Statistical constraints on the inflation effective potential from the COBE DMR results

Journal Article · Sat Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.50.5431· OSTI ID:6963131

Kurki-Suonio, H ^[1]; Mathews, G J ^[2]

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1. Research Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki (Finland)
2. University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)

We explore constraints on various forms for the effective potential during inflation based upon a statistical comparison between inflation-generated fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background temperature and the COBE DMR results. We show that the confidence limits of fits to the angular correlation are more sensitive to the inflation generating potential than implied by the uncertainty in the spectral index alone. This is because the cosmic variance diminishes both as contributions from higher multipoles become important, and as the tensor and scalar contributions become comparable. Fits to the first year 53[ital A]+[ital B][times]90[ital A]+[ital B] cross correlation function using an effective potential of the form [ital V]([phi])=[lambda][phi][sup [ital x]]/[ital x] yield upper limits of [ital x][le]35 and [ital x][le]266 at the 1[sigma] and 2[sigma] confidence levels, while the same analysis produces a power law of index of [ital n]=1.10[sub [minus]0.64][sup +0.47] which would imply an overestimate of [ital x][le]63 from the simple analytic relation between [ital x] and [ital n]. We also quantify new limits on the parameters for polynomial effective potentials. This work highlights the importance of a careful statistical treatment when seeking constraints on the inflation-generating effective potential.

• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6963131
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States) Vol. 50:8; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

662110* -- General Theory of Particles & Fields-- Theory of Fields & Strings-- (1992-)
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ANISOTROPY
CORRELATION FUNCTIONS
COSMIC RADIATION
COSMOLOGY
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
FLUCTUATIONS
FUNCTIONS
INFLATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MICROWAVE RADIATION
POTENTIALS
RADIATIONS
SCALAR FIELDS
VARIATIONS