Bayesian analysis of inflation: Parameter estimation for single field models

Journal Article · Tue Feb 15 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.83.043505· OSTI ID:21504957

Mortonson, Michael J ^[1]; Peiris, Hiranya V ^[2]; Easther, Richard ^[3]

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1. Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 (United States)
2. Institute of Astronomy and Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom)
3. Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 (United States)

Future astrophysical data sets promise to strengthen constraints on models of inflation, and extracting these constraints requires methods and tools commensurate with the quality of the data. In this paper we describe ModeCode, a new, publicly available code that computes the primordial scalar and tensor power spectra for single-field inflationary models. ModeCode solves the inflationary mode equations numerically, avoiding the slow roll approximation. It is interfaced with CAMB and CosmoMC to compute cosmic microwave background angular power spectra and perform likelihood analysis and parameter estimation. ModeCode is easily extendable to additional models of inflation, and future updates will include Bayesian model comparison. Errors from ModeCode contribute negligibly to the error budget for analyses of data from Planck or other next generation experiments. We constrain representative single-field models ({phi}{sup n} with n=2/3, 1, 2, and 4, natural inflation, and 'hilltop' inflation) using current data, and provide forecasts for Planck. From current data, we obtain weak but nontrivial limits on the post-inflationary physics, which is a significant source of uncertainty in the predictions of inflationary models, while we find that Planck will dramatically improve these constraints. In particular, Planck will link the inflationary dynamics with the post-inflationary growth of the horizon, and thus begin to probe the ''primordial dark ages'' between TeV and grand unified theory scale energies.

• OSTI ID: 21504957
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 83, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.83.043505; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
APPROXIMATIONS
ASTROPHYSICS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
FORECASTING
GRAND UNIFIED THEORY
INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE
RELICT RADIATION
SIMULATION
SPECTRA
TEV RANGE
CALCULATION METHODS
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ENERGY RANGE
EVALUATION
FIELD THEORIES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MICROWAVE RADIATION
PARTICLE MODELS
PHYSICS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
RADIATIONS
UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS