| Adiabatic Ekpyrosis: Scale-Invariant Curvature Perturbations from a Single Scalar Field in a Contracting Universe (2009) | |||||||||
Abstract | |||||||||
| The universe can be made flat and smooth by undergoing a phase of ultra-slow (ekpyrotic) contraction with equation of state w >> 1, a condition that is achievable with a single, canonical scalar field and conventional general relativity. It has been argued, though, that another goal, generating scale-invariant density perturbations, requires at least two scalar fields and a two-step process that first produces entropy fluctuations and then converts them to curvature perturbations. In this paper, we exploit a loophole in the argument and introduce an ekpyrotic model based on a single, canonical scalar field that utilizes a purely "adiabatic mechanism" to generate nearly scale-invariant curvature fluctuations. The curvature perturbation tends to a constant at long wavelengths, indicating that the background evolution is a dynamical attractor. The resulting spectrum is slightly red with distinctive non-gaussian fluctuations.. Comment: 4 pages. v2: Minor corrections | |||||||||
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