PIRSA:14030112

Cosmic initial conditions and the CMB

Grin, D. (2014). Cosmic initial conditions and the CMB. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/14030112

Grin, Daniel. Cosmic initial conditions and the CMB. Perimeter Institute, Mar. 25, 2014, https://pirsa.org/14030112 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:14030112,
            doi = {10.48660/14030112},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/14030112},
            author = {Grin, Daniel},
            keywords = {Cosmology},
            language = {en},
            title = {Cosmic initial conditions and the CMB},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2014},
            month = {mar},
            note = {PIRSA:14030112 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Daniel Grin California Institute of Technology

Talk numberPIRSA:14030112
DOI10.48660/14030112
Collection
Talk Type Scientific Series
Subject

Abstract

One new frontier in cosmology is the frequency spectrum of the CMB. Future instruments may be precise enough to measure deviations from the nearly-perfect blackbody, measuring a chemical potential and thus probing energy injection at extremely high redshift. I will discuss ($\mu$ and $y$-type) CMB spectral distortions from the dissipation of entropy (isocurvature)-sourced acoustic modes. I will then discuss how a high-energy phase transition could also source such distortions. I will then switch gears and talk about the possibility of measuring a spatial fluctuation in the baryon/DM ratio using the CMB, including recent observational results. I may also muse on the surprising possible connection between these compensated isocurvature modes and the anomalously low large-scale scalar power hinted at by Planck observations of the CMB temperature power spectrum and the recent claimed BICEP2 detection of primordial tensor modes