Work

Open quantum cosmological system

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: We derive the evolution equation for the density matrix of a UV- and IR- limited band of comoving momentum modes of the canonically normalized scalar degree of freedom in two examples of nearly de Sitter universes. Including the effects of a cubic interaction term from the gravitational action and tracing out a set of longer wavelength modes, we find that the evolution of the system is non-Hamiltonian and non-Markovian. We find linear dissipation terms for a few modes with wavelength near the boundary between system and bath, and nonlinear dissipation terms for all modes. The non-Hamiltonian terms in the evolution equation persist to late times when the scalar field dynamics is such that the curvature perturbation continues to evolve on super-Hubble scales.

Source: Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.98.083535

Authors: Sarah Shandera, Nishant Agarwal, Archana Kamal

Institutions: Pennsylvania State University, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Cosmology and Gravitation Theories

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: National Science Foundation

Award: Sub-systems and Correlations in Cosmology and Particle Physics