CMBPol Mission Concept Study: Probing Inflation with CMB Polarization
Journal
AIP Conf.Proc.1141:10-120,2009
Journal Volume
1141
ISBN
9780735406780
Date Issued
2008-11-25
Author(s)
Mark G. Jackson
Peter Adshead
Alexandre Amblard
Amjad Ashoorioon
Nicola Bartolo
Rachel Bean
Maria Beltran
Francesco de Bernardis
Simeon Bird
Xingang Chen
Daniel J. H. Chung
Loris Colombo
Asantha Cooray
Paolo Creminelli
Scott Dodelson
Joanna Dunkley
Cora Dvorkin
Richard Easther
Fabio Finelli
Raphael Flauger
Mark Hertzberg
Katherine Jones-Smith
Shamit Kachru
Kenji Kadota
Justin Khoury
William H. Kinney
Eiichiro Komatsu
Lawrence M. Krauss
Julien Lesgourgues
Andrew Liddle
Michele Liguori
Eugene Lim
Andrei Linde
Sabino Matarrese
Harsh Mathur
Liam McAllister
Alessandro Melchiorri
Alberto Nicolis
Luca Pagano
Hiranya V. Peiris
Marco Peloso
Levon Pogosian
Elena Pierpaoli
Antonio Riotto
Uros Seljak
Leonardo Senatore
Sarah Shandera
Eva Silverstein
Tristan Smith
Pascal Vaudrevange
Licia Verde
Ben Wandelt
David Wands
Scott Watson
Mark Wyman
Amit Yadav
Wessel Valkenburg
Matias Zaldarriaga
Abstract
We summarize the utility of precise cosmic microwave background (CMB)
polarization measurements as probes of the physics of inflation. We focus on
the prospects for using CMB measurements to differentiate various inflationary
mechanisms. In particular, a detection of primordial B-mode polarization would
demonstrate that inflation occurred at a very high energy scale, and that the
inflaton traversed a super-Planckian distance in field space. We explain how
such a detection or constraint would illuminate aspects of physics at the
Planck scale. Moreover, CMB measurements can constrain the scale-dependence and
non-Gaussianity of the primordial fluctuations and limit the possibility of a
significant isocurvature contribution. Each such limit provides crucial
information on the underlying inflationary dynamics. Finally, we quantify these
considerations by presenting forecasts for the sensitivities of a future
satellite experiment to the inflationary parameters.
Subjects
Astrophysics; Astrophysics; General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology; High Energy Physics - Phenomenology; High Energy Physics - Theory
Description
107 pages, 14 figures, 17 tables; Inflation Working Group
contribution to the CMBPol Mission Concept Study; v2: typos fixed and
references added
contribution to the CMBPol Mission Concept Study; v2: typos fixed and
references added
Type
conference paper