224 research outputs found
Planck 2013 results. XXII. Constraints on inflation
We analyse the implications of the Planck data for cosmic inflation. The Planck nominal mission temperature anisotropy measurements, combined with the WMAP large-angle polarization, constrain the scalar spectral index to be ns = 0:9603 _ 0:0073, ruling out exact scale invariance at over 5_: Planck establishes an upper bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio of r < 0:11 (95% CL). The Planck data thus shrink the space of allowed standard inflationary models, preferring potentials with V00 < 0. Exponential potential models, the simplest hybrid inflationary models, and monomial potential models of degree n _ 2 do not provide a good fit to the data. Planck does not find statistically significant running of the scalar spectral index, obtaining dns=dln k = 0:0134 _ 0:0090. We verify these conclusions through a numerical analysis, which makes no slowroll approximation, and carry out a Bayesian parameter estimation and model-selection analysis for a number of inflationary models including monomial, natural, and hilltop potentials. For each model, we present the Planck constraints on the parameters of the potential and explore several possibilities for the post-inflationary entropy generation epoch, thus obtaining nontrivial data-driven constraints. We also present a direct reconstruction of the observable range of the inflaton potential. Unless a quartic term is allowed in the potential, we find results consistent with second-order slow-roll predictions. We also investigate whether the primordial power spectrum contains any features. We find that models with a parameterized oscillatory feature improve the fit by __2 e_ _ 10; however, Bayesian evidence does not prefer these models. We constrain several single-field inflation models with generalized Lagrangians by combining power spectrum data with Planck bounds on fNL. Planck constrains with unprecedented accuracy the amplitude and possible correlation (with the adiabatic mode) of non-decaying isocurvature fluctuations. The fractional primordial contributions of cold dark matter (CDM) isocurvature modes of the types expected in the curvaton and axion scenarios have upper bounds of 0.25% and 3.9% (95% CL), respectively. In models with arbitrarily correlated CDM or neutrino isocurvature modes, an anticorrelated isocurvature component can improve the _2 e_ by approximately 4 as a result of slightly lowering the theoretical prediction for the ` <_ 40 multipoles relative to the higher multipoles. Nonetheless, the data are consistent with adiabatic initial conditions
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Planck 2015 results. XI. CMB power spectra, likelihoods, and robustness of parameters
This paper presents the Planck 2015 likelihoods, statistical descriptions of the 2-point correlations of CMB data, using the hybrid approach employed previously: pixel-based at ℓ<30 and a Gaussian approximation to the distribution of spectra at higher ℓ . The main improvements are the use of more and better processed data and of Planck polarization data, and more detailed foreground and instrumental models, allowing further checks and enhanced immunity to systematics. Progress in foreground modelling enables a larger sky fraction. Improvements in processing and instrumental models further reduce uncertainties. For temperature, we perform an analysis of end-to-end instrumental simulations fed into the data processing pipeline; this does not reveal biases from residual instrumental systematics. The Λ CDM cosmological model continues to offer a very good fit to Planck data. The slope of primordial scalar fluctuations, n s , is confirmed smaller than unity at more than 5{\sigma} from Planck alone. We further validate robustness against specific extensions to the baseline cosmology. E.g., the effective number of neutrino species remains compatible with the canonical value of 3.046. This first detailed analysis of Planck polarization concentrates on E modes. At low ℓ we use temperature at all frequencies and a subset of polarization. The frequency range improves CMB-foreground separation. Within the baseline model this requires a reionization optical depth τ=0.078±0.019 , significantly lower than without high-frequency data for explicit dust monitoring. At high ℓ we detect residual errors in E, typically O(μ K 2 ); we recommend temperature alone as the high-ℓ baseline. Nevertheless, Planck high-ℓ polarization allows a separate determination of Λ CDM parameters consistent with those from temperature alone
Using CMB lensing to constrain the multiplicative bias of cosmic shear
Weak gravitational lensing is one of the key probes of cosmology. Cosmic
shear surveys aimed at measuring the distribution of matter in the universe are
currently being carried out (Pan-STARRS) or planned for the coming decade (DES,
LSST, EUCLID, WFIRST). Crucial to the success of these surveys is the control
of systematics. In this work a new method to constrain one such family of
systematics, known as multiplicative bias, is proposed. This method exploits
the cross-correlation between weak lensing measurements from galaxy surveys and
the ones obtained from high resolution CMB experiments. This cross-correlation
is shown to have the power to break the degeneracy between the normalization of
the matter power spectrum and the multiplicative bias of cosmic shear and to be
able to constrain the latter to a few percent.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur
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Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters
We present results based on full-mission Planck observations of temperature and polarization anisotropies of the CMB. These data are consistent with the six-parameter inflationary LCDM cosmology. From the Planck temperature and lensing data, for this cosmology we find a Hubble constant, H0= (67.8 +/- 0.9) km/s/Mpc, a matter density parameter Omega_m = 0.308 +/- 0.012 and a scalar spectral index with n_s = 0.968 +/- 0.006. (We quote 68% errors on measured parameters and 95% limits on other parameters.) Combined with Planck temperature and lensing data, Planck LFI polarization measurements lead to a reionization optical depth of tau = 0.066 +/- 0.016. Combining Planck with other astrophysical data we find N_ eff = 3.15 +/- 0.23 for the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom and the sum of neutrino masses is constrained to < 0.23 eV. Spatial curvature is found to be |Omega_K| < 0.005. For LCDM we find a limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio of r <0.11 consistent with the B-mode constraints from an analysis of BICEP2, Keck Array, and Planck (BKP) data. Adding the BKP data leads to a tighter constraint of r < 0.09. We find no evidence for isocurvature perturbations or cosmic defects. The equation of state of dark energy is constrained to w = -1.006 +/- 0.045. Standard big bang nucleosynthesis predictions for the Planck LCDM cosmology are in excellent agreement with observations. We investigate annihilating dark matter and deviations from standard recombination, finding no evidence for new physics. The Planck results for base LCDM are in agreement with BAO data and with the JLA SNe sample. However the amplitude of the fluctuations is found to be higher than inferred from rich cluster counts and weak gravitational lensing. Apart from these tensions, the base LCDM cosmology provides an excellent description of the Planck CMB observations and many other astrophysical data sets
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Planck 2015 results. XIV. Dark energy and modified gravity
We study the implications of Planck data for models of dark energy (DE) and modified gravity (MG), beyond the cosmological constant scenario. We start with cases where the DE only directly affects the background evolution, considering Taylor expansions of the equation of state, principal component analysis and parameterizations related to the potential of a minimally coupled DE scalar field. When estimating the density of DE at early times, we significantly improve present constraints. We then move to general parameterizations of the DE or MG perturbations that encompass both effective field theories and the phenomenology of gravitational potentials in MG models. Lastly, we test a range of specific models, such as k-essence, f(R) theories and coupled DE. In addition to the latest Planck data, for our main analyses we use baryonic acoustic oscillations, type-Ia supernovae and local measurements of the Hubble constant. We further show the impact of measurements of the cosmological perturbations, such as redshift-space distortions and weak gravitational lensing. These additional probes are important tools for testing MG models and for breaking degeneracies that are still present in the combination of Planck and background data sets. All results that include only background parameterizations are in agreement with LCDM. When testing models that also change perturbations (even when the background is fixed to LCDM), some tensions appear in a few scenarios: the maximum one found is \sim 2 sigma for Planck TT+lowP when parameterizing observables related to the gravitational potentials with a chosen time dependence; the tension increases to at most 3 sigma when external data sets are included. It however disappears when including CMB lensing
Characterization of foreground emission on degree angular scales for CMB B-mode observations: Thermal dust and synchrotron signal from Planck and WMAP data
We quantify the contamination from polarized diffuse Galactic synchrotron and thermal dust emissions to the B modes of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies on the degree angular scale, using data from the Planck and Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellites. We compute power spectra of foreground polarized emissions in 352 circular sky patches located at Galactic latitude | b | > 20\ub0, each of which covers about 1.5% of the sky. We make use of the spectral properties derived from Planck and WMAP data to extrapolate, in frequency, the amplitude of synchrotron and thermal dust B-mode spectra in the multipole bin centered at \u2113 43 80. In this way we estimate the amplitude and frequency of the foreground minimum for each analyzed region. We detect both dust and synchrotron signal on degree angular scales and at a 3\u3c3 confidence level in 28 regions. Here the minimum of the foreground emission is found at frequencies between 60 and 100 GHz with an amplitude expressed in terms of the equivalent tensor-to-scalar ratio, rFG,min, between 3c0.06 and 3c1. Some of these regions are located at high Galactic latitudes in areas close to the ones that are being observed by suborbital experiments. In all the other sky patches where synchrotron or dust B modes are not detectable with the required confidence, we put upper limits on the minimum foreground contamination and find values of rFG,min between 3c0.05 and 3c1.5 in the frequency range 60-90 GHz. Our results indicate that, with the current sensitivity at low frequency, it is not possible to exclude the presence of synchrotron contamination to CMB cosmological B modes at the level requested to measure a gravitational waves signal with r 43 0.01 at frequency 72 100 GHz anywhere. Therefore, more accurate data are essential in order to better characterize the synchrotron polarized component and, eventually, to remove its contamination to CMB signal through foreground cleaning. \ua9 2016 ESO
Measuring primordial non-Gaussianity through weak lensing peak counts
We explore the possibility of detecting primordial non-Gaussianity of the
local type using weak lensing peak counts. We measure the peak abundance in
sets of simulated weak lensing maps corresponding to three models f_NL={0,
+100, -100}. Using survey specifications similar to those of Euclid and without
assuming any knowledge of the lens and source redshifts, we find the peak
functions of the non-Gaussian models with f_NL=+-100 to differ by up to 15%
from the Gaussian peak function at the high-mass end. For the assumed survey
parameters, the probability of fitting an f_NL=0 peak function to the
f_NL=+-100 peak functions is less than 0.1%. Assuming the other cosmological
parameters known, f_NL can be measured with an error \Delta f_NL ~ 13. It is
therefore possible that future weak lensing surveys like Euclid and LSST may
detect primordial non-Gaussianity from the abundance of peak counts, and
provide complementary information to that obtained from the cosmic microwave
background.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
B-mode Detection with an Extended Planck Mission
The Planck satellite has a nominal mission lifetime of 14 months allowing two
complete surveys of the sky. Here we investigate the potential of an extended
Planck mission of four sky surveys to constrain primordial B-mode anisotropies
in the presence of dominant Galactic polarized foreground emission. An extended
Planck mission is capable of powerful constraints on primordial B-modes at low
multipoles, which cannot be probed by ground based or sub-orbital experiments.
A tensor-scalar ratio of r=0.05 can be detected at a high significance level by
an extended Planck mission and it should be possible to set a 95% upper limit
on r of 0.03 if the tensor-scalar ratio is vanishingly small. Furthermore,
extending the Planck mission to four sky surveys offers better control of
polarized Galactic dust emission, since the 217 GHz frequency band can be used
as an effective dust template in addition to the 353 GHz channel.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
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