You Can't Spell BICEP without "CP": the Real-World Flip-Side of CMB Polarization Parity Predictions

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:09090099,
            doi = {10.48660/09090099},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/09090099},
            author = {Keating, Brian},
            keywords = {Cosmology},
            language = {en},
            title = {You Can{\textquoteright}t Spell BICEP without \"CP\": the Real-World Flip-Side of CMB Polarization Parity Predictions},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2009},
            month = {sep},
            note = {PIRSA:09090099 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }
          

Abstract

In addition to its ability to probe Inflation, CMB polarization offers the intriguing possibility to detect CP-symmetry violation. In some sense these predictions, if true, would be more surprising than confirmation of the inflationary paradigm -- for which ample, albeit circumstantial, evidence already exists. Moreover, recent theoretical predictions imply that, not only are parity violating CMB polarization effects possible, but that they have already been detected at 3\sigma confidence levels in existing polarization data. I will present a worked example showing the impact of experimental systematic effects on such measurements, and present a robust test to help determine the veracity of the theoretical predictions. I will show that the CP-symmetry violating observables are more susceptible to certain systematic effects, and discuss the future prospects for such CMB polarization probes of fundamental physics.