Origin of structure: Statistical characterization of the primordial density fluctuations and the collapse of the wave function

Abstract

The statistical properties of the primordial density perturbations has been considered in the past decade as a powerful probe of the physical processes taking place in the early universe. Within the inflationary paradigm, the properties of the bispectrum are one of the keys that serves to discriminate among competing scenarios concerning the details of the origin of cosmological perturbations. However, all of the scenarios, based on the conventional approach to the so-called "quantum-to-classical transition" during inflation, lack the ability to point out the precise physical mechanism responsible for generating the inhomogeneity and anisotropy of our universe starting from and exactly homogeneous and isotropic vacuum state associated with the early inflationary regime. In past works, we have shown that the proposals involving a spontaneous dynamical reduction of the quantum state provide plausible explanations for the birth of said primordial inhomogeneities and anisotropies. In the present manuscript we show that, when considering within the context of such proposals, the characterization of the spectrum and bispectrum turn out to be quite different from those found in the traditional approach, and in particular, some of the statistical features, must be treated in a different way leading to some rather different conclusions.

arXiv comment24 pages, 3 figures. Minor corrections, accepted for publication in JCAP. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1312.7590

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• Contextual Wavefunction Collapse: An integrated theory of quantum measurement
• On the choice of the collapse operator in cosmological Continuous Spontaneous Localisation (CSL) theories
• Emergence of classical behavior in the early universe
• Emergence of inflationary perturbations in the CSL model
• Generally covariant dynamical reduction models and the Hadamard condition
• The de Broglie-Bohm Quantum Theory and its Application to Quantum Cosmology
• Expectation of primordial gravity waves generated during inflation
• Primordial gravitational waves and the collapse of the wave function
• The simplest possible bouncing quantum cosmological model
• Enlightening the CSL model landscape in inflation
• A mechanism for formation of Bose-Einstein condensation in cosmology
• Emergent universe: tensor perturbations within the CSL framework
• Emergent universe revisited through the CSL theory