Related papers: The holiest grail
Observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) have cemented the notion that the large-scale Universe is both statistically homogeneous and isotropic. But is it invariant also under reflections? To probe this we require…
We use Minkowski Functionals to explore the presence of non-Gaussian signatures in simulated cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps. Precisely, we analyse the non-Gaussianities produced from the angular power spectra emerging from a class…
Cross-correlations between Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature and $y$-spectral distortions anisotropies have been previously proposed as a way to measure the local bispectrum parameter $f_{\rm NL}^{\rm loc.}$ in a range of scales…
In single-field, slow-roll inflationary models, scalar and tensorial (Gaussian) perturbations are both characterized by a zero mean and a non-zero variance. In position space, the corresponding variance of those fields diverges in the…
The primordial four-point function encodes a wealth of information about the inflationary Universe. Despite extensive theoretical work, most models of four-point physics have never been compared to data. In this series, we conduct a…
We use the statistics of regions above or below a temperature threshold (excursion sets) to study the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy in models with primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type. By computing the full-sky…
We forecast the ability of cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization datasets to constrain theories of eternal inflation using cosmic bubble collisions. Using the Fisher matrix formalism, we determine both the overall…
Cross-correlations between Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropies and $\mu$-spectral distortions have been considered to measure (squeezed) primordial scalar bispectra in a range of scales inaccessible…
Recent measurements of the temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation from the WMAP satellite provide indication of a non-Gaussian behavior. Although the observed feature is small, it is detectable and…
The inflationary paradigm is extremely successful regarding predictions of temperature anisotropies in the CMB. However, inflation also makes predictions for a CMB B-mode polarization, which has not been detected. Moreover, the standard…
A primordial cosmic microwave background B-mode is widely considered a "smoking gun" signature of an early period of inflationary expansion. However, competing theories of the origin of structure, including string gases and bouncing…
If the seed magnetic fields exist in the early Universe, tensor components of their anisotropic stresses are not compensated prior to neutrino decoupling and the tensor metric perturbations generated from them survive passively.…
The B-mode polarization in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies at large angular scales provides a smoking-gun evidence for the primordial gravitational waves (GWs). It is often stated that a discovery of the GWs establishes…
We study cosmological tensor perturbations induced by second-order scalar perturbations in the presence of anisotropic non-Gaussianity. This class of induced tensor modes arises on superhorizon scales through the intrinsic quadrupole…
Future Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments will deliver extremely accurate measurements of the E-modes pattern of the CMB polarization field. Given the sharpness of the E-modes transfer functions, such surveys make for a powerful…
Probing primordial curvature perturbations on small scales, beyond those accessible using cosmic microwave background (CMB) primary anisotropies and Lyman-$\alpha$ forest data, remains a major open challenge. Current constraints on the…
Many inflationary theories predict a non-Gaussian spectrum of primordial tensor perturbations, sourced from non-standard vacuum fluctuations, modified general relativity or new particles such as gauge fields. Several such models also…
Inflation predicts a stochastic background of gravitational waves over a broad range of frequencies, from those accessible with cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements, to those accessible directly with gravitational-wave detectors,…
The detection of a stochastic background of long-wavelength gravitational waves (tensors) in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy would be an invaluable probe of the high energy physics of the early universe. Unfortunately a…
We investigate small-scale signatures of the inflationary particle content. We consider the case of a light spin-2 particle sourcing primordial gravitational waves by employing an effective field theory description. Upon allowing…