Primordial tensor bispectra in μ-CMB cross-correlations

Theoretical Physic

Multi-field open inflation model and multi-field dynamics in tunneling

We consider a multi-field open inflation model, in which one of the fields dominates quantum tunneling from a false vacuum while the other field governs slow-roll inflation within the bubble nucleated from false vacuum decay. We call the former the tunneling field and the latter the inflaton field. In the limit of a negligible interaction between the two fields, the false vacuum decay is described by a Coleman-De Luccia instanton. Here we take into account the coupling between the two fields and construct explicitly a multi-field instanton for a simple quartic potential model. We also solve the evolution of the scalar fields within the bubble. We find our model realizes open inflation successfully. This is the first concrete, viable model of open inflation realized with a simple potential. We then study the effect of the multi-field dynamics on the false vacuum decay, specifically on the tunneling rate. We find the tunneling rate increases in general in comparison with the single field case, though the increase is small unless the inflaton affects the instanton solution substantially.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Enhanced local-type inflationary trispectrum from a non-vacuum initial state

We compute the primordial trispectrum for curvature perturbations produced during cosmic inflation in models with standard kinetic terms, when the initial quantum state is not necessarily the vacuum state. The presence of initial perturbations enhances the trispectrum amplitude for configuration in which one of the momenta, say $k_3$, is much smaller than the others, $k_3 \ll k_{1,2,4}$. For those squeezed configurations the trispectrum acquires the so-called local form, with a scale dependent amplitude that can get values of order $\epsilon ({k_1}/{k_3})^2$. This amplitude can be larger than the prediction of the so-called Maldacena consistency relation by a factor $10^6$, and can reach the sensitivity of forthcoming observations, even for single-field inflationary models.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure. References added, typos corrected, minor change

Effects of Nonlinear Dispersion Relations on Non-Gaussianities

We investigate the effect of non-linear dispersion relations on the bispectrum. In particular, we study the case were the modified relations do not violate the WKB condition at early times, focusing on a particular example which is exactly solvable: the Jacobson-Corley dispersion relation with quartic correction with positive coefficient to the squared linear relation. We find that the corrections to the standard result for the bispectrum are suppressed by a factor $\frac{H^2}{p_c^2}$ where $p_c$ is the scale where the modification to the dispersion relation becomes relevant. The modification is {\it mildly} configuration-dependent and equilateral configurations are more suppressed with respect to the local ones, by a factor of one percent. There is no configuration leading to enhancements. We then analyze the results in the framework of particle creation using the approximate gluing method of Brandenberger and Martin, which relates more directly to the modeling of the trans-Planckian physics via modifications of the vacuum at a certain cutoff scale. We show that the gluing method overestimates the leading order correction to the spectrum and bispectrum by one and two orders, respectively, in $\frac{H}{p_c}$. We discuss the various approximation and conclude that for dispersion relations not violating WKB at early times the particle creation is small and does not lead to enhanced contributions to the bispectrum. We also show that in many cases enhancements do not occur when modeling the trans-Planckian physics via modifications of the vacuum at a certain cutoff scale. Most notably they are only of order O(1) when the Bogolyubov coefficients accounting for particle creation are determined by the Wronskian condition and the minimization of the uncertainty between the field and its conjugate momentum.Comment: v1: 11 pages, 2 figures; v2: references update

Holographic Non-Gaussianity

We investigate the non-Gaussianity of primordial cosmological perturbations within our recently proposed holographic description of inflationary universes. We derive a holographic formula that determines the bispectrum of cosmological curvature perturbations in terms of correlation functions of a holographically dual three-dimensional non-gravitational quantum field theory (QFT). This allows us to compute the primordial bispectrum for a universe which started in a non-geometric holographic phase, using perturbative QFT calculations. Strikingly, for a class of models specified by a three-dimensional super-renormalisable QFT, the primordial bispectrum is of exactly the factorisable equilateral form with f_nl^eq=5/36, irrespective of the details of the dual QFT. A by-product of this investigation is a holographic formula for the three-point function of the trace of the stress-energy tensor along general holographic RG flows, which should have applications outside the remit of this work.Comment: 42 pages, 2 figs, published versio

Large non-Gaussian Halo Bias from Single Field Inflation

We calculate Large Scale Structure observables for non-Gaussianity arising from non-Bunch-Davies initial states in single field inflation. These scenarios can have substantial primordial non-Gaussianity from squeezed (but observable) momentum configurations. They generate a term in the halo bias that may be more strongly scale-dependent than the contribution from the local ansatz. We also discuss theoretical considerations required to generate an observable signature.Comment: 30 pages, 14 figures, typos corrected and minor changes to match published version JCAP09(2012)00

Galilean symmetry in the effective theory of inflation: new shapes of non-Gaussianity

We study the consequences of imposing an approximate Galilean symmetry on the Effective Theory of Inflation, the theory of small perturbations around the inflationary background. This approach allows us to study the effect of operators with two derivatives on each field, which can be the leading interactions due to non-renormalization properties of the Galilean Lagrangian. In this case cubic non-Gaussianities are given by three independent operators, containing up to six derivatives, two with a shape close to equilateral and one peaking on flattened isosceles triangles. The four-point function is larger than in models with small speed of sound and potentially observable with the Planck satellite.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures. v2: minor changes to match JCAP published versio

Phenomenology of a Pseudo-Scalar Inflaton: Naturally Large Nongaussianity

Many controlled realizations of chaotic inflation employ pseudo-scalar axions. Pseudo-scalars \phi are naturally coupled to gauge fields through c \phi F \tilde{F}. In the presence of this coupling, gauge field quanta are copiously produced by the rolling inflaton. The produced gauge quanta, in turn, source inflaton fluctuations via inverse decay. These new cosmological perturbations add incoherently with the "vacuum" perturbations, and are highly nongaussian. This provides a natural mechanism to generate large nongaussianity in single or multi field slow-roll inflation. The resulting phenomenological signatures are highly distinctive: large nongaussianity of (nearly) equilateral shape, in addition to detectably large values of both the scalar spectral tilt and tensor-to-scalar ratio (both being typical of large field inflation). The WMAP bound on nongaussianity implies that the coupling, c, of the pseudo-scalar inflaton to any gauge field must be smaller than about 10^{2} M_p^{-1}.Comment: 45 pages, 7 figure