Inflation, Quantum Field Renormalization, and CMB Anisotropies

I. Agullo, J. Navarro-Salas, G. J. Olmo, L. Parker

Inflationary cosmology has proved to be successful at predicting the properties of the anisotropies observed in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In this talk we argue that quantum field renormalization in curved spacetimes can significantly influence the generation of primordial perturbations and hence the expected measurable imprint of cosmological inflation on the CMB. However, the new predictions remain in agreement with observation and in fact make the simplest forms of inflation (as the $V=\lambda \phi^4$ model) compatible with observations. In the near future, observations of the influence of gravitational waves from the early universe on the CMB will test our new predictions.