Causality and cosmic inflation

Journal Article · Sat Jan 15 04:00:00 EST 2000 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.61.023502· OSTI ID:20215151

Vachaspati, Tanmay ^[1]; Trodden, Mark ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7079 (United States)

In the context of inflationary models with a pre-inflationary stage, in which the Einstein equations are obeyed, the null energy condition is satisfied, and spacetime topology is trivial, we argue that homogeneity on super-Hubble scales must be assumed as an initial condition. Models in which inflation arises from field dynamics in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background fall into this class but models in which inflation originates at the Planck epoch may evade this conclusion. Our arguments rest on causality and general relativistic constraints on the structure of spacetime. We discuss modifications to existing scenarios that may avoid the need for initial large-scale homogeneity. (c) 1999 The American Physical Society.

• OSTI ID: 20215151
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 61; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CAUSALITY
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
EINSTEIN FIELD EQUATIONS
GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY
INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE
METRICS
SPACE-TIME
THEORETICAL DATA