Related papers: A Modal Approach to Constrain Inflation through Nu…
We present a new independent pipeline for the CMB bispectrum estimation of primordial non-Gaussianity and release a public code for constraining bispectrum shapes of interest based on the Planck 2018 temperature and polarization data. The…
Calculating the primordial bispectrum predicted by a model of inflation and comparing it to what we see in the sky is very computationally intensive, necessitating layers of approximations and limiting the models which can be constrained.…
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…
The precision reached by the recent CMB measurements gives new insights into the shape of the primordial power spectra of the cosmological perturbations. In the context of inflationary cosmology, this implies that the CMB data are now…
We summarize the utility of precise cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization measurements as probes of the physics of inflation. We focus on the prospects for using CMB measurements to differentiate various inflationary mechanisms. In…
We investigate the ability of current CMB data to reliably constrain the form of the primordial power spectrum generated during inflation. We attempt to identify more exotic power spectra that yield equally good fits to the data as simple…
To unlock the vast potential of the CMB trispectrum, we require both robust estimators and efficient computational tools. In this work, we introduce the public code PolySpec: a suite of quartic estimators designed to measure the amplitudes…
We use cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from the 9-year WMAP release to derive constraints on monodromy inflation, which is characterized by a linear inflaton potential with a periodic modulation. We identify two possible periodic…
Until recently our knowledge of the primordial curvature perturbation was relatively modest. Ever since COBE delivered its map of data we know the scalar spectrum of primordial perturbations is approximately flat, with the power being only…
Future astrophysical datasets promise to strengthen constraints on models of inflation, and extracting these constraints requires methods and tools commensurate with the quality of the data. In this paper we describe ModeCode, a new,…
We present a case study describing efforts to optimise and modernise "Modal", the simulation and analysis pipeline used by the Planck satellite experiment for constraining general non-Gaussian models of the early universe via the bispectrum…
We develop a complete set of tools for CMB forecasting, simulation and estimation of primordial running bispectra, arising from a variety of curvaton and single-field (DBI) models of Inflation. We validate our pipeline using mock CMB…
We discuss the model selection problem for inflationary cosmology. We couple ModeCode, a publicly-available numerical solver for the primordial perturbation spectra, to the nested sampler MultiNest, in order to efficiently compute Bayesian…
We review the currrent cosmic parameter determinations of relevance to inflation using the WMAP-1year, Boomerang, CBI, Acbar and other CMB data. The basic steps in the pipelines which determine the bandpowers from the raw data from which…
Non-Gaussianity in the distribution of inflationary perturbations, measurable in statistics of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large scale structure fluctuations, can be used to probe non-trivial initial quantum states for these…
We build an inflationary model based on Degenerate Higher Order Scalar Tensor (DHOST) theories in a de Sitter background. We determine the scale-dependent power spectrum of curvature perturbations in these theories and we show that such a…
The recently released BICEP2 data detected the primordial B-mode polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) map which strongly supports for a large tensor-to-scalar ratio, and thus, is found to be in tension with the Planck…
We assay how inflationary models whose properties are dominated by the dynamics of a single scalar field are constrained by cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). We classify…
We present the first direct constraints on a Degenerate Higher Order Scalar Tensor (DHOST) inflation model using the Planck 2018 Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) results on non-Gaussianities. We identify that the bispectrum consists of a…
In single-field inflationary models with a low sound speed, the orthogonal shape of the primordial bispectrum arises due to partial cancellations between equilateral-type shapes. This fact allows for a speed of sound c_s as low as about…