Inflationary non-Gaussianities in alpha vacua and consistency with conformal symmetries

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Ansari, Arhum, Banerjee, Pinak, Dhivakar, Prateksh, Jain, Sachin, Kundu, Nilay
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Ansari, Arhum
Banerjee, Pinak
Dhivakar, Prateksh
Jain, Sachin
Kundu, Nilay
author_facet Ansari, Arhum
Banerjee, Pinak
Dhivakar, Prateksh
Jain, Sachin
Kundu, Nilay
contents We study the conformal invariance of inflationary non-Gaussianities associated with scalar fluctuations in a non-Bunch-Davies initial state, known as the $α$-vacuum, in single-field slow-roll inflation. The $α$-vacuum is a one-parameter family of states, including the Bunch-Davies one, that preserves the conformal symmetry of inflationary dynamics in a nearly de-Sitter space-time. Working within the leading slow-roll approximation, we compute the four-point scalar correlator (the trispectrum) in $α$-vacuum using the in-in formalism. We check that the conformal Ward identities are met between the three and four-point scalar $α$-vacua correlators. Surprisingly, this contrasts the previously reported negative result of the Ward identities being violated between the two and the three-point correlators. We have also extended the wave-functional method, previously used for correlators with Bunch-Davies initial condition, to compute the three and four-point scalar correlators in $α$-vacua. The results obtained from the wave-function method match the corresponding in-in results, adding further justification to our check of Ward identities with $α$-vacua correlators.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_10513
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Inflationary non-Gaussianities in alpha vacua and consistency with conformal symmetries
Ansari, Arhum
Banerjee, Pinak
Dhivakar, Prateksh
Jain, Sachin
Kundu, Nilay
High Energy Physics - Theory
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
We study the conformal invariance of inflationary non-Gaussianities associated with scalar fluctuations in a non-Bunch-Davies initial state, known as the $α$-vacuum, in single-field slow-roll inflation. The $α$-vacuum is a one-parameter family of states, including the Bunch-Davies one, that preserves the conformal symmetry of inflationary dynamics in a nearly de-Sitter space-time. Working within the leading slow-roll approximation, we compute the four-point scalar correlator (the trispectrum) in $α$-vacuum using the in-in formalism. We check that the conformal Ward identities are met between the three and four-point scalar $α$-vacua correlators. Surprisingly, this contrasts the previously reported negative result of the Ward identities being violated between the two and the three-point correlators. We have also extended the wave-functional method, previously used for correlators with Bunch-Davies initial condition, to compute the three and four-point scalar correlators in $α$-vacua. The results obtained from the wave-function method match the corresponding in-in results, adding further justification to our check of Ward identities with $α$-vacua correlators.
title Inflationary non-Gaussianities in alpha vacua and consistency with conformal symmetries
topic High Energy Physics - Theory
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.10513