We present cosmological parameter results from the final full-mission Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies, combining information from the temperature and polarization maps and the lensing reconstruction. Compared to the 2015 results, improved measurements of large-scale polarization allow the reionization optical depth to be measured with higher precision, leading to significant gains in the precision of other correlated parameters. Improved modelling of the small-scale polarization leads to more robust constraints on many parameters, with residual modelling uncertainties estimated to affect them only at the 0.5σ level. We find good consistency with the standard spatially-flat 6-parameter ΛCDM cosmology having a power-law spectrum of adiabatic scalar perturbations (denoted “base ΛCDM” in this paper), from polarization, temperature, and lensing, separately and in combination. A combined analysis gives dark matter density Ωch2 = 0.120 ± 0.001, baryon density Ωbh2 = 0.0224 ± 0.0001, scalar spectral index ns = 0.965 ± 0.004, and optical depth τ = 0.054 ± 0.007 (in this abstract we quote 68% confidence regions on measured parameters and 95% on upper limits). The angular acoustic scale is measured to 0.03% precision, with 100θ* = 1.0411 ± 0.0003. These results are only weakly dependent on the cosmological model and remain stable, with somewhat increased errors, in many commonly considered extensions. Assuming the base-ΛCDM cosmology, the inferred (model-dependent) late-Universe parameters are: Hubble constant H0 = (67.4 ± 0.5)  km s−1 Mpc−1; matter density parameter Ωm = 0.315 ± 0.007; and matter fluctuation amplitude σ8 = 0.811 ± 0.006. We find no compelling evidence for extensions to the base-ΛCDM model. Combining with baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements (and considering single-parameter extensions) we constrain the effective extra relativistic degrees of freedom to be Neff = 2.99 ± 0.17, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction Neff = 3.046, and find that the neutrino mass is tightly constrained to ∑mν <  0.12  eV. The CMB spectra continue to prefer higher lensing amplitudes than predicted in base ΛCDM at over 2σ, which pulls some parameters that affect the lensing amplitude away from the ΛCDM model; however, this is not supported by the lensing reconstruction or (in models that also change the background geometry) BAO data. The joint constraint with BAO measurements on spatial curvature is consistent with a flat universe, ΩK = 0.001 ± 0.002. Also combining with Type Ia supernovae (SNe), the dark-energy equation of state parameter is measured to be w0 = −1.03 ± 0.03, consistent with a cosmological constant. We find no evidence for deviations from a purely power-law primordial spectrum, and combining with data from BAO, BICEP2, and Keck Array data, we place a limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r0.002 <  0.06. Standard big-bang nucleosynthesis predictions for the helium and deuterium abundances for the base-ΛCDM cosmology are in excellent agreement with observations. The Planck base-ΛCDM results are in good agreement with BAO, SNe, and some galaxy lensing observations, but in slight tension with the Dark Energy Survey’s combined-probe results including galaxy clustering (which prefers lower fluctuation amplitudes or matter density parameters), and in significant, 3.6σ, tension with local measurements of the Hubble constant (which prefer a higher value). Simple model extensions that can partially resolve these tensions are not favoured by the Planck data.

We present the implications for cosmic inflation of the Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies in both temperature and polarization based on the full Planck survey, which includes more than twice the integration time of the nominal survey used for the 2013 release papers. The Planck full mission temperature data and a first release of polarization data on large angular scales measure the spectral index of curvature perturbations to be n s = 0.968 ± 0.006 and tightly constrain its scale dependence to dn s /dln k = −0.003 ± 0.007 when combined with the Planck lensing likelihood. When the Planck high-polarization data are included, the results are consistent and uncertainties are further reduced. The upper bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio is r 0.002 < 0.11 (95% CL). This upper limit is consistent with the B-mode polarization constraint r < 0.12 (95% CL) obtained from a joint analysis of the BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck data. These results imply that V(φ) ∝ φ 2 and natural inflation are now disfavoured compared to models predicting a smaller tensor-to-scalar ratio, such as R 2 inflation. We search for several physically motivated deviations from a simple power-law spectrum of curvature perturbations, including those motivated by a reconstruction of the inflaton potential not relying on the slow-roll approximation. We find that such models are not preferred, either according to a Bayesian model comparison or according to a frequentist simulation-based analysis. Three independent methods reconstructing the primordial power spectrum consistently recover a featureless and smooth P R (k) over the range of scales 0.008 Mpc −1 < ∼ k < ∼ 0.1 Mpc −1 . At large scales, each method finds deviations from a power law, connected to a deficit at multipoles ≈ 20−40 in the temperature power spectrum, but at an uncompelling statistical significance owing to the large cosmic variance present at these multipoles. By combining power spectrum and non-Gaussianity bounds, we constrain models with generalized Lagrangians, including Galileon models and axion monodromy models. The Planck data are consistent with adiabatic primordial perturbations, and the estimated values for the parameters of the base Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model are not significantly altered when more general initial conditions are admitted. In correlated mixed adiabatic and isocurvature models, the 95% CL upper bound for the non-adiabatic contribution to the observed CMB temperature variance is |α non-adi | < 1.9%, 4.0%, and 2.9% for CDM, neutrino density, and neutrino velocity isocurvature modes, respectively. We have tested inflationary models producing an anisotropic modulation of the primordial curvature power spectrum finding that the dipolar modulation in the CMB temperature field induced by a CDM isocurvature perturbation is not preferred at a statistically significant level. We also establish tight constraints on a possible quadrupolar modulation of the curvature perturbation. These results are consistent with the Pl...

We report on the implications for cosmic inflation of the 2018 release of the Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy measurements. The results are fully consistent with those reported using the data from the two previous Planck cosmological releases, but have smaller uncertainties thanks to improvements in the characterization of polarization at low and high multipoles. Planck temperature, polarization, and lensing data determine the spectral index of scalar perturbations to be ns = 0.9649 ± 0.0042 at 68% CL. We find no evidence for a scale dependence of ns, either as a running or as a running of the running. The Universe is found to be consistent with spatial flatness with a precision of 0.4% at 95% CL by combining Planck with a compilation of baryon acoustic oscillation data. The Planck 95% CL upper limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio, r0.002 <  0.10, is further tightened by combining with the BICEP2/Keck Array BK15 data to obtain r0.002 <  0.056. In the framework of standard single-field inflationary models with Einstein gravity, these results imply that: (a) the predictions of slow-roll models with a concave potential, V″(ϕ) < 0, are increasingly favoured by the data; and (b) based on two different methods for reconstructing the inflaton potential, we find no evidence for dynamics beyond slow roll. Three different methods for the non-parametric reconstruction of the primordial power spectrum consistently confirm a pure power law in the range of comoving scales 0.005 Mpc−1 ≲ k ≲ 0.2 Mpc−1. A complementary analysis also finds no evidence for theoretically motivated parameterized features in the Planck power spectra. For the case of oscillatory features that are logarithmic or linear in k, this result is further strengthened by a new combined analysis including the Planck bispectrum data. The new Planck polarization data provide a stringent test of the adiabaticity of the initial conditions for the cosmological fluctuations. In correlated, mixed adiabatic and isocurvature models, the non-adiabatic contribution to the observed CMB temperature variance is constrained to 1.3%, 1.7%, and 1.7% at 95% CL for cold dark matter, neutrino density, and neutrino velocity, respectively. Planck power spectra plus lensing set constraints on the amplitude of compensated cold dark matter-baryon isocurvature perturbations that are consistent with current complementary measurements. The polarization data also provide improved constraints on inflationary models that predict a small statistically anisotropic quadupolar modulation of the primordial fluctuations. However, the polarization data do not support physical models for a scale-dependent dipolar modulation. All these findings support the key predictions of the standard single-field inflationary models, which will be further tested by future cosmological observations.

A flat Friedman-Roberson-Walker universe dominated by a cosmological constant (Λ) and cold dark matter (CDM) has been the working model preferred by cosmologists since the discovery of cosmic acceleration 1, 2 . However, tensions of various degrees of significance are known to be present among existing datasets within the ΛCDM framework [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] . In particular, the Lyman-α forest measurement of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) 3 prefers a smaller value of the matter density fraction Ω M compared to the value preferred by cosmic microwave background (CMB The observational datasets considered in this work include the latest CMB temperature and polarisation anisotropy spectra, the supernovae (SNe) luminosity distance data, the BAO angular diameter distance data from the clustering of galaxies (gBAO) and from the Lyman-α forest (LyαFB), the measurement of H 0 , H(z) measurements using the relative age of old and passively evolving galaxies (OHD), the three-dimensional galaxy power spectra, and the two-dimensional weak lensing shear angular power spectra. Further details about the datasets and associated systematic effects can be found in Methods.The KL divergence, also known as relative entropy, quantifies the proximity of two probability density functions (PDFs). Rather than focusing on particular model parameters, it is designed to compare the overall concordance of datasets within a given model. We use the difference between the actual and the expected KL divergence, called "Surprise" 15 , as a measure of tension between datasets. Rather than comparing the PDFs for the ΛCDM parameters for every pair of datasets, we take the combined dataset, ALL16 (see Supplementary Fig. 1b), with the first two values signalling significant tension.Next, we check if the tension within the ΛCDM model can be interpreted as evidence for a dynamical DE. The dynamics of DE can be probed in terms of its equation of state w, which is equal to −1 for Λ, but is different in dynamical DE models where it will generally be a function of redshift z. Commonly considered alternatives to Λ are a model with a constant w (wCDM), and one in which w is linear function of the scale factor (w 0 w a CDM) 16 . We allow for a general evolution of the DE equation of state and use the correlated prior method 17 to perform a Bayesian non-parametric reconstruction of w(z) using the Monte Carlo Markov Chain method with other cosmological parameters marginalised over (see Methods for details). 0 during matter domination. Such dynamics would be consistent with our reconstruction and could be tested in the future when BAO measurements at higher redshifts become available. In addition to the reconstruction from the combined ALL16 dataset presented in Fig. 2, we present reconstructions derived from ten different data combinations in Supplementary Fig. 1.The results for tension between datasets, re-evaluated for the ALL 16 best fit w(z)CDM model, are shown with dark blue bars in F...

PolyChord is a novel nested sampling algorithm tailored for high-dimensional parameter spaces. This paper coincides with the release of PolyChord v1.3, and provides an extensive account of the algorithm. PolyChord utilises slice sampling at each iteration to sample within the hard likelihood constraint of nested sampling. It can identify and evolve separate modes of a posterior semi-independently, and is parallelised using openMPI. It is capable of exploiting a hierarchy of parameter speeds such as those present in CosmoMC and CAMB, and is now in use in the CosmoChord and ModeChord codes. PolyChord is available for download at: