Preprint Article Version 1 This version is not peer-reviewed

# Gravitational Fluctuations as an Alternative to Inflation II. CMB Angular Power Spectrum

Version 1 : Received: 7 October 2019 / Approved: 9 October 2019 / Online: 9 October 2019 (10:41:34 CEST)

How to cite: Hamber, H.W.; Yu, L.H.S. Gravitational Fluctuations as an Alternative to Inflation II. CMB Angular Power Spectrum. Preprints 2019, 2019100101 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201910.0101.v1). Hamber, H.W.; Yu, L.H.S. Gravitational Fluctuations as an Alternative to Inflation II. CMB Angular Power Spectrum. Preprints 2019, 2019100101 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201910.0101.v1).

## Abstract

Power spectra always play an important role in the theory of inflation. In particular, the ability to reproduce the galaxy matter power spectrum $P(k)$ and the CMB temperature angular power spectrum $C_l$’s to high accuracy is often considered a triumph of inflation. In our previous work, we presented an alternative explanation for the matter power spectrum based on nonperturbative quantum field-theoretical methods applied to Einstein’s gravity, instead of inflation models based on scalar fields. In this work, we review the basic concepts and provide further in-depth investigations. We first update the analysis with more recent data sets and error analysis, and then extend our predictions to the CMB angular spectrum coefficients $C_l$, which we did not consider previously. Then we investigate further the potential freedoms and uncertainties associated with the fundamental parameters that are part of this picture, and show how recent cosmological data provides significant constraints on these quantities. Overall, we find good general consistency between theory and data, even potentially favoring the gravitationally-motivated picture at the largest scales. We summarize our results by outlining how this picture can be tested in the near future with increasingly accurate astrophysical measurements.

## Subject Areas

quantum cosmology; quantum gravity; inflationary cosmology