49 research outputs found
A smooth bouncing cosmology with scale invariant spectrum
We present a bouncing cosmology which evolves from the contracting to the
expanding phase in a smooth way, without developing instabilities or
pathologies and remaining in the regime of validity of 4d effective field
theory. A nearly scale invariant spectrum of perturbations is generated during
the contracting phase by an isocurvature scalar with a negative exponential
potential and then converted to adiabatic. The model predicts a slightly blue
spectrum, n_S >~ 1, no observable gravitational waves and a high (but model
dependent) level of non-Gaussianities with local shape. The model represents an
explicit and predictive alternative to inflation, although, at present, it is
clearly less compelling.Comment: 20 pages, 1 fig. v2: references added, JCAP published versio
Ekpyrotic collapse with multiple fields
A scale invariant spectrum of isocurvature perturbations is generated during
collapse in the scaling solution in models where two or more fields have steep
negative exponential potentials. The scale invariance of the spectrum is
realised by a tachyonic instability in the isocurvature field. We show that
this instability is due to the fact that the scaling solution is a saddle point
in the phase space. The late time attractor is identified with a single field
dominated ekpyrotic collapse in which a steep blue spectrum for isocurvature
perturbations is found. Although quantum fluctuations do not necessarily to
disrupt the classical solution, an additional preceding stage is required to
establish classical homogeneity.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figur
Curvature perturbations from ekpyrotic collapse with multiple fields
A scale-invariant spectrum of isocurvature perturbations is generated during
collapse in the ekpyrotic scaling solution in models where multiple fields have
steep negative exponential potentials. The scale invariance of the spectrum is
realized by a tachyonic instability in the isocurvature field. This instability
drives the scaling solution to the late time attractor that is the old
ekpyrotic collapse dominated by a single field. We show that the transition
from the scaling solution to the single field dominated ekpyrotic collapse
automatically converts the initial isocurvature perturbations about the scaling
solution to comoving curvature perturbations about the late-time attractor. The
final amplitude of the comoving curvature perturbation is determined by the
Hubble scale at the transition.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, a reference added, to be published in CQG, a
remark on the comoving density perturbation correcte
Scale-invariance in expanding and contracting universes from two-field models
We study cosmological perturbations produced by the most general
two-derivative actions involving two scalar fields, coupled to Einstein
gravity, with an arbitrary field space metric, that admit scaling solutions.
For contracting universes, we show that scale-invariant adiabatic perturbations
can be produced continuously as modes leave the horizon for any equation of
state parameter . The corresponding background solutions are unstable,
which we argue is a universal feature of contracting models that yield
scale-invariant spectra. For expanding universes, we find that nearly
scale-invariant adiabatic perturbation spectra can only be produced for , and that the corresponding scaling solutions are attractors. The
presence of a nontrivial metric on field space is a crucial ingredient in our
results.Comment: 23 pages, oversight in perturbations calculation corrected,
conclusions for expanding models modifie
Green functions and dimensional reduction of quantum fields on product manifolds
We discuss Euclidean Green functions on product manifolds P=NxM. We show that
if M is compact then the Euclidean field on P can be approximated by its zero
mode which is a Euclidean field on N. We estimate the remainder of this
approximation. We show that for large distances on N the remainder is small. If
P=R^{D-1}xS^{beta}, where S^{beta} is a circle of radius beta, then the result
reduces to the well-known approximation of the D dimensional finite temperature
quantum field theory to D-1 dimensional one in the high temperature limit.
Analytic continuation of Euclidean fields is discussed briefly.Comment: 17 page
Dirac quantization of membrane in time dependent orbifold
We present quantum theory of a membrane propagating in the vicinity of a time
dependent orbifold singularity. The dynamics of a membrane, with the parameters
space topology of a torus, winding uniformly around compact dimension of the
embedding spacetime is mathematically equivalent to the dynamics of a closed
string in a flat FRW spacetime. The construction of the physical Hilbert space
of a membrane makes use of the kernel space of self-adjoint constraint
operators. It is a subspace of the representation space of the constraints
algebra. There exist non-trivial quantum states of a membrane evolving across
the singularity.Comment: 16 pages, no figures, version accepted for publication in Journal of
High Energy Physic
A Stochastic Measure for Eternal Inflation
We use the stochastic approach to investigate the measure for slow roll
eternal inflation. The probability for the universe of a given Hubble radius
can be calculated in this framework. In a solvable model, it is shown that the
probability for the universe to evolve from a state with a smaller Hubble
radius to that of a larger Hubble radius is dominated by the classical
probability without the stochastic source. While the probability for the
universe to evolve from a larger Hubble radius to a smaller one is suppressed
by , where the de Sitter entropy arises naturally in this
stochastic approach.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
Recovering the Inflationary Potential
A procedure is developed for the recovery of the inflationary potential over
the interval that affects astrophysical scales (\approx 1\Mpc - 10^4\Mpc).
The amplitudes of the scalar and tensor metric perturbations and their
power-spectrum indices, which can in principle be inferred from large-angle CBR
anisotropy experiments and other cosmological data, determine the value of the
inflationary potential and its first two derivatives. From these, the
inflationary potential can be reconstructed in a Taylor series and the
consistency of the inflationary hypothesis tested. A number of examples are
presented, and the effect of observational uncertainties is discussed.Comment: 13 pages LaTeX, 6 Figs. available on request, FNAL-Pub-93/182-
The No-defect Conjecture: Cosmological Implications
When the topology of the universe is non trivial, it has been shown that
there are constraints on the network of domain walls, cosmic strings and
monopoles. I generalize these results to textures and study the cosmological
implications of such constraints. I conclude that a large class of
multi-connected universes with topological defects accounting for structure
formation are ruled out by observation of the cosmic microwave background.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication as a brief report in
Phys. Rev.