Abstract. This article gives a brief overview of some of the theory behind the inflationary cosmology, and discusses prospects for constraining inflation using observations. Particular care is given to the question of falsifiability of inflation or of subsets of inflationary models. (1)
Table of Contents
OVERVIEW
INFLATIONARY COSMOLOGY: MODELS
INFLATIONARY COSMOLOGY: PERTURBATIONS
TESTING INFLATION
Quantifying microwave background anisotropies
The key tests of inflation
Spatial flatness
Gaussianity and adiabaticity
Vector and tensor perturbations
Growing mode perturbations
PRESENT AND FUTURE
The current status of inflation
Prospects for the future
NEW DIRECTIONS
The braneworld
The Ekpyrotic Universe
SUMMARY
REFERENCES
For a postscript version of the article, click here.
1 Article based on a talk presented at "The Early Universe and Cosmological Observations: a Critical Review", Cape Town, July 2001 Back.
