Glauber theory and the quantum coherence of curvature inhomogeneities

TL;DR

This paper applies Glauber theory to analyze quantum coherence in curvature inhomogeneities, revealing the need for higher-order coherence measurements to better understand the statistical properties of large-scale fluctuations in the early universe.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of Glauber approach to curvature inhomogeneities and emphasizes the importance of third and fourth-order coherence in characterizing their quantum states.

Findings

Quantum fluctuations of scalar and tensor modes are first-order coherent.

Interference of intensities exceeds Bose-Einstein correlations.

Higher-order coherence analyses are necessary for accurate characterization.

Abstract

The curvature inhomogeneities are systematically scrutinized in the framework of the Glauber approach. The amplified quantum fluctuations of the scalar and tensor modes of the geometry are shown to be first-order coherent while the interference of the corresponding intensities is larger than in the case of Bose-Einstein correlations. After showing that the degree of second-order coherence does not suffice to characterize unambiguously the curvature inhomogeneities, we argue that direct analyses of the degrees of third and fourth-order coherence are necessary to discriminate between different correlated states and to infer more reliably the statistical properties of the large-scale fluctuations. We speculate that the moments of the multiplicity distributions of the relic phonons might be observationally accessible thanks to new generations of instruments able to count the single photons of the Cosmic Microwave Background in the THz region.