New approach to the evolution of cosmological perturbations on large scales

2000/03/31 by David Wands, Karim A. Malik, David H. Lyth +1 · 30 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Physics #Statistical physics #Theoretical physics #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.62.043527

published as Phys.Rev. D62 (2000) 043527 · 8 pages, revtex, 1 figure, version to appear in Phys Rev D. Sign errors in original version corrected plus other minor additions

arxiv created 2000/06/02 · openalex publication_date 2000/07/27 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

We discuss the evolution of linear perturbations about a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background metric, using only the local conservation of energy momentum. We show that on sufficiently large scales the curvature perturbation on spatial hypersurfaces of uniform density is conserved when the non-adiabatic pressure perturbation is negligible. This is the first time that this result has been demonstrated independently of the gravitational field equations. A physical picture of long-wavelength perturbations as being composed of separate Robertson-Walker universes gives a simple understanding of the possible evolution of the curvature perturbation, in particular clarifying the conditions under which super-horizon curvature perturbations may vary.

Citations

• Eleven-dimensional supergravity on a manifold with boundary
• The spectrum of cosmological perturbations produced by a multi-component inflaton to second order in the slow-roll approximation
• Large Mass Hierarchy from a Small Extra Dimension
• Heterotic and Type I string dynamics from eleven dimensions
• An Alternative to Compactification
• A General Analytic Formula for the Spectral Index of the Density Perturbations produced during Inflation
• Particle Physics Models of Inflation and the Cosmological Density Perturbation
• Spontaneous creation of almost scale-free density perturbations in an inflationary universe
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• Towards the theory of reheating after inflation
• Fluctuations in the New Inflationary Universe

Cited by

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• Time-reversed Stochastic Inflation
• Generalized neutrino isocurvature
• Constant-Roll Inflation
• Inflationary perturbations near horizon crossing
• Failure of the stochastic approach to inflation beyond slow-roll
• QCD axions and CMB anisotropy
• Inflationary perturbations with Lifshitz scaling
• Stabilizing the Planck mass shortly after inflation
• Cosmological signatures of brane inflation
• WMAP, neutrino degeneracy, and non-Gaussianity constraints on isocurvature perturbations in the curvaton model of inflation
• Brane-world Cosmology
• On the generation of a non-gaussian curvature perturbation during preheating
• Combined local and equilateral non-Gaussianities from multifield DBI inflation
• A manifestly covariant theory of multifield stochastic inflation in phase space: solving the discretisation ambiguity in stochastic inflation
• A short note on the curvature perturbation at second order
• Multi-disformal invariance of non-linear primordial perturbations
• Quantum diffusion during inflation and primordial black holes
• Stochastic inflation beyond slow roll
• Critical Number of Fields in Stochastic Inflation
• Cosmological tests of general relativity: A principal component analysis
• Global adiabaticity and non-Gaussianity consistency condition
• Primordial perturbations from multifield inflation with nonminimal couplings
• The running curvaton *
• Conserved cosmological perturbations
• On second-order superhorizon perturbations in multifield inflationary models
• Non-Gaussianity in curvaton models with nearly quadratic potentials
• Primordial bispectrum from multifield inflation with nonminimal couplings
• Testing two-field inflation
• Primordial black holes from a curvaton: the role of bimodal distributions