Bonn 2010 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 23: Theoretische Astroteilchenphysik und Kosmologie I

T 23.9: Talk

Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 16:00–16:15, HG XV

CMB polarisation at second order — Martin Beneke, •Christian Fidler, and Klaus Klingmüller — Institut für Theoretische Physik E, RWTH Aachen U., 52056 Aachen

Inflation generates primordial gravitational waves which leave a distinctive gradient-free imprint on the polarisation pattern of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). At first order in cosmological perturbation theory, they are the sole source for this imprint. However, experimental data indicate that their amplitude is small. Thus, second order effects from primordial scalar fluctuations, for example weak lensing, contaminate the gravitational wave signal. To take all such effects into account, we derive the full polarised Boltzmann equation---the equation describing the evolution of fluctuations from primordial times to the present---at second order.