OBSERVING THE INFLATION POTENTIAL

We show how observations of the density perturbation (scalar) spectrum and the gravitational wave (tensor) spectrum allow a reconstruction o f the potential responsible for cosmological inflation. A complete fun ctional reconstruction or a perturbative approximation about a single scale are possible; the suitability of each approach depends on the da ta available. Consistency equations between the scalar and tensor spec tra are derived, which provide a powerful signal of inflation.