Multifield inflation and cosmological anomalies after Planck

by Christian Byrnes (U of Sussex)

Monday 2 May 2016, 16:30 → 17:30 Europe/Berlin

seminar room 2, building 2A (DESY Hamburg)

After the Planck 2015 results, which remain consistent with some of the simplest single-field models of inflation, one may ask whether there remains any motivation to consider inflationary models with multiple light fields. I discuss this question, and show that a Bayesian model comparison between the curvaton scenario (which has two fields and at least 4 free parameters) and simpler single-field scenarios does not disfavour the complex model. I also discuss how inflationary models can explain the observed dipolar power asymmetry, and the extreme difficulties of building a complete working model.

Slides DESY-asymmetry-Byrnes.pdf