119112752
CMB statistical anisotropies of classical and quantum origins
We examine the impact of different anisotropic relics on inflation, in particular the predictions on the density perturbations. These relics can be the source of the large scale anomalies in the cosmic microwave background. There are two different types of background relics, one from the matter sector and the other purely from the metric. Although the angular-dependence of the statistical anisotropy in both cases are degenerate, the scale-dependence are observationally distinctive. In addition, we demonstrate that non-Bunch-Davies vacuum states can extend the statistical anisotropy to much shorter scales, and leave a scale-dependence that is insensitive to the different backgrounds but sensitive to the initial quantum state.
119184183
Eternal Inflation: Prohibited by Quantum Gravity?
We investigate how eternal inflation is affected by quantum gravity effects. We consider general features of quantum gravity, such as renormalizability, complementarity, minimal length, definition of observables, and weak gravity conjecture. We also consider phenomenological models such as ghost inflation, non-commutative inflation, brane inflation, k-inflation and resonant tunneling. We find that all these features and models do not support eternal inflation. These evidences show hints that eternal inflation is prohibited by quantum gravity.
118515319
Reconstructing the local potential of inflation with BICEP2 data
We locally reconstruct the inflationary potential by using the current constraints on r and n(s) from BICEP2 data. Assuming small and negligible alpha(s), the inflationary potential is approximately linear in Delta phi similar to M-pl range but becomes non-linear in Delta phi similar to 10M(pl) range. However if we vary the value of alpha(s) within the range given by constraints from Planck measurement, the local reconstruction is only valid in the range of Delta phi similar to 0.4M(pl), which challenges the inflationary background from the point of view of effective field theory. We show that, within the range of Delta phi similar to 0.4M(pl), the inflation potential can be precisely reconstructed. With the current reconstruction, we show that V(phi) similar to phi(2) and phi(3) are consistent, while phi model is ruled out by 95% confidence level of the reconstructed range of potential. This sets up a strong limit of large-field inflation models.
118369110
Towards a Holographic Description of Inflation and Generation of Fluctuations from Thermodynamics
Recently, Verlinde conjectured that gravity may be an entropic force, arising from thermodynamics on the holographic screen. We investigate the implications of the entropic force conjecture for inflationary cosmology. We find the background dynamics of inflation can be dually described in the holographic language. At the perturbation level, two kinds of novel scale invariant scalar fluctuations arise from thermal fluctuations on the holographic screen. These fluctuations can be responsible for CMB anisotropy and structure formation.
118533325
Quasi-Single Field Inflation and Non-Gaussianities
In quasi-single field inflation models, massive isocurvature modes, that are coupled to the inflaton and have mass of order the Hubble parameter, can have nontrivial impacts on density perturbations, especially non-Gaussianities. We study a simple example of quasi-single field inflation in terms of turning inflaton trajectory. Large bispectra with a one-parameter family of novel shapes arise, lying between the well-known local and equilateral shape. The trispectra can also be very large and its magnitude tNL can be much larger than fNL2.
17457342
Curvaton dynamics and the non-linearity parameters in the curvaton model
We investigate the curvaton dynamics and the non-linearity parameters in the curvaton model with a potential slightly deviating from the quadratic form in detail. The non-linearity parameter gNL will show up due to the curvaton self-interaction. We also point out that the leading order of the non-quadratic term in the curvaton potential can be negative, for example in the axion-type curvaton model. If a large positive gNL is detected, the axion-type curvaton model will be preferred.
118327242
Inhomogeneous and Interacting Vacuum Energy
Vacuum energy is a simple model for dark energy driving an accelerated expansion of the universe. If the vacuum energy is inhomogeneous in spacetime then it must be interacting. We present the general equations for a spacetime-dependent vacuum energy in cosmology, including inhomogeneous perturbations. We show how any dark energy cosmology can be described by an interacting vacuum+matter. Different models for the interaction can lead to different behaviour (e.g., sound speed for dark energy perturbations) and hence could be distinguished by cosmological observations. As an example we present the cosmic microwave microwave background anisotropies and the matter power spectrum for two different versions of a generalised Chaplygin gas cosmology.
124752925
RPC simulations from a current stand point
120719063
On the optimum baseline of neutrino oscillation experiments
For high-energy long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, we propose a figure-of-merit criterion to compare the statistical quality of experiments at various oscillation distances under the condition of identical detectors and a given neutrino beam. We take into account all possible experimental errors under general consideration. We found that the very long baselines of 2000-3000 km are preferred according to the figure-of-merit criterion. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
53361927
Resummation prediction on the jet mass spectrum in one-jet inclusive production at the LHC
A bstractWe study the factorization and resummation prediction on the jet mass spectrum in one-jet inclusive production at the LHC based on soft-collinear effective theory. The soft function with anti-kT algorithm is calculated at next-to-leading order and its validity is demonstrated by checking the agreement between the expanded leading singular terms with the exact fixed-order result. The large logarithms lnn(mJ2/pT2) and the global logarithms lnn(s4/pT2) in the process are resummed to all order at next-to-leading logarithmic and next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic level, respectively. The cross section is enhanced by about 23% from the next-to-leading logarithmic level to next-to-next-to- leading logarithmic level. Comparing our resummation predictions with those from Monte Carlo tool PYTHIA and ATLAS data at the 7 TeV LHC, we find that the peak positions of the jet mass spectra agree with those from PYTHIA at parton level, and the predictions of the jet mass spectra with non-perturbative effects are in coincidence with the ATLAS data. We also show the predictions at the future 13 TeV LHC.
1288334
Model-independent measurement of the primordial power spectrum
In inflationary models with minimal amount of gravity waves, the primordial power spectrum of density fluctuations, AS2(k), together with the basic cosmological parameters, completely specify the predictions for the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy and large scale structure. Here we show how we can strongly constrain both AS2(k) and the cosmological parameters by combining the data from the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) and the galaxy redshift survey from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We allow AS2(k) to be a free function, and thus probe features in the primordial power spectrum on all scales. MAP and SDSS have scale-dependent measurement errors that decrease in opposite directions on astrophysically interesting scales; they complement each other and allow the measurement of the primordial power spectrum independent of inflationary models, giving us valuable information on physics in the early Universe, and providing clues to the correct inflationary model.