Boltzmann hierarchy for the cosmic microwave background at second order including photon polarization
- Institut fuer Theoretische Teilchenphysik und Kosmologie, RWTH Aachen University, D-52056 Aachen (Germany)
Non-Gaussianity and B-mode polarization are particularly interesting features of the cosmic microwave background, as--at least in the standard model of cosmology--their only sources to first order in cosmological perturbation theory are primordial, possibly generated during inflation. If the primordial sources are small, the question arises how large is the non-Gaussianity and B-mode background induced in second order from the initially Gaussian and scalar perturbations. In this paper we derive the Boltzmann hierarchy for the microwave background photon phase-space distributions at second order in cosmological perturbation theory including the complete polarization information, providing the basis for further numerical studies. As an aside we note that the second-order collision term contains new sources of B-mode polarization and that no polarization persists in the tight-coupling limit.
- OSTI ID:
- 21421116
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 82, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.82.063509; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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COLLISIONS
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DISTRIBUTION
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NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
PERTURBATION THEORY
PHASE SPACE
PHOTONS
POLARIZATION
RELICT RADIATION
STANDARD MODEL
BOSONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FIELD THEORIES
GRAND UNIFIED THEORY
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
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MICROWAVE RADIATION
PARTICLE MODELS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
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UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS