With the successful launch of the Planck satellite in May 2009, a new observational window opens up in cosmology. This mission is intended to finely analyze the temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), and will allow us to better study and constrain the early universe, in particular inflation. Among the scientific goals of this mission we expect :
* A better determination of the power spectra of the temperature fluctuations and E-mode polarization, and thus a more accurate measurement of the (slow-roll) parameters describing the inflaton potential
* A possible detection of the B-mode polarizationB
* A possible detection of non-gaussianity or the establishment of tighter constraints, either on primordial fluctuations or late-time induced nonlinear couplings
* Establishment of best current constraints on the total mass of neutrinos.
Faced with the emergence of these new themes, the school will allow the cosmological community to consolidate its expertise. It will not address the Planck data – which will not be public at that time – but will explore the phenomenological and theoretical advances brought by this mission
The scientific aim of this school is to show how the new generation of data will allow to look for signatures characterizing the models of the early universe. The school will cover the physics of the cosmic microwave background, with particular emphasis on new aspects which are the most relevant to the confrontation of theories with observations. In particular :
* New models of the early universe and their predictions (NGs, spectral index, gravitational waves)
* The polarization of the cosmic microwave background and what we can learn from it
* The effects of gravitational lensing
* The origin, characterization and measurement of non-Gaussianities