Inflation: Connecting Theory to Observation

Joel Meyers

July 19, 2012

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Abstract: If we are to use observations of the cosmic microwave background and large scale structure to learn about the early universe, we must understand how correlation functions that we calculate from theories of inflation are related to correlation functions present in the radiation-dominated era at a temperature low enough such that we understand the contents of the universe. In this talk, I will discuss the conditions under which cosmological correlation functions are conserved through the intervening eras which we do not understand and discuss the implications for the observables of a particular class of multiple field inflationary models.