Decoherence of gauge-invariant metric fluctuations during inflation

Abstract

I study the gauge-invariant fluctuations of the metric during inflation. In the infrared sector the metric fluctuations can be represented by a coarse-grained field. We can write a Schroedinger equation for the coarse-grained metric fluctuations which is related to an effective Hamiltonian for a time dependent parameter of mass harmonic oscillator with a stochastic external force. I study the wave function for a power-law expanding universe. I find that the phase space of the quantum state for super Hubble scalar metric perturbations loses its coherence at the end of inflation. This effect is a consequence of interference between the super Hubble metric perturbations and its canonical conjugate variable, which is produced by the interaction of the coarse-grained scalar metric fluctuation with the environment.

version accepted in Phys. Rev. D

References in corpus (1)

• Gauge - invariant fluctuations of the metric in stochastic inflation

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Observational constraints on quantum decoherence during inflation
• Non Gaussianities from Quantum Decoherence during Inflation
• Stochastic collapse
• A confirmation of agreement of different approaches for scalar gauge-invariant metric perturbations during inflation