CMB quadrupole suppression. I. Initial conditions of inflationary perturbations

Journal Article · Fri Dec 15 04:00:00 EST 2006 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.74.123006· OSTI ID:20868166

Boyanovsky, D; Vega, H J. de ^[1]; Sanchez, N G ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260 (United States)
2. Observatoire de Paris, LERMA, Laboratoire Associe au CNRS UMR 8112, 61, Avenue de l'Observatoire, 75014 Paris (France)

We investigate the issue of initial conditions of curvature and tensor perturbations at the beginning of slow roll inflation and their effect on the power spectra. Renormalizability and small backreaction constrain the high k behavior of the Bogoliubov coefficients that define these initial conditions. We introduce a transfer function D(k) which encodes the effect of generic initial conditions on the power spectra. The constraint from renormalizability and small backreaction entails that D(k)(less-or-similar sign){mu}{sup 2}/k{sup 2} for large k, implying that observable effects from initial conditions are more prominent in the low multipoles. This behavior affects the CMB quadrupole by the observed amount {approx}10%-20% when {mu} is of the order of the energy scale of inflation. The effects on high l-multipoles are suppressed by a factor {approx}1/l{sup 2} due to the falloff of D(k) for large wave vectors k. We show that the determination of generic initial conditions for the fluctuations is equivalent to the scattering problem by a potential V({eta}) localized just prior to the slow roll stage. Such potential leads to a transfer function D(k) which automatically obeys the renormalizability and small backreaction constraints. We find that an attractive potential V({eta}) yields a suppression of the lower CMB multipoles. Both for curvature and tensor modes, the quadrupole suppression depends only on the energy scale of V({eta}), and on the time interval where V({eta}) is nonzero. A suppression of the quadrupole for curvature perturbations consistent with the data is obtained when the scale of the potential is of the order of k{sub Q}{sup 2} where k{sub Q} is the wave vector whose physical wavelength is the Hubble radius today.

• OSTI ID: 20868166
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 74; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
COSMOLOGY
DISTURBANCES
ENERGY SPECTRA
FLUCTUATIONS
INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE
POTENTIALS
QUADRUPOLES
RELICT RADIATION
SCATTERING
TRANSFER FUNCTIONS
VECTORS
WAVELENGTHS