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Model selection forecasts for the spectral index from the Planck satellite

Cédric Pahud, Andrew R Liddle, Pia Mukherjee, David Parkinson

astro-pharXiv:astro-ph/0605004

Abstract

The recent WMAP3 results have placed measurements of the spectral index nS in an interesting position. While parameter estimation techniques indicate that the Harrison-Zel'dovich spectrum nS=1 is strongly excluded (in the absence of tensor perturbations), Bayesian model selection techniques reveal that the case against nS=1 is not yet conclusive. In this paper, we forecast the ability of the Planck satellite mission to use Bayesian model selection to convincingly exclude (or favour) the Harrison-Zel'dovich model.

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