Related papers: Comparing multi-field primordial feature models wi…
We present the first results based on Planck measurements of the CMB temperature and lensing-potential power spectra. The Planck spectra at high multipoles are extremely well described by the standard spatially-flat six-parameter LCDM…
We compute the Bayesian Evidence for models considered in the main analysis of Planck cosmic microwave background data. By utilising carefully-defined nearest-neighbour distances in parameter space, we reuse the Monte Carlo Markov Chains…
Features during inflation and reionization leave corresponding features in the temperature and polarization power spectra that could potentially explain anomalies in the Planck 2015 data but require a joint analysis to disentangle. We study…
Measurements of primordial non-Gaussianity ($f_{NL}$) open a new window onto the physics of inflation. We describe a fast cubic (bispectrum) estimator of $f_{NL}$, using a combined analysis of temperature and polarization observations. The…
We investigate two classes of models of quintessential inflation, based upon canonical as well as noncanonical scalar fields. In particular, introducing potentials steeper than the standard exponential, we construct models that can give…
Non-adiabatic production of massive particles is a generic feature of many inflationary mechanisms. If sufficiently massive, these particles can leave features in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) that are not well-captured by…
Recent results from the Planck satellite combined with earlier observations from WMAP, ACT, SPT and other experiments eliminate a wide spectrum of more complex inflationary models and favor models with a single scalar field, as reported by…
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 investigate expected constraints on the primordial tensor power spectrum from the future cosmic microwave background polarization experiment LiteBIRD as a test of multi-field inflation. We argue that the measurements of the…
The BICEP2 collaboration reports a detection of primordial cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-mode with a tensor-scalar ratio $r=0.20^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$ (68% C.L.). However, this result is in tension with the recent Planck limit, $r<0.11$…
The secondary cosmic microwave background (CMB) $B$-modes stem from the post-decoupling distortion of the polarization $E$-modes due to the gravitational lensing effect of large-scale structures. These lensing-induced $B$-modes constitute…
The Cosmic Microwave Background can provide information regarding physics of the very early universe, more specifically, of the matter-radiation distribution of the inflationary era. Starting from the effective field theory of inflation, we…
Inflationary models that involve bursts of particle production generate bump-like features in the primordial power spectrum of density perturbations. These features influence the evolution of density fluctuations, leaving their unique…
To efficiently probe primordial non-Gaussianity using Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data, we require theoretical predictions that are factorizable, \textit{i.e.}\ those whose kinematic dependence can be separated. This property does not…
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…
In a class of recently proposed models, the early universe is strongly coupled and described holographically by a three-dimensional, weakly coupled, super-renormalizable quantum field theory. This scenario leads to a power spectrum of…
Recently, there has been some interest for building supersymmetric models of double inflation. These models, realistic from a particle physics point of view, predict a broken-scale-invariant power spectrum of primordial cosmological…
We perform the first bispectrum analysis of the final Planck release temperature and E-polarization CMB data, called PR4. We use the binned bispectrum estimator pipeline that was also used for the previous Planck releases as well as the…
Planck data has not found the 'smoking gun' of non-Gaussianity that would have necessitated consideration of inflationary models beyond the simplest canonical single field scenarios. This raises the important question of what these results…
Inflation is the leading theory to describe elegantly the initial conditions that led to structure formation in our universe. In this paper, we present a novel phenomenological fit to the Planck, WMAP polarisation (WP) and the BICEP2…