arXiv subjects

Vitaly Vanchurin

Publications and source records attributed to Vitaly Vanchurin.

54 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Towards a non-anthropic solution to the cosmological constant problem

Many probability measures in the multiverse depend exponentially on some observable parameters, giving rise to potential problems such as youngness bias, Q-catastrophe etc. In this paper we explore a possibility that the exponential runaway dependence should be viewed not as a problem, but as a feature that may help us to fix all parameters in the landscape, including the value of the cosmological constant, without using anthropic considerations.

hep-th↗

arXiv2010

Semi-scaling cosmic strings

We develop a model of string dynamics with back-reaction from both scaling and non-scaling loops taken into account. The evolution of a string network is described by the distribution functions of coherence segments and kinks. We derive two non-linear equations which govern the evolution of the two distributions and solve them analytically in the limit of late times. We also show that the correlation function is an exponential, and solve the dynamics for the corresponding spectrum of scaling loops.

hep-th↗

arXiv2010

Non-linear dynamics of cosmic strings with non-scaling loops

At early stages the dynamics of cosmic string networks is expected to be influenced by an excessive production of small loops at the scales of initial conditions l_{min}. To understand the late time behavior we propose a very simple analytical model of strings with a non-scaling population of loops. The complicated non-linear dynamics is described by only a single parameter N ~ 2/(1-C(l_{min})) where C(l) is a correlation function of the string tangent vectors. The model predicts an appearance of two new length scales: the coherence length ξ~ t/N^2 and the cross-correlation length χ~ t/N. At the onset of evolution N ~ 10 and at late times N is expected to grow logarithmically due to cosmological stretching and emission of small loops. The very late time evolution might be modified further when the gravitational back-reaction scale grows larger than l_{min}.

hep-th↗

arXiv2010

How many universes are in the multiverse?

We argue that the total number of distinguishable locally Friedmann universes generated by eternal inflation is proportional to the exponent of the entropy of inflationary perturbations and is limited by e^{e^{3 N}}, where N is the number of e-folds of slow-roll post-eternal inflation. For simplest models of chaotic inflation, N is approximately equal to de Sitter entropy at the end of eternal inflation; it can be exponentially large. However, not all of these universes can be observed by a local observer. In the presence of a cosmological constant Λthe number of distinguishable universes is bounded by e^{|Λ|^{-3/4}}. In the context of the string theory landscape, the overall number of different universes is expected to be exponentially greater than the total number of vacua in the landscape. We discuss the possibility that the strongest constraint on the number of distinguishable universes may be related not to the properties of the multiverse but to the properties of observers.

hep-th↗

arXiv2009

Non-Gaussianity of the distribution tails in CMB

We analyze statistical properties of the separate multipole moments of the CMB temperature maps and find that the distribution tails are slightly non-Gaussian. Moreover, the deviation from Gaussianity peaks sharply at around $l\sim45\pm10$. If the detected non-Gaussianities should be attributed to the remaining foreground contamination from the galactic plane, an appearance of a similar peak in different frequency bands is unexpected. The presence of the peak was also confirmed by the analysis of weighted multipoles which is less susceptible to the galactic noise. A separate analysis of the multipoles with odd and even $l+m$ shows two opposite types of non-Gaussianities which cannot be explained with only galactic foregrounds. We argue that cosmic strings or correlated gravitational waves could lead to the observed effect.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Cosmological perturbations from vector inflation

We analyze the behavior of linear perturbations in vector inflation. In contrast to the scalar field inflation, the linearized theory with vector fields contains couplings between scalar, vector and tensor modes. The perturbations decouple only in the ultraviolet limit, which allows us to carry out the canonical quantization. Superhorizon perturbations can be approximately analyzed due to suppressed mixing between different modes in the small fields models. We find that the vector perturbations of the metric decay exponentially, but the scalar and tensor modes could remain weakly coupled throughout the evolution. As a result, the vector inflation can produce significant correlations of the scalar and tensor modes in the CMB. For the realistic models the effect is rather small, but not negligible.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2008

Stationary Measure in the Multiverse

We study the recently proposed "stationary measure" in the context of the string landscape scenario. We show that it suffers neither from the "Boltzmann brain" problem nor from the "youngness" paradox that makes some other measures predict a high CMB temperature at present. We also demonstrate a satisfactory performance of this measure in predicting the results of local experiments, such as proton decay.

hep-th↗

arXiv2008

Gravitational waves in vector inflation

We discuss the gravitational waves (GW) in the context of vector inflation. We derive the action for tensor perturbations and find that tachyonic instabilities are present in most (but not all) of the inflationary models with large fields. In contrast, the stability of the small field inflation ($A_μA^μ\ll\frac{1}{N}$) is ensured by the usual slow-roll conditions, where $N$ is the total number of fields. For example, the Coleman-Weinberg potential and the power-law inflation are always stable in the small fields limit with an approximately flat spectrum of GW. We also provide some examples which lead to a rapid decay of GW and predict the absence of tensor modes in the CMB.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Vector Inflation

We propose a scenario where inflation is driven by non-minimally coupled massive vector fields. In an isotropic homogeneous universe these fields behave in presicely the same way as a massive minimally coupled scalar field. Therefore our model is very similar to the model of chaotic inflation with scalar field. For vector fields the isotropy of expansion is achived either by considering a triplet of orthogonal vector fields or for the expense of $N$ randomly oriented vector fields. In the last case the substantial anisotropy of the expansion of order $1/\sqrt{N}$ survives until the end of inflation. The lightest vector fields might also force the late time acceleration of the Universe.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Cosmic string loops: large and small, but not tiny

We develop an analytical model to study the production spectrum of loops in the cosmic string network. In the scaling regime, we find two different scales corresponding to large (one order below horizon) and small (few orders below horizon) loops. The very small (tiny) loops at the gravitational back reaction scale are absent, and thus, our model has no ultra-violet divergences. We calculate the spectrum of loops and derive analytical expressions for the positions and magnitudes of the small and large scale peaks. The small loops are produced by large bursts of similar loops moving with very high velocities in the same direction. We describe the shape of large loops, which would usually consist of few kinks and few cusps per oscillation cycle. We also argue that the typical size of large loops is set by the correlation length, which does not depend on the intercommutation probability p, while the interstring distance scales as p^{1/3}.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

Numerical search for a fundamental theory

We propose a numerical test of fundamental physics based on the complexity measure of a general set of functions, which is directly related to the Kolmogorov (or algorithmic) complexity studied in mathematics and computer science. The analysis can be carried out for any scientific experiment and might lead to a better understanding of the underlying theory. From a cosmological perspective, the anthropic description of fundamental constants can be explicitly tested by our procedure. We perform a simple numerical search by analyzing two fundamental constants: the weak coupling constant and the Weinberg angle, and find that their values are rather atypical.

hep-th↗

arXiv2007

Attractor scenarios and superluminal signals in k-essence cosmology

Cosmological scenarios with k-essence are invoked in order to explain the observed late-time acceleration of the universe. These scenarios avoid the need for fine-tuned initial conditions (the "coincidence problem") because of the attractor-like dynamics of the k-essence field ϕ. It was recently shown that all k-essence scenarios with Lagrangians p=L(X)/ϕ^2, necessarily involve an epoch where perturbations of ϕpropagate faster than light (the "no-go theorem"). We carry out a comprehensive study of attractor-like cosmological solutions ("trackers") involving a k-essence scalar field ϕand another matter component. The result of this study is a complete classification of k-essence Lagrangians that admit asymptotically stable tracking solutions, among all Lagrangians of the form p=K(ϕ)L(X) . Using this classification, we select the class of models that describe the late-time acceleration and avoid the coincidence problem through the tracking mechanism. An analogous "no-go theorem" still holds for this class of models, indicating the existence of a superluminal epoch. In the context of k-essence cosmology, the superluminal epoch does not lead to causality violations. We discuss the implications of superluminal signal propagation for possible causality violations in Lorentz-invariant field theories.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2007

Cosmic string loops in the expanding universe

We study the production of loops in the cosmic string network in the expanding background by means of a numerical simulation exact in the flat-spacetime limit and first-order in the expansion rate. We find an initial regime characterized by production of small loops at the scale of the initial correlation length, but later we see the emergence of a scaling regime of loop production. This qualitatively agrees with earlier expectations derived from the results of flat-spacetime simulations. In the final scaling regime we find that the characteristic length of loops scales as $\sim 0.1 t$ in both radiation and matter eras.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Geodesic measures of the landscape

We study the landscape models of eternal inflation with an arbitrary number of different vacua states, both recyclable and terminal. We calculate the abundances of bubbles following different geodesics. We show that the results obtained from generic time-like geodesics have undesirable dependence on initial conditions. In contrast, the predictions extracted from ``eternal'' geodesics, which never enter terminal vacua, do not suffer from this problem. We derive measure equations for ensembles of geodesics and discuss possible interpretations of initial conditions in eternal inflation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2006

Scaling of cosmic string loops

We study the spectrum of loops as a part of a complete network of cosmic strings in flat spacetime. After a long transient regime, characterized by production of small loops at the scale of the initial conditions, it appears that a true scaling regime takes over. In this final regime the characteristic length of loops scales as $0.1 t$, in contrast to earlier simulations which found tiny loops. We expect the expanding-universe behavior to be qualitatively similar. The large loop sizes have important cosmological implications. In particular, the nucleosynthesis bound becomes $Gμ\lesssim 10^{-7}$, much tighter than before.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2006

Eternal observers and bubble abundances in the landscape

We study a class of ``landscape'' models in which all vacua have positive energy density, so that inflation never ends and bubbles of different vacua are endlessly ``recycled''. In such models, each geodesic observer passes through an infinite sequence of bubbles, visiting all possible kinds of vacua. The bubble abundance $p_j$ can then be defined as the frequency at which bubbles of type $j$ are visited along the worldline of an observer. We compare this definition with the recently proposed general prescription for $p_j$ and show that they give identical results.

hep-th↗

arXiv2005

Cosmic string scaling in flat space

We investigate the evolution of infinite strings as a part of a complete cosmic string network in flat space. We perform a simulation of the network which uses functional forms for the string position and thus is exact to the limits of computer arithmetic. Our results confirm that the wiggles on the strings obey a scaling law described by universal power spectrum. The average distance between long strings also scales accurately with the time. These results suggest that small-scale structure will also scale in expanding universe, even in the absence of gravitational damping.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1999

Predictability crisis in inflationary cosmology and its resolution

Models of inflationary cosmology can lead to variation of observable parameters ("constants of Nature") on extremely large scales. The question of making probabilistic predictions for today's observables in such models has been investigated in the literature. Because of the infinite thermalized volume resulting from eternal inflation, it has proven difficult to obtain a meaningful and unambiguous probability distribution for observables, in particular due to the gauge dependence. In the present paper, we further develop the gauge-invariant procedure proposed in a previous work for models with a continuous variation of "constants". The recipe uses an unbiased selection of a connected piece of the thermalized volume as sample for the probability distribution. To implement the procedure numerically, we develop two methods applicable to a reasonably wide class of models: one based on the Fokker-Planck equation of stochastic inflation, and the other based on direct simulation of inflationary spacetime. We present and compare results obtained using these methods.

gr-qc↗