Cosmology Seminar – Mar 14

Tue, March 14, 2017

Azadeh Moradiinezhad Dizgah, Harvard 
Primordial non-Gaussianity from large scale structure : prospects and challenges 
Tighter constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity will significantly improve our understanding of the physics of the early universe and the origin of primordial fluctuations. High-precision data from large-scale structure surveys are our best hope to improve upon the constraints on primordial non-Gaussianiy coming from Cosmic Microwave Background observations. In the first part of this talk, I will discuss one of the theoretical challenges in modeling the observed bispectrum of the biased tracers on very large scales, namely the relativistic projection effects. I will describe the contamination to the bispectrum due to projection effects and how they should be accounted for. In the second part of the talk, I will discuss some preliminary results indicating the prospects of learning about physical properties of additional particles present during inflation (such as their mass and spin) through their signature on the power spectrum of the biased tracers.

Campbell 131 

1:10pm