Quantum Gravitational Contributions to the CMB Anisotropy Spectrum

Understand

We derive the primordial power spectrum of density fluctuations in the framework of quantum cosmology.

• For this purpose we perform a Born-Oppenheimer approximation to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for an inflationary universe with a scalar field.
• In this way we first recover the scale-invariant power spectrum that is found as an approximation in the simplest inflationary models.
• We then obtain quantum gravitational corrections to this spectrum and discuss whether they lead to measurable signatures in the CMB anisotropy spectrum.