A Potential Window to the GUT

Abstract

The possibility that the form of the inflationary potential can be reconstructed from a knowledge of the primordial power spectra of scalar (density) and tensor (gravity wave) perturbations is discussed and reviewed. It is suggested that measurements of the scalar spectral index and the amplitude of the tensor spectrum at one scale should be possible in the near future. This would be sufficient to determine whether the potential is convex or concave over the limited region relevant to the formation of large-scale structure in the universe. Such information would provide an `observation' of physics at energy scales above $10^{14}$GeV. $^*$Invited talk presented at {\em The Second Alexander Friedmann International Seminar on Gravitation and Cosmology, St. Petersburg, Russia, 12th-19th September 1993.}