Probing the power spectrum bend with recent CMB data

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  • 1 December 2000
Abstract
We constrain the primordial fluctuation spectrum P}(k) by using the new data on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from the Boomerang and MAXIMA experiments. Our study is based on slow-roll inflationary models, and we consider the possibility of a running spectral index. Specifically, we expand the power spectrum P(k) to second order in ln(k), thus allowing the power spectrum to ``bend'' in k-space. We show that allowing the power spectrum to bend erases the ability of the present data to measure the tensor to scalar perturbation ratio. Moreover, if the primordial baryon density \Omega_b h^2 is as low as found from Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), the data favor a negative bending of the power spectrum, corresponding to a bump-like feature in the power spectrum around a scale of k=0.004 Mpc^-1.

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