English

Non-linear inflationary perturbations

Astrophysics 2009-11-10 v3 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

We present a method by which cosmological perturbations can be quantitatively studied in single and multi-field inflationary models beyond linear perturbation theory. A non-linear generalization of the gauge-invariant Sasaki-Mukhanov variables is used in a long-wavelength approximation. These generalized variables remain invariant under time slicing changes on long wavelengths. The equations they obey are relatively simple and can be formulated for a number of time slicing choices. Initial conditions are set after horizon crossing and the subsequent evolution is fully non-linear. We briefly discuss how these methods can be implemented numerically in the study of non-Gaussian signatures from specific inflationary models.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0405185,
  title  = {Non-linear inflationary perturbations},
  author = {G. I. Rigopoulos and E. P. S. Shellard},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0405185},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

10 pages, replaced to match JCAP version