Related papers: CMB B-mode auto-bispectrum produced by primordial …
These lectures introduce some of the basic theory of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization with the primary aim of developing the theory of CMB polarization from inflationary gravitational waves, as well as some of the related…
The recently detected polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) holds the potential for revealing the physics of inflation and gravitationally mapping the large-scale structure of the universe, if so called B-mode signals below…
The non-Gaussianity of inflationary perturbations, as encoded in the bispectrum (or 3-point correlator), has become an important additional way of distinguishing between inflation models, going beyond the linear Gaussian perturbation…
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…
We investigate the degree to which the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) can be used to constrain primordial non-Gaussianity coming from the presence of spinning particles coupled to the inflaton. We compute the $\langle TTT \rangle$ and…
If the B-mode signal in the CMB polarization seen by the BICEP2 experiment is confirmed, it has dramatic implications for models of inflation. The result is also in tension with Planck limits on standard inflationary models. It is therefore…
The search for primordial gravitational waves is a central goal of cosmic microwave background (CMB) surveys. Isolating the characteristic $B$-mode polarization signal sourced by primordial gravitational waves is challenging for several…
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…
Bouncing models of cosmology, as they arise e.g. in loop quantum cosmology, can be followed by an inflationary phase and generate close-to-scale-invariant fluctuation spectra as observed in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). However,…
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…
We consider a model in which a pseudo-scalar field $\sigma$ rolls for some e-folds during inflation, sourcing one helicity of a gauge field. These fields are only gravitationally coupled to the inflaton, and therefore produce scalar and…
After the precise observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy power spectrum, attention is now being focused on the higher order statistics of the CMB anisotropies. Since linear evolution preserves the statistical…
If inflation was preceded by a radiation era then at the time of inflation there will exist a decoupled thermal distribution of gravitons. Gravitational waves generated during inflation will be amplified by the process of stimulated…
Primordial black holes (PBHs) would induce non-Gaussianity in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by sourcing recombination perturbations spatially modulated by relative velocities between PBHs and the baryons they accrete. The leading…
Primordial inhomogeneous magnetic fields of the right strength can leave a signature on the CMB temperature anisotropy and polarization. Potentially observable contributions to polarization B-modes are generated by vorticity and…
Circular polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) can be induced by Faraday conversion of the primordial linearly polarized radiation as it propagates through a birefringent medium. Recent work has shown that the dominant…
We present a Gaussianity test of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization by analyzing the statistics of unpolarized points in the sky, classified into three distinct types: saddles, comets, and beaks. This classification of…
We consider the 3-pt function (i.e. the bispectrum or non-Gaussianity) for stochastic backgrounds of gravitational waves. We estimate the amplitude of this signal for the primordial inflationary background, gravitational waves generated…
Primordial statistical anisotropy is a key indicator to investigate early Universe models and has been probed by the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies. In this paper, we examine tensor-mode CMB fluctuations generated from…
We develop the formalism necessary to study four-point functions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization fields. We determine the general form of CMB trispectra, with the constraints imposed by the assumption…