2,582 research outputs found
The failure of cosmological perturbation theory in the new ekpyrotic and cyclic ekpyrotic scenarios
Cosmological perturbation theory fails in the new ekpyrotic and cyclic
ekpyrotic scenarios, before the scale factor of the Universe reaches zero. As a
result, a recently-proposed recipe for evolving the curvature perturbation
through the bounce in these scenarios cannot be justified.Comment: 10 pages. v2: Logic of the demonstration of non-linearity stated more
explicitely. Remarks on non-singular bounces removed for inclusion in a later
paper. v3: As accepted by Phys Lett B v4: Comment on the paper of Banks and
Fischler removed following its withdrawal; more precise abstrac
Late-time creation of gravitinos from the vacuum
Starting with the vacuum fluctuation, it is known that gravitinos will be
created just after inflation, with number density where
is the mass of the inflaton. Here, we argue that creation may be expected to
continue, maintaining about the same number density, until a usually much later
epoch. This epoch is either the `intermediate epoch' when Hubble parameter
falls below the gravitino mass, or the reheat epoch if that is earlier. We
verify that such late-time creation indeed occurs if only a single chiral
superfield is relevant, using the description of the helicity 1/2 gravitino
provided recently by Kallosh et. al. (hep-th/9907124) and Giudice et. al.
(hep-ph/9907510). Arguments are presented in favor of late-time creation in the
general case. For the usual inflation models, is rather large and
gravitinos from late-time creation are so abundant that a subsequent era of
thermal inflation is needed to dilute them.Comment: 9 pages. As it will appear in PLB. Small typos corrected, a sign
discrepancy cleared up, nothing significan
Generation of perturbation after multi-field inflation
We explore a new possibility that some inflaton fields in multi-field
inflation models satisfy the observed value of the spectral index so that the
curvature perturbation generated by them through post-inflationary dynamics may
be relevant for the current observations. We illustrate this point using a
simple and reasonable multi-field chaotic inflation model motivated from string
theory. Possible non-Gaussianity and the tensor-to-scalar ratio are briefly
addressed.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure; (v2) 9 pages, discussions expanded, to appear in
Physics Letters
The gravitino abundance in supersymmetric `new' inflation models
We consider the abundance of gravitinos created from the vacuum fluctuation,
in a class of `new' inflation models for which global supersymmetry is a good
approximation. Immediately after inflation, gravitinos are produced, with
number density determined by equations recently presented by Kallosh et. al.
(hep-th/9907124) and Giudice et. al. (hep-ph/9907510). Unless reheating
intervenes, creation may continue, maintaining about the same number density,
until the Hubble parameter falls below the gravitino mass. In any case, the
abundance of gravitinos created from the vacuum fluctuation exceeds the
abundance from thermal collisions in a significant regime of parameter space,
leading to tighter cosmological constraints.Comment: 9 pages latex. Same results but argument for late-time creation now
appears in hep-ph/991231
Constraints on TeV-scale hybrid inflation and comments on non-hybrid alternatives
During hybrid inflation, the slowly-rolling inflaton field has a significant
coupling to the trigger field which is responsible for most of the potential.
Barring a fine-tuned accidental cancellation, this coupling induces a minimal
one-loop contribution to the inflaton potential. The requirement that this
contribution be not too large constrains a wide class of hybrid inflation
models. Assuming that the inflaton perturbation generates structure in the
Universe, the inflaton field and/or the trigger field after inflation have to
be bigger than 10^9\GeV. This and other results make hybrid inflation at or
below the TeV scale problematical. (There is no problem with hybrid inflation
at the high energy scales normally considered.) `New' and thermal inflation
seem to be viable alternatives for inflation at or below the TeV scale,
including the case that quantum gravity is at the TeV scale. In any case,
supersymmetry is needed required during inflation, in order to protect a scalar
mass.Comment: 15 pages, one ref added in V
Models of inflation and their predictions
Taking field theory seriously, inflation model-building is difficult but not
impossible. The observed value of the spectral index of the adiabatic density
perturbation is starting to discriminate between models, and may well pick out
a unique one in the forseeable future.Comment: Latex 5 pages. To appear in Particle Physics and the Early Universe
(COSMO99), AIP (1999
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