Planck 2015 constraints on the non-flat $Λ$CDM inflation model

Abstract: We study Planck 2015 cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy data using the energy density inhomogeneity power spectrum generated by quantum fluctuations during an early epoch of inflation in the non-flat $\Lambda$CDM model. Unlike earlier analyses of non-flat models, which assumed an inconsistent power-law power spectrum of energy density inhomogeneities, we find that the Planck 2015 data alone, and also in conjunction with baryon acoustic oscillation measurements, are reasonably well fit by a closed $\Lambda$CDM model in which spatial curvature contributes a few percent of the current cosmological energy density budget. In this model, the measured Hubble constant and non-relativistic matter density parameter are in good agreement with values determined using most other data. Depending on parameter values, the closed $\Lambda$CDM model has reduced power, relative to the tilted, spatially-flat $\Lambda$CDM case, and can partially alleviate the low multipole CMB temperature anisotropy deficit and can help partially reconcile the CMB anisotropy and weak lensing $\sigma_8$ constraints, at the expense of somewhat worsening the fit to higher multipole CMB temperature anisotropy data. Our results are interesting but tentative; a more thorough analysis is needed to properly gauge their significance.