Probabilities in the inflationary multiverse

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Published 19 January 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd
, , Citation Jaume Garriga et al JCAP01(2006)017 DOI 10.1088/1475-7516/2006/01/017

1475-7516/2006/01/017

Abstract

Inflationary cosmology leads to the picture of a 'multiverse', involving an infinite number of (spatially infinite) post-inflationary thermalized regions, called pocket universes. In the context of theories with many vacua, such as the landscape of string theory, the effective constants of Nature are randomized by quantum processes during inflation. We discuss an analytic estimate for the volume distribution of the constants within each pocket universe. This estimate is based on the conjecture that the field distribution is approximately ergodic in the diffusion regime, when the dynamics of the fields is dominated by quantum fluctuations (rather than by the classical drift). We then propose a method for determining the relative abundances of different kinds of pocket universes. Both ingredients are combined into an expression for the distribution of the constants in pocket universes of all types.

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10.1088/1475-7516/2006/01/017