ACP Seminar (Astronomy - Cosmology - Particle Physics)

Speaker: Alexei A. Starobinsky (Landau Institute)
Title: Non-perturbative predictions of stochastic inflation and their dependence of initial conditions
Date (JST): Thu, Oct 07, 2010, 12:00 - 13:00
Place: Lecture Hall
Related File: 297.pdf
Abstract: Though such observable quantities as the spectrum and statistics of primordial scalar and tensor perturbations are independent on initial conditions at the local beginning of sufficiently long inflation, there exist many other quantities and effects which do depend on them. Their calculation typically requires non-perturbative methods like the stochastic approach to inflation. Observing these effects or their consequences may give some knowledge on the initial conditions. Examples are probabilities (branching ratios) of decay into different vacua and total rms fluctuations of light scalar fields after inflation. Analytic expressions for these quantities derived using the original (probability conserving) stochastic approach are presented and their dependence on the initial conditions is discussed. Generically there seems to be no rule fixing these conditions uniquely. In particular, 'eternal' inflation is not eternal enough for this purpose, as well as for reaching equilibrium values for all observables.