Modified dispersion relations, inflation and scale invariance

Abstract

For a certain type of modified dispersion relations, the vacuum quantum state for very short wavelength cosmological perturbations is scale-invariant and it has been suggested that this may be the source of the scale-invariance observed in the temperature anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. We point out that for this scenario to be possible, it is necessary to redshift these short wavelength modes to cosmological scales in such a way that the scale-invariance is not lost. This requires non-trivial background dynamics before the onset of standard radiation-dominated cosmology; we demonstrate that one possible solution is inflation with a sufficiently large Hubble rate, for this slow roll is not necessary. In addition, we also show that if the slow-roll condition is added to inflation with a large Hubble rate, then for any power law modified dispersion relation quantum vacuum fluctuations become nearly scale-invariant when they exit the Hubble radius.

9 pages. v2: Clarifications and references added

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• Cosmology of the Lifshitz universe
• Fractal properties of quantum spacetime
• Primordial perturbation with a modified dispersion relation
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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Higher-derivative Lorentz-breaking dispersion relations: a thermal description
• Inflationary Krylov complexity
• Complexity of non-trivial sound speed in inflation
• Cosmological complexity of the modified dispersion relation
• Life of cosmological perturbations in MDR models, and the prospect of travelling primordial gravitational waves