Inflation and Structure Formation in the Early Universe

by Mr Joseph Bramante (Physics and Astronomy, U. Hawaii)

Thursday Nov 1, 2012, 3:30 PM → 4:30 PM Pacific/Honolulu

417A (Watanabe Hall)

Inflation, a proposed era of the universe during which the spatial scale of the universe increased exponentially, provides a good resolution of the cosmic horizon and flatness problems, as well as accounting for all presently observed cosmological phenomena. Soon the Planck satellite will finish collecting precise data on the temperature of the cosmic microwave background, whose fluctuations correspond to the zero-point quantum fluctuations of the fields that drove and accompanied the inflationary epoch. Hence the form of these fluctuations could provide a window into the dynamics of the early universe. Two parameters that quantify the non-Gaussianity of these fluctuations, "f" and "tau," roughly speaking the non-Gaussianity arising from three- and four-point functions respectively, were proven to have the relationship tau > (6/5 f)^2, known as the Suyama-Yamaguchi or SY inequality. In this talk I will cover the proof of the SY inequality, and how the SY inequality could be violated by statistical fluctuations of primordial perturbation modes, as well as(a lesser known result) how the SY inequality could be violated by the dynamics of inflationary models.