Probing Fundamental Physics on Cosmological Scales

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The proposed work entails several goals: (1) to improve our theoretical understanding of the early Universe and the different cosmological tools that can be used to probe it, (2) improve our theoretical understanding of the astrophysical processes that underlie our cosmological probes and (3) develop techniques to make full use of existing and upcoming cosmological data sets that can probe fundamental physics. In particular the PI intends to (1) study how interactions modify the characterization of the phase transition to eternal inflation in slow-roll models . (2) Strive to provide an intrinsically quantum mechanical definition of eternal inflation. (3)Calculate the power spectrum of primordial fluctuations in single field inflation models to one-loop. (4) Calculate the three-point function of CMB anisotropies at recombination expected in the absence of primordial non-Gaussianities. Also calculate the three point function of the matter density field including GR effects. (5) Apply newly developed analysis techniques to constrain non-Gaussianities using WMAP 5 year data. (6) Explore the potential of 21 cm observations to constrain fundamental physics and improve our modeling of the astrophysical processes that influence this observable. The broader impacts of the proposal are both scientific and involve educational outreach. The PI is co-author of CMBFAST, a publicly available code that has become a standard code used to make theoretical predictions to compare with CMB data. He has supervised students at the graduate and undergraduate levels. He has developed a new Cosmology course for sophomores. The PI also routinely gives public lectures including ones for elementary school students.