Related papers: New constraints on varying $\alpha$
New results on the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and its polarization based on the first 3 years of data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) have revised the electron scattering optical depth downward…
WMAP observations have accurately determined the position of the first two peaks and dips in the CMB temperature power spectrum. These encode information on the ratio of the distance to the last scattering surface to the sound horizon at…
Details of how the primordial plasma recombined and how the universe later reionized are currently somewhat uncertain. This uncertainty can restrict the accuracy of cosmological parameter measurements from the Cosmic Microwave Background…
We reconsider several current bounds on the variation of the fine-structure constant in models where all gauge and Yukawa couplings vary in an interdependent manner, as would be expected in unified theories. In particular, we re-examine the…
We place new constraints on sources of ionizing and resonance radiation at the epoch of the recombination process using the recent CMB temperature and polarization spectra coming from WMAP. We find that non-standard recombination scenarios…
I describe briefly the Cosmic Microwave Background (hereafter CMB) physics which explains why high accuracy observations of its spatial structure are a unique observational tool both for the determination of the global cosmological…
We derive constraints on a simple quintessential inflation model, based on a spontaneously broken Phi^4 theory, imposed by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe three-year data (WMAP3) and by galaxy clustering results from the Sloan…
We use the results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) for the locations of peaks and troughs of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) power spectrum, together with constraints from large-scale structure, to study a…
We present new constraints on the non-linear coupling parameter fnl with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data. We use an updated method based on the spherical Mexican hat wavelet (SMHW) which provides improved constraints on…
Astrophysical tests of the stability of fundamental couplings, such as the fine-structure constant $\alpha$, are a powerful probe of new physics. Recently these measurements, combined with local atomic clock tests and Type Ia supernova and…
We describe our methodology for comparing the WMAP measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and other complementary data sets to theoretical models. The unprecedented quality of the WMAP data, and the tight constraints on…
We use a compilation of cosmic microwave anisotropy data to constrain the epoch of reionization in the Universe, as a function of cosmological parameters. We consider spatially-flat cosmologies, varying the matter density $\Omega_0$ (the…
We present new constraints on possible features in the primordial inflationary density perturbations power spectrum in light of the recent Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropies measurements from the Planck satellite. We found that the…
We place functional constraints on the shape of the inflaton potential from the cosmic microwave background through a variant of the generalized slow roll approximation that allows large amplitude, rapidly changing deviations from…
We investigate the ability to constrain oscillatory features in the primordial power spectrum using current and future cosmic microwave background observations. In particular, we study the observability of an oscillation arising from…
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations effectively measure the basic properties of the universe during the recombination epoch. CMB measurements fix the distance to the surface of last scatter, the sound horizon of the…
Varying fundamental constants (VFC) [e.g., the fine-structure constant, $\alpha_{\rm EM}$] can arise in numerous extended cosmologies. Through their effect on the decoupling of baryons and photons during last scattering and reionisation,…
(Abridged) New full sky temperature and polarization maps based on seven years of data from WMAP are presented. The new results are consistent with previous results, but have improved due to reduced noise from the additional integration…
We study dependence of the CMB temperature anisotropy spectrum on the value of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ and the equation of state of the dark energy component of the total density of the universe. We find that bounds imposed on…
The spectrograph ESPRESSO recently obtained a limit on the variation of the fine-structure constant, $\alpha$, through measurements along the line of sight of a bright quasar with a precision of $1.36$ ppm at $1\sigma$ level. This imposes…