How Well Can We Really Determine the Scale of Inflation?
Ogan \"Ozsoy, Kuver Sinha, Scott Watson

TL;DR
Detecting primordial B-modes can indicate the inflation scale, but additional sources of gravity waves could complicate this interpretation; however, under certain conditions, B-mode detection remains a reliable indicator.
Contribution
This paper critically examines how additional fields and non-adiabatic effects during inflation impact the interpretation of primordial B-modes as a measure of inflation scale.
Findings
Additional sources of primordial gravity waves are constrained by non-Gaussianity limits.
Embedding models in string theory can suppress unwanted corrections.
B-mode detection remains a good indicator of inflation scale under certain conditions.
Abstract
A detection of primordial B-modes has been heralded not only as a smoking gun for the existence of inflation, but also as a way to establish the scale at which inflation took place. In this paper we critically reinvestigate the connection between a detection of primordial gravity waves and the scale of inflation. We consider whether the presence of additional fields and non-adiabaticity during inflation may have provided an additional source of primordial B-modes competitive with those of the quasi-de Sitter vacuum. In particular, we examine whether the additional sources could provide the dominant signal, which could lead to a misinterpretation of the scale of inflation. In light of constraints on the level of non-Gaussianity coming from Planck we find that only hidden sectors with strictly gravitationally strength couplings provide a feasible mechanism. The required model building is…
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