Pith. sign in

CMB-S4: Forecasting Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves

9 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

9 Pith papers citing it
abstract

CMB-S4---the next-generation ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment---is set to significantly advance the sensitivity of CMB measurements and enhance our understanding of the origin and evolution of the Universe, from the highest energies at the dawn of time through the growth of structure to the present day. Among the science cases pursued with CMB-S4, the quest for detecting primordial gravitational waves is a central driver of the experimental design. This work details the development of a forecasting framework that includes a power-spectrum-based semi-analytic projection tool, targeted explicitly towards optimizing constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r$, in the presence of Galactic foregrounds and gravitational lensing of the CMB. This framework is unique in its direct use of information from the achieved performance of current Stage 2--3 CMB experiments to robustly forecast the science reach of upcoming CMB-polarization endeavors. The methodology allows for rapid iteration over experimental configurations and offers a flexible way to optimize the design of future experiments given a desired scientific goal. To form a closed-loop process, we couple this semi-analytic tool with map-based validation studies, which allow for the injection of additional complexity and verification of our forecasts with several independent analysis methods. We document multiple rounds of forecasts for CMB-S4 using this process and the resulting establishment of the current reference design of the primordial gravitational-wave component of the Stage-4 experiment, optimized to achieve our science goals of detecting primordial gravitational waves for $r > 0.003$ at greater than $5\sigma$, or, in the absence of a detection, of reaching an upper limit of $r < 0.001$ at $95\%$ CL.

citation-role summary

background 4

citation-polarity summary

roles

background 4

polarities

background 4

representative citing papers

Controlled Penumbral Inflation from Monodromic Valleys

hep-ph · 2026-05-11 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0 · 2 refs

Derives conditions on branch parameters for controlled inflationary plateaus in penumbral monodromic valleys, with an exactly solvable family targeting r ~ 10^{-3} and alpha_s ~ -r/2.

On Legacy of Starobinsky Inflation

gr-qc · 2025-01-11 · unverdicted · novelty 2.0

A memorial review of the Starobinsky inflation model that proposes a deformation for primordial black hole production and discusses superstring quantum corrections plus universal reheating.

citing papers explorer

Showing 9 of 9 citing papers.