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What if Planck’s Universe isn’t flat?

Philip Bull and Marc Kamionkowski
Phys. Rev. D 87, 081301(R) – Published 8 April 2013; Erratum Phys. Rev. D 87, 129901 (2013)

Abstract

Inflationary theory predicts that the observable Universe should be very close to flat, with a spatial-curvature parameter |ΩK|104. The WMAP satellite currently constrains |ΩK|0.01, and the Planck satellite will be sensitive to values near 103. Suppose that Planck were to find ΩK0 at this level. Would this necessarily be a serious problem for inflation? We argue that an apparent departure from flatness could be due either to a local (wavelength comparable to the observable horizon) inhomogeneity, or a truly superhorizon departure from flatness. If there is a local inhomogeneity, then secondary cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies distort the CMB frequency spectrum at a level potentially detectable by a next-generation experiment. We discuss how these spectral distortions would complement constraints on the Grishchuk-Zel’dovich effect from the low- CMB power spectrum in discovering the source of the departure from flatness.

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  • Received 6 February 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.87.081301

© 2013 American Physical Society

Erratum

Erratum: What if Planck’s Universe isn’t flat? [Phys. Rev. D 87, 081301(R) (2013).]

Philip Bull and Marc Kamionkowski
Phys. Rev. D 87, 129901 (2013)

Authors & Affiliations

Philip Bull

  • Department of Astrophysics, University of Oxford, DWB, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, United Kingdom

Marc Kamionkowski

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA

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Issue

Vol. 87, Iss. 8 — 15 April 2013

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