Charting an Inflationary Landscape with Random Matrix Theory
- Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3NP (United Kingdom)
- Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)
- Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States)
- Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)
We construct a class of random potentials for N >> 1 scalar fields using non-equilibrium random matrix theory, and then characterize multifield inflation in this setting. By stipulating that the Hessian matrices in adjacent coordinate patches are related by Dyson Brownian motion, we define the potential in the vicinity of a trajectory. This method remains computationally efficient at large N, permitting us to study much larger systems than has been possible with other constructions. We illustrate the utility of our approach with a numerical study of inflation in systems with up to 100 coupled scalar fields. A significant finding is that eigenvalue repulsion sharply reduces the duration of inflation near a critical point of the potential: even if the curvature of the potential is fine-tuned to be small at the critical point, small cross-couplings in the Hessian cause the curvature to grow in the neighborhood of the critical point.
- OSTI ID:
- 22369916
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2013, Issue 11; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BROWNIAN MOVEMENT
COUPLINGS
DIAGRAMS
EIGENVALUES
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
EQUILIBRIUM
GAS UTILITIES
INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE
MATRICES
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
POTENTIALS
RANDOMNESS
SCALAR FIELDS