Bayesian analysis of inflation. II. Model selection and constraints on reheating

2011/12/31 by Richard Easther, Hiranya V. Peiris, Hiranya Peiris · 143 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Bayesian probability #CMB cold spot #Computer science #Cosmic microwave background #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Inflation (cosmology) #Inflaton #Model selection #Parametrization (atmospheric modeling) #Physics #Planck #Prior probability #Quantum mechanics #Spectral density #Statistical physics #Theoretical physics #astro-ph.CO

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.85.103533

published in Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields 85(10) (American Physical Society) · ModeCode package available from http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~hiranya/ModeCode/ModeCode (requires CosmoMC and MultiNest); to be published in PRD. Typos fixed

arxiv created 2012/05/22 · openalex publication_date 2012/05/31 · arxiv updated 2012/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We discuss the model selection problem for inflationary cosmology. We couple ModeCode, a publicly available numerical solver for the primordial perturbation spectra, to the nested sampler MultiNest, in order to efficiently compute Bayesian evidence. We pay particular attention to the specification of physically realistic priors, including the parametrization of the post-inflationary expansion and associated thermalization scale. It is confirmed that, while present-day data tightly constrain the properties of the power spectrum, they cannot usefully distinguish between the members of a large class of simple inflationary models. We also compute evidence using a simulated Planck likelihood, showing that while Planck will have more power than WMAP to discriminate between inflationary models, it will not definitively address the inflationary model selection problem on its own. However, Planck will place very tight constraints on any model with more than one observationally distinct inflationary regime---e.g. the large- and small-field limits of the hilltop inflation model---and put useful limits on different reheating scenarios for a given model.

Citations

• New constraints on the observable inflaton potential from WMAP and SDSS
• Cosmological implications of dynamical supersymmetry breaking
• Probability, Frequency and Reasonable Expectation
• Inflation models and observation
• What Would We Learn by Detecting a Gravitational Wave Signal in the Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy?
• Inflationary cosmology connecting dark energy and dark matter
• Multiple inflation, cosmic string networks and the string landscape
• Three‐YearWilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe(WMAP) Observations: Implications for Cosmology
• FIVE-YEARWILKINSON MICROWAVE ANISOTROPY PROBEOBSERVATIONS: COSMOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION
• Constraining inflation

Cited by

• Shortcomings of new parametrizations of inflation
• On reaching the adiabatic limit in multi-field inflation
• What can the CMB tell about the microphysics of cosmic reheating?
• Numerical evaluation of the bispectrum in multiple field inflation—the transport approach with code
• Minimal plateau inflationary cosmologies and constraints from reheating
• Inflation with an extra light scalar field after Planck
• Post-inflationary gravitino production revisited
• The decisive future of inflation
• Curvaton reheating in non-minimal derivative coupling to gravity: NO models
• Constraints on Kähler moduli inflation from reheating