Fundamental Physics from Primordial Seeds

Harvard University, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This award funds the research activities of Professor Xingang Chen at the University of Texas at Dallas. In recent years, experiments and theoretical studies have established a six-parameter Standard Model for the Big Bang cosmology, and provided strong support for the existence of an inflationary epoch as the origin of Big Bang. The details of this epoch are now being explored. In addition, various tantalizing anomalies have been observed that can potentially provide us the knowledge beyond the Standard Model. This project will systematically study different beyond-Standard-Model signals in terms of both the theoretical model-building and the interpretation of data. The primary data comes from detailed studies of the cosmic microwave background(CMB) and of the large scale structure (LSS) of the universe. This research motivates new connections between theory and data, and facilitates discoveries of new physics. In addition, this will provide training for undergraduates and graduate students, and there will be an outreach program to high school students. The PI will investigate and classify a variety of possible new phenomena in the inflationary density perturbations, such as primordial anisotropies, features and non-Gaussianities. He will systematically classify different types of anisotropic pre-inflationary relic and study their effects on density perturbations, will study different inflation models with oscillating spectator massive fields and predict their effects on the CMB and LSS, and will extend work on primordial non-Gaussiantiies and study the effects on the CMB and LSS. He will emphasize important connections between the beyond-Standard-Model signals and fundamental physics. Methods of model building, first-principle derivation and data analyses are combined to effectively carry out this program.