7 research outputs found
Stochastic Inflation Revisited: Non-Slow Roll Statistics and DBI Inflation
Stochastic inflation describes the global structure of the inflationary
universe by modeling the super-Hubble dynamics as a system of matter fields
coupled to gravity where the sub-Hubble field fluctuations induce a stochastic
force into the equations of motion. The super-Hubble dynamics are ultralocal,
allowing us to neglect spatial derivatives and treat each Hubble patch as a
separate universe. This provides a natural framework in which to discuss
probabilities on the space of solutions and initial conditions. In this article
we derive an evolution equation for this probability for an arbitrary class of
matter systems, including DBI and k-inflationary models, and discover
equilibrium solutions that satisfy detailed balance. Our results are more
general than those derived assuming slow roll or a quasi-de Sitter geometry,
and so are directly applicable to models that do not satisfy the usual slow
roll conditions. We discuss in general terms the conditions for eternal
inflation to set in, and we give explicit numerical solutions of highly
stochastic, quasi-stationary trajectories in the relativistic DBI regime.
Finally, we show that the probability for stochastic/thermal tunneling can be
significantly enhanced relative to the Hawking-Moss instanton result due to
relativistic DBI effects.Comment: 38 pages, 2 figures. v3: minor revisions; version accepted into JCA
Reconnection of Non-Abelian Cosmic Strings
Cosmic strings in non-abelian gauge theories naturally gain a spectrum of
massless, or light, excitations arising from their embedding in color and
flavor space. This opens up the possibility that colliding strings miss each
other in the internal space, reducing the probability of reconnection. We study
the topology of the non-abelian vortex moduli space to determine the outcome of
string collision. Surprisingly we find that the probability of classical
reconnection in this system remains unity, with strings passing through each
other only for finely tuned initial conditions. We proceed to show how this
conclusion can be changed by symmetry breaking effects, or by quantum effects
associated to fermionic zero modes, and present examples where the probability
of reconnection in a U(N) gauge theory ranges from 1/N for low-energy
collisions to one at higher energies.Comment: 25 Pages, 3 Figures. v2: comment added, reference adde
Duality Cascade in Brane Inflation
We show that brane inflation is very sensitive to tiny sharp features in
extra dimensions, including those in the potential and in the warp factor. This
can show up as observational signatures in the power spectrum and/or
non-Gaussianities of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). One
general example of such sharp features is a succession of small steps in a
warped throat, caused by Seiberg duality cascade using gauge/gravity duality.
We study the cosmological observational consequences of these steps in brane
inflation. Since the steps come in a series, the prediction of other steps and
their properties can be tested by future data and analysis. It is also possible
that the steps are too close to be resolved in the power spectrum, in which
case they may show up only in the non-Gaussianity of the CMB temperature
fluctuations and/or EE polarization. We study two cases. In the slow-roll
scenario where steps appear in the inflaton potential, the sensitivity of brane
inflation to the height and width of the steps is increased by several orders
of magnitude comparing to that in previously studied large field models. In the
IR DBI scenario where steps appear in the warp factor, we find that the
glitches in the power spectrum caused by these sharp features are generally
small or even unobservable, but associated distinctive non-Gaussianity can be
large. Together with its large negative running of the power spectrum index,
this scenario clearly illustrates how rich and different a brane inflationary
scenario can be when compared to generic slow-roll inflation. Such distinctive
stringy features may provide a powerful probe of superstring theory.Comment: Corrections in Eq.(5.47), Eq (5.48), Eq(5.49) and Fig
Inter-brane interactions in compact spaces and brane inflation
It has been pointed out that brane-anti-brane inflation without warped geometry is not viable due to compactification effects (in the simplified scenario where the inflaton is decoupled from the compactification moduli). We show that the inflationary scenario with branes at a small angle in this simplified scenario remains viable. We also point out that brane-anti-brane inflation may still be viable under some special conditions. We also discuss a way to treat potentials in compact spaces that should be useful in the analysis of more realistic brane inflationary scenarios. © 2004 IOP Publishing Ltd