SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 2205.10340

Cosmological Bootstrap in Slow Motion

Abstract

Speed matters. How the masses and spins of new particles active during inflation can be read off from the statistical properties of primordial density fluctuations is well understood. However, not when the propagation speeds of the new degrees of freedom and of the curvature perturbation differ, which is the generic situation in the effective field theory of inflationary fluctuations. Here we use bootstrap techniques to find exact analytical solutions for primordial 2-,3- and 4-point correlators in this context. We focus on the imprints of a heavy relativistic scalar coupled to the curvature perturbation that propagates with a reduced speed of sound $c_s$, hence strongly breaking de Sitter boosts. We show that akin to the de Sitter invariant setup, primordial correlation functions can be deduced by acting with suitable weight-shifting operators on the four-point function of a conformally coupled field induced by the exchange of the massive scalar. However, this procedure requires the analytical continuation of this seed correlator beyond the physical domain implied by momentum conservation. We bootstrap this seed correlator in the extended domain from first principles, starting from the boundary equation that it satisfies due to locality. We further impose unitarity, reflected in cosmological cutting rules, and analyticity, by demanding regularity in the collinear limit of the four-point configuration, in order to find the unique solution. Equipped with this, we unveil that heavy particles that are lighter than $H/c_s$ leave smoking gun imprints in the bispectrum in the form of resonances in the squeezed limit, a phenomenon that we call the low speed collider. We characterise the overall shape of the signal as well as its unusual logarithmic mass dependence, both vividly distinct from previously identified signatures of heavy fields. (abridged)

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Sadra Jazayeri, Sébastien Renaux-Petel. 2022-05-20. Cosmological Bootstrap in Slow Motion. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep12(2022)137

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Timelike Entanglement from Spacetime Density Matrices: A Lattice Realization

We investigate timelike entanglement in quantum field theory using spacetime density matrices and provide a microscopic lattice realization. For a two-dimensional free real scalar field, we extend Gaussian diagonalization methods to the generally non-Hermitian reduced spacetime density matrix and determine its complete nonzero spectrum in the generic regular case, together with all integer R\'enyi moments. The real-time replica construction identifies these moments with Lorentzian branch-point twist-operator correlation functions. We test this identification against the full four-point function on a circle, boundary two-point functions with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions, and massive form-factor predictions, finding quantitative agreement in both magnitude and phase across distinct causal regimes. The boundary setup exhibits a finite causally connected window in which every integer R\'enyi entropy is real, showing that reality is not equivalent to causal disconnection. These results provide a microscopic lattice foundation for timelike entanglement and for Lorentzian twist-operator methods beyond equal-time regions.

hep-th

Landau-Ginzburg description of an exceptional ${\mathcal N}=1$ minimal model

The $\mathcal N=1$ superconformal minimal model with $m=12$ and the exceptional modular invariant $(E_6,D_8)$ is the unitary minimal model of the super-$W_3$ algebra. We propose its Landau-Ginzburg description using two real scalar superfields with the cubic superpotential ${\cal W}=g_1 XY^2/2 + g_2X^3/6$. For $g_1=g_2$, this superpotential is known to describe a product of two $m=3$ $\mathcal N=1$ superconformal minimal models, which is the $m=10$ model with the $(D_6,E_6)$ modular invariant. The exceptional $m=12$ superconformal minimal model is realized at a different fixed point of the same theory. Testing this Landau-Ginzburg description requires the fusion ring of the minimal model, which we obtain from the modular data of the extended algebra. The fusion ring has a $\mathbb Z_2$ grading by chiral fermion parity that the ordinary fusion coefficients do not determine. This grading, composed with conjugation, gives the generator of the R-parity $\mathbb Z_2^{R}$ of the Landau-Ginzburg theory. We then treat the theory with superpotential $\cal W$ as a Gross-Neveu-Yukawa model in $d=4-\epsilon$ and find a weakly coupled infrared fixed point with $g_1/g_2=3/2+\mathcal O(\epsilon)$, at which supersymmetry emerges. We also describe the renormalization group flow from this fixed point to the decoupled fixed point with $g_1=g_2$. The operator dimensions at the coupled fixed point, continued to $d=2$, agree approximately with their values in the $m=12$ superconformal minimal model. Finally, we estimate the scaling dimensions in the new interacting $d=3$ $\mathcal N=1$ superconformal field theory.

hep-th

Detecting one-dimensional bosonic SPT phases via twisted entropic order parameter

Entanglement asymmetry, introduced by F. Ares, S. Murciano and P. Calabrese, provides a density-matrix diagnostic of symmetry breaking and successfully captures the Landau data associated with a broken symmetry pattern. However, it is by now well established that gapped quantum many-body systems can exhibit phases which are not characterized solely by Landau symmetry breaking. A fundamental example is a symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase, and the ordinary definition of entanglement asymmetry is insensitive to this topological information. In this work we introduce a refined quantity, which we call the twisted entropic order parameter, designed to detect SPT phases from reduced density matrices, particularly focusing on one-dimensional bosonic systems. The key ingredient in our construction is an ancilla degrees of freedom that coherently records the untwisted state and the twisted state associated to a one-ended topological defect of unbroken symmetry, so that the enlarged density matrix retains the charge carried by the defect endpoint. We demonstrate our proposal in concrete lattice models and further generalize it beyond ordinary group symmetries, establishing its ability to diagnose SPT phases. This provides a first step toward a unified entanglement-asymmetry framework for diagnosing quantum phases of matter.

hep-th