Spectral distortions of the CMB and what we might learn about early universe physics

          @misc{ scivideos_PIRSA:12090060,
            doi = {10.48660/12090060},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/12090060},
            author = {Chluba, Jens},
            keywords = {Cosmology},
            language = {en},
            title = {Spectral distortions of the CMB and what we might learn about early universe physics},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics},
            year = {2012},
            month = {sep},
            note = {PIRSA:12090060 see, \url{https://scivideos.org/index.php/pirsa/12090060}}
          }
          

Abstract

The spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is known to be extremely close to a perfect blackbody. However, even within standard cosmology several processes occurring in the early Universe lead to distortions of the CMB at a level that might become observable in the future. This could open an exciting new window to early Universe physics. In my talk I will then explain in more detail why the cooling of matter in the early Universe causes a negative mu- and y-type distortion and how the damping of primordial small-scale perturbations before recombination could allow placing interesting constraints on different inflationary models.