Gradient expansion approach to nonlinear superhorizon perturbations

We give a comprehensive analysis of how scalar and tensor perturbations evolve in cosmologies with a smooth transition from power-law-like and de Sitter-like inflation to a radiation era. Analytic forms for the super-horizon and sub-horizon perturbations in the inflationary and radiation dominated eras are found.

In cosmology an important role is played by homogeneous and isotropic solutions of the Einstein-Euler equations and linearized perturbations of these. This paper proves results on the asymptotic behaviour of scalar perturbations both in the approach to the initial singularity of the background model and at late times. The main equation of interest is a linear hyperbolic equation whose coefficients depend only on time. Expansions for the solutions are obtained in both asymptot...

We clarify the behavior of curvature perturbations in a nonlinear theory in case the inflaton temporarily stops during inflation. We focus on the evolution of curvature perturbation on superhorizon scales by adopting the spatial gradient expansion and show that the nonlinear theory, called the {\it beyond} $\delta N$-formalism for a general single scalar field as the next-leading order in the expansion. Both the leading-order in the expansion ($\delta N$-formalism) and our no...

We present the growing mode solutions of cosmological perturbations to the second order in the matter dominated era. We also present several gauge-invariant combinations of perturbation variables to the second order in most general fluid context. Based on the solutions we study the Newtonian correspondence of relativistic perturbations to the second order. In addition to the previously known exact relativistic/Newtonian correspondence of density and velocity perturbations to ...

Toy models for the Hubble rate or the scalar field potential have been used to analyze the amplification of scalar perturbations through a smooth transition from inflation to the radiation era. We use a Hubble rate that arises consistently from a decaying vacuum cosmology, which evolves smoothly from nearly de Sitter inflation to radiation domination. We find exact solutions for super-horizon perturbations (scalar and tensor), and for sub-horizon perturbations in the vacuum- ...

In this paper we consider second order perturbations of a flat Friedmann-Lema\^{i}tre universe whose stress-energy content is a single minimally coupled scalar field with an arbitrary potential. We derive the general solution of the perturbed Einstein equations in explicit form for this class of models when the perturbations are in the super-horizon regime. As a by-product we obtain a new conserved quantity for long wavelength perturbations of a single scalar field at second ...

We focus on the evolution of curvature perturbation on superhorizon scales by adopting the spatial gradient expansion and show that the nonlinear theory, called the beyond $\delta N$-formalism as the next-leading order in the expansion. As one application of our formalism for a single scalar field, we investigate the case of varying sound speed. In our formalism, we can deal with the time evolution in contrast to $\delta N$-formalism, where curvature perturbations remain just...

The next generation of cosmological surveys will operate over unprecedented scales, and will therefore provide exciting new opportunities for testing general relativity. The standard method for modelling the structures that these surveys will observe is to use cosmological perturbation theory for linear structures on horizon-sized scales, and Newtonian gravity for non-linear structures on much smaller scales. We propose a two-parameter formalism that generalizes this approach...

The linear cosmological perturbation theory of an almost homogeneous and isotropic perfect fluid universe is reconsidered and formally simplified by introducing new covariant and gauge-invariant variables with physical interpretations on hypersurfaces of constant expansion, constant curvature or constant energy density. The existence of conserved perturbation quantities on scales larger than the Hubble scale is discussed. The quantity which is conserved on large scales in a f...

We investigate the recent suggestions by Barausse et al. (astro-ph/0501152) and Kolb et al. (hep-th/0503117) that the acceleration of the universe could be explained by large superhorizon fluctuations generated by inflation. We show that no acceleration can be produced by this mechanism. We begin by showing how the application of Raychaudhuri equation to inhomogeneous cosmologies results in several ``no go'' theorems for accelerated expansion. Next we derive an exact solution...