Adrienne Erickcek

Research Interests

Broadly speaking, I am interested in the three major unknown players on the cosmic scene: the inflaton, the dark matter, and the dark energy. Each of these three substances are thought to control the dynamics of the Universe during different stages of its evolution, but despite their importance, their nature is still mysterious.

My research focuses on the observational consequences of competing models for inflation, dark matter and dark energy. Recently, I have studied ways to probe the perturbations generated during the later stages of inflation, how the transition from inflation to radiation domination can affect the small-scale distribution of dark matter, and how local dark matter substructure may be detected through gravitational lensing.

Positions Held

• Sept. 2009 - present: Postdoctoral Fellow, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
• Sept. 2009 - present: Postdoctoral Researcher, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Awards

• CIFAR Junior Fellowship, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

Recent Publications

• Jens Chluba, Adrienne L. Erickcek, Ido Ben-Dayan. "Probing the inflaton: Small-scale power spectrum constraints from measurements of the CMB energy spectrum", ApJ 758, 2012, 76, arxiv: 1203.2681
• Fangda Li, Adrienne L. Erickcek, and Nicholas M. Law. "A new probe of the small-scale primordial power spectrum: Astrometric microlensing by ultracompact minihalos", Phys. Rev D 86, 2012, 043519, arxiv: 1202.1284
• Adrienne L. Erickcek and Kris Sigurdson. "Reheating effects in the matter power spectrum and implications for substructure," Phys. Rev. D 84, 2011, 083503, arxiv: 1106.0536
• Adrienne L. Erickcek and Nicholas M. Law, "Astrometric Microlensing by Local Dark Matter Subhalos," Astrophys.J. 729, 2011, 49, arxiv: 1007.4228
• Adrienne L. Erickcek, Christopher M. Hirata, and Marc Kamionkowski. "A scale-dependent power asymmetry from isocurvature perturbations" Phys. Rev. D 80, 2009, 083507, arxiv: 0907.0705
• Adrienne L. Erickcek, Marc Kamionkowski, and Sean M. Carroll. "A hemispherical power asymmetry from inflation" Phys. Rev. D 78, 2008, 123520, arxiv: 0806.0377
• Adrienne L. Erickcek, Sean M. Carroll, and Marc Kamionkowski. "Superhorizon perturbations and the cosmic microwave background" Phys. Rev. D 78, 2008, 083012, arxiv: 0808.1570
• Tristan L. Smith, Adrienne L. Erickcek, Robert R. Caldwell, and Marc Kamionkowski. "Effects of Chern-Simons gravity on bodies orbiting the Earth" Phys. Rev. D 77, 2008, 024015, arxiv: 0708.0001
• Adrienne L. Erickcek, Paul J. Steinhardt, Dan McCammon, and Patrick C. McGuire. "Constraints on the interactions between dark matter and baryons from the x-ray quantum calorimetry experiment", Phys. Rev. D 76, 2007, 042007, arxiv: 0704.0794
• Takeshi Chiba, Tristan L. Smith, and Adrienne L. Erickcek. "Solar System constraints to general f(R) gravity" Phys. Rev. D 75, 2007, 124014, arxiv: astro-ph/0611867
• Adrienne L. Erickcek, Tristan L. Smith, and Marc Kamionkowski. "Solar System tests do rule out 1/R gravity", Phys. Rev. D 74, 2006, 121501(R), arxiv: astro-ph/0610483
• Adrienne L. Erickcek, Marc Kamionkowski, and Andrew J. Benson. "Supermassive black hole merger rates: uncertainties from halo merger theory", Mon. Not. Roy. Ast. Soc. 371, 2006, 1992, arxiv: astro-ph/0604281
• Mark A. Scheel, Adrienne L. Erickcek, Lior M. Burko, Lawrence E. Kidder, Harald P. Pfeiffer, and Saul A. Teukolsky. "3D simulations of linearized scalar fields in Kerr spacetimes", Phys. Rev. D 69, 2004, 104006, arxiv: gr-qc/0305027

Seminars

• "The power of small scales to probe inflation," Cosmic Acceleration Workshop, Carnegie Mellon University
• "The power of small scales to probe the early Universe," CIFAR Cosmology & Gravity Annual Meeting (Whistler, BC)
• "Microhalos: Messengers from the Early Universe," University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• "Microhalos: Messengers from the Early Universe," Rochester Institute of Technology
• "Dark Matter Microhalos: Messengers from the Early Universe," KICP
• "Astrometric microlensing by local subhalos: a new window on reheating?" Dark Matter from Every Direction Workshop; McGill University
• "Detecting local dark matter with stellar astronomy," Indirect and Direct Detection of Dark Matter; Aspen Center for Physics
• "Astrometric microlensing by local dark matter subhalos," AAS Meeting #217 (Seattle, WA)
• "Shining light through the darkness: detecting local dark matter with stellar astrometry" U Waterloo, ON
• "Looking Beyond the Cosmological Horizon," Caltech Everhart Lecture
• "Structure Beyond the Horizon: Inflationary Origins of the Cosmic Power Asymmetry," Fermilab
• "Structure Beyond the Horizon: Inflationary Origins of the Cosmic Power Asymmetry," Stanford, UC Berkeley, Institute for Advanced Study
• "Structure Beyond the Horizon: Inflationary Origins of the Cosmic Power Asymmetry," CITA
• "How to Generate a Cosmological Power Asymmetry," Cosmo '08 (Madison, WI)
• PIRSA:12100125, Kicking Chameleons: Early Universe Challenges for Chameleon Gravity, 2012-10-25, Cosmology & Gravitation
• PIRSA:11090082, What Dark Matter Microhalos Can Tell us About Reheating, 2011-09-22, Unravelling Dark Matter Conference
• PIRSA:08120031, Inflationary Origins of the Cosmic Power Asymmetry, 2008-12-09, Young Researchers Conference 2008
• PIRSA:08100031, Structure Beyond the Horizon: Inflationary Origins of the Cosmic Power Asymmetry, 2008-10-14, Cosmology