• Open Access

Open quantum cosmological system

Sarah Shandera, Nishant Agarwal, and Archana Kamal
Phys. Rev. D 98, 083535 – Published 29 October 2018
PDFHTMLExport Citation
Abstract
Authors
Article Text
  • INTRODUCTION
  • THE MODEL
  • SLOW-ROLL VERSUS NONATTRACTOR EVOLUTION
  • DEFINING THE SYSTEM AND BATH
  • THE EVOLUTION EQUATION
  • EVALUATING THE NON-HAMILTONIAN EVOLUTION
  • DISCUSSION
  • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  • APPENDICES
    • References

    Abstract

    We derive the evolution equation for the density matrix of a UV- and IR- limited band of comoving momentum modes of the canonically normalized scalar degree of freedom in two examples of nearly de Sitter universes. Including the effects of a cubic interaction term from the gravitational action and tracing out a set of longer wavelength modes, we find that the evolution of the system is non-Hamiltonian and non-Markovian. We find linear dissipation terms for a few modes with wavelength near the boundary between system and bath, and nonlinear dissipation terms for all modes. The non-Hamiltonian terms in the evolution equation persist to late times when the scalar field dynamics is such that the curvature perturbation continues to evolve on super-Hubble scales.

    • Figure
    • Figure
    • Figure
    • Received 16 August 2017
    • Revised 18 October 2017

    DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.98.083535

    Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

    Published by the American Physical Society

    Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

    1. Research Areas
    InflationOpen quantum systems & decoherenceQuantum cosmology
    Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsInterdisciplinary PhysicsGeneral Physics

    Authors & Affiliations

    Sarah Shandera1,*, Nishant Agarwal2,3,†, and Archana Kamal2,4,‡

    • 1Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
    • 2Department of Physics and Applied Physics, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, USA
    • 3Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, USA
    • 4Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

    • *shandera@gravity.psu.edu
    • †nishant_agarwal@uml.edu
    • ‡archana_kamal@uml.edu

    Article Text

    Click to Expand

    References

    Click to Expand
    Issue

    Vol. 98, Iss. 8 — 15 October 2018

    Reuse & Permissions
    Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

    Authorization Required

    Log In
    Other Options
    ×

    Download & Share

    PDFExportReuse & PermissionsCiting Articles (29)
    ×

    Images

    ×

    Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review D

    Reuse & Permissions

    It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

    ×

    Log In

    Cancel
    ×

    Search

    Article Lookup

    Paste a citation or DOI
    Enter a citation
    ×