论文标题
来自宇宙微波背景的两极光的新物理学
New physics from the polarised light of the cosmic microwave background
论文作者
论文摘要
宇宙学需要超出基本颗粒和田间标准模型的新物理。暗物质和暗能量背后的基本物理是什么？是什么引起了早期宇宙的最初波动？宇宙微波背景（CMB）的偏振光可能会保留答案的钥匙。在本文中，我们讨论了该研究领域的两个新发展。首先，如果暗物质和暗能量背后的物理违反了平等对称性，则随着CMB光子的传播超过130亿年，它们与光子的耦合旋转线性极化平面。这种效果被称为“宇宙双折射”：充满暗物质的空间和暗能表现，好像是一种双重材料，就像晶体一样。发现了这种信号的诱人提示，其统计意义为$3σ$。接下来，在非常早期的宇宙中加速膨胀时期，称为“宇宙通胀”，产生了原始引力波（GW）的随机背景。什么产生的GW？领先的想法是时空中的真空波动，但物质场也可能产生显着的原始GW振幅。使用CMB极化找到其起源为通货膨胀背后的物理学打开了一个新窗口。这些新的科学目标可能会影响未来CMB实验的数据如何收集，校准和分析。
Cosmology requires new physics beyond the Standard Model of elementary particles and fields. What is the fundamental physics behind dark matter and dark energy? What generated the initial fluctuations in the early Universe? Polarised light of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) may hold the key to answers. In this article, we discuss two new developments in this research area. First, if the physics behind dark matter and dark energy violates parity symmetry, their coupling to photons rotates the plane of linear polarisation as the CMB photons travel more than 13 billion years. This effect is known as `cosmic birefringence': space filled with dark matter and dark energy behaves as if it were a birefringent material, like a crystal. A tantalising hint for such a signal has been found with the statistical significance of $3σ$. Next, the period of accelerated expansion in the very early Universe, called `cosmic inflation', produced a stochastic background of primordial gravitational waves (GW). What generated GW? The leading idea is vacuum fluctuations in spacetime, but matter fields could also produce a significant amplitude of primordial GW. Finding its origin using CMB polarisation opens a new window into the physics behind inflation. These new scientific targets may influence how data from future CMB experiments are collected, calibrated, and analysed.
