Related papers: Inflationary Steps in the Planck Data
In the ``natural inflation'' model, the inflaton potential is periodic. We show that Planck scale physics may induce corrections to the inflaton potential, which is also periodic with a greater frequency. Such high frequency corrections…
In this work, we study the effects on the relevant observational parameters of an inflationary universe from a chaotic potential with a step. We numerically evolve the perturbation equations within both cold inflation and warm inflation. On…
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…
We investigate inflationary scenarios driven by a class of potentials which are similar in form to those that arise in certain minimal supersymmetric extensions of the standard model. We find that these potentials allow a brief period of…
Planck's residuals of the CMB temperature power spectrum present a curious oscillatory shape that resembles an extra smoothing effect of lensing and is the source of the lensing anomaly. The smoothing effect of lensing to the CMB…
The BICEP2 collaboration reports a detection of primordial cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-mode with a tensor-scalar ratio $r=0.20^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$ (68% C.L.). However, this result is in tension with the recent Planck limit, $r<0.11$…
In this paper, we consider two case examples of Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) generalizations of canonical large-field inflation models, characterized by a reduced sound speed, $c_{S} < 1$. The reduced speed of sound lowers the tensor-scalar…
We use a numerical code to compute the density perturbations generated during an inflationary epoch which includes a spontaneous symmetry breaking phase transition. A sharp step in the inflaton potential generates $k$ dependent oscillations…
Within the class of inflationary models, k-inflation represents the most general single field framework that can be associated with an effective quadratic action for the curvature perturbations and a varying speed of sound. The incoming…
In Dirac-Born-Infeld inflation, changes in the sound speed that transiently break the slow roll approximation lead to features in the power spectrum. We develop and test the generalized slow roll approximation for calculating such effects…
The first year WMAP measurement of the CMB temperature anisotropy is intriguingly consistent with a larger running of the inflationary scalar spectral index than would be expected for single-field inflation. We revisit the issue of a large…
We provide analytic solutions for the power spectrum and bispectrum of curvature fluctuations produced by a step feature in the inflaton potential, valid in the limit that the step is short and sharp. In this limit, the bispectrum is…
We explore the relationship between features in the Planck 2015 temperature and polarization data, shifts in the cosmological parameters, and features from inflation. Residuals in the temperature data at low multipole $\ell$, which are…
Constraining inflationary models with high precision bispectra across broad parameter ranges is a challenging task, requiring intensive computations at all stages, first, predicting the primordial inflation bispectrum from quantum field…
We identify examples of single field inflationary trajectories beyond the slow-roll regime which improve the fit to Planck 2018 data compared to baseline $\Lambda$CDM model with power law form of primordial spectrum and at the same time…
In the standard inflationary scenario, primordial perturbations are adiabatic. The amplitudes of most types of isocurvature perturbations are generally constrained by current data to be small. If, however, there is a baryon-density…
In multiple inflation scenario having two inflations with an intermediate matter-dominated phase, the power spectrum is estimated to be enhanced on scales smaller than the horizon size at the beginning of the second inflation, $k > k_{\rm…
We use data from the nominal Planck mission to constrain modulations in the primordial power spectrum associated with monodromy inflation. The largest improvement in fit relative to the unmodulated model has \Delta\chi^2~10 and we find no…
The six parameters of the standard $\Lambda$CDM model have best-fit values derived from the Planck temperature power spectrum that are shifted somewhat from the best-fit values derived from WMAP data. These shifts are driven by features in…
We present a new flexible estimator for comparing theoretical templates for the predicted bispectrum of the CMB anisotropy to observations. This estimator, based on binning in harmonic space, generalizes the optimal estimator of Komatsu,…