Abstract
We find that the amplitude of quantum fluctuations of the invariant de Sitter vacuum coincides exactly with that of the vacuum of a comoving observer for a massless scalar (inflaton) field. We propose redefining the actual physical power spectrum as the difference between the amplitudes of the above vacua. An inertial particle detector continues to observe the Gibbons-Hawking temperature. However, although the resulting power spectrum is still scale-free, its amplitude can be drastically reduced since now, instead of the Hubble’s scale at the inflationary period, it is determined by the square of the mass of the inflaton fluctuation field.
- Received 5 June 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.171301
©2008 American Physical Society
Viewpoint
The primordial power spectrum revisited
Published 20 October 2008
The universe we see today is the result of mass-energy fluctuations during the rapid inflationary expansion that followed the big bang. A new approach to analyzing those fluctuations brings theory into better alignment with observational data.
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