Related papers: Conditions for Generating Scale-Invariant Density …
Cosmological models involving a bounce from a contracting to an expanding universe can address the standard cosmological puzzles and generate "primordial" density perturbations without the need for inflation. Some such models, in particular…
In the paper ``Density perturbations in the ekpyrotic scenario'', it is argued that the expected spectrum of primordial perturbations should be scale invariant in this scenario. Here we show that, contrary to what is claimed in that paper,…
We review the formalism by which the tunnelling probability of an unstable ground state can be computed in quantum field theory, with special reference to the Standard Model of electroweak interactions. We describe in some detail the…
Employing the covariant formalism, we derive the evolution equations for two scalar fields with non-canonical field space metric up to third order in perturbation theory. These equations can be used to derive predictions for local bi- and…
Cosmological $\alpha$-attractors stand out as particularly compelling models to describe inflation in the very early universe, naturally meeting tight observational bounds from cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. We investigate…
A scale-invariant universe can have a period of accelerated expansion at early times: inflation. We use a frame-invariant approach to calculate inflationary observables in a scale invariant theory of gravity involving two scalar fields -…
The positive energy theorem precludes the possibility of Minkowski flat space decaying by any mechanism. In certain circumstances, however, large quantum fluctuations of the gravitational field could arise---not only at the Planck scale,…
We have proposed a new class of inflationary scenarios in which the first stage of expansion is driven by "old" false vacuum inflation. This ends by nucleation of a bubble, which then further inflates. Unlike the standard slow-roll…
We consider the examples of single-field inflation models predicting large amplitudes of the curvature perturbation power spectrum at relatively small scales. It is shown that in models with an inflationary potential of double-well type the…
Density perturbations generated from inflation almost always have a spectral index n_s which runs (varies with the wavelength). We explore a running spectral index scenario in which the scalar spectral index runs from blue (n_s >1) on large…
The ekpyrotic and cyclic universe scenarios have revived the idea that the density perturbations apparent in today's universe could have been generated in a `pre-singularity' epoch before the big bang. These scenarios provide explicit…
We examine the conditions under which a perturbative expansion around an inflating background is valid. When inflation is driven by a single field with a general sound speed, we find a lower limit on the sound speed related to the amplitude…
We analyze the curvaton scenario in the context of supersymmety. Supersymmetric theories contain many scalars, and therefore many curvaton candidates. To obtain a scale invariant perturbation spectrum, the curvaton mass should be small…
We derive an uncertainty relation for the energy density and pressure of a quantum scalar field in a time-dependent, homogeneous and isotropic, classical background, which implies the existence of large fluctuations comparable to their…
We study the evolution of quantum fluctuations of gravity around an inflationary solution in renormalizable quantum gravity, in which the initial scalar-fluctuation dominance is shown by the background-free nature expressed by a special…
A model is developed in which the inflaton potential experiences a sudden small change in its second derivative (the effective mass of the inflaton). An exact treatment demonstrates that the resulting density perturbation has a quasi-flat…
We investigate quantum entanglement of a scalar field in the inflationary universe. By introducing a bipartite system using a lattice model of scalar field, we apply the separability criterion based on the partial transpose operation and…
The initial quantum state during inflation may evolve to a highly squeezed quantum state due to the amplification of the time-dependent parameter, $\omega_{phys}(k/a)$, which may be the modified dispersion relation in trans-Planckian…
We compute the growth of the mean square of quantum fluctuations of test fields with small effective mass during a slowly changing, nearly de Sitter stage which took place in different inflationary models. We consider a minimally coupled…
The sensitivity of inflationary spectra to initial conditions is addressed in the context of a phenomenological model that breaks Lorentz invariance by dissipative effects above some threshold energy $\Lambda$. These effects are obtained…