Related papers: Inflation and non--Gaussianity
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…
In this paper, inflationary cosmology is reviewed, paying particular attention to its observational signatures associated with large-scale density perturbations generated from quantum fluctuations. In the most general scalar-tensor theories…
We investigate the possibility that a heavy scalar field, whose mass exceeds the Hubble scale during inflation, could leave non-negligible signatures in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropy power spectrum through the…
We construct explicit models of multi-field inflation in which the primordial metric fluctuations do not necessarily obey Gaussian statistics. These models are realizations of mechanisms in which non-Gaussianity is first generated by a…
In arXiv:0908.4089, we have proposed a model where natural inflation is realized on a steep potential as a consequence of the interaction of the inflaton with gauge fields through an axion-like coupling. In the present work we study the…
Diffusion damping of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) power spectrum results from imperfect photon-baryon coupling in the pre-recombination plasma. At redshift $5 \times 10^4 < z < 2 \times 10^6$, the plasma acquires an effective…
We calculate the cosmic microwave background (CMB) angular trispectrum, spherical harmonic transform of the four-point correlation function, from primordial non-Gaussianity in primordial curvature perturbations characterized by a constant…
We investigate whether non-adiabatic perturbations from inflation could produce an asymmetric distribution of temperature anisotropies on large angular scales in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We use a generalised non-linear $\delta…
The nonlinear interaction between one graviton and two scalars is enhanced in specific inflationary models, potentially leading to distinguishable signatures in the bispectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies. We…
We perform a Bayesian analysis to study possible features in the primordial inflationary power spectrum of scalar perturbations. In particular, we analyse the possibility of detecting the imprint of these primordial features in the…
The ability to test and constrain theories of cosmic inflation will advance substantially over the next decade. Key data sources include cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements and observations of the distribution of matter at…
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…
We present a simple inflationary scenario that can produce arbitrarily large spherical underdense or overdense regions embedded in a standard Lambda cold dark matter paradigm, which we refer to as bubbles. We analyze the effect such bubbles…
Measurements of CMB temperature fluctuations by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) indicate that the fluctuation amplitude in one half of the sky differs from the amplitude in the other half. We show that such an asymmetry…
We consider the primordial gravitational wave (GW) background in a class of spatially-flat inflationary cosmological models with cold dark matter (CDM), a cosmological constant, and a broken-scale-invariant (BSI) steplike primordial…
Multi-field inflation models and non-Bunch-Davies vacuum initial conditions both predict sizeable non-Gaussian primordial perturbations and anisotropic $\mu$-type spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) blackbody.…
Current bounds from the polarization of the CMB predict the scale-invariant gravitational wave (GW) background of inflation to be out of reach for upcoming GW interferometers. This prospect dramatically changes if the inflaton is a…
In this article, we do a thorough investigation of the competency of the forthcoming Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and Galaxy surveys in probing the features in the primordial power spectrum. Primordial features are specific…
CMB anisotropies are modified by the weak lensing effect of intervening large scale structures on the photon path from the last scattering surface to the observer. This has to be accounted for when observational data of sensitive…
The bispectrum of the microwave background sky is a possible discriminator between inflationary and defect models of structure formation in the Universe. The bispectrum, which is the analogue of the temperature 3-point correlation function…