Related papers: Can Self-Ordering Scalar Fields explain the BICEP2…

The BICEP and Keck Array experiments are a suite of small-aperture refracting telescopes observing the microwave sky from the South Pole. They target the degree-scale B-mode polarization signal imprinted in the Cosmic Microwave Background…

Upcoming cosmic microwave background (CMB) data can be used to explore harmonic 3-point functions that involve the B-mode component of the CMB polarization signal. We focus on bispectra describing the non-Gaussian correlation of the B-mode…

We examine the potential of polarization bispectra of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) to constrain primordial magnetic fields (PMFs). We compute all possible bispectra between temperature and polarization anisotropies sourced by PMFs…

We examine the squeezed limit of the bispectrum when a light scalar with arbitrary non-derivative self-interactions is coupled to the inflaton. We find that when the hidden sector scalar is sufficiently light ($m\lesssim0.1\,H$), the…

We test the asymmetry of the Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropy jointly in temperature and polarization. We study the hemispherical asymmetry, previously found only in the temperature field, with respect to the axis identified by Hansen…

This paper investigates the Faraday effect as a different source of B mode polarization. The E mode polarization is Faraday rotated provided a stochastic large-scale magnetic field is present prior to photon decoupling. In the first part of…

Evidence for the presence of extra fields during inflation may be found in the anisotropies of the scalar and tensor spectra across a vast range of scales. Indeed, beyond the single-field slow-roll paradigm, a long tensor mode can modulate…

Recently, BICEP2 has reported the large tensor-to-scalar ratio $r=0.2^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$ from the observation of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-mode at degree-scales. Since tensor modes induce not only CMB B-mode but also the…

Tangled, primordial cosmic magnetic fields create small rotational velocity perturbations on the last scattering surface (LSS) of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). For fields which redshift to a present value of $B_0 =…

We analyse the possible contribution of topological defects to cosmic microwave anisotropies, both temperature and polarisation. We allow for the presence of both inflationary scalars and tensors, and of polarised dust foregrounds that may…

Understanding the generation and distribution of the Sun's interior magnetic (B-) field is a longstanding challenge. Here we describe how measurements of the Sun's oscillation eigenfunctions might be used to measure the Sun's interior…

BICEP2 has reported the detection of a degree-scale B-mode polarization pattern in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and has interpreted the measurement as evidence for primordial gravitational waves. Motivated by the profound…

We estimate the B-polarisation induced in the Cosmic Microwave Background by the non-linear evolution of density perturbations. Using the second-order Boltzmann code SONG, our analysis incorporates, for the first time, all physical effects…

Since the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) was detected by the BICEP2 experiment and an unexpectedly large tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r=0.20^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$, was found, the base standard cosmology should at least…

We consider six dimensional N=1 space-time supersymmetric Type IIB orientifolds with non-zero untwisted NS-NS sector B-field. The B-field is quantized due to the requirement that the Type IIB spectrum be left-right symmetric. The presence…

We show that the recently released B-mode polarisation data from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) favour a non-vanishing contribution of primordial gravitational waves of inflationary origin which is in tension with the previous BICEP-Keck…

The BICEP2 and Keck Array experiments are designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on angular scales of 2-4 degrees (l=50-100). This is the region in which the B-mode signal, a signature prediction of…

The successful European Space Agency (ESA) Planck mission has mapped the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropy with unprecedented accuracy. However, Planck was not designed to detect the polarised components of the CMB…

Recent microwave polarization measurements from the BICEP2 experiment may reveal a long-sought signature of inflation. However, these new results appear inconsistent with the best-fit model from the Planck satellite. We suggest a…

A linear polarization field on the sphere can be uniquely decomposed into an E-mode and a B-mode component. These two components are analytically defined in terms of spin-2 spherical harmonics. Maps that contain filtered modes on a partial…