One-loop renormalization of the effective field theory of inflationary fluctuations from gravitational interactions

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Autori principali: Braglia, Matteo, Pinol, Lucas
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Braglia, Matteo
Pinol, Lucas
author_facet Braglia, Matteo
Pinol, Lucas
contents We dig into the semi-classical description of gravity by studying one-loop corrections to primordial power spectra generated during cosmic inflation from gravitational nonlinear interactions. In the realm of the Effective Field Theory (EFT) of inflationary fluctuations, we renormalize the quadratic Lagrangian dictating the linear dynamics of gauge-invariant perturbations. Since gravity is a non-renormalizable theory, this procedure is performed perturbatively in terms of negative powers of the EFT strong coupling scales. Since the interactions we consider are purely gravitational, they are ubiquitous and independent of the details of the EFT. Our results are thus relevant for a large class of approximately scale-invariant inflationary scenarios, be them driven by a single scalar field with canonical kinetic terms, or with a non-canonical structure \textit{à la} $P(X,ϕ)$, or for an effective single-field description at the level of fluctuations only and emerging from a covariant multifield theory. Using dimensional regularization, we show that time-dependent Ultra-Violet (UV) divergences appearing at the loop level can be canceled at all times by an appropriate splitting of the bare Lagrangian into renormalized operators and counterterms. Moreover, we explicitly compute all finite contributions to the loops and we prove that, taking into account backreaction, the final one-loop renormalized power spectra of both the primordial curvature perturbation and of gravitational waves are exactly conserved on super-horizon scales. Conclusions of our work imply that the scalar and tensor propagation speeds are immune to radiative corrections from gravitational nonlinearities. We discuss a first application to multifield inflation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_07926
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle One-loop renormalization of the effective field theory of inflationary fluctuations from gravitational interactions
Braglia, Matteo
Pinol, Lucas
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Theory
We dig into the semi-classical description of gravity by studying one-loop corrections to primordial power spectra generated during cosmic inflation from gravitational nonlinear interactions. In the realm of the Effective Field Theory (EFT) of inflationary fluctuations, we renormalize the quadratic Lagrangian dictating the linear dynamics of gauge-invariant perturbations. Since gravity is a non-renormalizable theory, this procedure is performed perturbatively in terms of negative powers of the EFT strong coupling scales. Since the interactions we consider are purely gravitational, they are ubiquitous and independent of the details of the EFT. Our results are thus relevant for a large class of approximately scale-invariant inflationary scenarios, be them driven by a single scalar field with canonical kinetic terms, or with a non-canonical structure \textit{à la} $P(X,ϕ)$, or for an effective single-field description at the level of fluctuations only and emerging from a covariant multifield theory. Using dimensional regularization, we show that time-dependent Ultra-Violet (UV) divergences appearing at the loop level can be canceled at all times by an appropriate splitting of the bare Lagrangian into renormalized operators and counterterms. Moreover, we explicitly compute all finite contributions to the loops and we prove that, taking into account backreaction, the final one-loop renormalized power spectra of both the primordial curvature perturbation and of gravitational waves are exactly conserved on super-horizon scales. Conclusions of our work imply that the scalar and tensor propagation speeds are immune to radiative corrections from gravitational nonlinearities. We discuss a first application to multifield inflation.
title One-loop renormalization of the effective field theory of inflationary fluctuations from gravitational interactions
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.07926