TY - JOUR

T1 - Inflationary attractors and their measures

AU - Corichi, Alejandro

AU - Sloan, David

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Several recent misconceptions about the measure problem in inflation and the nature of inflationary attractors are addressed. We clarify some issues regarding the Hamiltonian dynamics of a flat Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker cosmology coupled to a massive scalar field. In particular we show that the focusing of the Liouville measure on attractor solutions is recovered by properly dealing with a gauge degree of freedom related to the rescaling of the spatial volume. Furthermore, we show how the Liouville measure formulated on a surface of constant Hubble rate, together with the assumption of constant a priory probability, induces a non-uniform probability distribution function on any other surfaces of other Hubble rates. The attractor behaviour is seen through the focusing of this function on a narrow range of physical observables. This qualitative behaviour is robust under change of potential and underlying measure. One can then conclude that standard techniques from Hamiltonian dynamics suffice to provide a satisfactory description of attractor solutions and the measure problem for inflationary dynamics.

AB - Several recent misconceptions about the measure problem in inflation and the nature of inflationary attractors are addressed. We clarify some issues regarding the Hamiltonian dynamics of a flat Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker cosmology coupled to a massive scalar field. In particular we show that the focusing of the Liouville measure on attractor solutions is recovered by properly dealing with a gauge degree of freedom related to the rescaling of the spatial volume. Furthermore, we show how the Liouville measure formulated on a surface of constant Hubble rate, together with the assumption of constant a priory probability, induces a non-uniform probability distribution function on any other surfaces of other Hubble rates. The attractor behaviour is seen through the focusing of this function on a narrow range of physical observables. This qualitative behaviour is robust under change of potential and underlying measure. One can then conclude that standard techniques from Hamiltonian dynamics suffice to provide a satisfactory description of attractor solutions and the measure problem for inflationary dynamics.

U2 - 10.1088/0264-9381/31/6/062001

DO - 10.1088/0264-9381/31/6/062001

M3 - Journal article

VL - 31

JO - Classical and Quantum Gravity

JF - Classical and Quantum Gravity

SN - 0264-9381

IS - 6

M1 - 062001

ER -