Observational constraints on loop quantum cosmology

Abstract

In the inflationary scenario of loop quantum cosmology in the presence of inverse-volume corrections, we give analytic formulas for the power spectra of scalar and tensor perturbations convenient to compare with observations. Since inverse-volume corrections can provide strong contributions to the running spectral indices, inclusion of terms higher than the second-order runnings in the power spectra is crucially important. Using the recent data of cosmic microwave background and other cosmological experiments, we place bounds on the quantum corrections.

Comments: 4 pages, 3 figures. v2: introduction made less technical, improved datasets in the numerical analysis, typos corrected, references added; results and conclusions unchanged