Inflation and de Sitter thermodynamics

By Andrei V. Frolov, Lev Kofman. 2002

238 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We consider the quasi-de Sitter geometry of the inflationary universe. We calculate the energy flux of the slowly rolling background scalar field through the quasi-de Sitter apparent horizon and set it equal to the change of the entropy (1/4 of the area) multiplied by the temperature, dE = TdS. Remarkably, this thermodynamic law reproduces the Friedmann equation for the rolling scalar field. The flux of the slowly rolling field through the horizon of the quasi-de Sitter geometry is similar to the accretion of a rolling scalar field onto a black hole, which we also analyse. Next we add inflaton fluctuations which generate scalar metric perturbations. Metric perturbations result in a variation of the area entropy. Again, the equation dE = TdS with fluctuations reproduces the linearized Einstein equations. In this picture as long as the Einstein equations hold, holography does not put limits on the quantum field theory during inflation. Due to the accumulating metric perturbations, the horizon area during inflation randomly wiggles with dispersion increasing with time. We discuss this in connection with the stochastic description of inflation. We also address the issue of the instability of inflaton fluctuations in the `hot tin can' picture of the de Sitter horizon.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Economics and Econometrics, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c6d2ca69e3a9cc3bb138420c1bc477f9caf658a9

How researchers see this paper

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. Michael J. Reece
2. B. Heidenreich
3. Tom Rudelius
4. Eran Palti
5. U. Danielsson
6. Gary Shiu
7. Pablo Soler
8. M. Montero

In Economics and Econometrics

1. U. Danielsson

In Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

1. Michael J. Reece
2. B. Heidenreich
3. U. Danielsson
4. Tom Rudelius
5. Gary Shiu
6. Abdel Nasser Tawfik
7. A. Diab

Citations in the corpus

• Weak gravity strongly constrains large-field axion inflation (2015, background): “In fact, a detailed study of de Sitter thermodynamics in the context of inflation, including perturbations, was undertaken some time ago by Frolov and Kofman, who found no inconsistencies [81].”
• Transplanckian energy production and slow roll inflation (2004, background): “In the simplified cosmological setting relevant for our analysis, the corresponding argument was given in [32].”