Tufts/CfA/MIT Cosmology Seminar, at MIT:

Tuesday, March 9, 2004
2:30 pm
Kolker Room (Room 26-414)
Refreshments at 2:00, same location

"A Different Source of Perturbations During Inflation: Implications for Gaussianity"


Matias Zaldarriaga
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Abstract:

I will discuss a different mechanism for how density perturbations can arise in inflationary models. The scenario involves spatial fluctuations of the decay rate of the inflaton at reheating. I will discuss how the Gaussianity of the perturbations can be used as a discriminatory tool to constrain this scenario. I will also discuss in general what Gaussianity can tell us about the origin of perturbations.

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