Inflationary cosmology as a probe of primordial quantum mechanics

          @misc{ scivideos_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 for Theoretical Physics},
            year = {2006},
            month = {feb},
            note = {PIRSA:06020000 see, \url{https://scivideos.org/pirsa/06020000}}
          }
          

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.