Related papers: Constraints on Models with a Break in the Primordi…
A bouncing cosmology with an initial matter-dominated phase of contraction during which scales which are currently probed with cosmological observations exit the Hubble radius provides a mechanism alternative to inflation for producing a…
As a test of the standard inflationary cosmology, which generically predicts nearly scale-invariant spectrum of primordial curvature fluctuations, we perform Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo analysis to search for possible modulations in the power…
As a simple model for unknown Planck scale physics, we assume that the quantum modes responsible for producing primordial curvature perturbations during inflation are placed in their instantaneous adiabatic vacuum when their proper momentum…
In the matter bounce scenario, a dust-dominated contracting space-time generates scale-invariant perturbations that, assuming a nonsingular bouncing cosmology, propagate to the expanding branch and set appropriate initial conditions for the…
We investigate the ability of current CMB data to reliably constrain the form of the primordial power spectrum generated during inflation. We attempt to identify more exotic power spectra that yield equally good fits to the data as simple…
The recent Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurements indicate that there is power deficiency of the CMB anisotropies at large scales compared with the $\Lambda$CDM model. We have investigated the possibility of explaining such effects…
The latest cosmological data seem to indicate a significant deviation from scale invariance of the primordial power spectrum when parameterized either by a power law or by a spectral index with non-zero "running". This deviation, by itself,…
We compare the predictions of hybrid inflationary models that produce both adiabatic fluctuations and topological defects to first year WMAP results. We use a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to constrain the contribution of cosmic strings…
We explore a model of the early universe in which the inflationary epoch is preceded by a cosmic bounce, and argue that this scenario provides a common origin to several of the anomalous features that have been observed at large angular…
We present a detailed study of a simple scalar field model that yields non-singular cosmological solutions. We study both the qualitative dynamics of the homogeneous and isotropic background and the evolution of inhomogeneous linear…
We constrain the primordial fluctuation spectrum P(k) by using the new data on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from the Boomerang and MAXIMA experiments. Our study is based on slow-roll inflationary models, and we consider the…
In Pre-Big-Bang and in Ekpyrotic Cosmology, perturbations on cosmological scales today are generated from quantum vacuum fluctuations during a phase when the Universe is contracting (viewed in the Einstein frame). The backgrounds studied to…
The enormous red-shifting of the modes during the inflationary epoch suggests that physics at the very high energy scales may modify the primordial perturbation spectrum. Therefore, the measurements of the anisotropies in the Cosmic…
Detailed analyses of the WMAP data indicate possible oscillatory features in the primordial curvature perturbation, which moreover appears to be suppressed beyond the present Hubble radius. Such deviations from the usual inflationary…
We compute the power spectrum of curvature perturbations in stochastic inflation. This combines the distribution of first crossing times through the end-of-inflation surface, which has been previously studied, with the distribution of the…
We place limits on semiclassical fluctuations that might be present in the primordial perturbation spectrum. These can arise if some signatures of pre-inflationary features survive the expansion, or could be created by whatever mechanism…
There is a large and growing interest in observations of small-scale structure in dark matter. We propose a new way to probe dark matter structures in the $\sim 10 - 10^8 \, M_\odot$ range. This allows us to constrain the primordial power…
Recent measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), particularly when combined with other datasets, have revolutionised our knowledge of the values of the basic cosmological parameters. Here we summarize the state of…
The matter bounce scenario allows for a sizable parameter space where cosmological fluctuations originally exited the Hubble radius when the background energy density was small. In this scenario and its extended versions, the low energy…
The primordial matter power spectrum quantifies fluctuations in the distribution of dark matter immediately following inflation. Over cosmic time, over-dense regions of the primordial density field grow and collapse into dark matter halos,…