Published January 1, 2018 | Version v1
Journal article

Can power spectrum observations rule out slow-roll inflation?

  • 1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH (United Kingdom)

Description

The spectral index of scalar perturbations is an important observable that allows us to learn about inflationary physics. In particular, a detection of a significant deviation from a constant spectral index could enable us to rule out the simplest class of inflation models. We investigate whether future observations could rule out canonical single-field slow-roll inflation given the parameters allowed by current observational constraints. We find that future measurements of a constant running (or running of the running) of the spectral index over currently available scales are unlikely to achieve this. However, there remains a large region of parameter space (especially when considering the running of the running) for falsifying the assumed class of slow-roll models if future observations accurately constrain a much wider range of scales.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2018/01/019

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Journal Volume
2018
Journal Issue
01
Journal Page Range
p. 019
ISSN
1475-7516

INIS

Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
51061763
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Descriptors DEI
CURRENTS; INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE; PERTURBATION THEORY; SIMULATION; SPACE; SPECTRA
Descriptors DEC
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS; MATHEMATICAL MODELS