학술논문

Bayes' Theorem, Inflation, and the Ekpyrotic Universe
Document Type
Working Paper
Source
Subject
Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Language
Abstract
We calculate the Bayesian evidences for a class of Ekpyrotic universe models, and compare with a model of single field inflation with a Higgs-type potential. Combining parsimony and observational constraints, this gives us a systematic way to evaluate the degree to which Ekpyrotic models are constrained by CMB data from Planck. We integrate the equations of motion numerically to define a likelihood using Planck 2018 data and sample this likelihood to obtain Bayesian evidences. Priors are justified and used to put Ekpyrotic models and inflation on equal footing. We find reasonable preference for one of the considered Ekpyrotic models over the others, but that even this one is disfavored compared with Higgs inflation.
Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures; Added references and corrected typos