On Corpuscular Theory of Inflation

Abstract

In order to go beyond the mean-field approximation, commonly used in the inflationary computations, an identification of the quantum constituents of the inflationary background is made. In particular, the homogeneous scalar field configuration is represented as a Bose-Einstein condensate of the off-shell inflaton degrees of freedom, with mass significantly screened by the gravitational binding energy. The gravitational counterpart of the classical background is considered to be a degenerate state of the off-shell longitudinal gravitons with the frequency of the order of the Hubble scale. As a result, the origin of the density perturbations in the slow-roll regime is identified as an uncertainty in the position of the constituent inflatons. While in the regime of eternal inflation, the scattering of the constituent gravitons becomes the relevant source of the density perturbations. The gravitational waves, on the other hand, originate from the annihilation of the constituent longitudinal gravitons at all energy scales. This results in the quantum depletion of the classical background. Leading to the upper bound on the number of e-folds, after which the semiclassical description is expected to break down, which is estimated to be of the order of the entropy of the initial Hubble patch.

arXiv comment13 pages; v2: refs added; v3: minor error corrected

References in corpus (4)

• Non-Gaussian features of primordial fluctuations in single field inflationary models
• From the Big Bang Theory to the Theory of a Stationary Universe
• Quantum Compositeness of Gravity: Black Holes, AdS and Inflation
• The Phase Transition to Eternal Inflation

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• Emergence of a Dark Force in Corpuscular Gravity
• Classicality and Quantum Break-Time for Cosmic Axions
• De Sitter space as BRST invariant coherent state of gravitons
• The Timescales of Quantum Breaking
• On Evolution of Coherent States as Quantum Counterpart of Classical Dynamics
• Perturbative Understanding of Non-Perturbative Processes and Quantumization versus Classicalization
• Background Field Method and Initial-Time Singularity for Coherent States
• Coherent States in Gauge Theories: Topological Defects and Other Classical Configurations
• A Relativistic Gas of Inflatons as an Initial State for Inflation
• Quantum Gravity in Species Regime
• Consistent Canonical Quantization of Gravity: Recovery of Classical GR from BRST-invariant Coherent States