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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 649 records · Page 36
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DOE OSTI2011

Effect of the Generalized Uncertainty Principle on post-inflation preheating

We examine effects of the Generalized Uncertainty Principle, predicted by various theories of quantum gravity to replace the Heisenberg's uncertainty principle near the Planck scale, on post inflation preheating in cosmology, and show that it can predict either an increase or a decrease in parametric resonance and a corresponding change in particle production. Possible implications are considered.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Brane-antibrane backreaction in axion monodromy inflation

We calculate the interaction potential between D5 and D-bar 5 branes wrapping distant but homologous 2-cycles. The interaction potential is logarithmic in the separation radius and does not decouple at infinity. We show that logarithmic backreaction is generic for 5-branes wrapping distant but homologous 2-cycles, and we argue that this destabilises models of axion monodromy inflation involving NS5 brane-antibrane pairs in separate warped throats towards an uncontrolled region.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Running spectral index and formation of primordial black hole in single field inflation models

A broad range of single field models of inflation are analyzed in light of all relevant recent cosmological data, checking whether they can lead to the formation of long-lived Primordial Black Holes (PBHs). To that end we calculate the spectral index of the power spectrum of primordial perturbations as well as its first and second derivatives. PBH formation is possible only if the spectral index increases significantly at small scales, i.e. large wave number k. Since current data indicate that the first derivative α{sub S} of the spectral index n{sub S}(k{sub 0}) is negative at the pivot scale k{sub 0}, PBH formation is only possible in the presence of a sizable and positive second derivative (''running of the running'') β{sub S}. Among the three small-field and five large-field models we analyze, only one small-field model, the ''running mass'' model, allows PBH formation, for a narrow range of parameters. We also note that none of the models we analyze can accord for a large and negative value of α{sub S}, which is weakly preferred by current data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Inflation with general initial conditions for scalar perturbations

We explore the possibility of a single field quasi-de Sitter inflationary model with general initial state for primordial fluctuations. In this paper, first we compute the power spectrum and the bispectrum of scalar perturbations with coherent state as the initial state. We find that a large class of coherent states are indistinguishable from the Bunch-Davies vacuum state and hence consistent with the current observations. In case of a more general initial state built over Bunch-Davies vacuum state, we show that the constraints on the initial state from observed power spectrum and local bispectrum are relatively weak and for quasi-de Sitter inflation a large number of initial states are consistent with the current observations. However, renormalizability of the energy-momentum tensor of the fluctuations constraints the initial state further.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

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↗
DOE OSTI2012

Free light fields can change the predictions of hybrid inflation

We show that the free light scalar fields that may exist in the inflationary Universe can change the predictions of the hybrid inflation model. Possible signatures are discussed, which can be used to discriminate the sources of the spectrum.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Sculpting the extra dimensions: inflation from codimension-2 brane back-reaction

We construct an inflationary model in 6D supergravity that is based on explicit time-dependent solutions to the full higher-dimensional field equations, back-reacting to the presence of a 4D inflaton rolling on a space-filling codimension-2 source brane. Fluxes in the bulk stabilize all moduli except the 'breathing' modulus (that is generically present in higher-dimensional supergravities). Back-reaction to the inflaton roll causes the 4D Einstein-frame on-brane geometry to expand, a(t)∝t{sup p}, as well as exciting the breathing mode and causing the two off-brane dimensions to expand, r(t)∝t{sup q}. The model evades the general no-go theorems precluding 4D de Sitter solutions, since adjustments to the brane-localized inflaton potential allow the power p to be dialed to be arbitrarily large, with the 4D geometry becoming de Sitter in the limit p → ∞ (in which case q = 0). Slow-roll solutions give accelerated expansion with p large but finite, and q = ½. Because the extra dimensions expand during inflation, the present-day 6D gravity scale can be much smaller than it was when primordial fluctuations were generated — potentially allowing TeV gravity now to be consistent with the much higher gravity scale required at horizon-exit for observable primordial gravity waves. Because p >> q, the 4 on-brane dimensions expand more quickly than the 2 off-brane ones, providing a framework for understanding why the observed four dimensions are presently so much larger than the internal two. If uplifted to a 10D framework with 4 dimensions stabilized, the 6D evolution described here could describe how two of the six extra dimensions evolve to become much larger than the others, as a consequence of the enormous expansion of the 4 large dimensions we can see.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

On the importance of heavy fields during inflation

We study the dynamics of two-field models of inflation characterized by a hierarchy of masses between curvature and isocurvature modes. When the hierarchy is large, a low energy effective field theory (EFT) exists in which only curvature modes participate in the dynamics of perturbations. In this EFT heavy fields continue to have a significant role in the low energy dynamics, as their interaction with curvature modes reduces their speed of sound whenever the multi-field trajectory is subject to a sharp turn in target space. Here we analyze under which general conditions this EFT remains a reliable description for the linear evolution of curvature modes. We find that the main condition consists on demanding that the rate of change of the turn's angular velocity stays suppressed with respect to the masses of heavy modes. This adiabaticity condition allows the EFT to accurately describe a large variety of situations in which the multi-field trajectory is subject to sharp turns. To test this, we analyze several models with turns and show that, indeed, the power spectra obtained for both the original two-field theory and its single-field EFT are identical when the adiabaticity condition is satisfied. In particular, when turns are sharp and sudden, they are found to generate large features in the power spectrum, accurately reproduced by the EFT.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Curvature perturbation in multi-field inflation with non-minimal coupling

In this paper we discuss a multi-field model of inflation in which generally all fields are non-minimally coupled to the Ricci scalar and have non-canonical kinetic terms. The background evolution and first-order perturbations for the model are evaluated in both the Jordan and Einstein frames, and the respective curvature perturbations compared. We confirm that they are indeed not the same - unlike in the single-field case - and also that the difference is a direct consequence of the isocurvature perturbations inherent to multi-field models. This result leads us to conclude that the notion of adiabaticity is not invariant under conformal transformations. Using a two-field example we show that even if in one frame the evolution is adiabatic, meaning that the curvature perturbation is conserved on super-horizon scales, in general in the other frame isocurvature perturbations continue to source the curvature perturbation. We also find that it is possible to realise a particular model in which curvature perturbations in both frames are conserved but with each being of different magnitude. These examples highlight that the curvature perturbation itself, despite being gauge-invariant, does not correspond directly to an observable. The non-equivalence of the two curvature perturbations would also be important when considering the addition of Standard Model matter into the system.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Conformal consistency relations for single-field inflation

We generalize the single-field consistency relations to capture not only the leading term in the squeezed limit — going as 1/q{sup 3}, where q is the small wavevector — but also the subleading one, going as 1/q{sup 2}. This term, for an (n+1)-point function, is fixed in terms of the variation of the n-point function under a special conformal transformation; this parallels the fact that the 1/q{sup 3} term is related with the scale dependence of the n-point function. For the squeezed limit of the 3-point function, this conformal consistency relation implies that there are no terms going as 1/q{sup 2}. We verify that the squeezed limit of the 4-point function is related to the conformal variation of the 3-point function both in the case of canonical slow-roll inflation and in models with reduced speed of sound. In the second case the conformal consistency conditions capture, at the level of observables, the relation among operators induced by the non-linear realization of Lorentz invariance in the Lagrangian. These results mean that, in any single-field model, primordial correlation functions of ζ are endowed with an SO(4,1) symmetry, with dilations and special conformal transformations non-linearly realized by ζ. We also verify the conformal consistency relations for any n-point function in models with a modulation of the inflaton potential, where the scale dependence is not negligible. Finally, we generalize (some of) the consistency relations involving tensors and soft internal momenta.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Strong scale dependent bispectrum in the Starobinsky model of inflation

We compute analytically the dominant contribution to the tree-level bispectrum in the Starobinsky model of inflation. In this model, the potential is vacuum energy dominated but contains a subdominant linear term which changes the slope abruptly at a point. We show that on large scales compared with the transition scale k{sub 0} and in the equilateral limit the analogue of the non-linearity parameter scales as (k/k{sub 0}){sup 2}, that is its amplitude decays for larger and larger scales until it becomes subdominant with respect to the usual slow-roll suppressed corrections. On small scales we show that the non-linearity parameter oscillates with angular frequency given by 3/k{sub 0} and its amplitude grows linearly towards smaller scales and can be large depending on the model parameters. We also compare our results with previous results in the literature.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Gauge-invariant perturbations at second order in two-field inflation

We study the second-order gauge-invariant adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations in terms of the scalar fields present during inflation, along with the related fully non-linear space gradient of these quantities. We discuss the relation with other perturbation quantities defined in the literature. We also construct the exact cubic action of the second-order perturbations (beyond any slow-roll or super-horizon approximations and including tensor perturbations), both in the uniform energy-density gauge and the flat gauge in order to settle various gauge-related issues. We thus provide the tool to calculate the exact non-Gaussianity beyond slow-roll and at any scale.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Stable bounce and inflation in non-local higher derivative cosmology

One of the greatest problems of primordial inflation is that the inflationary space-time is past-incomplete. This is mainly because Einstein's GR suffers from a space-like Big Bang singularity. It has recently been shown that ghost-free, non-local higher-derivative ultra-violet modifications of Einstein's gravity may be able to resolve the cosmological Big Bang singularity via a non-singular bounce. Within the framework of such non-local cosmological models, we are going to study both sub- and super-Hubble perturbations around an inflationary trajectory which is preceded by the Big Bounce in the past, and demonstrate that the inflationary trajectory has an ultra-violet completion and that perturbations do not suffer from any pathologies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Effects and detectability of quasi-single field inflation in the large-scale structure and cosmic microwave background

Quasi-single field inflation predicts a peculiar momentum dependence in the squeezed limit of the primordial bispectrum which smoothly interpolates between the local and equilateral models. This dependence is directly related to the mass of the isocurvatons in the theory which is determined by the supersymmetry. Therefore, in the event of detection of a non-zero primordial bispectrum, additional constraints on the parameter controlling the momentum-dependence in the squeezed limit becomes an important question. We explore the effects of these non-Gaussian initial conditions on large-scale structure and the cosmic microwave background, with particular attention to the galaxy power spectrum at large scales and scale-dependence corrections to galaxy bias. We determine the simultaneous constraints on the two parameters describing the QSF bispectrum that we can expect from upcoming large-scale structure and cosmic microwave background observations. We find that for relatively large values of the non-Gaussian amplitude parameters, but still well within current uncertainties, galaxy power spectrum measurements will be able to distinguish the QSF scenario from the predictions of the local model. A CMB likelihood analysis, as well as Fisher matrix analysis, shows that there is also a range of parameter values for which Planck data may be able distinguish between QSF models and the related local and equilateral shapes. Given the different observational weightings of the CMB and LSS results, degeneracies can be significantly reduced in a joint analysis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Large non-Gaussian halo bias from single field inflation

We calculate Large Scale Structure observables for non-Gaussianity arising from non-Bunch-Davies initial states in single field inflation. These scenarios can have substantial primordial non-Gaussianity from squeezed (but observable) momentum configurations. They generate a term in the halo bias that may be more strongly scale-dependent than the contribution from the local ansatz. We also discuss theoretical considerations required to generate an observable signature.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Quantum gravity constraints on inflation

We study quantum gravity constraints on inflationary model building. Our approach is based on requiring the entropy associated to a given inflationary model to be less than that of the de Sitter entropy. We give two prescriptions for determining the inflationary entropy, based on either 'bits per unit area' or entanglement entropy. The existence of transPlanckian flat directions, necessary for large tensor modes in the CMB, correlates with an inflationary entropy greater than that allowed by de Sitter space. Independently these techniques also constrain or exclude de Sitter models with large-rank gauge groups and high UV cutoffs, such as racetrack inflation or the KKLT construction.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Quasi-single field inflation with large mass

We study the effect of massive isocurvaton on density perturbations in quasi-single field inflation models, when the mass of the isocurvaton M becomes larger than the order of the Hubble parameter H. We analytically compute the correction to the power spectrum, leading order in coupling but exact for all values of mass. This verifies the previous numerical results for the range 0 < M < 3H/2 and shows that, in the large mass limit, the correction is of order H{sup 2}/M{sup 2}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Inflation in general covariant theory of gravity

In this paper, we study inflation in the framework of the nonrelativistic general covariant theory of the Hořava-Lifshitz gravity with the projectability condition and an arbitrary coupling constant λ. We find that the Friedmann-Robterson-Walker (FRW) universe is necessarily flat in such a setup. We work out explicitly the linear perturbations of the flat FRW universe without specifying to a particular gauge, and find that the perturbations are different from those obtained in general relativity, because of the presence of the high-order spatial derivative terms. Applying the general formulas to a single scalar field, we show that in the sub-horizon regions, the metric and scalar field are tightly coupled and have the same oscillating frequencies. In the super-horizon regions, the perturbations become adiabatic, and the comoving curvature perturbation is constant. We also calculate the power spectra and indices of both the scalar and tensor perturbations, and express them explicitly in terms of the slow roll parameters and the coupling constants of the high-order spatial derivative terms. In particular, we find that the perturbations, of both scalar and tensor, are almost scale-invariant, and, with some reasonable assumptions on the coupling coefficients, the spectrum index of the tensor perturbation is the same as that given in the minimum scenario in general relativity (GR), whereas the index for scalar perturbation in general depends on λ and is different from the standard GR value. The ratio of the scalar and tensor power spectra depends on the high-order spatial derivative terms, and can be different from that of GR significantly.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗