Coherent phase argument for inflation
Cosmologists have developed a phenomenally successful picture of structure in the universe based on the idea that the universe expanded exponentially in its earliest moments. There are three pieces of evidence for this exponential expansion--inflation--from observations of anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. First, the shape of the primordial spectrum is very similar to that predicted by generic inflation models. Second, the angular scale at which the first acoustic peak appears is consistent with the flat universe predicted by inflation. Here the author describes the third piece of evidence, perhaps the most convincing of all: the phase coherence needed to account for the clear peak/trough structure observed by the WMAP satellite and its predecessors. The author also discusses alternatives to inflation that have been proposed recently and explain how they produce coherent phases.
- Research Organization:
- Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Research (ER) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH03000
- OSTI ID:
- 822091
- Report Number(s):
- FERMILAB-Conf-03/450-A; TRN: US0401165
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 4th Topical Workshop on Particle Physics and Cosmology: Neutrinos, Flavor Physics and Precision Cosmology, Cairns, Queensland (AU), 06/09/2003--06/13/2003; Other Information: PBD: 17 Mar 2004
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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