α-states in de Sitter space

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Date
2005-02
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Volume Title
Publisher
American Physical Society
Abstract

Field theory in de Sitter space admits a one-parameter family of vacua determined by a superselection parameter alpha. Of these vacua, the Euclidean vacuum uniquely extrapolates to the vacuum of flat Minkowski space. States which resemble the alpha-vacua can be constructed as excitations above the Euclidean vacuum. Such states have modes alpha(k) which decay faster that k((1-d)/2). Fields in such states exhibit nonlocal correlations when examined from the perspective of fields in the Euclidean vacuum. The dynamics of such entangled states are fully consistent. If an alpha-state with properties that interpolate between an alpha-vacuum and the Euclidean vacuum were the initial condition for inflation, a signature for this may be found in a momentum dependent correction to the inflationary power spectrum. The functional formalism, which provides the tool for examining physics in an alpha-state, extends to fields of other spin. In particular, the extension to spin-2 may proffer a new class of infrared modifications to gravitational interactions. The implications of superselection sectors for the landscape of string vacua are briefly discussed.

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Keywords
quantum-field-theory, linear dissipative system, probe wmap, observations, cosmological constant, particle creation, desitter, universe, 2-point functions, machs principle, cp conservation, vacuum, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Physics
Citation
de Boer, J ; Jejjala, V ; Minic, D, FEB 2005. “α-states in de Sitter space,” PHYSICAL REVIEW D 71(4): 044013. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.71.044013