Bose-Einstein condensation as an alternative to inflation

Abstract

It was recently shown that gravitons with a very small mass should have formed a Bose-Einstein condensate in the very early Universe, whose density and quantum potential can account for the dark matter and dark energy in the Universe respectively. Here we show that the condensation can also naturally explain the observed large scale homogeneity and isotropy of the Universe. Furthermore gravitons continue to fall into their ground state within the condensate at every epoch, accounting for the observed flatness of space at cosmological distances scales. Finally, we argue that the density perturbations due to quantum fluctuations within the condensate give rise to a scale invariant spectrum. This therefore provides a viable alternative to inflation, which is not associated with the well-known problems associated with the latter.

This essay received an Honorable Mention in the 2015 Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Stringent theoretical and experimental bounds on graviton mass
• Is it possible to obtain cosmic accelerated expansion through energy transfer between different energy densities?
• A mechanism for formation of Bose-Einstein condensation in cosmology
• Comment on "Quantum Raychaudhuri equation"