Speaker: David Wands
Location: University of Sussex
Inflation in the very early universe provides a simple model for the origin of structure in the universe from initial quantum fluctuations. Fluctuations in a free field have a Gaussian random distribution, but interactions and non-linearities can give rise to distinctive non-Gaussian distributions of primordial density perturbations. I will discuss how different types of non-Gaussianity may be revealed by observations of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies and large-scale structure in galaxy surveys. Non-Gaussian signatures could identify different physical mechanisms by which quantum field fluctuations during inflation are converted into primordial density perturbations after inflation.