Related papers: Constraints on pre-big bang parameter space from C…
We outline the embedding of the vector curvaton scenario as a promising mechanism to generate statistical anisotropy within Type IIB string theory, where the vector field on a single D-brane plays the role of the vector curvaton. We first…
Modulated (p)reheating is thought to be an alternative mechanism for producing super-horizon curvature perturbations in CMB. But large non-gaussianity and iso-curvature perturbations produced by this mechanism rule out its acceptability as…
We emphasize that the estimation of cosmological parameters from cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy data, such as the recent high resolution maps from BOOMERanG and MAXIMA-1, requires assumptions about the primordial spectra. The…
The QCD axion in the pre-inflation scenario faces a stringent isocurvature constraint, which requires a relatively low Hubble scale during inflation. If the axion was heavier than the Hubble scale during inflation, its isocurvature is…
We consider that the pre-inflation era is radiation-dominated, transiting smoothly to the inflationary era. We work out in detail the dynamics of inflaton fluctuations across the phase transition and the proper choices of initial vacuum…
We formulate the basic postulate of pre-big bang cosmology as one of ``asymptotic past triviality'', by which we mean that the initial state is a generic perturbative solution of the tree-level low-energy effective action. Such a…
The improved data on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy allow a better determination of the adiabaticity of the primordial perturbation. Interestingly, we find that recent CMB data seem to favor a contribution of a primordial…
Recent cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations put strong constraints on the spatial curvature via estimation of the parameter $\Omega_k$ assuming an almost scale invariant primordial power spectrum. We study the evolution of the…
The curvaton scenario for the generation of the cosmological curvature perturbation on large scales represents an alternative to the standard slow-roll scenario of inflation in which the observed density perturbations are due to…
If the initial quantum state of the primordial perturbations broke rotational invariance, that would be seen as a statistical anisotropy in the angular correlations of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) temperature…
We present a systematic study of the amplitude of the primordial perturbation in curvaton models with self-interactions, treating both renormalizable and non-renormalizable interactions. In particular, we consider the possibility that the…
The effect of spatial curvature on primordial perturbations is controlled by $ \Omega_{K,0}/c_{s}^{2} $, where $ \Omega_{K,0} $ is today's fractional density of spatial curvature and $ c_{s} $ is the speed of sound during inflation. Here we…
The inflationary and pre-inflationary evolution of scalar modes of cosmological perturbations in a closed universe is analyzed for a loop quantum cosmology model with an inflationary regime consistent with the constraints on inflation…
We analyze the curvaton scenario in the context of supersymmety. Supersymmetric theories contain many scalars, and therefore many curvaton candidates. To obtain a scale invariant perturbation spectrum, the curvaton mass should be small…
We discuss the potentially important role played by preheating in certain variants of the curvaton mechanism in which isocurvature perturbations of a D-flat (and F-flat) direction become converted to curvature perturbations during…
We investigate the breaking of global statistical isotropy caused by a dark energy component with an energy-momentum tensor which has point symmetry, that could represent a cubic or hexagonal crystalline lattice. In such models Gaussian,…
In Pre-Big-Bang and in Ekpyrotic Cosmology, perturbations on cosmological scales today are generated from quantum vacuum fluctuations during a phase when the Universe is contracting (viewed in the Einstein frame). The backgrounds studied to…
We constrain several models of the early Universe that predict a statistical anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) sky. We make use of WMAP9 maps deconvolved with beam asymmetries. As compared to previous releases of WMAP…
We study the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies produced by cosine-type quintessence models. In our analysis, effects of the adiabatic and isocurvature fluctuations are both taken into account. For purely adiabatic fluctuations…
After introducing gauge-invariant cosmological perturbation theory we give an improved set of governing equations for multiple fluids including energy transfer. Having defined adiabatic and entropic perturbations we derive the…