The shape of the primordial power spectrum: A last stand before Planck data

We present a minimally parametric reconstruction of the primordial power spectrum using the most recent cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure data sets. Our goal is to constrain the shape of the power spectrum while simultaneously avoiding strong theoretical priors and over-fitting o...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Hiranya, V.P., Verde, Licia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/98560
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/98560
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Espectroscòpia
Constants físiques
Spectrum analysis
Physical constants
Descripción
Sumario:We present a minimally parametric reconstruction of the primordial power spectrum using the most recent cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure data sets. Our goal is to constrain the shape of the power spectrum while simultaneously avoiding strong theoretical priors and over-fitting of the data. We find no evidence for any departure from a power-law spectral index. We also find that an exact scale-invariant power spectrum is disfavored by the data, but this conclusion is weaker than the corresponding result assuming a theoretically-motivated power-law spectral index prior. The reconstruction shows that better data are crucial to justify the adoption of such a strong theoretical prior observationally. These results can be used to determine the robustness of our present knowledge when compared with forthcoming precision data from Planck.