f(R) gravity theory and CMBR constraints

We consider the large-scale cosmic structure generation by an inflation based on a pure f(R)-type gravity theory. Comparison with recent CMBR observations gives the following results: (1) The near Zel'dovich spectral conditions uniquely choose R-2-type gravity. (2) The R-2 gravity predicts specific nearly scale-invariant Zel'dovich spectra for both the scalar- and tensor-type perturbations. Thus, (3) the considered model survives current observational data. The COBE-DMR quadrupole data (4) give constraints on the coupling constant and the energy scale during inflation, and (5) require the gravitational wave contribution to be suppressed. (6) Therefore, future observations of (2) and (5) can provide strong tests of the inflation scenario based on R-2 gravity. Parallel analyzes made in the conformally transformed Einstein frame give the observationally identical results. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.