A field theory approach to cosmological density perturbations

In this paper we continue a study of cosmological perturbations in the conformal gravity theory. In previous work we had obtained a restricted set of solutions to the cosmological fluctuation equations, solutions that were required to be both transverse and synchronous. Here we present the general solution. We show that in a conformal invariant gravitational theory fluctuations around any background that is conformal to flat (backgrounds that include the cosmologically intere...

It is shown that non-adiabatic cosmological perturbations cannot arise during the period of reheating following inflation with a single scalar inflaton field.

We present an exact solution for the plane wave mode functions of a massless, minimally coupled scalar propagating in an arbitrary homogeneous, isotropic and spatially flat geometry. Our solution encompasses all previous solvable special cases such as de Sitter and power law expansion. Moreover, it can generate the mode functions for gravitons. We discuss some of the many applications that are now possible.

We calculate the one-loop effective potential of a scalar field in a Robertson-Walker background with scalar metric perturbations. A complete set of orthonormal solutions of the perturbed equations is obtained by using the adiabatic approximation for comoving observers. After analyzing the problem of renormalization in inhomogeneous backgrounds, we get the explicit contribution of metric perturbations to the effective potential. We apply these results to the Standard Model Hi...

For a 4-dimensional spatially-flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe with a scalar field $\phi(x)$, potential $V(\phi)$ and constant equation of state $w=p/\rho$, we show that an expanding solution characterized by $\epsilon=3(1+w)/2$ produces the same scalar perturbations as a contracting solution with $\hat{\epsilon}=1/\epsilon$. The same symmetry applies to both the dominant and subdominant scalar perturbation modes. This result admits a simple physical interpretation an...

The universe can be made flat and smooth by undergoing a phase of ultra-slow (ekpyrotic) contraction, a condition achievable with a single, canonical scalar field and conventional general relativity. It has been argued, though, that generating scale-invariant density perturbations, requires at least two scalar fields and a two-step process that first produces entropy fluctuations and then converts them to curvature perturbations. In this paper, we identify a loophole in the a...

These lecture notes discuss several topics in the physics of cosmic structure formation starting from the evolution of small-amplitude fluctuations in the radiation-dominated era. The topics include relativistic cosmological perturbation theory with the scalar-vector-tensor decomposition, the evolution of adiabatic and isentropic initial fluctuations, microwave background anisotropy, spatial and angular power spectra, the cold dark matter linear transfer function, Press-Schec...

Lecture notes on covariant linear perturbation theory and its applications to inflation, dark energy or matter and the cosmic microwave background.

We present a covariant formalism for studying nonlinear perturbations of scalar fields. In particular, we consider the case of two scalar fields and introduce the notion of adiabatic and isocurvature covectors. We obtain differential equations governing the evolution of these two covectors, as well as the evolution equation for the covector associated with the curvature perturbation. The form of these equations is very close to the analogous equations obtained in the linear t...

This paper reviews the dynamics of an isotropic and homogeneous cosmological scalar field. A general approach to the solution of the Einstein-Klein-Gordon equations is developed, which does not require slow-roll or other approximations. General conclusions about the qualitative behaviour of the solutions can be drawn, and examples of explicit solutions for some interesting cases are given. It is also shown how to find scalar potentials giving rise to a predetermined scalar fi...