Related papers: The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE): A Nulli…
We use a custom-made calibrator to measure individual detectors' polarization angles of BICEP3, a small aperture telescope observing the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at 95GHz from the South Pole. We describe our calibration strategy…
The recent BICEP2 measurement of B-modes in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background suggests that inflation was driven by a field at an energy scale of $2\times 10^{16}$ GeV. I explore the potential of upcoming CMB polarization…
Until recently our knowledge of the primordial curvature perturbation was relatively modest. Ever since COBE delivered its map of data we know the scalar spectrum of primordial perturbations is approximately flat, with the power being only…
Different inflationary models predict oscillatory features in the primordial power spectrum. These can leave an imprint on both the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the large-scale structure (LSS) of our Universe, that can be searched…
The next generation of space-borne gravitational wave detectors may detect gravitational waves from extreme mass-ratio inspirals with primordial black holes. To produce primordial black holes which contribute a non-negligible abundance of…
To efficiently probe primordial non-Gaussianity using Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data, we require theoretical predictions that are factorizable, \textit{i.e.}\ those whose kinematic dependence can be separated. This property does not…
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer is a mission dedicated to the measurement of X-ray polarization from tens of astrophysical sources belonging to different classes. Expected to be launched at the end of 2021, the payload comprises…
The capability of Cosmic Inflation to explain the latest Cosmic Microwave Background and Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation data is assessed by performing Bayesian model comparison within the landscape of nearly three-hundred models of…
The Gas Pixel Detector is an X-ray polarimeter to fly on-board IXPE and other missions. To correctly measure the source polarization, the response of IXPE's GPDs to unpolarized radiation has to be calibrated and corrected. In this paper we…
IXPE is a Small Explorer mission that was launched at the end of 2021 to measure the polarization of X-ray emission from tens of astronomical sources. Its focal plane detectors are based on the Gas Pixel Detector, which measures the…
The Gas Pixel Detector is a gas detector, sensitive to the polarization of X-rays, currently flying on-board IXPE - the first observatory dedicated to X-ray polarimetry. It detects X-rays and their polarization by imaging the ionization…
The curl (B) modes of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization anisotropies are a unique probe of the primordial background of inflationary gravitational waves (IGWs). Unfortunately, the B-mode polarization anisotropies generated by…
In inflation cosmologies, cosmic structure develops through the gravitational instability of the inevitable quantum noise in primordial scalar fields. I show how the acceleration of the universe defines the shape of the primordial spectrum…
While X-ray Spectroscopy, Timing and Imaging have improved verymuch since 1962, when the first astronomical non-solar source was discovered, especially with the launch of Newton/X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission, Rossi/X-ray Timing Explorer and…
We discuss upcoming opportunities with cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations during the post-WMAP era. The curl-modes of CMB polarization probe inflationary gravitational waves (IGWs). While a significant source of confusion is…
BICEP is a ground-based millimeter-wave bolometric array designed to target the primordial gravity wave signature on the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at degree angular scales. Currently in its third year of…
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), launched on December 9, 2021, enables X-ray polarimetric observations with unprecedented sensitivity in the 2-8 keV energy range. X-ray polarization allows us to test accretion disk, corona,…
Models of cosmic inflation generically predict a weak but potentially detectable amount of primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG), which can be used to obtain insights into the degrees of freedom during inflation and their interactions. The…
We study the possibility of using the $LiteBIRD$ satellite $B$-mode survey to constrain models of inflation producing specific features in CMB angular power spectra. We explore a particular model example, i.e. spectator axion-SU(2) gauge…
The cosmological observations of cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure indicate that our universe has a nearly scaling invariant power spectrum of the primordial perturbation. However, the exact origin for this primordial…