Physics – High Energy Physics – High Energy Physics - Theory
Scientific paper
2002-01-21
Phys.Rev. D66 (2002) 123510
Physics
High Energy Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
49 pages, 2 figures. References added, minor typos corrected
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevD.66.123510
We systematically investigate the effect of short distance physics on the spectrum of temperature anistropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background produced during inflation. We present a general argument-assuming only low energy locality-that the size of such effects are of order H^2/M^2, where H is the Hubble parameter during inflation, and M is the scale of the high energy physics. We evaluate the strength of such effects in a number of specific string and M theory models. In weakly coupled field theory and string theory models, the effects are far too small to be observed. In phenomenologically attractive Horava-Witten compactifications, the effects are much larger but still unobservable. In certain M theory models, for which the fundamental Planck scale is several orders of magnitude below the conventional scale of grand unification, the effects may be on the threshold of detectability. However, observations of both the scalar and tensor fluctuation contributions to the Cosmic Microwave Background power spectrum-with a precision near the cosmic variance limit-are necessary in order to unambiguously demonstrate the existence of these signatures of high energy physics. This is a formidable experimental challenge.
Kaloper Nemanja
Kleban Matthew
Lawrence Albion
Shenker Stephen
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