Analytic Approximations for the Primordial Power Spectrum with Israel Junction Conditions

This work compares cosmological matching conditions used in approximating generic pre-inflationary phases of the universe. We show that the joining conditions for primordial scalar perturbations assumed by Contaldi et al. are inconsistent with the physically motivated Israel junction conditions, however, performing general relativistic matching with the aforementioned constraints results in unrealistic primordial power spectra. Eliminating the need for ambiguous matching, we look at an alternative semi-analytic model for producing the primordial power spectrum allowing for finite duration cosmological phase transitions.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures. To be submitted to PR

Fully Bayesian Forecasts with Evidence Networks

Sensitivity forecasts inform the design of experiments and the direction of theoretical efforts. We argue that to arrive at representative results Bayesian forecasts should marginalize their conclusions over uncertain parameters and noise realizations rather than picking fiducial values. However, this is computationally infeasible with current methods. We thus propose a novel simulation-based forecasting methodology, which we find to be capable of providing expedient rigorous forecasts without relying on restrictive assumptions.Comment: 5 pages + references, 1 figure. Submitted to PR

Improved cosmological fits with quantized primordial power spectra

We observationally examine cosmological models based on primordial power spectra with quantized wavevectors. Introducing a linearly quantized power spectrum with $k_0=3.225\times10^{-4}\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ and spacing $\Delta k = 2.257 \times 10^{-4} \mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ provides a better fit to the Planck 2018 observations than the concordance baseline, with $\Delta \chi^2 = -8.55$. Extending the results of Lasenby et al [1], we show that the requirement for perturbations to remain finite beyond the future conformal boundary in a universe containing dark matter and a cosmological constant results in a linearly quantized primordial power spectrum. It is found that the infrared cutoffs for this future conformal boundary quantized cosmology do not provide cosmic microwave background power spectra compatible with observations, but future theories may predict more observationally consistent quantized spectra.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, prepared for submission to PR