Quantum Stress Tensor Fluctuations and Primordial Gravity Waves

Abstract

We examine the effect of the stress tensor of a quantum matter field, such as the electromagnetic field, on the spectrum of primordial gravity waves expected in inflationary cosmology. We find that the net effect is a small reduction in the power spectrum, especially at higher frequencies, but which has a different form from that described by the usual spectral index. Thus this effect has a characteristic signature, and is in principle observable. The net effect is a sum of two contributions, one of which is due to quantum fluctuations of the matter field stress tensor. The other is a quantum correction to the graviton field due to coupling to the expectation value of this stress tensor. Both contributions are sensitive to initial conditions in the very early universe, so this effect has the potential to act as a probe of these initial conditions.

33 pages, 3 figures

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• Quantum Contributions to Cosmological Correlations II: Can These Corrections Become Large?
• One-loop gravitational wave spectrum in de Sitter spacetime
• Probability distributions for quantum stress tensors in four dimensions
• Probability Distributions for Quantum Stress Tensors Measured in a Finite Time Interval
• Possible Constraints on the Duration of Inflationary Expansion from Quantum Stress Tensor Fluctuations
• Quantum Electric Field Fluctuations and Potential Scattering
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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Primordial gravitational waves amplification from causal fluids
• Dynamical Response of an Unruh-DeWitt Detector in a Quantum Field over the History of the Universe
• Frequency Spectra Analysis of Space and Time Averaged Quantum Stress Tensor Fluctuations
• Fluctuations in the stress energy tensor of spinor fields evolving in general FRW spacetimes