PIRSA:06020000 Scientific Series Quantum Foundations Cosmology

DOI10.48660/06020000

Series: Colloquium

Valentini, A. (2006). Inflationary cosmology as a probe of primordial quantum mechanics. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/06020000

Valentini, Antony. Inflationary cosmology as a probe of primordial quantum mechanics. Perimeter Institute, Feb. 01, 2006, https://pirsa.org/06020000 

@misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:06020000,
  doi = {10.48660/06020000},
  url = {https://pirsa.org/06020000},
  author = {Valentini, Antony},
  keywords = {Quantum Foundations, Cosmology},
  language = {en},
  title = {Inflationary cosmology as a probe of primordial quantum mechanics},
  publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
  year = {2006},
  month = {feb},
  note = {PIRSA:06020000 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
}

Abstract

It is shown that inflationary cosmology may be used to test the statistical predictions of quantum theory at very short distances. Hidden-variables theories, such as the pilot-wave theory of de Broglie and Bohm, allow the existence of vacuum states with non-standard field fluctuations (“quantum non-equilibrium”). It is shown that such non-equilibrium vacua lead to statistical anomalies, such as a breaking of scale invariance for the primordial power spectrum. The results depend only weakly on the details of the de Broglie-Bohm dynamics. Recent observations of the cosmic microwave background are used to set limits on violations of quantum theory in the early universe.

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