985 research outputs found
On the degree of scale invariance of inflationary perturbations
Many, if not most, inflationary models predict the power-law index of the
spectrum of density perturbations is close to one, though not precisely equal
to one, |n-1| \sim O(0.1), implying that the spectrum of density perturbations
is nearly, but not exactly, scale invariant. Some models allow n to be
significantly less than one (n \sim 0.7); a spectral index significantly
greater than one is more difficult to achieve. We show that n \approx 1 is a
consequence of the slow-roll conditions for inflation and ``naturalness,'' and
thus is a generic prediction of inflation. We discuss what is required to
deviate significantly from scale invariance, and then show, by explicit
construction, the existence of smooth potentials that satisfy all the
conditions for successful inflation and give as large as 2.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Dark Energy and the quietness of the Local Hubble Flow
The linearity and quietness of the Local () Hubble Flow (LHF) in
view of the very clumpy local universe is a long standing puzzle in standard
and in open CDM cosmogony. The question addressed in this paper is whether the
antigravity component of the recently discovered dark energy can cool the
velocity flow enough to provide a solution to this puzzle. We calculate the
growth of matter fluctuations in a flat universe containing a fraction
of dark energy obeying the time independent equation of state
. We find that dark energy can indeed cool the LHF. However the
dark energy parameter values required to make the predicted velocity dispersion
consistent with the observed value have been ruled out
by other observational tests constraining the dark energy parameters and
. Therefore despite the claims of recent qualitative studies dark
energy with time independent equation of state can not by itself explain the
quietness and linearity of the Local Hubble Flow.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev. D. Minor corrections, one
figure adde
Convergence of the expansion of the Laplace-Borel integral in perturbative QCD improved by conformal mapping
The optimal conformal mapping of the Borel plane was recently used to
accelerate the convergence of the perturbation expansions in QCD. In this work
we discuss the relevance of the method for the calculation of the Laplace-Borel
integral expressing formally the QCD Green functions. We define an optimal
expansion of the Laplace-Borel integral in the principal value prescription and
establish conditions under which the expansion is convergent.Comment: 10 pages, no figure
Protogalactic Extension of the Parker Bound
We extend the Parker bound on the galactic flux of magnetic
monopoles. By requiring that a small initial seed field must survive the
collapse of the protogalaxy, before any regenerative dynamo effects become
significant, we develop a stronger bound. The survival and continued growth of
an initial galactic seed field G demand that . For a given
monopole mass, this bound is four and a half orders of magnitude more stringent
than the previous `extended Parker bound', but is more speculative as it
depends on assumptions about the behavior of magnetic fields during
protogalactic collapse. For monopoles which do not overclose the Universe
(), the maximum flux allowed is now cm^{-2}
s^{-1} sr^{-1}, a factor of 150 lower than the maximum flux allowed by the
extended Parker bound.Comment: 9 pages, 1 eps figur
Introduction to Magnetic Monopoles
One of the most basic properties of magnetism is that a magnet always has two
poles, north and south, which cannot be separated into isolated poles, i.e.,
magnetic monopoles. However, there are strong theoretical arguments why
magnetic monopoles should exist. In spite of extensive searches they have not
been found, but they have nevertheless played a central role in our
understanding of physics at the most fundamental level.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures. To be published in Contemporary Physic
CBR Anisotropy and the Running of the Scalar Spectral Index
Accurate () predictions for the anisotropy of the Cosmic
Background Radiation (CBR) are essential for using future high-resolution
() CBR maps to test cosmological models. In many inflationary
models the variation (``running'') of the spectral index of the spectrum of
density perturbations is a significant effect and leads to changes of around
1\% to 10\% in the CBR power spectrum. We propose a general method for taking
running into account which uses the derivative of the spectral index (). Conversely, high-resolution CBR maps may be able to determine ,
giving important information about the inflationary potential.Comment: Discussion of calculation clarified; error corrected which reduces
estimated effect for chaotic inflatio
Duality Invariance of Cosmological Perturbation Spectra
I show that cosmological perturbation spectra produced from quantum
fluctuations in massless or self-interacting scalar fields during an
inflationary era remain invariant under a two parameter family of
transformations of the homogeneous background fields. This relates slow-roll
inflation models to solutions which may be far from the usual slow-roll limit.
For example, a scale-invariant spectrum of perturbations in a minimally
coupled, massless field can be produced by an exponential expansion with
, or by a collapsing universe with .Comment: 5 pages, Latex with Revtex. Hamiltonian formulation added and
discussion expanded. Version to appear in Phys Rev
The cosmic gravitational wave background in a cyclic universe
Inflation predicts a primordial gravitational wave spectrum that is slightly
``red,'' i.e., nearly scale-invariant with slowly increasing power at longer
wavelengths. In this paper, we compute both the amplitude and spectral form of
the primordial tensor spectrum predicted by cyclic/ekpyrotic models. The
spectrum is blue and exponentially suppressed compared to inflation on long
wavelengths. The strongest observational constraint emerges from the
requirement that the energy density in gravitational waves should not exceed
around 10 per cent of the energy density at the time of nucleosynthesis.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figuer
Nonperturbative Effects from the Resummation of Perturbation Theory
Using the general argument in Borel resummation of perturbation theory that
links the divergent perturbation theory to the nonperturbative effect we argue
that the nonperturbative effect associated with the perturbation theory should
have a branch cut only along the positive real axis in the complex coupling
plane. The component in the weak coupling expansion of the nonperturbative
amplitude, which usually includes the leading term in the weak coupling
expansion, that gives rise to the branch cut can be calculated in principle
from the perturbation theory combined with some exactly calculable properties
of the nonperturbative effect. The realization of this mechanism is
demonstrated in the double well potential and the two-dimensional O(N)
nonlinear sigma model. In these models the leading term in weak coupling of the
nonperturbative effect can be obtained with good accuracy from the first terms
of the perturbation theory. Applying this mechanism to the infrared renormalon
induced nonperturbative effect in QCD, we suggest some of the QCD condensate
effects can be calculated in principle from the perturbation theory.Comment: 21 Pages, 1 Figure; To appear in Phys Rev
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