Effective Field Theory of Multi-Field Inflation a la Weinberg

TL;DR

This paper develops an effective field theory framework for multi-field inflation, analyzing interaction terms and non-Gaussianities, and highlights the correlation between adiabatic and entropy modes with implications for observable signatures.

Contribution

It generalizes Weinberg's single-field approach to multi-field inflation, including higher derivative terms and analyzing non-Gaussianity and mode correlations.

Findings

Large non-Gaussianities are possible even with near-unity sound speed.

Non-Gaussianity depends on the curvature of the classical trajectory in phase space.

Adiabatic and entropy modes are correlated in shape and amplitude.

Abstract

We employ the effective field theory approach for multi-field inflation which is a generalization of Weinberg's work. In this method the first correction terms in addition to standard terms in the Lagrangian have been considered. These terms contain up to the fourth derivative of the fields including the scalar field and the metric. The results show the possible shapes of the interaction terms resulting eventually in non-Gaussianity in a general formalism. In addition generally the speed of sound is different but almost unity. Since in this method the adiabatic mode is not discriminated initially so we define the adiabatic as well as entropy modes for a specific two-field model. It has been shown that the non-Gaussianity of the adiabatic mode and the entropy mode are correlated in shape and amplitude. It is shown that even for speed close to unity large non-Gaussianities are possible in multi-field case. The amount of the non-Gaussianity depends on the curvature of the classical path in the phase-space in the Hubble unit such that it is large for the large curvature. In addition it is emphasized that the time derivative of adiabatic and entropy perturbations do not transform due to the shift symmetry as well as the original perturbations. Though two specific combinations of them are invariant under such a symmetry and these combinations should be employed to construct an effective field theory of multi-field inflation.