Quantum contributions to cosmological correlations. II. Can these corrections become large?

2006/05/31 by Steven Weinberg · 9 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Horizon #Inflation (cosmology) #Logarithm #Mathematical physics #Mathematics #Perturbation (astronomy) #Perturbation theory (quantum mechanics) #Physics #Quantum #Quantum mechanics #Scale (ratio) #Statistical physics #Theoretical physics #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.74.023508

published as Phys.Rev.D74:023508,2006 · 10 pages. Some explanations and references added. Paper now accepted for publication in Physical Review

arxiv created 2006/06/22 · openalex publication_date 2006/07/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

This is a sequel to a previous detailed study of quantum corrections to cosmological correlations. It was found there that except in special cases these corrections depend on the whole history of inflation, not just on the behavior of fields at horizon exit. It is shown here that at least in perturbation theory these corrections can nevertheless not be proportional to positive powers of the Robertson-Walker scale factor, but only at most to powers of its logarithm, and are therefore never large.

Citations

• Simple route to non-Gaussianity in inflation
• Quantum effects can renderw<−1on cosmological scales
• Non-Gaussian features of primordial fluctuations in single field inflationary models
• Non-Gaussianity from Inflation: Theory and Observations
• On non-Gaussianities in single-field inflation
• Quantum contributions to cosmological correlations

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• Supergravity, α-attractors and primordial non-Gaussianity
• The cosmic microwave background bispectrum from the non-linear evolution of the cosmological perturbations
• Backreaction of superhorizon scalar field fluctuations on a de Sitter geometry: A renormalization group perspective
• Effective Potential for Quantum Scalar Fields in a de Sitter Geometry
• Hartree approximation in curved spacetimes revisited: The effective potential in de Sitter spacetime
• Signatures of initial state modifications on bispectrum statistics
• Open EFTs, IR effects & late-time resummations: systematic corrections in stochastic inflation
• Stability of de Sitter Spacetime against Infrared Quantum Scalar Field Fluctuations