Study of the Experimental Probe of Inflationary Cosmology (EPIC)-Intemediate Mission for NASA's Einstein Inflation Probe

Understand

Measurements of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy have served as the best experimental probe of the early universe to date.

• The inflationary paradigm, inspired in part by the extreme isotropy of the CMB, is now a cornerstone in modern cosmology.
• Inflation has passed a series of rigorous experimental tests, but we still do not understand the physical mechanism or energy scale behind inflation.
• A general prediction of inflation and one that can provide certain insights into inflationary physics is a background of primordial gravitational waves.