A Bell Experiment in an Entangled Universe

Abstract

We propose a possible quantum signature of the early Universe that could lead to observational imprints of the quantum nature of the inflationary period. Graviton production from the presence of a classical, coherent state of the inflaton scalar field results in entangled states in the gravitons' polarizations. At horizon crossing, interactions between the gravitons and (lower scale) inflatons, together with the gathering of ``which-path information'' from the cosmological horizon, perform the required Bell experiments leading to a definitive measure, which can be imprinted in the scalar correlation four-point function. This is because of a non-trivial effect due to the derivatives on two scalar fluctuations, and it provides a fingerprint that depends on the polarization of the graviton that Alice and/or Bob measured in their patch. We hint how this signature could be measured in the high-order correlation function of galaxies, in particular on the halo bias and the intrinsic alignment.

arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2403.15742