Related papers: Inflation and the cosmic microwave background
Slow-roll inflation generically makes several predictions: a flat Universe, primordial adiabatic density perturbations, and a stochastic gravity-wave background. Each inflation model will further predict specific relations between the…
The properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation provide unique constraints on cosmological models, i.e. on the content, history, and evolution of the Universe. I discuss the latest measurements of the spectral and spatial…
We discuss a new test of inflation from the harmonic pattern of peaks in the cosmic microwave background radiation angular power spectrum. By characterizing the features of alternate models and revealing signatures essentially unique to…
We present a simple, yet accurate approximation for calculating the cosmic microwave background anisotropy power spectrum in adiabatic models. It consists of solving for the evolution of a two-fluid model until the epoch of recombination…
Observations of the temperature anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation show that the models of inflation with the monomial potentials are inconsistent with the allowed $n_s-r$ bounds. However certain monomial…
We study the complex visibilities of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies that are observables in interferometric observations of the cosmic microwave background, using the multipole expansion methods commonly adopted in analyzing…
Inflation has been the driving idea in cosmology for two decades and is a pillar of the New Cosmology. The inflationary paradigm has now passed its first round of significant tests, with two of its three basics predictions confirmed at…
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) provides us with our most direct observational window to the early universe. Observations of the temperature and polarization anisotropies in the CMB have played a critical role in defining the…
Primordial quantum fluctuations produced by inflation are conventionally assumed to be statistically homogeneous, a consequence of translational invariance. In this paper we quantify the potentially observable effects of a small violation…
I develop a method for assessing the ability of an instrument, coupled with an observing strategy, to measure the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). It allows for efficient calculation of expected parameter…
I report on recent developments in the theory of cosmic background radiation perturbations. I describe ways of modeling alternatives to the canonical Gaussian theories within the standard framework of cosmological perturbation theory. Some…
The observational status of inflation after the Planck 2013 and 2015 results and the BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck joint analysis is discussed. These pedagogical lecture notes are intended to serve as a technical guide filling the gap…
The majority of present efforts to constrain cosmological parameters with cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy data employ approximate likelihood functions, the time consuming nature of a complete analysis being a major obstacle. We…
We investigate the cosmic variance of the skewness of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies in an inflationary model which leads to the baryon isocurvature scenario for the cosmic structure formation. In this model, the baryon…
We introduce a simple yet powerful {\it analytic} method which obtains the structure of cosmic microwave background anisotropies to better than 5-10\% in temperature fluctuations on {\it all} scales. It is applicable to {\it any} model in…
It is shown that only a narrow class of inflationary models can possibly agree with the available observational data on the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). These models may be governed by ``matter'' with the…
We discuss effects of cosmological moduli fields on the cosmic microwave background (CMB). If a modulus field \phi once dominates the universe, the CMB we observe today is from the decay of \phi and its anisotropy is affected by the…
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies measurements can provide many clues about the Universe. Although the common belief is that they will allow a very precise measurement of the cosmological parameters (that is, the current…
Measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation provide a unique opportunity for a direct study of the primordial cosmic plasma at redshift z ~1000. The angular power spectra of temperature and polarisation fluctuations are…
We consider a double-inflationary model with two massive scalar fields interacting only gravitationally in the context of a flat cold dark matter (CDM) Universe. The cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies produced in…