What can quantum cosmology say about the inflationary universe?

7th International Workshop DICE2014 Spacetime – Matter – Quantum Mechanics

物理学;力学

Calcagni, Gianluca^1 ; Kiefer, Claus^2 ; Steinwachs, Christian F^3

Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, CSIC, calle Serrano 121, Madrid

28006, Spain^1

Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität zu Köln, Zülpicher Strasse 77, Köln

50937, Germany^2

Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Strasse 3, Freiburg

79104, Germany^3

关键词: Decoherence;    Energy scale;    Inflationary universe;    Initial conditions;    Parameter spaces;    Quantum cosmology;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/626/1/012003/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/626/1/012003

学科分类：力学，机械学

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

We propose a method to extract predictions from quantum cosmology for inflation that can be confronted with observations. Employing the tunneling boundary condition in quantum geometrodynamics, we derive a probability distribution for the inflaton field. A sharp peak in this distribution can be interpreted as setting the initial conditions for the subsequent phase of inflation. In this way, the peak sets the energy scale at which the inflationary phase has started. This energy scale must be consistent with the energy scale found from the inflationary potential and with the scale found from a potential observation of primordial gravitational waves. Demanding a consistent history of the universe from its quantum origin to its present state, which includes decoherence, we derive a condition that allows one to constrain the parameter space of the underlying model of inflation. We demonstrate our method by applying it to two models: Higgs inflation and natural inflation.