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SUMMARY:Non-Gaussianity after Planck - Chistian Byrnes
DTSTART:20130610T120000Z
DTEND:20130610T130000Z
UID:TALK45717@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:33215
DESCRIPTION:Testing the Gaussianity of the primordial perturbations provid
 es a window on the early universe. Despite not detecting any new non-zero 
 parameters\, the Planck results have provided the most accurate measuremen
 ts ever about the physics of the early universe.\nI will reflect on these 
 precision results and their implications for inflation\, as well as the pr
 ospects for future measurements. In particular\, I will focus on the impli
 cations of the results on non-Gaussianity\, and what they might imply for 
 the many other signatures that have not yet been searched for.\nFinally I 
 will discuss how one may probe the small scale perturbations. Even in the 
 “precision era” of cosmology\, measurements of the cosmic microwave ba
 ckground and large scale structure only cover around three orders of magni
 tude in length scales. Another 30 orders of magnitude in length scales mus
 t also have exited the horizon during inflation\, but these smaller scales
  remain unobserved. Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) can form in the early un
 iverse from the collapse of large density fluctuations. Tight observationa
 l limits on their abundance provide the best upper limit on the size of th
 e primordial fluctuations on small scales\, with PBHs only forming from ex
 tremely large and rare density fluctuations. The number of PBHs formed is 
 therefore highly sensitive to small changes in the tail of the fluctuation
 s probability density function\, which probes non-Gaussianity.
LOCATION:CMS\, Pav. B\, CTC Common Room (B1.19) [Potter Room]
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