Circuit Complexity of Scalar and Tensor Perturbations in Luminal Einstein--Gauss--Bonnet Inflation

Abstract

We investigate the circuit complexity of primordial scalar and tensor perturbations in the luminal branch of Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet (EGB) inflation. We construct the Hamiltonians from the quadratic actions and derive the evolution equations for the squeezing parameters. Although the tensor propagation speed is fixed to unity, the Gauss-Bonnet (GB) coupling remains dynamical through the scalar and tensor pump fields. We then calculate the Nielsen circuit complexity of the corresponding two-mode squeezed states. The GB correction produces a clear separation between the squeezing amplitudes, while the squeezing angles remain nearly phase locked. Therefore, the circuit complexity is mainly controlled by the evolution of the squeezing amplitudes. For the benchmark parameters considered here, a positive coupling increases the preparation cost of the scalar Gaussian state but slightly decreases that of the tensor Gaussian state. The scalar sector is therefore more sensitive to the GB coupling, whereas the luminal tensor sector provides a cleaner probe of the pump-field mechanism. Their opposite responses provide a differential state-space diagnostic of the same EGB background.

arXiv comment8 pages, 4 figures