209 research outputs found
Sustainability of multi-field inflation and bound on string scale
We study the effects of the interaction terms between the inflaton fields on
the inflationary dynamics in multi-field models. With power law type potential
and interactions, the total number of e-folds may get considerably reduced and
can lead to unacceptably short period of inflation. Also we point out that this
can place a bound on the characteristic scale of the underlying theory such as
string theory. Using a simple multi-field chaotic inflation model from string
theory, the string scale is constrained to be larger than the scale of grand
unified theory.Comment: (v1) 9 pages, 1 figure;(v2) 10 pages, references added; (v3) 15
pages, 4 figures, more discussions about parameters and observable
quantities, references added, to appear in Modern Physics Letters
Dark energy in hybrid inflation
The situation that a scalar field provides the source of the accelerated
expansion of the universe while rolling down its potential is common in both
the simple models of the primordial inflation and the quintessence-based dark
energy models. Motivated by this point, we address the possibility of causing
the current acceleration via the primordial inflation using a simple model
based on hybrid inflation. We trigger the onset of the motion of the
quintessence field via the transition field, and find that the fate of the
universe depends on the true vacuum energy determined by choosing the
parameters. We also briefly discuss the variation of the equation of state and
the possible implementation of our scenario in supersymmetric theories.Comment: (v1) 10 pages, 1 figure; (v2) 12 pages, considerably revised, to
appear in Physical Review
A covariant approach to general field space metric in multi-field inflation
We present a covariant formalism for general multi-field system which enables
us to obtain higher order action of cosmological perturbations easily and
systematically. The effects of the field space geometry, described by the
Riemann curvature tensor of the field space, are naturally incorporated. We
explicitly calculate up to the cubic order action which is necessary to
estimate non-Gaussianity and present those geometric terms which have not yet
known before.Comment: (v1) 18 pages, 1 figure; (v2) references added, typos corrected, to
appear in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics; (v3) typos in (54),
(62) and (64) correcte
Multiple scalar particle decay and perturbation generation
We study the evolution of the universe which contains a multiple number of
non-relativistic scalar fields decaying into both radiation and pressureless
matter. We present a powerful analytic formalism to calculate the matter and
radiation curvature perturbations, and find that our analytic estimates agree
with full numerical results within an error of less than one percent. Also we
discuss the isocurvature perturbation between matter and radiation components,
which may be detected by near future cosmological observations, and point out
that it crucially depends on the branching ratio of the decay rate of the
scalar fields and that it is hard to make any model independent predictions.Comment: (v1) 22 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables; (v2) JHEP3 style, 24 pages,
references added and typos corrected, to appear in JCA
Long-Term Wildfire Reconstruction: In Need of Focused and Dedicated Pre-Planning Efforts
Wildfire disasters in the United States impact lives and livelihoods by destroying private homes, businesses, community facilities, and infrastructure. Disaster victims suffer from damaged houses, inadequate shelters, inoperable civil infrastructure, and homelessness coupled with longterm recovery and reconstruction processes. Cities and their neighboring communities require an enormous commitment for a full recovery for as long as disaster recovery processes last. State, county, and municipal governments inherently have the responsibility to establish and provide governance and public services for the benefit and well being of community members. Municipal governments’ comprehensive and emergency response plans are the artifacts of planning efforts that guide accomplishing those duties. Typically these plans include preparation and response to natural disasters, including wildfires. The standard wildfire planning includes and outlines (1) a wildfire hazard assessment, (2) response approaches to prevent human injury and minimize damage to physical property, and (3) near- and long-term recovery and reconstruction efforts. There is often a high level of detail in the assessment section, but the level of detail and specificity significantly lessons to general approaches in the long-term recovery subsection. This paper aims to document the extent of wildfire preparedness at the county level in general, focusing on the long-term recovery subsections of municipal plans. Based on the identified challenges, the researchers provide recommendations for better longer-term recovery and reconstruction opportunities: 1) building permit requirements, 2) exploration of the use of modular construction, 3) address through relief from legislative requirements, and 4) early, simple, funding, and the aid application process
Effective theories of single field inflation when heavy fields matter
We compute the low energy effective field theory (EFT) expansion for
single-field inflationary models that descend from a parent theory containing
multiple other scalar fields. By assuming that all other degrees of freedom in
the parent theory are sufficiently massive relative to the inflaton, it is
possible to derive an EFT valid to arbitrary order in perturbations, provided
certain generalized adiabaticity conditions are respected. These conditions
permit a consistent low energy EFT description even when the inflaton deviates
off its adiabatic minimum along its slowly rolling trajectory. By generalizing
the formalism that identifies the adiabatic mode with the Goldstone boson of
this spontaneously broken time translational symmetry prior to the integration
of the heavy fields, we show that this invariance of the parent theory dictates
the entire non-perturbative structure of the descendent EFT. The couplings of
this theory can be written entirely in terms of the reduced speed of sound of
adiabatic perturbations. The resulting operator expansion is distinguishable
from that of other scenarios, such as standard single inflation or DBI
inflation. In particular, we re-derive how certain operators can become
transiently strongly coupled along the inflaton trajectory, consistent with
slow-roll and the validity of the EFT expansion, imprinting features in the
primordial power spectrum, and we deduce the relevant cubic operators that
imply distinct signatures in the primordial bispectrum which may soon be
constrained by observations.Comment: (v1) 25 pages, 1 figure; (v2) references added and typos corrected,
to appear in Journal of High Energy Physic
Non-Gaussianity from false vacuum inflation: Old curvaton scenario
We calculate the three-point correlation function of the comoving curvature
perturbation generated during an inflationary epoch driven by false vacuum
energy. We get a novel false vacuum shape bispectrum, which peaks in the
equilateral limit. Using this result, we propose a scenario which we call "old
curvaton". The shape of the resulting bispectrum lies between the local and the
false vacuum shapes. In addition we have a large running of the spectral index.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures; v2 with minor revison; v3 final version to
appear on JCA
Features of heavy physics in the CMB power spectrum
The computation of the primordial power spectrum in multi-field inflation
models requires us to correctly account for all relevant interactions between
adiabatic and non-adiabatic modes around and after horizon crossing. One
specific complication arises from derivative interactions induced by the
curvilinear trajectory of the inflaton in a multi-dimensional field space. In
this work we compute the power spectrum in general multi-field models and show
that certain inflaton trajectories may lead to observationally significant
imprints of `heavy' physics in the primordial power spectrum if the inflaton
trajectory turns, that is, traverses a bend, sufficiently fast (without
interrupting slow roll), even in cases where the normal modes have masses
approaching the cutoff of our theory. We emphasise that turning is defined with
respect to the geodesics of the sigma model metric, irrespective of whether
this is canonical or non-trivial. The imprints generically take the form of
damped superimposed oscillations on the power spectrum. In the particular case
of two-field models, if one of the fields is sufficiently massive compared to
the scale of inflation, we are able to compute an effective low energy theory
for the adiabatic mode encapsulating certain relevant operators of the full
multi-field dynamics. As expected, a particular characteristic of this
effective theory is a modified speed of sound for the adiabatic mode which is a
functional of the background inflaton trajectory and the turns traversed during
inflation. Hence in addition, we expect non-Gaussian signatures directly
related to the features imprinted in the power spectrum.Comment: 41 pages, 6 figures, references updated, minor modifications. Version
to appear in JCAP. v4: Equations (4.28) and (4.30) and Figures 5 and 6
correcte
Conformal invariance of curvature perturbation
We show that in the single component situation all perturbation variables in
the comoving gauge are conformally invariant to all perturbation orders.
Generally we identify a special time slicing, the uniform-conformal
transformation slicing, where all perturbations are again conformally invariant
to all perturbation orders. We apply this result to the delta N formalism, and
show its conformal invariance.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur
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