Trans-Planckian signals from the breaking of local Lorentz invariance

This article examines how a breakdown of a locally Lorentz invariant, point-like description of nature at tiny space-time intervals would translate into a distinctive set of signals in the primordial power spectrum generated by inflation. We examine the leading irrelevant operators that are consistent with the spatial translations and rotations of a preferred, isotropically expanding, background. A few of the resulting corrections to the primordial power spectrum do not have the usual oscillatory factor, which is sometimes taken to be characteristic of a "trans-Planckian" signal. Perhaps more interestingly, one of these leading irrelevant operators exactly reproduces a correction to the power spectrum that occurs in effective descriptions of the state of the field responsible for inflation.Comment: 11 pages, no figures, uses ReVTe

Possible Constraints on the Duration of Inflationary Expansion from Quantum Stress Tensor Fluctuations

We discuss the effect of quantum stress tensor fluctuations in deSitter spacetime upon the expansion of a congruence of timelike geodesics. We treat a model in which the expansion fluctuations begin on a given hypersurface in deSitter spacetime, and find that this effect tends to grow, in contrast to the situation in flat spacetime. This growth potentially leads to observable consequences in inflationary cosmology in the form of density perturbations which depend upon the duration of the inflationary period. In the context of our model, the effect may be used to place upper bounds on this duration.Comment: 21 pages, no figures; Sect. IV rewritten and expanded, several comments and references adde

Are stealth scalar fields stable?

Non-gravitating (stealth) scalar fields associated with Minkowski space in scalar-tensor gravity are examined. Analytical solutions for both non-minimally coupled scalar field theory and for Brans-Dicke gravity are studied and their stability with respect to tensor perturbations is assessed using a covariant and gauge-invariant formalism developed for alternative gravity. For Brans-Dicke solutions, the stability with respect to homogeneous perturbations is also studied. There are regions of parameter space corresponding to stability and other regions corresponding to instability.Comment: 10 pages, 1 table, no figures, to appear in Phys. Rev,

Can the Gravitational Wave Background from Inflation be Detected Locally?

The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) detection of microwave background anisotropies may contain a component due to gravitational waves generated by inflation. It is shown that the gravitational waves from inflation might be seen using `beam-in-space' detectors, but not the Laser Interferometer Gravity Wave Observatory (LIGO). The central conclusion, dependent only on weak assumptions regarding the physics of inflation, is a surprising one. The larger the component of the COBE signal due to gravitational waves, the {\em smaller} the expected local gravitational wave signal.Comment: 8 pages, standard LaTeX (no figures), SUSSEX-AST 93/7-

Black holes and gravitational waves in string cosmology

Pre--big bang models of inflation based on string cosmology produce a stochastic gravitational wave background whose spectrum grows with decreasing wavelength, and which may be detectable using interferometers such as LIGO. We point out that the gravitational wave spectrum is closely tied to the density perturbation spectrum, and that the condition for producing observable gravitational waves is very similar to that for producing an observable density of primordial black holes. Detection of both would provide strong support to the string cosmology scenario.Comment: 6 pages RevTeX fil

The dearth of halo dwarf galaxies: is there power on short scales?

N-body simulations of structure formation with scale-invariant primordial perturbations show significantly more virialized objects of dwarf-galaxy mass in a typical galactic halo than are observed around the Milky Way. We show that the dearth of observed dwarf galaxies could be explained by a dramatic downturn in the power spectrum at small distance scales. This suppression of small-scale power might also help mitigate the disagreement between cuspy simulated halos and smooth observed halos, while remaining consistent with Lyman-alpha-forest constraints on small-scale power. Such a spectrum could arise in inflationary models with broken scale invariance.Comment: 5 pages LaTeX, 3 figure

How long before the end of inflation were observable perturbations produced?

We reconsider the issue of the number of e-foldings before the end of inflation at which observable perturbations were generated. We determine a plausible upper limit on that number for the standard cosmology which is around 60, with the expectation that the actual value will be up to 10 below this. We also note a special property of the $\lambda \phi^4$ model which reduces the uncertainties in that case and favours a higher value, giving a fairly definite prediction of 64 e-foldings for that model. We note an extreme (and highly implausible) situation where the number of e-foldings can be even higher, possibly up to 100, and discuss the shortcomings of quantifying inflation by e-foldings rather than by the change in $aH$. Finally, we discuss the impact of non-standard evolution between the end of inflation and the present, showing that again the expected number of e-foldings can be modified, and in some cases significantly increased.Comment: 7 pages RevTeX4 file with one figure incorporated. Minor updates to match version accepted by Physical Review

On Metric Preheating

We consider the generation of super-horizon metric fluctuations during an epoch of preheating in the presence of a scalar field \chi quadratically coupled to the inflaton. We find that the requirement of efficient broad resonance is concomitant with a severe damping of super-horizon \delta\chi quantum fluctuations during inflation. Employing perturbation theory with backreaction included as spatial averages to second order in the scalar fields and in the metric, we argue that the usual inflationary prediction for metric perturbations on scales relevant for structure formation is not strongly modified.Comment: 5 latex pages, 1 postscript figure included, uses revtex.sty in two column format and epsf.sty, some typos corrected and references added. Links and further material at http://astro.uchicago.edu/home/web/sigl/r4.htm

Non-Singular Stationary Global Strings

A field-theoretical model for non-singular global cosmic strings is presented. The model is a non-linear sigma model with a potential term for a self-gravitating complex scalar field. Non-singular stationary solutions with angular momentum and possibly linear momentum are obtained by assuming an oscillatory dependence of the scalar field on t, phi and z. This dependence has an effect similar to gauging the global U(1) symmetry of the model, which is actually a Kaluza-Klein reduction from four to three spacetime dimensions. The method of analysis can be regarded as an extension of the gravito-electromagnetism formalism beyond the weak field limit. Some D=3 self-dual solutions are also discussed.Comment: 20 pages Latex, 12 PS figures included. Minor corrections. Version to appear in Phys.Rev.

Dark Matter and Dark Energy via Non-Perturbative (Flavour) Vacua

A non-perturbative field theoretical approach to flavour physics (Blasone-Vitiello formalism) has been shown to imply a highly non-trivial vacuum state. In a previous work, we implemented the approach on a simple supersymmetric model (free Wess-Zumino), with flavour mixing, which was regarded as a model for free neutrinos and sneutrinos. The resulting effective vacuum (called "flavour vacuum") was found to be characterized by a strong SUSY breaking. In this paper we explore the phenomenology of the model and we argue that the flavour vacuum is a consistent source for both Dark Energy (thanks to the bosonic sector of the model) and Dark Matter (via the fermionic one). Quite remarkably, besides the parameters connected with neutrino physics, in this model no other parameters have been introduced, possibly leading to a predictive theory of Dark Energy/Matter. Despite its oversimplification, such a toy model already seems capable to shed some light on the observed energy hierarchy between neutrino physics, Dark Energy and Dark Matter. Furthermore, we move a step forth in the construction of a more realistic theory, by presenting a novel approach for calculating relevant quantities and hence extending some results to interactive theories, in a completely non-perturbative way.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure