Optimizing CMB polarization experiments to constrain inflationary physics

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Abstract
We quantify how to optimize current-technology CMB polarization experiments in order to learn about inflationary physics. We consider space-based, balloon-borne and ground-based experiments. We find that foreground contamination and residuals from foreground subtraction are ultimately the limiting factors in detecting a primordial gravity wave signal. For full-sky space-based experiments, these factors hinder the detection of tensor-to-scalar ratios of $r3-sigma tensor component in a realistic CMB experiment, inflation must either involve large-field variations, \Delta\phi>~1 or multi-field/hybrid models. Hybrid models can be easily distinguished from large-field models due to their blue scalar spectral index. Therefore, an observation of a tensor/scalar ratio and n<1 in future experiments with the characteristics considered here would be an indication that inflation is being driven by some exotic physics which cannot be captured in terms of a low energy effective field theory description.

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