Quantum Fluctuations at the Planck Scale

Abstract

The recently measured cutoff, k_min=[4.34(+/-)0.50]/r_cmb (with r_cmb the comoving distance to the last scattering surface), in the fluctuation spectrum of the cosmic microwave background, appears to disfavor slow-roll inflation and the associated transition of modes across the horizon. We show in this Letter that k_min instead corresponds to the first mode emerging out of the Planck domain into the semi-classical universe. The required scalar-field potential is exponential, though not inflationary, and satisfies the zero active mass condition, rho_phi+3p_phi=0. Quite revealingly, the observed amplitude of the temperature anisotropies requires the quantum fluctuations in phi to have classicalized at ~3.5x10^15 GeV, consistent with the energy scale in grand unified theories. Such scalar-field potentials are often associated with Kaluza-Klein cosmologies, string theory and even supergravity.

4 pages. Accepted for publication in EPJ-C Letters

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Classicalization of Quantum Fluctuations at the Planck Scale in the R_h=ct Universe
• Missing large-angle correlations versus even-odd point-parity imbalance in the cosmic microwave background
• A Resolution of the Monopole Problem in the R_h=ct Universe
• A Pop III generated dust screen at z~16
• The Anomalous 21-cm Absorption at High Redshifts
• A Comparative Test of the LCDM and R_h=ct Cosmologies Based on Upcoming Redshift Drift Measurements