Related papers: Tensors, BICEP2, prior dependence, and dust
The presence of a significant amount of gravitational radiation in the early Universe affects the total energy density and hence the expansion rate in the early epoch. In this work, we develop a physical model to connect the parameter of…
If long wavelength primordial tensor modes are coupled to short wavelength scalar modes, the scalar curvature two-point function will have an off-diagonal component. This `fossil' remnant is a signature of a mode coupling that cannot be…
Motivated by the string gas cosmological model, which predicts a blue tilt of the primordial gravitational wave spectrum, we examine the constraints imposed by current and planned observations on a blue tilted tensor spectrum. Starting from…
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…
Using Planck polarization data, we search for and constrain spatial variations of the polarized dust foreground for cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations, specifically in its spectral index, $\beta_d$. Failure to account for such…
The first year of observations by the Planck satellite mission shows that the cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations are consistent with gaussian statistics in the primordial perturbations, a key prediction of the simplest models of…
BICEP2's detection on the primordial B-mode of CMB polarization suggests that inflation occurred around GUT scale, with the tensor-to-scalar ratio r~0.2. Inspired by this discosvery, we study the topological inflation which was driven by a…
The recent Planck results and future releases on the horizon present a key opportunity to address a fundamental question in inflationary cosmology of whether primordial density perturbations have a quantum or thermal origin, i.e. whether…
Observations of the cosmic microwave background do not yet determine whether inflation was driven by a slowly-rolling scalar field or involved another physical mechanism. In this paper we discuss the prospects of using the power spectra of…
Inflationary models predict a correlation between primordial density perturbations (scalar metric perturbations) and gravitational waves (tensor metric perturbations) in the form of a scalar-scalar-tensor three-point correlation, or…
We study features in the bispectrum of the primordial curvature perturbation correlated with the reconstructed primordial power spectrum from the observed cosmic microwave background temperature data. We first show how the bispectrum can be…
We analyze the latest cosmic microwave background (CMB) constraints on the scalar spectral index $n_s$ and tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ from Planck 2018, BICEP/Keck 2018, the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Data Release 6 (ACT DR6), and the South…
One of the primary challenges facing upcoming CMB polarization experiments aiming to measure the inflationary B-mode signal is the removal of polarized foregrounds. The thermal dust foreground is often modeled as a single modified…
Context. Most of the modelling of interstellar dust infrared emission spectrum is done by assuming some variations around a single temperature greybody approximation. For example, the foreground modelling of Planck mission maps involves a…
We build upon previous analytical treatments of scalar perturbations in curved inflationary universes to obtain analytical templates for the primordial tensor power spectrum in models with non-zero primordial spatial curvature. These…
In a companion paper we have reported a $>5\sigma$ detection of degree scale $B $-mode polarization at 150 GHz by the BICEP2 experiment. Here we provide a detailed study of potential instrumental systematic contamination to that…
Understanding the properties of dust emission in the microwave domain is an important premise for the next generation of cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments, devoted to the measurement of the primordial $B$-modes of polarization.…
I discuss constraints on the power spectrum of primordial tensor perturbations from a combination of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurements and the gravitational wave direct detection experiments LIGO/Virgo and DECIGO. There are two…
The tensor-to-scalar ratio (r = 0.20^{+0.07}_{-0.05}) inferred from the excess B-mode power observed by the Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization (BICEP2) experiment is almost twice as large as the 95% CL upper limits…
A detection of primordial B-modes has been heralded not only as a smoking gun for the existence of inflation, but also as a way to establish the scale at which inflation took place. In this paper we critically reinvestigate the connection…