Do We Live in a Vanilla Universe? Theoretical Perspectives on WMAP

Abstract

I discuss the theoretical implications of the WMAP results, stressing WMAP's detection of a correlation between the E-mode polarization and temperature anisotropies, which provides strong support for the overall inflationary paradigm. I point out that almost all inflationary models have a ``vanilla limit,'' where their parameters cannot be distinguished from a genuinely de Sitter inflationary phase. Because its findings are consistent with vanilla inflation, WMAP cannot exclude entire classes of inflationary models. Finally, I summarize hints in the current dataset that the CMB contains relics of new physics, and the possibility that we can use observational data to reconstruct the inflaton potential.

arXiv comment10 pages, based on paper delivered at CIPANP 2003

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