182 research outputs found
Higher order corrections to Heterotic M-theory inflation
We investigate inflation driven by dynamical five-branes in Heterotic
M-theory using the scalar potential derived from the open membrane instanton
sector. At leading order the resulting theory can be mapped to power law
inflation, however more generally one may expect higher order corrections to be
important. We consider a simple class of such corrections, which imposes tight
bounds on the number of branes required for inflation.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
Vector Perturbations in a Contracting Universe
In this note we show that vector perturbations exhibit growing mode solutions
in a contracting Universe, such as the contracting phase of the Pre Big Bang or
the Cyclic/Ekpyrotic models of the Universe. This is not a gauge artifact and
will in general lead to the breakdown of perturbation theory -- a severe
problem that has to be addressed in any bouncing model. We also comment on the
possibility of explaining, by means of primordial vector perturbations, the
existence of the observed large scale magnetic fields. This is possible since
they can be seeded by vorticity.Comment: v3. Two reference added; Identical with version accepted for
publication at PR
Probing two-field open inflation by resonant signals in correlation functions
This is the author accpted manuscript. The final version is available from IOP Publishing via the DOI in this recordWe derive oscillatory signals in correlation functions in two-field open inflation by means of the in-in formalism; such signatures are caused by resonances between oscillations in the tunnelling field and fluctuations in the inflaton during the curvature dominated, intermediate and subsequent inflationary regime. While amplitudes are model-dependent, we find distinct oscillations in the power and bi-spectrum that can act as a direct probe of the curvature dominated phase and thus, indirectly, strengthen the claim of the string landscape if they were observed. We comment on the prospects of detecting these tell-tale signs in current experiments, which is challenging, but not impossible. At the technical level, we pay special attention to the applicability conditions for truncating fluctuations to the light (inflaton) field and derive upper limits on the oscillation amplitude of the heavy field. A violation of these bounds requires a multi-field analysis at the perturbed level.© 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl.Aspen Center for Physic
A Terminal Velocity on the Landscape: Particle Production near Extra Species Loci in Higher Dimensions
We investigate particle production near extra species loci (ESL) in a higher
dimensional field space and derive a speed limit in moduli space at weak
coupling. This terminal velocity is set by the characteristic ESL-separation
and the coupling of the extra degrees of freedom to the moduli, but it is
independent of the moduli's potential if the dimensionality of the field space
is considerably larger than the dimensionality of the loci, D >> d. Once the
terminal velocity is approached, particles are produced at a plethora of nearby
ESLs, preventing a further increase in speed via their backreaction. It is
possible to drive inflation at the terminal velocity, providing a
generalization of trapped inflation with attractive features: we find that more
than sixty e-folds of inflation for sub-Planckian excursions in field space are
possible if ESLs are ubiquitous, without fine tuning of initial conditions and
less tuned potentials. We construct a simple, observationally viable model with
a slightly red scalar power-spectrum and suppressed gravitational waves; we
comment on the presence of additional observational signatures originating from
IR-cascading and individual massive particles. We also show that
moduli-trapping at an ESL is suppressed for D >> d, hindering dynamical
selection of high-symmetry vacua on the landscape based on this mechanism.Comment: 46 pages, 6 figures. V3: typos corrected compared to JHEP version,
conclusions unchange
Preheating after N-flation
We study preheating in N-flation, assuming the Mar\v{c}enko-Pastur mass
distribution, equal energy initial conditions at the beginning of inflation and
equal axion-matter couplings, where matter is taken to be a single, massless
bosonic field. By numerical analysis we find that preheating via parametric
resonance is suppressed, indicating that the old theory of perturbative
preheating is applicable. While the tensor-to-scalar ratio, the non-Gaussianity
parameters and the scalar spectral index computed for N-flation are similar to
those in single field inflation (at least within an observationally viable
parameter region), our results suggest that the physics of preheating can
differ significantly from the single field case.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, references added, fixed typo
Reheating the Universe After Multi-Field Inflation
We study in detail (p)reheating after multi-field inflation models with a
particular focus on N-flation. We consider a variety of different couplings
between the inflatons and the matter sector, including both quartic and
trilinear interactions with a light scalar field. We show that the presence of
multiple oscillating inflatons makes parametric resonance inefficient in the
case of the quartic interactions. Moreover, perturbative processes do not
permit a complete decay of the inflaton for this coupling. In order to recover
the hot big bang, we must instead consider trilinear couplings. In this case we
show that strong nonperturbative preheating is possible via multi-field
tachyonic resonance. In addition, late-time perturbative effects do permit a
complete decay of the condensate. We also study the production of gauge fields
for several prototype couplings, finding similar results to the trilinear
scalar coupling. During the course of our analysis we develop the mathematical
theory of the quasi-periodic Mathieu equation, the multi-field generalization
of the Floquet theory familiar from preheating after single field inflation. We
also elaborate on the theory of perturbative decays of a classical inflaton
condensate, which is applicable in single-field models also.Comment: 46+1 pages, 19 figure
Non-Gaussianities in N-flation
We compute non-Gaussianities in N-flation, a string motivated model of
assisted inflation with quadratic, separable potentials and masses given by the
Marcenko-Pastur distribution. After estimating parameters characterizing the
bi- and trispectrum in the horizon crossing approximation, we focus on the
non-linearity parameter , a measure of the bispectrum; we compute its
magnitude for narrow and broad spreads of masses, including the evolution of
modes after horizon crossing. We identify additional contributions due to said
evolution and show that they are suppressed as long as the fields are evolving
slowly. This renders -flation indistinguishable from simple
single-field models in this regime. Larger non-Gaussianities are expected to
arise for fields that start to evolve faster, and we suggest an analytic
technique to estimate their contribution. However, such fast roll during
inflation is not expected in N-flation, leaving (p)re-heating as the main
additional candidate for generating non-Gaussianities.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures, extended references to match version accepted in
JCA
Scale dependence of in N-flation
Adopting the horizon-crossing approximation, we derive the spectral index of
in general N-flation model. Axion N-flation model is taken as a
typical model for generating a large which characterizes the size of
local form bispectrum. We find that its tilt is negligibly small
when all inflatons have the same potential, but a negative detectable
can be achieved in the axion N-flation with different decay
constants for different inflatons. The measurement of can be used
to support or falsify the axion N-flation in the near future.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures; a subsection with detectable scale dependence of
f_NL added; more discussions added and version accepted for publication in
JCA
Local non-Gaussianity from rapidly varying sound speeds
We study the effect of non-trivial sound speeds on local-type non-Gaussianity
during multiple-field inflation. To this end, we consider a model of
multiple-field DBI and use the deltaN formalism to track the super-horizon
evolution of perturbations. By adopting a sum separable Hubble parameter we
derive analytic expressions for the relevant quantities in the two-field case,
valid beyond slow variation. We find that non-trivial sound speeds can, in
principle, curve the trajectory in such a way that significant local-type
non-Gaussianity is produced. Deviations from slow variation, such as rapidly
varying sound speeds, enhance this effect. To illustrate our results we
consider two-field inflation in the tip regions of two warped throats and find
large local-type non-Gaussianity produced towards the end of the inflationary
process.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figures; typos corrected, references added, accepted for
publication in JCA
Rotational inhomogeneities from pre-big bang?
The evolution of the rotational inhomogeneities is investigated in the
specific framework of four-dimensional pre-big bang models. While minimal
(dilaton-driven) scenarios do not lead to rotational fluctuations, in the case
of non-minimal (string-driven) models, fluid sources are present in the pre-big
bang phase. The rotational modes of the geometry, coupled to the divergenceless
part of the velocity field, can then be amplified depending upon the value of
the barotropic index of the perfect fluids. In the light of a possible
production of rotational inhomogeneities, solutions describing the coupled
evolution of the dilaton field and of the fluid sources are scrutinized in both
the string and Einstein frames. In semi-realistic scenarios, where the
curvature divergences are regularized by means of a non-local dilaton
potential, the rotational inhomogeneities are amplified during the pre-big bang
phase but they decay later on. Similar analyses can also be performed when a
contraction occurs directly in the string frame metric.Comment: 21 pages, corrected typos, references added; to appear in Class.
Quantum Gra
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