Recombining WMAP: Constraints on ionizing and resonance radiation at recombination

We place new constraints on sources of ionizing and resonance radiation at the epoch of the recombination process using the recent cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization spectra coming from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). We find that non-standard recombination scenarios are still consistent with the current data. In light of this we study the impact that such models can have on the determination of several cosmological parameters. In particular, the constraints on curvature and baryon density appear to be weakly affected by a modified recombination scheme. However, it may affect the current WMAP constraints on inflationary parameters such as the spectral index nₛ and its running. Physically motivated models, such as those based on primordial black holes or super heavy dark matter decay, are able to provide a good fit to the current data. Future observations in both temperature and polarization will be needed to more stringently test these models.