Understanding primordial physics in a finite universe
Sarah Shandera Pennsylvania State University
Collection
Talk Type
Scientific Series
Subject
Abstract
We hope to find clues about the particle physics of the primordial (inflationary?) universe in the statistics of the cosmological perturbations. However, if the fluctuations are non-Gaussian the statistics we observe can differ significantly from the global, mean predictions of an inflationary model. I will discuss how the conclusions we draw about the primordial degrees of freedom can be affected in interesting ways by the finiteness of our observable universe.