Infrared Challenges for Inflation

          @misc{ scivideos_PIRSA:11070019,
            doi = {10.48660/11070019},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/11070019},
            author = {Shandera, Sarah},
            keywords = {Cosmology},
            language = {en},
            title = {Infrared Challenges for Inflation},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics},
            year = {2011},
            month = {jul},
            note = {PIRSA:11070019 see, \url{https://scivideos.org/index.php/pirsa/11070019}}
          }
          

Abstract

I will review some recent work on infrared issues for scalar fields in exact and quasi de Sitter space. Renewed interest in this topic has been driven by the observational potential for a more accurate determination of statistics of the primordial curvature perturbations, especially non-Gaussianity. Interestingly, the resulting questions are not only relevant for mapping inflationary models to observation but also link directly to more fundamental questions about the initial state, eternal inflation, and the long time dynamics of interacting quantum fields in curved space. Infrared questions provide a precisely calculable way to put pressure on inflation as a rigorous and consistent framework, ready to confront future observations.