Related papers: Time-dependent Features in the Primordial Spectrum
[Abridged] A sharp cut-off in the primordial scalar power spectrum on large scales has been known to improve the fit to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data when compared to the more standard, nearly scale invariant power spectrum…
We consider the mixed inflaton-curvaton scenario in which quantum fluctuations of the curvaton field during inflation lead to a relatively large curvature perturbation spectrum at small scales. We use the model of chaotic inflation with…
We discuss whether an unaccounted contribution to the Cosmic Microwave Background polarization $B$-mode by primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) can bias future constraints on inflationary gravitational waves. As a case-study, we consider a…
We examine the renormalization of an effective theory description of a general initial state set in an isotropically expanding space-time, which is done to understand how to include the effects of new physics in the calculation of the…
We extend our recent work on the effects of a time-varying fine-structure constant $\alpha$ in the cosmic microwave background, by providing a thorough analysis of the degeneracies between $\alpha$ and the other cosmological parameters, and…
We explore the effects of low-scale cosmological first-order phase transitions on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy and distortion. We examine two scenarios: the distribution of the…
It has been recently proposed that the presence of a temporal electromagnetic field on cosmological scales could explain the phase of accelerated expansion that the universe is currently undergoing. The field contributes as a cosmological…
The origin of large scale magnetic fields is one of the most puzzling topics in cosmology and astrophysics. It is assumed that the observed magnetic fields result from the amplification of an initial field produced in the early universe. In…
The (large-scale) structures we observe in the Universe are classical, but within the inflationary scenario they do originate from quantum fluctuations. This leads to the question: ''How did this quantum-to-classical transition occur?''. A…
Massive fields in the primordial universe function as standard clocks and imprint clock signals in the density perturbations that directly record the scale factor of the primordial universe as a function of time, a(t). A measurement of such…
We investigate the hemispherical power asymmetry observed in the CMBR by attributing it to an early inhomogeneous phase of cosmic expansion. Unlike the conventional assumption of a perfectly isotropic and homogeneous pre-inflationary…
We consider observational limits on a proposed model of the string landscape in inflation. In this scenario, effects from the decoherence of entangled quantum states in long-wavelength modes in the universe result in modifications to the…
The existence of a primordial magnetic field (PMF) would affect both the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). It also provides a plausible explanation for the possible disparity between…
Inspired by quantum gravitational physics, the approach of non-commutative (NC) phase space leads to a modified dispersion relation of gravitational waves. This feature, if applied to the very early universe, gives rise to a modified power…
Loop quantum cosmology has recently been applied in order to extend the analysis of primordial perturbations to the Planck era and discuss the possible effects of quantum geometry on the cosmic microwave background. Two approaches to loop…
We present a detailed Hamiltonian treatment of an inhomogeneous fermionic perturbation propagating on a closed FLRW spacetime quantized via LQC. Expanding the fermion in spinor harmonics on spatial 3-sphere and truncating at quadratic…
I discuss a mechanism that renders the spectral index of the primordial spectrum and the inflationary stage independent of each other. If a scalar field acquires an appropriate time-dependent mass, it is possible to generate an adiabatic,…
We revisit the method of using the photon-graviton conversion mechanism in the presence of the external magnetic field to probe small-scale primordial magnetic fields that may exist between the last scattering surface and present.…
We continue our work on the study of spherically symmetric loop quantum gravity coupled to two spherically symmetric scalar fields, one that acts as a clock. As a consequence of the presence of the latter, we can define a true Hamiltonian…
The time evolution of primordial fluctuations conceals a wealth of insights into the high-energy physics at play during the earliest moments of our Universe, which is ultimately encoded in late-time spatial correlation functions. However,…