Inflating an Inhomogeneous Universe

Abstract

While cosmological inflation can erase primordial inhomogeneities, it is possible that inflation may not begin in a significantly inhomogeneous universe. This issue is particularly pressing in multifield scenarios, where even the homogeneous dynamics may depend sensitively on the initial configuration. This paper presents an initial survey of the onset of inflation in multifield models, via qualitative lattice-based simulations that do not include local gravitational backreaction. Using hybrid inflation as a test model, our results suggest that small subhorizon inhomogeneities do play a key role in determining whether inflation begins in multifield scenarios. Interestingly, some configurations which do not inflate in the homogeneous limit "succeed" after inhomogeneity is included, while other initial configurations which inflate in the homogeneous limit "fail" when inhomogeneity is added.

15 pages, 8 figures, 1 table; v2: references added; v3: matches published version

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• MultiModeCode: An efficient numerical solver for multifield inflation
• Geodesic completeness and homogeneity condition for cosmic inflation
• Inhomogeneous initial conditions for inflation: A wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey path to salvation
• Dynamics of inflation with mutually orthogonal vector fields in a closed universe
• Updated Constraints on Large Field Hybrid Inflation
• Quantum potentiality in Inhomogeneous Cosmology
• The Dynamics of Inhomogeneous Dark Energy