Initial conditions for inflation

Nemanja Kaloper, Matthew Kleban, Albion Lawrence, Stephen Shenker, Leonard Susskind

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Free scalar fields in de Sitter space have a one-parameter family of states invariant under the de Sitter group, including the standard thermal vacuum. We show that, except for the thermal vacuum, these states are unphysical when gravitational interactions are included. We apply these observations to the quantum state of the inflaton, and find that at best, dramatic fine tuning is required for states other than the thermal vacuum to lead to observable features in the CMBR anisotropy.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)747-773
    Number of pages27
    JournalJournal of High Energy Physics
    Volume6
    Issue number11
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Nov 11 2002

    Keywords

    • Cosmology of Theories beyond the SM
    • Physics of the Early Universe

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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