Title

Where does Cosmological Perturbation Theory Break Down?

Author(s)/Creator(s)

Christian Armendariz-Picon, Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NYFollow
Michele Fontanini, Syracuse University
Riccardo Penco, Syracuse University
Mark Trodden, Syracuse University

Document Type

Article

Date

5-1-2008

Language

English

Disciplines

Physics

Description/Abstract

We apply the effective field theory approach to the coupled metric-inflaton system, in order to investigate the impact of higher dimension operators on the spectrum of scalar and tensor perturbations in the short-wavelength regime. In both cases, effective corrections at tree-level become important when the Hubble parameter is of the order of the Planck mass, or when the physical wave number of a cosmological perturbation mode approaches the square of the Planck mass divided by the Hubble constant. Thus, the cut-off length below which conventional cosmological perturbation theory does not apply is likely to be much smaller than the Planck length. This has implications for the observability of "trans-Planckian" effects in the spectrum of primordial perturbations.

Additional Information

25 pages, uses FeynMP More information at http://arxiv.org/abs/0805.0114

Recommended Citation

Armendariz-Picon, Christian; Fontanini, Michele; Penco, Riccardo; and Trodden, Mark, "Where does Cosmological Perturbation Theory Break Down?" (2008). Physics - All Scholarship. 213.
https://surface.syr.edu/phy/213

Source

Harvested from Arxiv.org