Polarization of the microwave background in inflationary cosmology

We evaluate the large scale polarization of the cosmic microwave background induced, via Thomson scattering prior to decoupling, by nearly scale-invariant spectra of scalar and tensor metric perturbations, such as those predicted by most inflationary models of the early Universe. We solve the radiat...

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Autores principales: Harari, Diego Darío, Zaldarriaga, Matias
Publicado: 1993
Acceso en línea:https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_03702693_v319_n1-3_p96_Harari
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_03702693_v319_n1-3_p96_Harari
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Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires
id paper:paper_03702693_v319_n1-3_p96_Harari
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spelling paper:paper_03702693_v319_n1-3_p96_Harari2025-07-30T18:13:32Z Polarization of the microwave background in inflationary cosmology Harari, Diego Darío Zaldarriaga, Matias We evaluate the large scale polarization of the cosmic microwave background induced, via Thomson scattering prior to decoupling, by nearly scale-invariant spectra of scalar and tensor metric perturbations, such as those predicted by most inflationary models of the early Universe. We solve the radiative transfer equation for the polarized photon distribution function analytically, for wavelengths of order or larger than the horizon size at decoupling, assuming no reionization. The induced polarization is proportional to the redshift induced by the perturbations at decoupling and to the duration of the decoupling transition. Normalizing the spectra to the quadrupole anisotropy measured by the COBE satellite, the expected degree of linear polarization is P ≲ 10-7, more than two orders of magnitude smaller than current bounds. The dependence of P with the tilt in the spectrum away from scale invariance is too weak to be of observational relevance or to provide a sensitive discrimination between scalar and tensor fluctuations. The variation of P with the angular scale is significant. © 1993. Fil:Harari, D.D. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Fil:Zaldarriaga, M. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. 1993 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_03702693_v319_n1-3_p96_Harari http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_03702693_v319_n1-3_p96_Harari
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
description We evaluate the large scale polarization of the cosmic microwave background induced, via Thomson scattering prior to decoupling, by nearly scale-invariant spectra of scalar and tensor metric perturbations, such as those predicted by most inflationary models of the early Universe. We solve the radiative transfer equation for the polarized photon distribution function analytically, for wavelengths of order or larger than the horizon size at decoupling, assuming no reionization. The induced polarization is proportional to the redshift induced by the perturbations at decoupling and to the duration of the decoupling transition. Normalizing the spectra to the quadrupole anisotropy measured by the COBE satellite, the expected degree of linear polarization is P ≲ 10-7, more than two orders of magnitude smaller than current bounds. The dependence of P with the tilt in the spectrum away from scale invariance is too weak to be of observational relevance or to provide a sensitive discrimination between scalar and tensor fluctuations. The variation of P with the angular scale is significant. © 1993.
author Harari, Diego Darío
Zaldarriaga, Matias
spellingShingle Harari, Diego Darío
Zaldarriaga, Matias
Polarization of the microwave background in inflationary cosmology
author_facet Harari, Diego Darío
Zaldarriaga, Matias
author_sort Harari, Diego Darío
title Polarization of the microwave background in inflationary cosmology
title_short Polarization of the microwave background in inflationary cosmology
title_full Polarization of the microwave background in inflationary cosmology
title_fullStr Polarization of the microwave background in inflationary cosmology
title_full_unstemmed Polarization of the microwave background in inflationary cosmology
title_sort polarization of the microwave background in inflationary cosmology
publishDate 1993
url https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_03702693_v319_n1-3_p96_Harari
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_03702693_v319_n1-3_p96_Harari
work_keys_str_mv AT hararidiegodario polarizationofthemicrowavebackgroundininflationarycosmology
AT zaldarriagamatias polarizationofthemicrowavebackgroundininflationarycosmology
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