WMAPping the Inflationary Universe

TL;DR

This paper reviews the inflationary universe theory, its observational signatures in cosmic microwave background data, and discusses how current observations help distinguish between different inflation models.

Contribution

It provides an overview of inflationary models and assesses how recent cosmological observations constrain and differentiate these models.

Findings

Current observations support inflationary scenarios.

Data helps discriminate between inflation models.

Implications for early universe cosmology.

Abstract

An epoch of accelerated expansion, or inflation, in the early universe solves several cosmological problems. While there are many models of inflation only recently has it become possible to discriminate between some of the models using observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation and large-scale structure. In this talk, we discuss inflation and its observational consequences, and then the status of current cosmological observations and their implications for different models of inflation.