Back-reaction and the trans-Planckian problem of inflation revisited
Oct, 2004
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Abstract:
It has recently been suggested that Planck scale physics may effect the evolution of cosmological fluctuations in the early stages of cosmological inflation in a non-trivial way, leading to an excited state for modes whose wavelength is super-Planck but sub-Hubble. In this case, the issue of how this excited state back-reacts on the background space-time arises. In fact, it has been suggested that such back-reaction effects may lead to tight constraints on the magnitude of possible deviations from the usual predictions of inflation. In this note we discuss some subtle aspects of this back-reaction issue and point out that rather than preventing inflation, the back-reaction of ultraviolet fluctuations may simply lead to a renormalization of the cosmological constant driving inflation.- 98.80.Cq
- inflation
- excited state: back reaction
- cosmological constant: renormalization
- field theory: scalar
- dispersion relation
- energy: density
- pressure
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