Kendrick M. Smith

Non-Gaussianities in single field inflation and their optimal limits from the WMAP 5-year data

Using the recently developed effective field theory of inflation, we argue that the size and the shape of the non-Gaussianities generated by single-field inflation are generically well described by two parameters: fNLequil, which characterizes the size of the signal that is peaked on equilateral configurations, and fNLorthog, which instead characterizes the size of the signal which is peaked both on equilateral configurations and flat-triangle configurations (with opposite signs). The shape of non-Gaussianities associated with fNLorthog is orthogonal to the one associated to fNLequil, and former analysis have been mostly blind to it. We perform the optimal analysis of the WMAP 5-year data for both of these parameters. We find no evidence of non-Gaussianity, and we have the following constraints: −125 ≤ fNLequil ≤ 435, −369 ≤ fNLorthog ≤ 71 at 95% CL. We show that both of these constraints can be translated into limits on parameters of the Lagrangian of single-field inflation. For one of them, the speed of sound of the inflaton fluctuations, we find that it is either bounded to be cs ≥ 0.011 at 95% CL. or alternatively to be so small that the higher-derivative kinetic term dominate at horizon crossing. We are able to put similar constraints on the other operators of the inflaton Lagrangian.

Optimal limits on fNLlocal from WMAP 5-year data

We have applied the optimal estimator for fNLlocal to the 5 year WMAP data. Marginalizing over the amplitude of foreground templates we get −4 < fNLlocal < 80 at 95% CL. Error bars of previous (sub-optimal) analyses are roughly 40% larger than these. The probability that a Gaussian simulation, analyzed using our estimator, gives a result larger in magnitude than the one we find is 7 %. Our pipeline gives consistent results when applied to the three and five year WMAP data releases and agrees well with the results from our own sub-optimal pipeline. We find no evidence of any residual foreground contamination.

CMBPol Mission Concept Study: Gravitational Lensing

Gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background by large-scale structure in the late universe is both a source of cosmological information and a potential contaminant of primordial gravity waves. Because lensing imprints growth of structure in the late universe on the CMB, measurements of CMB lensing will constrain parameters to which the CMB would not otherwise be sensitive, such as neutrino mass. If the instrumental noise is sufficiently small (<~ 5 uK-arcmin), the gravitational lensing contribution to the large-scale B-mode will be the limiting source of contamination when constraining a stochastic background of gravity waves in the early universe, one of the most exciting prospects for future CMB polarization experiments. High-sensitivity measurements of small-scale B-modes can reduce this contamination through a lens reconstruction technique that separates the lensing and primordial contributions to the B-mode on large scales. A fundamental design decision for a future CMB polarization experiment such as CMBpol is whether to have coarse angular resolution so that only the large-scale B-mode (and the large-scale E-mode from reionization) is measured, or high resolution to additionally measure CMB lensing. The purpose of this white paper is to evaluate the science case for CMB lensing in polarization: constraints on cosmological parameters, increased sensitivity to the gravity wave B-mode via lens reconstruction, expected level of contamination from non-CMB foregrounds, and required control of beam systematics.

No evidence for the cold spot in the NVSS radio survey

We revisit recent claims that there is a ‘cold spot’ in both number counts and brightness of radio sources in the NRAO (National Radio Astronomy Observatory) VLA (Very Large Array) Sky Survey (NVSS), with location coincident with the previously detected cold spot in Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Such matching cold spots would be difficult if not impossible to explain in the standard Λcold dark matter cosmological model. Contrary to the claim, we find no significant evidence for the radio cold spot, after including systematic effects in NVSS, and carefully accounting for the effect of a posteriori choices when assessing statistical significance.

Map making in small field modulated CMB polarization experiments: approximating the maximum likelihood method

Map making presents a significant computational challenge to the next generation of kilopixel cosmic microwave background polarization experiments. Years worth of time ordered data (TOD) from thousands of detectors will need to be compressed into maps of the T, Q and U Stokes parameters. Fundamental to the science goal of these experiments, the observation of B modes, is the ability to control noise and systematics. In this paper, we consider an alternative to the maximum likelihood method, called destriping, where the noise is modelled as a set of discrete offset functions and then subtracted from the time stream. We compare our destriping code (Descart: the DEStriping CARTographer) to a full maximum likelihood mapmaker, applying them to 200 Monte Carlo simulations of TOD from a ground-based, partial-sky polarization modulation experiment. In these simulations, the noise is dominated by either detector or atmospheric 1/f noise. Using prior information of the power spectrum of this noise, we produce destriped maps of T, Q and U which are negligibly different from optimal. The method does not filter the signal or bias the E- or B-mode power spectra. Depending on the length of the destriping baseline, the method delivers between five and 22 times improvement in computation time over the maximum likelihood algorithm. We find that, for the specific case of single detector maps, it is essential to destripe the atmospheric 1/f in order to detect B modes, even though the Q and U signals are modulated by a half-wave plate spinning at 5Hz.

Optimal analysis of azimuthal features in the CMB

We present algorithms for searching for azimuthally symmetric features in CMB data. Our algorithms are fully optimal for masked all-sky data with inhomogeneous noise, computationally fast, simple to implement, and make no approximations. We show how to implement the optimal analysis in both Bayesian and frequentist cases. In the Bayesian case, our algorithm for evaluating the posterior likelihood is so fast that we can do a brute-force search over parameter space, rather than using a Monte Carlo Markov chain. Our motivating example is searching for bubble collisions, a pre-inflationary signal which can be generated if multiple tunneling events occur in an eternally inflating spacetime, but our algorithms are general and should be useful in other contexts.

A Mission to Map our Origins

Quantum mechanical metric fluctuations during an early inflationary phase of the universe leave a characteristic imprint in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The amplitude of this signal depends on the energy scale at which inflation occurred. Detailed observations by a dedicated satellite mission (CMBPol) therefore provide information about energy scales as high as 1015 GeV, twelve orders of magnitude greater than the highest energies accessible to particle accelerators, and probe the earliest moments in the history of the universe. This summary provides an overview of a set of studies exploring the scientific payoff of CMBPol in diverse areas of modern cosmology, such as the physics of inflation [1], gravitational lensing [2] and cosmic reionization [3], as well as foreground science [4] and removal [5].