Decoherence Problem in Ekpyrotic Phase

Abstract

Quantum decoherence and the transition to semiclassical behavior during inflation has been extensively considered in the literature. In this paper, we use a simple model to analyze the same process in ekpyrosis. Our result is that the quantum to classical transition would not happen during an ekpyrotic phase even for superhorizon modes, and therefore the fluctuations cannot be interpreted as classical. This implies the prediction of scale-free power spectrum in ekpyrotic/cyclic universe model requires more inspection.

8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; modify the wordings of some well-known results in the introduction part

References in corpus (4)

• Three-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Temperature Analysis
• Pointer states for primordial fluctuations in inflationary cosmology
• On the Decoherence of Primordial Fluctuations During Inflation
• Cosmic Perturbations Through the Cyclic Ages

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Non-Singular Bouncing Cosmology: Consistency of the Effective Description
• A general mechanism for producing scale-invariant perturbations and small non-Gaussianity in ekpyrotic models
• Ekpyrotic Perturbations With Small Non-Gaussian Corrections
• On the Quantum-To-Classical Transition for Ekpyrotic Perturbations
• Cosmological Perturbations Across an S-brane
• The Non-Minimal Ekpyrotic Trispectrum
• Spectrum of Cuscuton Bounce
• Conflation: a new type of accelerated expansion