Of Inflation and the Inflaton

TL;DR

This paper proposes a quantum tunneling mechanism from transplanckian to cisplanckian configurations that seed inflation, leading to estimates of the inflaton mass and amplitude consistent with observations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel tunneling process explaining the origin of inflationary conditions from transplanckian physics.

Findings

Estimated inflaton mass m≈10^{-6}

Inflaton condensate amplitude φ≈10

Homogeneous geometries from tunneling

Abstract

Due to intra-field gravitational interactions, field configurations have a strong negative component to their energy density at the planckian and transplanckian scales, conceivably resulting in a sequestration of the transplanckian field degrees of freedom. Quantum fluctuations then allow these to tunnel into cisplanckian configurations to seed inflation and conventional observed physics: propagating modes of QFT in a geometry which responds to the existence of these new modes through the energy constraint of general relativity, H^2 = \rho/3. That this tunnelling results in geometries and field configurations that are homogeneous allows for an estimate of the mass of the inflaton, m=O(10^{-6}), and the amplitude of the inflaton condensate, \phiav=O(10), both consistent with phenomenology.