The Cosmic Microwave Background & Inflation, Then & Now
Abstract
Boomerang, Maxima, DASI, CBI and VSA significantly increase the case for accelerated expansion in the early universe (the inflationary paradigm) and at the current epoch (dark energy dominance), especially when combined with data on high redshift supernovae (SN1) and large scale structure (LSS). There are ``7 pillars of Inflation'' that can be shown with the CMB probe, and at least 5, and possibly 6, of these have already been demonstrated in the CMB data: (1) a large scale gravitational potential; (2) acoustic peaks/dips; (3) damping due to shear viscosity; (4) a Gaussian (maximally random) distribution; (5) secondary anisotropies; (6) polarization. A 7th pillar, anisotropies induced by gravity wave quantum noise, could be too small. A minimal inflation parameter set, ωb,ωcdm, tot, Q,wQ,ns,τC, σ8, is used to illustrate the power of the current data. We find the CMB+LSS+SN1 data give tot =1.00+.07-.03, consistent with (non-baroque) inflation theory. Restricting to tot=1, we find a nearly scale invariant spectrum, ns =0.97+.08-.05. The CDM density, cdm h2 =.12+.01-.01, and baryon density, b h2 = >.022+.003-.002, are in the expected range. (The Big Bang nucleosynthesis estimate is 0.019 0.002.) Substantial dark (unclustered) energy is inferred, Q ≈ 0.68 0.05, and CMB+LSS Q values are compatible with the independent SN1 estimates. The dark energy equation of state, crudely parameterized by a quintessence-field pressure-to-density ratio wQ, is not well determined by CMB+LSS (wQ < -0.4 at 95% CL), but when combined with SN1 the resulting wQ < -0.7 limit is quite consistent with the wQ=-1 cosmological constant case.
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