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Title: Just enough inflation: power spectrum modifications at large scales

Journal Article · · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
 [1];  [2];  [3]; ;  [4]
  1. Dipartimento di Fisica ed Astronomia, Università di Bologna, via Irnerio 46, 40126 Bologna (Italy)
  2. Leung Center for Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China)
  3. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242 (United States)
  4. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Theory Group, D-22603 Hamburg (Germany)

We show that models of 'just enough' inflation, where the slow-roll evolution lasted only 50- 60 e-foldings, feature modifications of the CMB power spectrum at large angular scales. We perform a systematic analytic analysis in the limit of a sudden transition between any possible non-slow-roll background evolution and the final stage of slow-roll inflation. We find a high degree of universality since most common backgrounds like fast-roll evolution, matter or radiation-dominance give rise to a power loss at large angular scales and a peak together with an oscillatory behaviour at scales around the value of the Hubble parameter at the beginning of slow-roll inflation. Depending on the value of the equation of state parameter, different pre-inflationary epochs lead instead to an enhancement of power at low ℓ, and so seem disfavoured by recent observational hints for a lack of CMB power at ℓ∼< 40. We also comment on the importance of initial conditions and the possibility to have multiple pre-inflationary stages.

OSTI ID:
22382072
Journal Information:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2014, Issue 12; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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