Showing posts with label Planck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Planck. Show all posts

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Inflationary paradigm in trouble after Planck2013

The recent Planck satellite combined with earlier results eliminate a wide spectrum of more complex inflationary models and favour models with a single scalar field, as reported in the analysis of the collaboration. More important, though, is that all the simplest inflation models are disfavoured by the data while the surviving models -- namely, those with plateau-like potentials -- are problematic. We discuss how the restriction to plateau-like models leads to three independent problems: it exacerbates both the initial conditions problem and the multiverse-unpredictability problem and it creates a new difficulty which we call the inflationary "unlikeliness problem." Finally, we comment on problems reconciling inflation with a standard model Higgs, as suggested by recent LHC results. In sum, we find that recent experimental data disfavours all the best-motivated inflationary scenarios and introduces new, serious difficulties that cut to the core of the inflationary paradigm. Forthcoming searches for B-modes, non-Gaussianity and new particles should be decisive. 

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