Effect of reheating on predictions following multiple-field inflation
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Hotinli, Selim C.↗
Engineering topics
Frazer, Jonathan
Publications and source records attributed to Frazer, Jonathan.
Numerical evaluation of the bispectrum in multiple field inflation—the transport approach with code
We present a complete framework for numerical calculation of the power spectrum and bispectrum in canonical inflation with an arbitrary number of light or heavy fields. Our method includes all relevant effects at tree-level in the loop expansion, including (i) interference between growing and decaying modes near horizon exit; (ii) correlation and coupling between species near horizon exit and on superhorizon scales; (iii) contributions from mass terms; and (iv) all contributions from coupling to gravity. We track the evolution of each correlation function from the vacuum state through horizon exit and the superhorizon regime, with no need to match quantum and classical parts of the calculation; when integrated, our approach corresponds exactly with the tree-level Schwinger or 'in-in' formulation of quantum field theory. In this paper we give the equations necessary to evolve all two- and three-point correlation functions together with suitable initial conditions. The final formalism is suitable to compute the amplitude, shape, and scale dependence of the bispectrum in models with | f {sub NL}| of order unity or less, which are a target for future galaxy surveys such as Euclid, DESI and LSST. As an illustration we apply our framework to a number of examples, obtaining quantitatively accurate predictions for their bispectra for the first time. Two accompanying reports describe publicly-available software packages that implement the method.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Designing and testing inflationary models with Bayesian networks
Even simple inflationary scenarios have many free parameters. Beyond the variables appearing in the inflationary action, these include dynamical initial conditions, the number of fields, and couplings to other sectors. These quantities are often ignored but cosmological observables can depend on the unknown parameters. We use Bayesian networks to account for a large set of inflationary parameters, deriving generative models for the primordial spectra that are conditioned on a hierarchical set of prior probabilities describing the initial conditions, reheating physics, and other free parameters. We use N{sub f}-quadratic inflation as an illustrative example, finding that the number of e-folds N{sub *} between horizon exit for the pivot scale and the end of inflation is typically the most important parameter, even when the number of fields, their masses and initial conditions are unknown, along with possible conditional dependencies between these parameters.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Computing observables in curved multifield models of inflation—A guide (with code) to the transport method
We describe how to apply the transport method to compute inflationary observables in a broad range of multiple-field models. The method is efficient and encompasses scenarios with curved field-space metrics, violations of slow-roll conditions and turns of the trajectory in field space. It can be used for an arbitrary mass spectrum, including massive modes and models with quasi-single-field dynamics. In this note we focus on practical issues. It is accompanied by a Mathematica code which can be used to explore suitable models, or as a basis for further development.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Large scale power suppression in a multifield landscape
Power suppression of the cosmic microwave background on the largest observable scales could provide valuable clues about the particle physics underlying inflation. Here we consider the prospect of power suppression in the context of the multifield landscape. Based on the assumption that our observable universe emerges from a tunnelling event and that the relevant features originate purely from inflationary dynamics, we find that the power spectrum not only contains information on single-field dynamics, but also places strong constraints on all scalar fields present in the theory. We find that the simplest single-field models giving rise to power suppression do not generalise to multifield models in a straightforward way, as the resulting superhorizon evolution of the curvature perturbation tends to erase any power suppression present at horizon crossing. On the other hand, multifield effects do present a means of generating power suppression which to our knowledge has so far not been considered. We propose a mechanism to illustrate this, which we dub flume inflation.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Predictions in multifield models of inflation
This paper presents a method for obtaining an analytic expression for the density function of observables in multifield models of inflation with sum-separable potentials. The most striking result is that the density function in general possesses a sharp peak and the location of this peak is only mildly sensitive to the distribution of initial conditions. A simple argument is given for why this result holds for a more general class of models than just those with sum-separable potentials and why for such models, it is possible to obtain robust predictions for observable quantities. As an example, the joint density function of the spectral index and running in double quadratic inflation is computed. For scales leaving the horizon 55 e-folds before the end of inflation, the density function peaks at n{sub s} = 0.967 and α = 0.0006 for the spectral index and running respectively.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
Inflationary perturbation theory is geometrical optics in phase space
A pressing problem in comparing inflationary models with observation is the accurate calculation of correlation functions. One approach is to evolve them using ordinary differential equations ({sup t}ransport equations{sup )}, analogous to the Schwinger-Dyson hierarchy of in-out quantum field theory. We extend this approach to the complete set of momentum space correlation functions. A formal solution can be obtained using raytracing techniques adapted from geometrical optics. We reformulate inflationary perturbation theory in this language, and show that raytracing reproduces the familiar 'δN' Taylor expansion. Our method produces ordinary differential equations which allow the Taylor coefficients to be computed efficiently. We use raytracing methods to express the gauge transformation between field fluctuations and the curvature perturbation, ζ, in geometrical terms. Using these results we give a compact expression for the nonlinear gauge-transform part of f{sub NL} in terms of the principal curvatures of uniform energy-density hypersurfaces in field space.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Multifield consequences for D-brane inflation
We analyse the multifield behaviour in D-brane inflation when contributions from the bulk are taken into account. For this purpose, we study a large number of realisations of the potential; we find the nature of the inflationary trajectory to be very consistent despite the complex construction. Inflation is always canonical and occurs in the vicinity of an inflection point. Extending the transport method to non-slow-roll and to calculate the running, we obtain distributions for observables. The spectral index is typically blue and the running positive, putting the model under moderate pressure from WMAP7 constraints. The local f{sub NL} and tensor-to-scalar ratio are typically unobservably small, though we find approximately 0.5% of realisations to give observably large local f{sub NL}. Approximating the potential as sum-separable, we are able to give fully analytic explanations for the trends in observed behaviour. Finally we find the model suffers from the persistence of isocurvature perturbations, which can be expected to cause further evolution of adiabatic perturbations after inflation. We argue this is a typical problem for models of multifield inflation involving inflection points and renders models of this type technically unpredictive without a description of reheating.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Multi-field inflation with random potentials: field dimension, feature scale and non-Gaussianity
We explore the super-horizon evolution of the two-point and three-point correlation functions of the primordial density perturbation in randomly-generated multi-field potentials. We use the Transport method to evolve perturbations and give full evolutionary histories for observables. Identifying the separate universe assumption as being analogous to a geometrical description of light rays, we give an expression for the width of the bundle, thereby allowing us to monitor evolution towards the adiabatic limit, as well as providing a useful means of understanding the behaviour in f{sub NL}. Finally, viewing our random potential as a toy model of inflation in the string landscape, we build distributions for observables by evolving trajectories for a large number of realisations of the potential and comment on the prospects for testing such models. We find the distributions for observables to be insensitive to the number of fields over the range 2 to 6, but that these distributions are highly sensitive to the scale of features in the potential. Most sensitive to the scale of features is the spectral index, with more than an order of magnitude increase in the dispersion of predictions over the range of feature scales investigated. Least sensitive was the non-Gaussianity parameter f{sub NL}, which was consistently small; we found no examples of realisations whose non-Gaussianity is capable of being observed by any planned experiment.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗