Non-Equilibrium Field Theory Dynamics in Inflationary Cosmology

Abstract

For simple inflationary models, we provide a consistent and complete scheme by which the macro-physical details of early universe inflation may be determined explicitly from the underlying micro-physical theory. We examine inflationary dynamics within the context of a fully renormalized, non-perturbative, and non-equilibrium quantum field theory using the closed time path formalism. We study the non-perturbative dynamics using the self-consistent Hartree approximation and the large N limit. In addition, we include gravitation dynamically by means of the semi-classical approximation to Einstein gravity, allowing the cosmological geometry to be determined self-consistently by the evolution of the particle fields. We develop a simple and numerically implementable regularization and renormalization scheme for which the renormalization counterterms contain no explicit dependence on the initial state. We concern ourselves first with the dynamics of new inflation models, showing how the dynamics become quantum fluctuation driven. We then describe how these quantum fluctuations may be reassembled into an effective field which behaves classically and acts as the source for the gravitational background. This allows us to determine the spectrum of primordial density perturbations in a consistent manner. We also examine explosive particle production after inflation through the processes of spinodal decomposition and parametric amplification, showing that the non-perturbative backreaction on the inflaton field prevents catastrophic particle production. We find a strong dependence of particle production on the expansion rate and on the symmetry properties of the inflaton.