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Abstract |
Although inflation is broadly accepted to be the standard paradigm for early
universe cosmology, many of its quantum properties remain unknown. For
instance, the crowning glory of inflation lies in explaining late-time
macroscopic inhomogeneities as arising from tiny quantum fluctuations;
however, most of the established literature ignores the crucial role that
entanglement between the modes of the fluctuating field plays in its
observable predictions. In this talk, I shall discuss how treating observable
long-wavelength modes as part of an open quantum system can significantly
affect the dynamics (and detectable consequences) of inflation, even when
considering the nonlinearities arising solely from gravity. Since these
dissipative effects are at the heart of decoherence (and how quantum
fluctuations turn classical), such primordial entanglement is inescapable and
provides universal upper bounds on the duration of inflation. |
