Can Inflation be Falsified?

Abstract

Despite its central role in modern cosmology, doubts are often expressed as to whether cosmological inflation is really a falsifiable theory. We distinguish two facets of inflation, one as a theory of initial conditions for the hot big bang and the other as a model for the origin of structure in the Universe. We argue that the latter can readily be excluded by observations, and that there are also a number of ways in which the former can find itself in conflict with observational data. Both aspects of the theory are indeed falsifiable.

7 pages LaTeX file with two figures incorporated by epsf. Fifth Prize in Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition. To appear, General Relativity and Gravitation

References in corpus (1)

• How to falsify scenarios with primordial fluctuations from inflation

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