Related papers: Cosmological constraints on string scale and coupl…
Non-Gaussianity in the inflationary perturbations can couple observable scales to modes of much longer wavelength (even superhorizon), leaving as a signature a large-angle modulation of the observed cosmic microwave background (CMB) power…
We analyse the implications of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) results for a braneworld tachyonic model of inflation. We find that WMAP bounds on $n_s$ allow us to constrain significantly the parameter space of the model; in…
Overall, brane inflation is compatible with the recent analysis of the WMAP data. Here we explore the constraints of WMAP and 2dFGRS data on the various brane inflationary scenarios. Brane inflation naturally ends with the production of…
The leading candidate for the very early universe is described by a period of rapid expansion known as inflation. While the standard paradigm invokes a single slow-rolling field, many different models may be constructed which fit the…
The predictions of the inflationary LCDM paradigm match today's high-precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background anisotropy extremely well. The same data put tight limits on other sources of anisotropy. Cosmic strings are a…
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) fluctuations at very small angular scales (less than $10'$) induced by matter sources are computed in a simplified way. The result corrects a previous formula appearing in the literature. The small…
We re-examine the constraints on the cosmic string tension from Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and matter power spectra, and also from limits on a stochastic background of gravitational waves provided by pulsar timing. We discuss the…
Non-commutative inflation is a modification of standard general relativity inflation which takes into account some effects of the space-time uncertainty principle motivated by ideas from string theory. The corrections to the primordial…
We find the constraints from WMAP and SDSS data on the fraction of cosmological fluctuations sourced by local cosmic strings using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis. In addition to varying the usual 6 cosmological parameters and…
In cosmological models where local cosmic strings are formed at the end of a period of inflation, the perturbations are seeded both by the defects and by the quantum fluctuations. In a subset of these models, for example those based on…
In the context of SUSY GUTs, GUT scale cosmic strings formed at the end of hybrid inflation are compatible with currently available CMB measurements. The maximum allowed cosmic strings contribution to the CMB data constrains the free…
Cosmic string networks generate cosmological perturbations actively throughout the history of the universe. Thus, the string sourced anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background is not affected by Silk damping as much as the anisotropy…
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) bispectrum of the temperature anisotropies induced by a network of cosmic strings is derived for small angular scales, under the assumption that the principal cause of temperature fluctuations is the…
We investigate the degree to which the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) can be used to constrain primordial non-Gaussianity coming from the presence of spinning particles coupled to the inflaton. We compute the $\langle TTT \rangle$ and…
We confront the predicted effects of hybrid inflationary models on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) with three years of Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) observations. Using model selection, we compare the ability of a simple…
I summarize recent work on (1) constraining spike-like features in the cosmic microwave background and large scale structure; (2) nonstandard Friedmann equation in stabilized warped 6D brane cosmology, with applications to inflation; and…
We show that in hybrid inflation it is possible to generate large second-order perturbations in the cosmic microwave background due to the instability of the tachyonic field during preheating. We carefully calculate this effect from the…
We present a significant update of the constraints on the Abelian Higgs cosmic string tension by cosmic microwave background (CMB) data, enabled both by the use of new high-resolution CMB data from suborbital experiments as well as the…
Axion fluctuations generated during inflation lead to isocurvature and non-Gaussian temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation. Following a previous analysis for the model independent string axion we consider the…
Current data exclude cosmic strings as the primary source of primordial density fluctuations. However, in a wide class of inflationary models, strings can form at later stages of inflation and have potentially detectable observational…