Seminar
A Non-inflationary Signature in CMB Anisotropies

Abstract

The standard model of cosmology has been quite successful accounting for a broad range of data - at least until the past few years. But as the quality of cosmological measurements has continued to improve, tension has grown between observations and the predictions of LCDM. In this talk, we will address several "problem" areas, and then focus on the most recent: the emergence of a rather strong non-inflationary signature in the angular correlation function of the microwave background. Inflation is critical to the internal self-consistency of the standard model. Yet after 4 decades, we still lack convincing evidence that it ever happened.