English

Evolution of vacuum fluctuations generated during and before inflation

High Energy Physics - Theory 2014-06-11 v3 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

We calculate the time evolution of the expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor for a minimally-coupled massless scalar field in cosmological spacetimes, with an application to dark energy in mind. We first study the evolution from inflation until the present, fixing the Bunch-Davies initial condition. The energy density of a quantum field evolves as ρ3(HIH)2/32π2\rho \sim 3(H_I H)^2 /32 \pi^2 in the matter-dominated (MD) period, where HIH_I and HH are the Hubble parameters during inflation and at each moment. Its equation of state, w=ρ/pw=\rho/p, changes from a negative value to w=1/3w=1/3 in the radiation-dominated period, and from 1/31/3 to w=0w=0 in the MD period. We then consider possible effects of a Planckian universe, which may have existed before inflation, by assuming there was another inflation with the Hubble parameter HP(>HI)H_P (> H_I). In this case, modes with wavelengths longer than the current horizon radius are mainly amplified, and the energy density of a quantum field grows with time as ρ(a/a0)(HPH)2/32\rho \sim (a/a_0)(H_P H)^2/32 in the MD period, where aa and a0a_0 are the scale factors at each time and at present. Hence, if HPH_P is of the order of the Planck scale MPM_P, ρ\rho becomes comparable to the critical density 3(MPH)23(M_P H)^2 at the present time. The contribution to ρ\rho from the long wavelength fluctuations generated before the ordinary inflation has w=1/3w=-1/3 in the free field approximation. We mention a possibility that interactions further amplify the energy density and change the equation of state.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1402.6900,
  title  = {Evolution of vacuum fluctuations generated during and before inflation},
  author = {Hajime Aoki and Satoshi Iso and Yasuhiro Sekino},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1402.6900},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

54 pages, 12 figures; v2: references added; v3:version publised in PRD

R2 v1 2026-06-22T03:17:05.930Z