Probing Inflation with CMB Polarization Daniel Baumann, Mark G
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
The WMAP Results and Cosmology
The WMAP results and cosmology Rachel Bean Cornell University SLAC Summer Institute July 19th 2006 Rachel Bean : SSI July 29th 2006 1/44 Plan o Overview o Introduction to CMB temperature and polarization o The maps and spectra o Cosmological implications Rachel Bean : SSI July 29th 2006 2/44 What is WMAP? o Satellite detecting primordial photons “cosmic microwave background” Rachel Bean : SSI July 29th 2006 3/44 Science Team C. Barnes (Princeton) N. Odegard (GSFC) R. Bean (Cornell) L. Page (Princeton) C. Bennett (JHU) D. Spergel (Princeton) O. Dore (CITA) G. Tucker (Brown) M. Halpern (UBC) L. Verde (Penn) R. Hill (GSFC) J. Weiland (GSFC) G. Hinshaw (GSFC) E. Wollack (GSFC) N. Jarosik (Princeton) A. Kogut (GSFC) E. Komatsu (Texas) M. Limon (GSFC) S. Meyer (Chicago) H. Peiris (Chicago) M. Nolta (CITA) Rachel Bean : SSI July 29th 2006 4/44 Plan o Overview o Introduction to CMB temperature and polarization o The maps and spectra o Cosmological implications Rachel Bean : SSI July 29th 2006 5/44 CMB is a near perfect primordial blackbody spectrum Universe expanding and cooling over time… Kinney 1) Optically opaque plasma photons scattering off electrons 3) ‘Free Streaming’ CMB Thermalized (blackbody) photons at 2) The ‘last scattering’ of photons ~6000K diluted and redshifted by ~300,000 years after the Big Bang, universe’s expansion -> ~2.726K neutral atoms form and photons stop background we measure today. interacting with them. Rachel Bean : SSI July 29th 2006 6/44 The oldest fossil from the early universe Recombination CMB Nucleosynthesis Processes during opaque era imprint in CMB fluctuations Inflation and Grand Unification? Quantum Gravity/ Trans-Planckian effects…. -
Quantum Symmetries and Stringy Instantons
PUPT–1464 hep-th@xxx/9406091 Quantum Symmetries and Stringy Instantons ⋆ Jacques Distler and Shamit Kachru† Joseph Henry Laboratories Princeton University Princeton, NJ 08544 USA The quantum symmetry of many Landau-Ginzburg orbifolds appears to be broken by Yang-Mills instantons. However, isolated Yang-Mills instantons are not solutions of string theory: They must be accompanied by gauge anti-instantons, gravitational instantons, or topologically non-trivial configurations of the H field. We check that the configura- tions permitted in string theory do in fact preserve the quantum symmetry, as a result of non-trivial cancellations between symmetry breaking effects due to the various types arXiv:hep-th/9406091v1 14 Jun 1994 of instantons. These cancellations indicate new constraints on Landau-Ginzburg orbifold spectra and require that the dilaton modulus mix with the twisted moduli in some Landau- Ginzburg compactifications. We point out that one can find similar constraints at all fixed points of the modular group of the moduli space of vacua. June 1994 †Address after June 30: Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138. ⋆ Email: [email protected], [email protected] . Research supported by NSF grant PHY90-21984, and the A. P. Sloan Foundation. 1. Introduction Landau-Ginzburg orbifolds [1,2] describe special submanifolds in the moduli spaces of Calabi-Yau models, at “very small radius.” New, stringy features of the physics are therefore often apparent in the Landau-Ginzburg theories. For example, these theories sometimes manifest enhanced gauge symmetries which do not occur in the field theory limit, where the large radius manifold description is valid. -
Optimising Cosmic Shear Surveys to Measure Modifications to Gravity on Cosmic Scales
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 000, 1–13 (2009) Printed 11 November 2019 (MN LATEX style file v2.2) Optimising cosmic shear surveys to measure modifications to gravity on cosmic scales Donnacha Kirk1,Istvan Laszlo2, Sarah Bridle1, Rachel Bean2 1Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK 2Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA 11 November 2019 ABSTRACT We consider how upcoming photometric large scale structure surveys can be opti- mized to measure the properties of dark energy and possible cosmic scale modifications to General Relativity in light of realistic astrophysical and instrumental systematic uncertainities. In particular we include flexible descriptions of intrinsic alignments, galaxy bias and photometric redshift uncertainties in a Fisher Matrix analysis of shear, position and position-shear correlations, including complementary cosmolog- ical constraints from the CMB. We study the impact of survey tradeoffs in depth versus breadth, and redshift quality. We parameterise the results in terms of the Dark Energy Task Force figure of merit, and deviations from General Relativity through an analagous Modified Gravity figure of merit. We find that intrinsic alignments weaken the dependence of figure of merit on area and that, for a fixed observing time, halving the area of a Stage IV reduces the figure of merit by 20% when IAs are not included and by only 10% when IAs are included. While reducing photometric redshift scatter improves constraining power, the dependence is shallow. The variation in constrain- ing power is stronger once IAs are included and is slightly more pronounced for MG constraints than for DE. -
Inflation in String Theory: - Towards Inflation in String Theory - on D3-Brane Potentials in Compactifications with Fluxes and Wrapped D-Branes
1935-6 Spring School on Superstring Theory and Related Topics 27 March - 4 April, 2008 Inflation in String Theory: - Towards Inflation in String Theory - On D3-brane Potentials in Compactifications with Fluxes and Wrapped D-branes Liam McAllister Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA hep-th/0308055 SLAC-PUB-9669 SU-ITP-03/18 TIFR/TH/03-06 Towards Inflation in String Theory Shamit Kachru,a,b Renata Kallosh,a Andrei Linde,a Juan Maldacena,c Liam McAllister,a and Sandip P. Trivedid a Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA b SLAC, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94309, USA c Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA d Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400 005, INDIA We investigate the embedding of brane inflation into stable compactifications of string theory. At first sight a warped compactification geometry seems to produce a naturally flat inflaton potential, evading one well-known difficulty of brane-antibrane scenarios. Care- arXiv:hep-th/0308055v2 23 Sep 2003 ful consideration of the closed string moduli reveals a further obstacle: superpotential stabilization of the compactification volume typically modifies the inflaton potential and renders it too steep for inflation. We discuss the non-generic conditions under which this problem does not arise. We conclude that brane inflation models can only work if restric- tive assumptions about the method of volume stabilization, the warping of the internal space, and the source of inflationary energy are satisfied. We argue that this may not be a real problem, given the large range of available fluxes and background geometries in string theory. -
Some Comments on Equivariant Gromov-Witten Theory and 3D Gravity (A Talk in Two Parts) This Theory Has Appeared in Various Interesting Contexts
Some comments on equivariant Gromov-Witten theory and 3d gravity (a talk in two parts) This theory has appeared in various interesting contexts. For instance, it is a candidate dual to (chiral?) supergravity with deep negative cosmologicalShamit constant. Kachru Witten (Stanford & SLAC) Sunday, April 12, 15 Tuesday, August 11, 15 Much of the talk will be review of things well known to various parts of the audience. To the extent anything very new appears, it is based on two recent collaborative papers: * arXiv : 1507.00004 with Benjamin, Dyer, Fitzpatrick * arXiv : 1508.02047 with Cheng, Duncan, Harrison Some slightly older work with other (also wonderful) collaborators makes brief appearances. Tuesday, August 11, 15 Today, I’d like to talk about two distinct topics. Each is related to the general subjects of this symposium, but neither has been central to any of the talks we’ve heard yet. 1. Extremal CFTs and quantum gravity ...where we see how special chiral CFTs with sparse spectrum may be important in gravity... II. Equivariant Gromov-Witten & K3 ...where we see how certain enumerative invariants of K3 may be related to subjects we’ve heard about... Tuesday, August 11, 15 I. Extremal CFTs and quantum gravity A fundamental role in our understanding of quantum gravity is played by the holographic correspondence between conformal field theories and AdS gravity. In the basic dictionary between these subjects conformal symmetry AdS isometries $ primary field of dimension ∆ bulk quantum field of mass m(∆) $ ...... Tuesday, August 11, 15 -
Non-Higgsable Clusters for 4D F-Theory Models
Non-Higgsable clusters for 4D F-theory models The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Citation Morrison, David R., and Washington Taylor. “Non-Higgsable Clusters for 4D F-Theory Models.” J. High Energ. Phys. 2015, no. 5 (May 2015). As Published http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/jhep05(2015)080 Publisher Springer-Verlag Version Final published version Citable link http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98237 Terms of Use Creative Commons Attribution Detailed Terms http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Published for SISSA by Springer Received: January 6, 2015 Accepted: April 18, 2015 Published: May 18, 2015 Non-Higgsable clusters for 4D F-theory models JHEP05(2015)080 David R. Morrisona and Washington Taylorb aDepartments of Mathematics and Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, U.S.A. bCenter for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Abstract: We analyze non-Higgsable clusters of gauge groups and matter that can arise at the level of geometry in 4D F-theory models. Non-Higgsable clusters seem to be generic features of F-theory compactifications, and give rise naturally to structures that include the nonabelian part of the standard model gauge group and certain specific types of potential dark matter candidates. In particular, there are nine distinct single nonabelian gauge group factors, and only five distinct products of two nonabelian gauge group factors with matter, including SU(3) × SU(2), that can be realized through 4D non-Higgsable clusters. -
Cosmological Tests of General Relativity
Cosmological Tests of General Relativity Rachel Bean (Cornell University) Rachel Bean, Tes-ng Gravity, Vancouver, January 2015 The challenge: to connect theory to observation 2 • While GR is a remarkably beautiful, and comparatively Category Theory References Scalar-Tensor theory [21, 22] minimal metric theory, it is not (incl. Brans-Dicke) the only one. We should test it! f(R)gravity [23, 24] f(G)theories [25–27] • Rich and complex theory Covariant Galileons [28–30] Horndeski Theories The Fab Four [31–34] space of cosmological K-inflation and K-essence [35, 36] relevant modifications to GR Generalized G-inflation [37, 38] Kinetic Gravity Braiding [39, 40] Quintessence (incl. • Motivated by cosmic [41–44] universally coupled models) acceleration, but implications Effective dark fluid [45] from horizon to solar system Einstein-Aether theory [46–49] Lorentz-Violating theories scales Ho˘rava-Lifschitz theory [50, 51] DGP (4D effective theory) [52, 53] > 2newdegreesoffreedom EBI gravity [54–58] Aim: look for and confidently TeVeS [59–61] extract out signatures from Baker et al 2011 TABLE I: A non-exhaustive list of theories that are suitable for PPF parameterization. We will not treat all of these explicitly cosmological observations? 2 µν µνρσ in the present paper. G = R − 4Rµν R + RµνρσR is the Gauss-Bonnet term. Rachel Bean, Tes-ng Gravity, Vancouver, January 2015 derlying our formalism are stated in Table II. PPN and formalism. PPF are highly complementary in their coverage of dif- ferent accessible gravitational regimes. PPN is restricted ii) A reader with a particular interest in one of the ex- to weak-field regimes on scales sufficiently small that lin- ample theories listed in Table I may wish to addition- ally read II B-II D to understand how the mapping ear perturbation theory about the Minkowski metric is § an accurate description of the spacetime. -
Arxiv:1808.09134V2 [Hep-Th] 24 Sep 2018
KIAS-P18089 Algebraic surfaces, Four-folds and Moonshine Kimyeong Lee1, ∗ and Matthieu Sarkis1, y 1School of Physics, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul 02455, Korea The aim of this note is to point out an interesting fact related to the elliptic genus of complex algebraic surfaces in the context of Mathieu moonshine. We also discuss the case of 4-folds. INTRODUCTION terms of the holomorphic Euler characteristic of a for- mal series with holomorphic vector bundle coefficients. In their seminal paper [1], Eguchi, Ooguri and We give for it a simple expression in terms the self- Tachikawa made the interesting observation that the el- intersection number of the canonical class and the Euler liptic genus of K3 admits a decomposition in terms of number. One can then deduce the behaviour of the ellip- N = 4 super-Virasoro characters, whose coefficients hap- tic genus under blow ups, allowing us to state in which 2 pen to correspond to the dimension of representations sense any surface with positive K may be relevant for a geometric understanding of Mathieu moonshine. of the largest Mathieu sporadic group M24. This phe- nomenon was formalized in a precise conjecture related We finally discuss how the discussion for surfaces can be extended for 4-folds. to the existence of a graded module for M24 whose prop- erties would precisely mimic the experimental observa- tion of [1]. This conjecture was then proved by Gan- Conventions: non [2]. Many authors have made important contribu- • We will omit the modular argument and denote tions towards understanding Mathieu moonshine from by θ(z) the odd Jacobi theta function θ(τ; z) when a physics perspective in terms of the BPS spectrum of unambiguous, cf. -
Vacua with Small Flux Superpotential
Vacua with Small Flux Superpotential Mehmet Demirtas,∗ Manki Kim,y Liam McAllister,z and Jakob Moritzx Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA (Dated: February 4, 2020) We describe a method for finding flux vacua of type IIB string theory in which the Gukov-Vafa- −8 Witten superpotential is exponentially small. We present an example with W0 ≈ 2 × 10 on an orientifold of a Calabi-Yau hypersurface with (h1;1; h2;1) = (2; 272), at large complex structure and weak string coupling. 1. INTRODUCTION In x2 we present a general method for constructing vacua with small W0 at large complex structure (LCS) To understand the nature of dark energy in quantum and weak string coupling, building on [9, 10]. In x3 we 1 −8 gravity, one can study de Sitter solutions of string theory. give an explicit example where W0 ≈ 2 × 10 , in an Kachru, Kallosh, Linde, and Trivedi (KKLT) have ar- orientifold of a Calabi-Yau hypersurface in CP[1;1;1;6;9]. gued that there exist de Sitter vacua in compactifications In x4 we show that our result accords well with the sta- on Calabi-Yau (CY) orientifolds of type IIB string theory tistical predictions of [4]. We show in x5 that at least one [1]. An essential component of the KKLT scenario is a complex structure modulus in our example is as light as small vacuum value of the classical Gukov-Vafa-Witten the K¨ahlermoduli. We explain why this feature occurs in [2] flux superpotential, our class of solutions, and we comment on K¨ahlermoduli stabilization in our vacuum. -
Shamit Kachru Professor of Physics and Director, Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics
Shamit Kachru Professor of Physics and Director, Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics CONTACT INFORMATION • Administrative Contact Dan Moreau Email [email protected] Bio BIO Starting fall of 2021, I am winding down a term as chair of physics and then taking an extended sabbatical/leave. My focus during this period will be on updating my background and competence in rapidly growing new areas of interest including machine learning and its application to problems involving large datasets. My recent research interests have included mathematical and computational studies of evolutionary dynamics; field theoretic condensed matter physics, including study of non-Fermi liquids and fracton phases; and mathematical aspects of string theory. I would characterize my research programs in these three areas as being in the fledgling stage, relatively recently established, and well developed, respectively. It is hard to know what the future holds, but you can get some idea of the kinds of things I work on by looking at my past. Highlights of my past research include: - The discovery of string dualities with 4d N=2 supersymmetry, and their use to find exact solutions of gauge theories (with Cumrun Vafa) - The construction of the first examples of AdS/CFT duality with reduced supersymmetry (with Eva Silverstein) - Foundational papers on string compactification in the presence of background fluxes (with Steve Giddings and Joe Polchinski) - Basic models of cosmic acceleration in string theory (with Renata Kallosh, Andrei Linde, and Sandip Trivedi) -
THEO MURPHY INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING on Testing
THEO MURPHY INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING ON Testing general relativity with cosmology Monday 28 February – Tuesday 1 March 2011 The Kavli Royal Society International Centre, Chicheley Hall, Buckinghamshire Organised by Professor Pedro Ferreira, Professor Rachel Bean and Professor Andrew Taylor - Programme and abstracts - Speaker biographies The abstracts that follow are provided by the presenters and the Royal Society takes no responsibility for their content. Testing general relativity with cosmology Monday 28 February – Tuesday 1 March 2011 The Kavli Royal Society Centre, Chicheley Hall, Buckinghamshire Organised by Professor Pedro Ferreira, Professor Rachel Bean and Professor Andrew Taylor Day 1 – Monday 28 February 2011 09.15 Welcome by Professor Sir Peter Knight FRS , Principal, The Kavli Royal Society Centre Welcome by Professor Pedro Ferreira , Organiser 09.30 Constraining the cosmic growth history with large scale structure Professor Rachel Bean, Cornell University, USA 10.00 Discussion 10.15 One gravitational potential or two? Forecasts and tests Professor Edmund Bertschinger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA 10.45 Discussion 11.00 Coffee 11.30 Cosmological tests of gravity Dr Constantinos Skordis, The University of Nottingham, UK 12.00 Discussion 12.15 Testing modified gravity with next generation weak lensing experiments Dr Thomas Kitching, University of Edinburgh, UK 12.45 Discussion 13.00 Lunch 14.00 Model independent tests of cosmic gravity Professor Eric Linder, University of California at Berkeley, USA 14.30 -
String Duality and Novel Theories Without Gravity
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Title String duality and novel theories without gravity Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6ms1j5c9 Author Kachru, Shamit Publication Date 1998-01-15 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California hep-th/9801109 LBNL-41189, UCB-PTH-97/66 String Duality and Novel Theories without Gravity1 Shamit Kachru Department of Physics University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory University of California Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Abstract: We describe some of the novel 6d quantum field theories which have been discovered in studies of string duality. The role these theories (and their 4d descendants) may play in alleviating the vacuum degeneracy problem in string theory is reviewed. The DLCQ of these field theories is presented as one concrete way of formulating them, independent of string theory. 1 Introduction arXiv:hep-th/9801109 v1 15 Jan 1998 Recent advances in string theory have led to the discovery of many new interacting theories without gravity. These theories are found by taking special limits of M- theory, in which many of the degrees of freedom decouple. In this talk we will: I. Describe some examples of these new theories. II. Review why it is important to fully understand these examples. III. Propose a definition of these theories, in the light-cone frame, which is manifestly independent of M or string theory. 2 Examples 1Based on a talk given at the “31st International Symposium Ahrenshoop on the Theory of Elementary Particles,” Buckow, Germany, September 2-6 1997 1 2.1 Theories with (2, 0) Supersymmetry The first (and simplest) examples were found by Witten [1], in studying type IIB string theory on K3.