Daniel BaumannMark G. JacksonPeter AdsheadAlexandre AmblardAmjad AshoorioonNicola BartoloRachel BeanMaria BeltranFrancesco de BernardisSimeon BirdXingang ChenDaniel J. H. ChungLoris ColomboAsantha CoorayPaolo CreminelliScott DodelsonJoanna DunkleyCora DvorkinRichard EastherFabio FinelliRaphael FlaugerMark HertzbergKatherine Jones-SmithShamit KachruKenji KadotaJustin KhouryWilliam H. KinneyEiichiro KomatsuLawrence M. KraussJulien LesgourguesAndrew LiddleMichele LiguoriEugene LimAndrei LindeSabino MatarreseHarsh MathurLiam McAllisterAlessandro MelchiorriAlberto NicolisLuca PaganoHiranya V. PeirisMarco PelosoLevon PogosianElena PierpaoliAntonio RiottoUros SeljakLeonardo SenatoreSarah ShanderaEva SilversteinTristan SmithPascal VaudrevangeLicia VerdeBen WandeltDavid WandsScott WatsonMark WymanAmit YadavWessel ValkenburgMatias Zaldarriaga2024-02-262024-02-262008-11-2597807354067800094243Xhttps://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/639954107 pages, 14 figures, 17 tables; Inflation Working Group contribution to the CMBPol Mission Concept Study; v2: typos fixed and references addedWe 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.Astrophysics; Astrophysics; General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology; High Energy Physics - Phenomenology; High Energy Physics - Theoryconference paper10.1063/1.31608852-s2.0-69949123764http://arxiv.org/abs/0811.3919v2