2004/06/23 by Jan de Boer, Vishnu Jejjala, Djordje Minić +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.71.044013
published as Phys.Rev. D71 (2005) 044013 · 28 pages, LaTeX
arxiv created 2004/06/23 · openalex publication_date 2005/02/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Field theory in de Sitter space admits a one-parameter family of vacua determined by a superselection parameter \ensuremathα. Of these vacua, the Euclidean vacuum uniquely extrapolates to the vacuum of flat Minkowski space. States which resemble the \ensuremathα-vacua can be constructed as excitations above the Euclidean vacuum. Such states have modes \ensuremathα(k) which decay faster that k^(1\ensuremath-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 \ensuremathα-state with properties that interpolate between an \ensuremathα-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 \ensuremathα-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.