CMB spectral distortions and anisotropies from the primordial Universe

宇宙微波背景(CMB)提供了关于我们生活的宇宙的宝贵信息来源。除了研究得很好的CMB温度和偏振各向异性外，早期宇宙过程还可能产生所谓的光谱扭曲--CMB能谱偏离完美黑体的能谱--这使我们能够探测否则无法获得的历元和物理尺度。这项研究项目的目标是研究造成CMB光谱扭曲的各种早期宇宙过程，无论是对平均天空信号还是在不同方向上的变化，以及未来如何使用像Pixie或其增强版本的光谱仪来了解这些机制。特别关注的将是可能造成大规模、小规模标量和张量波动的非标准通胀模型，以及这些波动是如何在宇宙历史中演变的。将开发新的工具来计算各种情况下的CMB失真信号。这项研究将展示CMB失真测量将提供哪些独特的信息，以及哪些实验设计-改进可以提高未来CMB光谱仪的科学回报。

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) provides an invaluable source of information about the Universe we live in. Aside from the well-studied CMB temperature and polarization anisotropoies, early-universe processes can also create so-called spectral distortions - departures of the CMB energy spectrum from that of a perfect blackbody - which allow us to probe epochs and physical scales that are otherwise inaccessible. The goal of this research project is to study the various early-universe processes that create CMB spectral distortions, both to the average sky signal as well as varying in different directions, and how future spectrometers like PIXIE or its enhanced versions can be used to learn about these mechanisms. Particular focus will be on non-standard inflation models that potentially create large small-scale scalar and tensor fluctuations and how these evolve through cosmic history. New tools to compute CMB distortion signals from various scenarios will be developed. This study will show what unique information CMB distortion measurements will provide and what experimental design-refinements could improve the scientific return of future CMB spectrometers.