5 papers
A Universal CMB -Mode Spectrum from Early Causal Tensor Sources
Kylar Greene, Aurora Ireland, Gordan Krnjaic +1
Many early universe scenarios predict post-inflationary tensor perturbations from causality-limited, sub-horizon sources. While the microphysical details may differ, as long as the…
First constraints on causal sources of primordial gravitational waves from BICEP/Keck, SPTpol, SPT-3G, Planck and WMAP -mode data
Jessica A. Zebrowski, Aurora Ireland, Christian L. Reichardt +4
Non-inflationary sources of gravitational waves in the early Universe generically predict causality-limited tensor power spectra at low frequencies. We report the first-ever constr…
Dynamical Heating from Dark Compact Objects and Axion Minihalos: Implications for the 21-cm Signal
Badal Bhalla, Aurora Ireland, Hongwan Liu +2
The temperature of baryons at the end of the cosmic dark ages can be inferred from observations of the 21-cm hyperfine transition in neutral hydrogen. Any energy injection from the…
Observable CMB B-modes from Cosmological Phase Transitions
Kylar Greene, Aurora Ireland, Gordan Krnjaic +1
A B-mode polarization signal in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is widely regarded as smoking gun evidence for gravitational waves produced during inflation. Here, we demonst…
The Affleck-Dine Curvaton
Aurora Ireland, Gordan Krnjaic, Takuya Okawa
The Standard Model of particle physics does not explain the origin of the universe's baryon asymmetry or its primordial fluctuations. The Affleck-Dine mechanism is a well-motivated…