We study a first-order formulation for the coupled evolution of a quantum scalar field and a classical Friedmann universe. The model is defined by a state dependent hamiltonian constraint and the time dependent Schrödinger equation for the scalar field. We solve the resulting non-linear equations numerically for initial data consisting of a Gaussian scalar field state and gravity phase space variables. This gives a self-consistent semiclassical evolution that includes non-perturbative ``backreaction" due to particle production. We compare the results with the evolution of a quantum scalar field on a fixed background, and find that the backreaction modifies both particle production and cosmological expansion, and that these effects remain bounded.
Description of our cosmological spacetime as a perturbed conformal Newtonian metric and implications for the backreaction proposal for the accelerating universe
In this review, we investigate the question of backreaction in different approaches to cosmological perturbation theory, and with a special focus on quantum theoretical aspects. By backreaction, we refer here to the effects of matter field or cosmological inhomogeneities on the homogeneous dynamical background degrees of freedom of cosmology. We begin with an overview of classical cosmological backreaction which is ideally suited for physical situations in the late time Universe. We then proceed backwards in time, considering semiclassical approaches such as semiclassical or stochastic (semicl…
Penrose's 1979 Weyl curvature hypothesis (WCH) \cite{WCH} assumes that the universe began at a very low gravitational entropy state, corresponding to zero Weyl curvature, namely, the FLRW universe. This is a simple assumption with far-reaching implications. In classical general relativity the most general cosmological solutions of the Einstein equation are that of the BKL-Misner inhomogeneous mixmaster types. How could WCH and BKL-M co-exist? An answer was provided in the 80s with the consideration of quantum field processes such as vacuum particle creation, which was copious at the Planck tim…
We study inflationary dynamics using a recently introduced classical-quantum correspondence for investigating the backreaction of a quantum mechanical degree of freedom to a classical background. Using specifically a coupled Einstein-Klein-Gordon system, an approximation that holds well during the very early inflationary era when modes are very deep inside the Hubble horizon, we show that the backreaction of a mode of the quantum field will renormalize the Hubble parameter only if the mode's wavelength is longer than some threshold Planckian length scale. Otherwise, the mode will destabilize t…
Macroscopic backreaction of the trace anomaly on classical vacuum backgrounds
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC)(安达卢西亚天体物理研究所);Center of Gravity, Niels Bohr Institute(引力中心,尼尔斯·玻尔研究所);Institut für Theoretische Physik(理论物理研究所);Center for Gravitational Physics and Quantum Information, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University(京都大学汤川理论物理研究所引力物理与量子信息研究中心);Research Center for the Early Universe (RESCEU), Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo(东京大学理学研究系宇宙早期研究センター(RESCEU));Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, The University of Tokyo(东京大学前沿研究机构 Kavli宇宙物理数学研究所(WPI))
Cosmological backreaction corresponds to the effect of inhomogeneities of structure on the global expansion of the Universe. The main question surrounding this phenomenon is whether or not it is important enough to lead to measurable effects on the scale factor evolution eventually explaining its acceleration or the Hubble tension. One of the most important result on this subject is the Buchert-Ehlers theorem (Buchert \& Ehlers, 1997) stating that backreaction is exactly zero when calculated using Newton's theory of gravitation, which may not be the case in general relativity. It is generally …
In previous work we argued that the correct procedure to predict the gravitational wave signal from preheating after inflation rests on the in-in formalism. We extend here our previous analysis to include the backreaction of the produced matter on the motion of the inflaton and the expansion of the universe, and study how the latter affect the spectrum of the resulting gravitational waves. The addition of backreaction demands the appropriate renormalization of divergent expectation values, which we regularize by preserving diffeomorphism invariance in a manner that is amenable to numerical int…
We consider a quantum scalar field on the classical background of an asymptotically anti-de Sitter black hole and the backreaction the field's stress-energy tensor induces on the black hole geometry. The backreaction is computed by solving the reduced-order semi-classical Einstein field equations sourced by simple analytical approximations for the renormalized expectation value of the scalar field stress-energy tensor. When the field is massless and conformally coupled, we adopt Page's approximation to the renormalised stress energy tensor while for massive fields, we adopt a modified version …
It has been shown that gravitational fields produced by realistic classical-matter distributions can force quantum vacuum fluctuations of some nonminimally coupled free scalar fields to undergo a phase of exponential growth. The consequences of this unstable phase to the background spacetime have not been addressed so far due to known difficulties concerning backreaction in semiclassical gravity. It seems reasonable to believe, however, that the quantum fluctuations will "classicalize" when they become large enough, after which backreaction can be treated in the general-relativistic context. H…
Quantum Signatures of Cosmic Topology: How Casimir Backreaction Transmits Isotropy Violation
Case Western Reserve University(凯斯西储大学);Instituto de Física Teórica (IFT) UAM-CSIC(马德里自治大学-西班牙国家科学研究委员会理论物理研究所);Imperial College London(帝国理工学院);INFN, Sezione di Padova(意大利国家核物理学院帕多瓦分部);Università degli Studi di Padova(帕多瓦大学);Laboratoire Univers et Théories, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Université Paris Cité, CNRS(巴黎天文台宇宙与理论实验室(巴黎文理研究大学、巴黎西岱大学、法国国家科学研究中心))
Canonical methods of quasiclassical dynamics make it possible to go beyond a strict background approximation for cosmological perturbations by including independent fields such as correlation degrees of freedom. New models are introduced and analyzed here for cosmological dynamics in the presence of quantum correlations between background and perturbations, as well as cross-correlations between different modes of a quantum field. Evolution equations for moments of a perturbation state reveal conditions required for inhomogeneity to build up out of an initial vacuum. A crucial role is played by…