization. Photons are also deflected by large scale gravitational waves which intervene between the source…
Primordial gravitational waves are a crucial prediction of inflation theory, and their detection through their imprints on the cosmic microwave background is actively being pursued. However, these attempts have not yet been successful. In…
These lectures introduce some of the basic theory of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization with the primary aim of developing the theory of CMB polarization from inflationary gravitational waves, as well as some of the related…
There are at least three cosmic backgrounds of primordial gravitational waves coming from inflation: those produced during inflation and associated with the stretching of quantum modes; those produced at the violent stage of preheating…
Current bounds from the polarization of the CMB predict the scale-invariant gravitational wave (GW) background of inflation to be out of reach for upcoming GW interferometers. This prospect dramatically changes if the inflaton is a…
In this work we present an extension of the ROMA map-making code for data analysis of Cosmic Microwave Background polarization, with particular attention given to the inflationary polarization B-modes. The new algorithm takes into account a…
Forthcoming cosmic microwave background experiments (CMB) will provide precise new tests of structure-formation theories. The geometry of the Universe may be determined robustly, and the classical cosmological parameters, such as the…
Inflation predicts specific relations between the amplitudes and spectral indices of the primordial spectrum of density (scalar metric) perturbations and gravitational waves (tensor metric perturbations). Detection of a stochastic…
Fluctuations in the intensity and polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the large-scale distribution of matter in the universe each contain clues about the nature of the earliest moments of time. The next generation of…