Infrared dynamics of the massive $\phi^4$ theory on de Sitter space

TL;DR

This paper investigates the infrared behavior of massive scalar $\,\phi^4$ theory in de Sitter space, deriving kinetic equations and identifying solutions that include stationary distributions and explosive growth, indicating potential instability of the spacetime.

Contribution

It derives the kinetic equation for the principal series and analyzes infrared effects for both principal and complementary series in de Sitter space.

Findings

Light fields from the complementary series exhibit stronger infrared effects.

The kinetic equation admits a stationary Gibbons--Hawking-type distribution.

An explosive growth solution suggests possible destruction of the Poincare patch.

Abstract

We study massive real scalar $\phi^4$ theory in the expanding Poincare patch of de Sitter space. We calculate the leading two-loop infrared contribution to the two-point function in this theory. We do that for the massive fields both from the principal and complementary series. As can be expected at this order light fields from the complementary series show stronger infrared effects than the heavy fields from the principal one. For the principal series, unlike the complementary one, we can derive the kinetic equation from the system of Dyson--Schwinger equation, which allows us to sum up the leading infrared contributions from all loops. We find two peculiar solutions of the kinetic equation. One of them describes the stationary Gibbons--Hawking-type distribution for the density per comoving volume. Another solution shows explosive (square root of the pole in finite proper time) growth of the particle number density per comoving volume. That signals the possibility of the destruction of the expanding Poincare patch even by the very massive fields. We conclude with the consideration of the infrared divergences in global de Sitter space and in its contracting Poincare patch.