Cosmic microwave background predictions of supernatural inflation

This thesis makes predictions for the temperature anisotropy spectrum of the CMB under the supernatural inflation model class [17] and compares these predictions against the Boomerang 98 data [5], using the Lange et. al [11] cosmological parameter estimations for an [Omega]tot = 1 universe. This was implemented by creating a modified version of CMBFAST [19] which could accommodate a two-field inflation model. A series of codes were compiled, both with and without modifications, to determine the effect of the supernatural primordial spectrum spike on CMB simulations at the Planck, GUT and Intermediate energy scales, where the inflaton field has renormalizable couplings to other fields. While the spike's effects at lMpc were found to be negligible, the detailed calculations of the scalar spectral index, ns, demonstrate that the energy scale most favored by Randall et. al on particle physics grounds, is actually the one most tightly constrained by observation.
by Catalina M. Buttz.
Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, June 2004.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-49).