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Particle Production of Vector Fields: Scale Invariance is Attractive

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
Article number023523
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>25/01/2011
<mark>Journal</mark>Physical Review D
Issue number2
Volume83
Number of pages33
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

In a model of an Abelian vector boson with a Maxwell kinetic term and non-negative mass-squared it is demonstrated that, under fairly general conditions during inflation, a scale-invariant spectrum of perturbations for the components of a vector field, massive or not, whose kinetic function (and mass) is modulated by the inflaton field is an attractor solution. If the field is massless, or if it remains light until the end of inflation, this attractor solution also generates anisotropic stress, which can render inflation weakly anisotropic. The above two characteristics of the attractor solution can source (independently or combined together) significant statistical anisotropy in the curvature perturbation, which may well be observable in the near future.

Bibliographic note

arXiv:1011.2517 [hep-ph] © 2011 American Physical Society