Résumé / Abstract Journal-club_GReCO

Séminaire / Seminar GReCO

« Why is Planck necessary for inflationary cosmology? »

C. Pahud

The primordial power spectrum of curvature perturbations represents the link between the inflationary period and the current state of the Universe. Understanding its true nature is as such of crucial interest, both from the fundamental theory point of view and the CMB observations. Especially, the smoothness of this spectrum needs to be clarified, now that the current data are highly precise. Just because a simple power-law model satisfies the observations very well does not mean that more complicated ones are not envisageable. In the first part of my talk, I will investigate the common representation of the power spectrum, and carry out a three-way Bayesian model comparison forecast of a HZ model, a power-law model, and a model including running for the Planck satellite. In the second part, I will consider a class of inflationary models with small oscillations imprinted on an otherwise smooth inflaton potential, and quantify the smallest such oscillations detectable by the future Planck mission.
lundi 14 janvier 2008 - 11:00
Salle des séminaires Évry Schatzman
Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris
Pages web du séminaire / Seminar's webpage