ACP Seminar (Astronomy - Cosmology - Particle Physics)

Speaker: Andrew Tolley (Perimeter Institute)
Title: Non-gaussianities and the Inflationary Initial State
Date (JST): Mon, Feb 22, 2010, 13:30 - 15:00
Place: Seminar Room B
Abstract: The potential discovery of primordial non-gaussianities would revolutionize our understanding of early universe cosmology, giving a whole new perspective on the physics responsible for inflation. I will review the different possible physical mechanisms that can give rise to non-gaussianities, and discuss in detail those which are distinctive in telling us about the inflationary quantum state. In particular, I will show how consistency conditions coming from effective field theory can be used to constrain the level of non-gaussianity that we can hope to observe in future data.