We compute the power spectrum of curvature perturbations in stochastic inflation. This combines the distribution of first crossing times through the end-of-inflation surface, which has been previously studied, with the distribution of the fields value at the time when a given scale crosses out the Hubble radius during inflation, which we show how to compute. This allows the stochastic-$δN$ formalism to make concrete contact with observations. As an application, we study how quantum diffusion at small scales (arising e.g. in models leading to primordial black holes) affects the large-scale perturbations observed in the cosmic microwave background. We find that even if those sets of scales are well separated, large effects can arise from the distortion of the classical relationship between field values and wavenumbers brought about by quantum diffusion near the end of inflation. This shows that cosmic microwave background measurements can set explicit constraints on the entire inflationary potential down to the end of inflation.
We extend the formalism of stochastic inflation to the setup of non-attractor inflation with a sound speed $c_s$. We obtain the Langevin equations for the superhorizon perturbations and calculate the stochastic corrections to curvature perturbation power spectrum. It is shown that the fractional stochastic corrections in mean number of e-folds and power spectrum are at the order of power spectrum. We also calculate the boundary crossing and the first hitting probabilities in a hypothetical dS space with two boundaries in field space. Furthermore, the stochastic corrections in power spectrum in…
By making a suitable generalization of the Starobinsky stochastic inflation, we propose a classical phase space formulation of stochastic inflation which may be used for a quantitative study of decoherence of cosmological perturbations during inflation. The precise knowledge of how much cosmological perturbations have decohered is essential to the understanding of acoustic oscillations of cosmological microwave background (CMB) photons. In order to show how the method works, we provide the relevant equations for a self-interacting inflaton field. For pedagogical reasons and to provide a link t…
Stochastic inflation is an effective theory describing the super-Hubble, coarse-grained, scalar fields driving inflation, by a set of Langevin equations. We previously highlighted the difficulty of deriving a theory of stochastic inflation that is invariant under field redefinitions, and the link with the ambiguity of discretisation schemes defining stochastic differential equations. In this paper, we solve the issue of these "inflationary stochastic anomalies" by using the Stratonovich discretisation satisfying general covariance, and identifying that the quantum nature of the fluctuating fie…
The relative probability to decay towards different vacua during inflation is studied. The calculation is performed in single-field slow-roll potentials using the stochastic inflation formalism. Various situations are investigated, including falling from a local maximum of the potential and escaping from a local minimum. In the latter case, our result is consistent with that of Hawking and Moss, but is applicable to any potential. The decay rates are also computed, and the case of a generic potential with multiple minima and maxima is discussed.
We calculate the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum, corresponding to five and six point correlation functions of the curvature perturbation. For single field inflation with standard kinetic term, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum are small, which are suppressed by slow roll parameters. The calculation can be generalized to multiple fields. When there is no entropy perturbation, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum are suppressed as well. With the presence of entropy perturbation, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum can get boosted. We illustrate this boost in the multi-brid inflatio…
The formalism of stochastic inflation is a powerful tool for analyzing the backreaction of cosmological perturbations, and making precise predictions for inflationary observables. We demonstrate this with the simple $m^2ϕ^2$ model of inflation, wherein we obtain an effective field theory for IR modes of the inflaton, which remains coupled to UV modes through a classical noise. We compute slow-roll corrections to the evolution of UV modes (i.e. quantum fluctuations), and track this effect from the UV theory to the IR theory, where it manifests as a correction to the classical noise. We compute …
We study the Brownian motion of a field where there are boundaries in the inflationary field space. Both the field and the boundary undergo Brownian motions with the amplitudes of the noises determined by the Hubble expansion rate of the corresponding dS spacetime. This setup mimics models of inflation in which curvature perturbation is induced from inhomogeneities generated at the surface of end of inflation. The cases of the drift dominated regime as well as the diffusion dominated regime are studied in details. We calculate the first hitting probabilities as well as the mean number of e-fol…
We elaborate on the functional integral describing the stochastic dynamics of a spectator field during inflation, comparing its diagrammatic expansion to that obtained directly from a perturbative solution of the corresponding Langevin equation. We state Feynman rules for computing arbitrary temporal $n$-point functions and perform some illustrative computations for a $λϕ^4$ interaction, paying attention to the role played by a functional Jacobian determinant in the path integral. We also briefly consider the case when the field contributes to the expansion rate, making the noise multiplicativ…
We revisit the stochastic effects in the model of anisotropic inflation containing a $U(1)$ gauge field. We obtain the Langevin equations for the inflaton and gauge fields perturbations and solve them analytically. We show that if the initial value of the electric field is larger than its classical attractor value, then the random stochastic forces associated with the gauge field is balanced by the frictional damping (classical) force and the electric field falls into an equilibrium (stationary) regime. As a result, the classical attractor value of the electric field is replaced by its station…
We revisit the model of axion inflation in the context of stochastic inflation and investigate the effects of the stochastic noises associated to the electromagnetic fields. Because of the parity violating interaction, one polarization of the gauge field is amplified inducing large curvature perturbation power spectrum. Taking into account the stochastic kicks arising from the short modes at the time of horizon crossing we obtain the corresponding Langevin equations for the long modes of the electromagnetic and axion fields. It is shown that a mean-reverting process governs the dynamics of the…
Hybrid Inflation is a two-field model where inflation ends by a tachyonic instability, the duration of which is determined by stochastic effects and has important observational implications. Making use of the recursive approach to the stochastic formalism presented in Ref. [1], these effects are consistently computed. Through an analysis of back-reaction, this method is shown to converge in the valley but points toward an (expected) instability in the waterfall. It is further shown that quasi-stationarity of the auxiliary field distribution breaks down in the case of a short-lived waterfall. I…
We derive the stochastic description of a massless, interacting scalar field in de Sitter space directly from the quantum theory. This is done by showing that the density matrix for the effective theory of the long wavelength fluctuations of the field obeys a quantum version of the Fokker-Planck equation. This equation has a simple connection with the standard Fokker-Planck equation of the classical stochastic theory, which can be generalised to any order in perturbation theory. We illustrate this formalism in detail for the theory of a massless scalar field with a quartic interaction.
Hybrid inflation is a two field model where inflation ends due to an instability. In the neighborhood of the instability point, the potential is very flat and the quantum fluctuations dominate over the classical motion of the inflaton and waterfall fields. In this article, we study this regime in the framework of stochastic inflation. We numerically solve the two coupled Langevin equations controlling the evolution of the fields and compute the probability distributions of the total number of e-folds and of the inflation exit point. Then, we discuss the physical consequences of our results, in…
Nonperturbative stochastic inflation in perturbative dynamical background
Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)（中国科学院理论物理研究所）；School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学物理科学学院）；Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (APCTP)（亚太理论物理中心）
We perform adiabatic regularization of power spectrum in nonminimally coupled general single-field inflation with varying speed of sound. The subtraction is performed within the framework of earlier study by Urakawa and Starobinsky dealing with the canonical inflation. Inspired by Fakir and Unruh's model on nonminimally coupled chaotic inflation, we find upon imposing near scale-invariant condition, that the subtraction term exponentially decays with the number of $ e $-folds. As in the result for the canonical inflation, the regularized power spectrum tends to the "bare" power spectrum as the…
After giving a pedagogical review we clarify that the stochastic approach to inflation is generically reliable only at zeroth order in the (geometrical) slow-roll parameter $ε_1$ if and only if $ε_2^2\ll 6/ε_1$, with the notable exception of slow-roll. This is due to the failure of the stochastic $ΔN$ formalism in its standard formulation. However, by keeping the formalism in its regime of validity, we showed that, in ultra-slow-roll, the stochastic approach to inflation reproduces the power spectrum calculated from the linear theory approach.
We add a thermal noise to Starobinsky equation of slow roll inflation. We calculate the number of e-folds of the stochastic system. The power spectrum and the spectral index are evaluated from the fluctuations of e-folds using an expansion in the quantum and thermal noise terms.
In this paper we present a path integral formulation of stochastic inflation, in which volume weighting can easily be implemented. With an in-depth study of inflation in a quartic potential, we investigate how the inflaton evolves and how inflation typically ends both with and without volume weighting. Perhaps unexpectedly, complex histories sometimes emerge with volume weighting. The reward for this excursion into the complex plane is an insight into how volume-weighted inflation both loses memory of initial conditions and ends via slow-roll. The slow-roll end of inflation mitigates certain "…
The standard field-theoretical approach to the slow-roll inflation is introduced. We then show as, in order to calculate the mean square of the canonical gauge invariant quantum fluctuations associated to a generic field, the logarithm of the scale factor has to be used as the time variable in the Fokker-Planck equation in the stochastic approach. Then we compute the growth of different test fields with a small effective mass during slow-roll inflationary models, comparing the results with the one for the gauge invariant canonical fluctuation associated to the inflaton, the Mukhanov variable. …
We study the quantum backreaction from inflationary fluctuations of a very light, non-minimally coupled spectator scalar and show that it is a viable candiate for dark energy. The problem is solved by suitably adapting the formalism of stochastic inflation. This allows us to self-consistently account for the backreaction on the background expansion rate of the Universe where its effects are large. This framework is equivalent to that of semiclassical gravity in which matter vacuum fluctuations are included at the one loop level, but purely quantum gravitational fluctuations are neglected. Our …
We prove that the stochastic and standard field-theoretical approaches produce exactly the same results for the amount of light massive scalar field fluctuations generated during inflation in the leading order of the slow-roll approximation. This is true both in the case for which this field is a test one and inflation is driven by another field, and the case for which the field plays the role of inflaton itself. In the latter case, in order to calculate the average of the mean square of the gauge-invariant inflaton fluctuation, the logarithm of the scale factor $a$ has to be used as the time …
We examine the effect of the thermal vacuum on the power spectrum of inflation by using the thermal field dynamics. We find that the thermal effect influences the CMB anisotropy at large length scale. After removing the divergence by using the holographic cutoff, we observe that the thermal vacuum explains well the observational CMB result at low multipoles. This shows that the temperature dependent factor should be considered in the study of power spectrum in inflation, especially at large length scale.
Certain models of cosmic inflation produce strong cosmological perturbations at short length scales, which may later collapse into primordial black holes. To find the statistics of these strong perturbations and the ensuing black holes, it is necessary to go beyond linear perturbation theory. Stochastic inflation provides a way to take the leading non-linear effects into account. In this contribution, I discuss recent progress in numerical computations of stochastic inflation. A numerical approach can include more of the non-linearities than an analytical calculation, and can be applied to sin…
We apply the functional renormalization group to Starobinsky's stochastic equation describing the local dynamics of a light scalar field in de Sitter. After elaborating on the over-damped regime of stochastic dynamics, we introduce an effective average action for the stochastic field, resulting by progressively integrating out frequencies, and study its flow equation in the local potential approximation (LPA). This effective action determines the approach to equilibrium and allows for the computation of unequal time correlators $\left\langleϕ(t)ϕ(t+Δt)\right\rangle$ for large values of $Δt$. T…
The phantom inflation predicts a slightly blue spectrum of tensor perturbation, which might be tested in coming observations. In normal inflation models, the introduction of step in its potential generally results in an oscillation in the primordial power spectrum of curvature perturbation. We will check whether there is a similar case in the phantom inflation with steplike potential. We find that for same potentials, the oscillation of the spectrum of phantom inflation is nearly same with that of normal inflation, the difference between them is the tilt of power spectrum.
Standard inflationary models yield a characteristic signature of a primordial power spectrum with a red tensor and scalar tilt. Nevertheless, Cannone et al recently suggested that, by breaking the assumption of spatial diffeomorphism invariance in the context of the effective field theory of inflation, a blue tensor spectrum can be achieved without violating the Null Energy Condition. In this context, we explore in which cases a blue tensor tilt can be obtained along with a red tilt in the scalar spectrum. Ultimately, we analyze under which conditions this model can reproduce the specific cons…
We compute the universal generic corrections to the inflationary power spectrum due to unknown high-energy physics. We arrive at this result via a careful integrating out of massive fields in the "in-in" formalism yielding a consistent and predictive low-energy effective description in time-dependent backgrounds. We find that the power spectrum is universally modified at order H/M, where H is the scale of inflation. This is qualitatively different from the universal corrections in time-independent backgrounds, and it suggests that such effects may be present in upcoming cosmological observatio…
We present a complete numerical treatment of inflationary dynamics under the influence of stochastic corrections from sub-Hubble modes. We discuss how to exactly model the stochastic noise terms arising from the sub-Hubble quantum modes that give rise to the coarse-grained inflaton dynamics in the form of stochastic differential equations. The stochastic differential equations are solved event-by-event on a discrete time grid. We then compute the power spectrum of curvature perturbations that can be compared with the power spectrum computed in the traditional fashion using the Mukhanov-Sasaki …
We propose a new approach for calculating the curvature perturbations produced during inflation in the stochastic formalism. In our formalism, the fluctuations of the e-foldings are directly calculated without perturbatively expanding the inflaton field and they are connected to the curvature perturbations by the $δN$ formalism. The result automatically includes the contributions of the higher order perturbations because we solve the equation of motion non-perturbatively. In this paper, we analytically prove that our result (the power spectrum and the nonlinearity parameter) is consistent with…
We study 1-loop corrections to the primordial stochastic background of gravitational waves produced during inflation. While in single-clock, at the leading order in slow-roll, quantum corrections keep the amplitude scale-free this is not the case when the pattern of symmetry breaking is different. In particular, when spatial diffeomorphisms are also broken during inflation as for solid inflation, a log-running in the external momentum is generated. We relate the appearance of a log-running to the spontaneous breaking of dilatation invariance. The running could be instrumental to distinguish si…
A consistent formulation of stochastic inflation I: Non-Markovian effects and issues beyond linear perturbations
Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院理论物理研究所）；Department of Physics, Institute of Science Tokyo（东京科学大学物理学系）；Center for Theoretical Physics of the Universe, Institute for Basic Sclence (IBS)（韩国基础科学研究院宇宙理论物理中心）
The effective field theory (EFT) of inflation provides a natural framework to study the new physical effects on primordial perturbations. Recently a healthy extension of the EFT of inflation with high-order operators has been proposed, which avoids ghosts and meanwhile leads to a nonlinear dispersion relation of the scalar perturbations. This paper is devoted to studying the effects of these high-order operators by using the uniform asymptotic approximation method. In particular, we first construct the approximate analytical solution to the mode function of the scalar perturbations. Because of…
Combining the stochastic and $δN$ formalisms, we derive non perturbative analytical expressions for all correlation functions of scalar perturbations in single-field, slow-roll inflation. The standard, classical formulas are recovered as saddle-point limits of the full results. This yields a classicality criterion that shows that stochastic effects are small only if the potential is sub-Planckian and not too flat. The saddle-point approximation also provides an expansion scheme for calculating stochastic corrections to observable quantities perturbatively in this regime. In the opposite regime…
Time-reversed stochastic inflation in the quantum well
University of Louvain（鲁汶大学）；Saga University（佐贺大学）；Laboratoire de Physique de l’École Normale Supérieure, ENS, CNRS, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité（巴黎高等师范学院物理实验室，ENS，法国国家科学研究中心，PSL大学，索邦大学，巴黎西岱大学）
While moving down the potential on its classical slow roll trajectory, the inflaton field is subject to quantum jumps, which take it up or down the potential at random. In "stochastic inflation", the impact of these quantum jumps is modeled by smoothing out the field over (at least) Hubble-patch sized domains and treating fluctuations on smaller scales as noise. The inflaton thus becomes a stochastic process whose values at a given time are calculated using its probability distribution. We generalize this approach for non-canonic kinetic terms of Dirac Born Infeld (DBI) type and investigate th…
It is often said that detecting a spectrum of primordial gravitational waves via observing B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background is the "Holy Grail" of inflation. The purpose of this short note is to point out that it is indeed of immense scientific interest to search for a signal of gravitational waves in B-mode polarization. However, rather than proving that inflation is the right paradigm of early universe cosmology, a positive signal of direct primordial B-mode polarization might well be due to other sources than inflation. In fact, a careful characterization of the spectr…
Stochastic Inflation is an important framework for understanding the physics of de Sitter space and the phenomenology of inflation. In the leading approximation, this approach results in a Fokker-Planck equation that calculates the probability distribution for a light scalar field as a function of time. Despite its successes, the quantum field theoretic origins and the range of validity for this equation have remained elusive, and establishing a formalism to systematically incorporate higher order effects has been an area of active study. In this paper, we calculate the next-to-next-to-leading…
We study the ultra slow roll model in the context of stochastic inflation. Using stochastic $δN$ formalism, we calculate the mean number of $e$-folds, the power spectrum, the bispectrum and the stochastic corrections into these observables. We reproduce correctly the known leading classical contributions to these cosmological observables while we show that the fractional corrections to cosmological observables induced from stochastic dynamics are at the order of power spectrum. In addition, we consider a hypothetical setup containing two absorbing barriers on both sides of the field configurat…
We analyse slow-roll inflationary cosmologies that are holographically dual to a three-dimensional conformal field theory deformed by a nearly marginal scalar operator. We show the cosmological power spectrum is inversely proportional to the spectral density associated with the 2-point function of the trace of the stress tensor in the deformed CFT. Computing this quantity using second-order conformal perturbation theory, we obtain a holographic power spectrum in exact agreement with the expected inflationary power spectrum to second order in slow roll.
Recently there have been differing viewpoints on how to evaluate the curvature power spectrum generated during inflation. Since the primordial curvature power spectrum is the seed for structure formation and provides a link between observations and inflationary parameters, it is important to resolve any disagreements over the expression for the power spectrum. In this article we discuss these differing viewpoints and indicate issues that are relevant to both approaches. We then argue why the standard expression is valid.
Stochastic effects in multi-field inflationary scenarios are investigated. A hierarchy of diffusion equations is derived, the solutions of which yield moments of the numbers of inflationary $e$-folds. Solving the resulting partial differential equations in multi-dimensional field space is more challenging than the single-field case. A few tractable examples are discussed, which show that the number of fields is, in general, a critical parameter. When more than two fields are present for instance, the probability to explore arbitrarily large-field regions of the potential, otherwise inaccessibl…
The BB-mode angular correlation power spectrum of CMB is obtained by considering the primordial gravitational waves in the squeezed vacuum state for various inflationary models and results are compared with the joint analysis of the BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck 353 GHz data. The present results may constrain several models of inflation.
The phenomenon of stochastic eternal inflation is studied for a chaotic inflation potential in a Bianchi Type I spacetime background. After deriving the appropriate stochastic Klein-Gordon equation, we give details on the conditions for eternal inflation. It is shown that for eternal inflation to occur, the amount of anisotropy must be small. In fact, it is shown that eternal inflation will only take place if the shear anisotropy variables take on values within a small region of the interior of the Kasner circle. We then calculate the probability of eternal inflation occurring based on techniq…
