arXiv subjects

Yuko Urakawa

Publications and source records attributed to Yuko Urakawa.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Gravitational wave forest from string axiverse

Axions predicted in string theory may have a scalar potential which has a much shallower potential region than the conventional cosine potential. We first show that axions which were located at such shallow potential regions generically undergo prominent resonance instabilities: the well-known narrow resonance and/or the flapping resonance, which has not been well investigated. We also study non-linear dynamics of axions caused by these resonance instabilities based on lattice simulation. We find that string axions in various mass ranges generate gravitational waves (GWs) with peaks at various frequencies determined by the mass scales, dubbed the GW forest. This may allow us to explore string axiverse through future multi-frequency GW observations. We also investigate GWs produced by the axion which accounts for present dark matter component.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

Inflationary perturbations with Lifshitz scaling

Instead of Lorentz invariance, gravitational degrees of freedom may obey Lifshitz scaling at high energies, as it happens in Hořava's proposal for quantum gravity. We study consequences of this proposal for the spectra of primordial perturbations generated at inflation. Breaking of 4D diffeomorphism (Diff) invariance down to the foliation-preserving Diff in Hořava-Lifshitz (HL) gravity leads to appearance of a scalar degree of freedom in the gravity sector, khronon, which describes dynamics of the time foliation. One can naively expect that mixing between inflaton and khronon will jeopardize conservation of adiabatic perturbations at super Hubble scales. This indeed happens in the projectable version of the theory. By contrast, we find that in the non-projectable version of HL gravity, khronon acquires an effective mass which is much larger than the Hubble scale well before the Hubble crossing time and decouples from the adiabatic curvature perturbation $ζ$ sourced by the inflaton fluctuations. As a result, at super Hubble scales the adiabatic perturbation $ζ$ behaves as in an effectively single field system and its spectrum is conserved in time. Lifshitz scaling is imprinted in the power spectrum of $ζ$ through the modified dispersion relation of the inflaton. We point out violation of the consistency relation between the tensor-to-scalar ratio and the spectral tilt of primordial gravitational waves and suggest that it can provide a signal of Lorentz violation in inflationary era.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Relaxion window

We investigate cosmological constraints on the original relaxion scenario proposed by Graham, Kaplan and Rajendran. We first discuss the appropriate sign choice of the terms in the scalar potential, when the QCD axion is the relaxion with a relaxion-inflaton coupling proposed in the original paper. We next derive the cosmologically consistent ranges of the mass and a coupling of the relaxion for both the QCD relaxion and non-QCD relaxion. The mass range is obtained by $10^{-5}$ eV $\ll m_ϕ \lesssim 10^4$ eV. We also find that a strong correlation between the Hubble parameter at the relaxion stabilization and the scale $Λ$ of non-QCD strong dynamics, which generates the non-perturbative relaxion cosine potential. For a higher relaxion mass, a large scale $Λ$ becomes available. However, for its lower mass, $Λ$ should be small and constructing such a particle physics model is challenging.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Large gauge transformation, Soft theorem, and Infrared divergence in inflationary spacetime

It is widely known that the primordial curvature perturbation $ζ$ has several universal properties in the infrared (IR) such as the soft theorem, which is also known as the consistency relation, and the conservation in time. They are valid in rather general single clock models of inflation. It has been argued that these universal properties are deeply related to the large gauge transformations in inflationary spacetime. However, the invariance under the large gauge transformations is not sufficient to show these IR properties. In this paper, we show that the locality condition is crucial to show the consistency relation and the conservation of $ζ$. This argument also can apply to an interacting system with the inflaton and heavy fields which have arbitrary integer spins, including higher spin fields, which may be motivated from string theory. We will also show that the locality condition guarantees the cancellation of the IR divergences in a certain class of variables whose correlation functions resemble cosmologically observable quantities.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Consistency relations and conservation of $ζ$ in holographic inflation

It is well known that, in single clock inflation, the curvature perturbation $ζ$ is constant in time on superhorizon scales. In the standard bulk description this follows quite simply from the local conservation of the energy momentum tensor in the bulk. On the other hand, in a holographic description, the constancy of the curvature perturbation must be related to the properties of the RG flow in the boundary theory. Here, we show that, in single clock holographic inflation, the time independence of correlators of $ζ$ follows from the cut-off independence of correlators of the energy momentum tensor in the boundary theory, and from the so-called consistency relations for vertex functions with a soft leg.

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arXiv2016

Modular invariant inflation

Modular invariance is a striking symmetry in string theory, which may keep stringy corrections under control. In this paper, we investigate a phenomenological consequence of the modular invariance, assuming that this symmetry is preserved as well as in a four dimensional (4D) low energy effective field theory. As a concrete setup, we consider a modulus field $T$ whose contribution in the 4D effective field theory remains invariant under the modular transformation and study inflation drived by $T$. The modular invariance restricts a possible form of the scalar potenntial. As a result, large field models of inflation are hardly realized. Meanwhile, a small field model of inflation can be still accomodated in this restricted setup. The scalar potential traced during the slow-roll inflation mimics the hilltop potential $V_{ht}$, but it also has a non-negligible deviation from $V_{ht}$. Detecting the primordial gravitational waves predicted in this model is rather challenging. Yet, we argue that it may be still possible to falsify this model by combining the information in the reheating process which can be determined self-completely in this setup.

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arXiv2015

Conservation of $ζ$ with radiative corrections from heavy field

In this paper, we address a possible impact of radiative corrections from a heavy scalar field $χ$ on the curvature perturbation $ζ$. Integrating out $χ$, we derive the effective action for $ζ$, which includes the loop corrections of the heavy field $χ$. When the mass of $χ$ is much larger than the Hubble scale $H$, the loop corrections of $χ$ only yield a local contribution to the effective action and hence the effective action simply gives an action for $ζ$ in a single field model, where, as is widely known, $ζ$ is conserved in time after the Hubble crossing time. Meanwhile, when the mass of $χ$ is comparable to $H$, the loop corrections of $χ$ can give a non-local contribution to the effective action. Because of the non-local contribution from $χ$, in general, $ζ$ may not be conserved, even if the classical background trajectory is determined only by the evolution of the inflaton. In this paper, we derive the condition that $ζ$ is conserved in time in the presence of the radiative corrections from $χ$. Namely, we show that when the scaling symmetry, which is a part of the diffeomorphism invariance, is preserved at the quantum level, the loop corrections of the massive field $χ$ do not disturb the constant evolution of $ζ$ at super Hubble scales. In this discussion, we show the Ward-Takahashi identity for the scaling symmetry, which yields a consistency relation for the correlation functions of the massive field $χ$.

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arXiv2015

$δN$ formalism from superpotential and holography

We consider the superpotential formalism to describe the evolution of scalar fields during inflation, generalizing it to include the case with non-canonical kinetic terms. We provide a characterization of the attractor behaviour of the background evolution in terms of first and second slow-roll parameters (which need not be small). We find that the superpotential is useful in justifying the separate universe approximation from the gradient expansion, and also in computing the spectra of primordial perturbations around attractor solutions in the $δN$ formalism. As an application, we consider a class of models where the background trajectories for the inflaton fields are derived from a product separable superpotential. In the perspective of the holographic inflation scenario, such models are dual to a deformed CFT boundary theory, with $D$ mutually uncorrelated deformation operators. We compute the bulk power spectra of primordial adiabatic and entropy cosmological perturbations, and show that the results agree with the ones obtained by using conformal perturbation theory in the dual picture.

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arXiv2014

Multi-field inflation from holography

We initiate the study of multi-field inflation using holography. Bulk light scalar fields correspond to nearly marginal operators in the boundary theory and the dual quantum field theory is a deformation of a CFT by such operators. We compute the power spectra of adiabatic and entropy perturbations in a simple model and find that the adiabatic curvature perturbation is not conserved in the presence of entropy perturbations but becomes conserved when the entropy perturbations are set to zero or the model is effectively a single scalar model, in agreement with expectations from cosmological perturbation theory.

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arXiv2014

Holographic inflation and the conservation of $ζ$

In a holographic description of inflation, cosmological time evolution in the bulk is expected to correspond to the renomalization group (RG) flow in a dual boundary theory. Here, we analyze this expectation by computing the correlation functions of the curvature perturbation $ζ$ holographically. For this purpose, we use a deformed conformal field theory at the boundary, with a single deformation operator. In standard single field models of inflation, $ζ$ is known to be conserved at large scales under very general conditions. However, we find that this is not generically the case in the dual description. The requirement that higher correlators of $ζ$ should be conserved severely restricts the possibilities for the RG flow. With such restriction, the power spectrum $P_ζ$ must follow an exact power law, at least within the regime of validity of conformal perturbation theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Loops in inflationary correlation functions

We review the recent progress regarding the loop corrections to the correlation functions in the inflationary universe. A naive perturbation theory predicts that loop corrections generated during inflation suffer from various infrared (IR) pathologies. Introducing an IR cutoff by hand is not only unsatisfactory but also does not fix the problem of secular growth, which may ruin the predictive power of inflation models if the inflation lasts sufficiently long. We discuss the origin of the IR divergences and explore the regularity conditions of loop corrections for the adiabatic perturbation, the iso-curvature perturbation, and the tensor perturbation, in turn. These three kinds of perturbations have qualitative differences, but in discussing the IR regularity there is a feature common to all cases, which is the importance of the proper identification of observable quantities. Genuinely observable quantities should respect the gauge invariance from the view point of a local observer. Interestingly, we find that the requirement of the IR regularity restricts the allowed quantum states.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Strong restriction on inflationary vacua from the local gauge invariance III: Infrared regularity of graviton loops

It has been claimed that the super Hubble modes of the graviton generated during inflation can make loop corrections diverge. Even if we introduce an infrared (IR) cutoff at a comoving scale as an ad hoc but a practical way for the regularization, we encounter the secular growth, which may lead to the breakdown of perturbative expansion for a sufficiently long lasting inflation. In this paper, we show that the IR pathology concerning the graviton can be attributed to the presence of residual gauge degrees of freedom in the local observable universe as in the case of the adiabatic curvature perturbation. We will show that choosing the Euclidean vacuum as the initial state ensures the invariance under the above-mentioned residual gauge transformations. We will also show that as long as we consider a gauge invariant quantity in the local universe, we encounter neither the IR divergence nor the secular growth. The argument in this paper applies to general single field models of inflation up to a sufficiently high order in perturbation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Inflation and deformation of conformal field theory

It has recently been suggested that a strongly coupled phase of inflation may be described holographically in terms of a weakly coupled quantum field theory (QFT). Here, we explore the possibility that the wave function of an inflationary universe may be given by the partition function of a boundary QFT. We consider the case when the field theory is a small deformation of a conformal field theory (CFT), by the addition of a relevant operator O, and calculate the primordial spectrum predicted in the corresponding holographic inflation scenario. Using the Ward-Takahashi identity associated with Weyl rescalings, we derive a simple relation between correlators of the curvature perturbation and correlators of the deformation operator O at the boundary. This is done without specifying the bulk theory of gravitation, so that the result would also apply to cases where the bulk dynamics is strongly coupled. We comment on the validity of the Suyama-Yamaguchi inequality, relating the bi-spectrum and tri-spectrum of the curvature perturbation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Strong restriction on inflationary vacua from the local gauge invariance II: Infrared regularity and absence of the secular growth in Euclidean vacuum

We investigate the initial state of the inflationary universe. In our recent publications, we showed that requesting the gauge invariance in the local observable universe to the initial state guarantees the infrared (IR) regularity of loop corrections in a general single clock inflation. Following this study, in this paper, we show that choosing the Euclidean vacuum ensures the gauge invariance in the local universe and hence the IR regularity of loop corrections. It has been suggested that loop corrections to inflationary perturbations may yield the secular growth, which can lead to the break down of the perturbative analysis in an extremely long term inflation. The absence of the secular growth has been claimed by picking up only the IR contributions, which we think is incomplete because the non-IR modes which are comparable to or smaller than the Hubble scale potentially can contribute to the secular growth. We prove the absence of the secular growth without neglecting these non-IR modes to a certain order in the perturbative expansion. We also discuss how the regularity of the n-point functions for the genuinely gauge invariant variable constrains the initial states of the inflationary universe. These results apply in a fully general single field model of inflation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Strong restriction on inflationary vacua from the local gauge invariance I: Local gauge invariance and infrared regularity

The primordial perturbation is widely accepted to be generated through the vacuum fluctuation of the scalar field which drives inflation. It is, however, not completely clear what is the natural vacuum in the inflationary universe particularly in the presence of non-linear interactions. In this series of papers, we will address this issue, focusing on the condition required for the removal of the divergence from the infrared (IR) contribution to loop diagrams. We show that requesting the gauge invariance in the local observable universe guarantees the IR regularity of the loop corrections beginning with a simple initial state. In our previous works, the IR regularity condition was discussed using the slow roll expansion, which restricts the background evolution of the inflationary universe. We will show more generally that requesting the gauge invariance/the IR regularity leads to non-trivial constraints on the allowed quantum states.

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arXiv2011

Influence of gauge artifact on adiabatic and entropy perturbations during inflation

In recent publications we proposed one way to calculate gauge-invariant variables in the local observable universe, which is limited to a portion of the whole universe. To provide a theoretical prediction of the observable fluctuations, we need to preserve the gauge-invariance in the local universe, which is referred to the genuine gauge-invariance. The importance of the genuine gauge-invariance is highlighted in the study of primordial fluctuations in the infrared (IR) limit. The stability against IR loop corrections to primordial fluctuations is guaranteed in requesting the genuine gauge-invariance. The genuine gauge-invariance also gives the impact on the detectable fluctuations. We showed that at observable scales the bi-spectrum calculated in the conventional perturbation theory vanishes in the squeezed limit, if we request the genuine gauge invariance. This indicates that the conventional bi-spectrum is, in this limit, dominated by a gauge artifact, which cannot be observed. These studies have been elaborated in single-field models of inflation. In this paper we generalize our argument to multi-field models of inflation, where, in addition to the adiabatic field, the entropy field can participate in the generation of primordial fluctuations. We will find that the entropy field can generate the observable fluctuations, which cannot be eliminated by gauge transformations in the local universe.

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arXiv2011

Dominance of gauge artifact in the consistency relation for the primordial bispectrum

The conventional cosmological perturbation theory has been performed under the assumption that we know the whole spatial region of the universe with infinite volume. This is, however, not the case in the actual observations because observable portion of the universe is limited. To give a theoretical prediction to the observable fluctuations, gauge-invariant observables should be composed of the information in our local observable universe with finite volume. From this point of view, we reexamine the primordial non-Gaussianity in single field models, focusing on the bispectrum in the squeezed limit. A conventional prediction states that the bispectrum in this limit is related to the power spectrum through the so-called consistency relation. However, it turns out that, if we adopt a genuine gauge invariant variable which is naturally composed purely of the information in our local universe, the leading term for the bispectrum in the squeezed limit predicted by the consistency relation vanishes.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

Natural selection of inflationary vacuum required by infra-red regularity and gauge-invariance

It has been an issue of debate whether the inflationary infrared(IR) divergences are physical or not. Our claim is that, at least, in single-field models, the answer is "No," and that the spurious IR divergence is originating from the careless treatment of the gauge modes. In our previous work we have explicitly shown that the IR divergence is absent in the genuine gauge-invariant quantity at the leading order in the slow-roll approximation. We extend our argument to include higher-order slow-roll corrections and the contributions from the gravitational waves. The key issue is to assure the gauge invariance in the choice of the initial vacuum, which is a new concept that has not been considered in conventional calculations.

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