Coordinate-free Solutions for Cosmological Superspace

Hamilton-Jacobi theory for general relativity provides an elegant covariant formulation of the gravitational field. A general `coordinate-free' method of integrating the functional Hamilton-Jacobi equation for gravity and matter is described. This series approximation method represents a large generalization of the spatial gradient expansion that had been employed earlier. Additional solutions may be constructed using a nonlinear superposition principle. This formalism may be applied to problems in cosmology.Comment: 11 pages, self-unpacking, uuencoded tex file, to be published in Physical Review D (1997

Initial Hypersurface Formulation: Hamilton-Jacobi Theory for Strongly Coupled Gravitational Systems

Strongly coupled gravitational systems describe Einstein gravity and matter in the limit that Newton's constant G is assumed to be very large. The nonlinear evolution of these systems may be solved analytically in the classical and semiclassical limits by employing a Green function analysis. Using functional methods in a Hamilton-Jacobi setting, one may compute the generating functional (`the phase of the wavefunctional') which satisfies both the energy constraint and the momentum constraint. Previous results are extended to encompass the imposition of an arbitrary initial hypersurface. A Lagrange multiplier in the generating functional restricts the initial fields, and also allows one to formulate the energy constraint on the initial hypersurface. Classical evolution follows as a result of minimizing the generating functional with respect to the initial fields. Examples are given describing Einstein gravity interacting with either a dust field and/or a scalar field. Green functions are explicitly determined for (1) gravity, dust, a scalar field and a cosmological constant and (2) gravity and a scalar field interacting with an exponential potential. This formalism is useful in solving problems of cosmology and of gravitational collapse.Comment: 30 pages Latex (IOP) file with 2 IOP style files, to be published in Classical and Quantum Gravity (1998

Evolution of Non-linear Fluctuations in Preheating after Inflation

We investigate the evolution of the non-linear long wavelength fluctuations during preheating after inflation. By using the separate universe approach, the temporal evolution of the power spectrum of the scalar fields and the curvature variable is obtained numerically. We found that the amplitude of the large scale fluctuations is suppressed after non-linear evolution during preheating.Comment: To be published in Class. Quantum Gra

Hamilton-Jacobi Solutions for Strongly-Coupled Gravity and Matter

A Green's function method is developed for solving strongly-coupled gravity and matter in the semiclassical limit. In the strong-coupling limit, one assumes that Newton's constant approaches infinity. As a result, one may neglect second order spatial gradients, and each spatial point evolves like an homogeneous universe. After constructing the Green's function solution to the Hamiltonian constraint, the momentum constraint is solved using functional methods in conjunction with the superposition principle for Hamilton-Jacobi theory. Exact and approximate solutions are given for a dust field or a scalar field interacting with gravity.Comment: 26 pages Latex (IOP) file with 2 IOP style files, to be published in Classical and Quantum Gravity (1998

Small Deviations from Gaussianity and The Galaxy Cluster Abundance Evolution

We raise the hypothesis that the density fluctuations field which originates the growth of large scale structures is a combination of two or more distributions. By applying the statistical analysis of finite mixture distributions to a specific combination of Gaussian plus non-Gaussian random fields, we studied the case where just a small departure from Gaussianity is allowed. Our results suggest that even a very small level of non-Gaussianity may introduce significant changes in the cluster abundance evolution rate.Comment: 10 pages with 2 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

On generation of metric perturbations during preheating

We consider the generation of the scalar mode of the metric perturbations during preheating stage in a two field model with the potential $V(\phi, \chi)= {m^{2}\phi^{2}\over 2}+{g^{2}\phi^{2}\chi^{2}\over 2}$. We discuss two possible sources of such perturbations: a) due to the coupling between the perturbation of the matter field $\delta \chi$ and the background part of the matter field $\chi_{0}(t)$, b) due to non-linear fluctuations in a condensate of ``particles'' of the field $\chi$. Both types of the metric perturbations are assumed to be small, and estimated using the linear theory of the metric perturbations. We estimate analytically the upper limit of the amplitude of the metric perturbations for all scales in the limit of so-called broad resonance, and show that the large scale metric perturbations are very small, and taking them into account does not influence the standard picture of the production of the metric perturbations in inflationary scenario.Comment: This version is to be published in PRD, new references added and typos correcte

Robertson-Walker fluid sources endowed with rotation characterised by quadratic terms in angular velocity parameter

Einstein's equations for a Robertson-Walker fluid source endowed with rotation Einstein's equations for a Robertson-Walker fluid source endowed with rotation are presented upto and including quadratic terms in angular velocity parameter. A family of analytic solutions are obtained for the case in which the source angular velocity is purely time-dependent. A subclass of solutions is presented which merge smoothly to homogeneous rotating and non-rotating central sources. The particular solution for dust endowed with rotation is presented. In all cases explicit expressions, depending sinusoidally on polar angle, are given for the density and internal supporting pressure of the rotating source. In addition to the non-zero axial velocity of the fluid particles it is shown that there is also a radial component of velocity which vanishes only at the poles. The velocity four-vector has a zero component between poles

Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7-yr constraints on fNL with a fast wavelet estimator

A new method to constrain the local non-linear coupling parameter fNL based on a fast wavelet decomposition is presented. Using a multiresolution wavelet adapted to the HEALPix pixelization, we have developed a method that is 10^2 times faster than previous estimators based on isotropic wavelets and 10^3 faster than the KSW bispectrum estimator, at the resolution of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data. The method has been applied to the WMAP 7-yr V+W combined map, imposing constraints on fNL of -69 < fNL < 65 at the 95 per cent CL. This result has been obtained after correcting for the contribution of the residual point sources which has been estimated to be fNL = 7 +/- 6. In addition, a Gaussianity analysis of the data has been carried out using the third order moments of the wavelet coefficients, finding consistency with Gaussianity. Although the constrainsts imposed on fNL are less stringent than those found with optimal estimators, we believe that a very fast method, as the one proposed in this work, can be very useful, especially bearing in mind the large amount of data that will be provided by future experiments, such as the Planck satellite. Moreover, the localisation of wavelets allows one to carry out analyses on different regions of the sky. As an application, we have separately analysed the two hemispheres defined by the dipolar modulation proposed by Hoftuft et al. (2009). We do not find any significant asymmetry regarding the estimated value of fNL in those hemispheres.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Submitted and Accepted for publication in MNRA

The Andante Regime of Scalar Field Dynamics

The andante regime of scalar field dynamics in the chaotic inflationary Universe is defined as the epoch when the field is rolling moderately slowly down its interaction potential, but at such a rate that first-order corrections to the slow-roll approximation become important. These conditions should apply towards the end of inflation as the field approaches the global minimum of the potential. Solutions to the Einstein-scalar field equations for the class of power law potentials $V(\phi) \propto \phi^{2n}$ are found in this regime in terms of the inverse error function.Comment: 11 pages of plain Latex, FNAL-Pub-94/226-

Inflation with Non-minimal Gravitational Couplings and Supergravity

We explore in the supergravity context the possibility that a Higgs scalar may drive inflation via a non-minimal coupling to gravity characterised by a large dimensionless coupling constant. We find that this scenario is not compatible with the MSSM, but that adding a singlet field (NMSSM, or a variant thereof) can very naturally give rise to slow-roll inflation. The inflaton is necessarily contained in the doublet Higgs sector and occurs in the D-flat direction of the two Higgs doublets.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figur