Primordial power spectrum from an objective collapse mechanism: The simplest case

TL;DR

This paper explores how an objective collapse mechanism, specifically the CSL model, can explain the origin of primordial inhomogeneities during inflation, resulting in a spectrum consistent with CMB observations.

Contribution

It introduces a simple CSL-based collapse model within semiclassical gravity to generate primordial inhomogeneities, linking quantum measurement issues with cosmological structure formation.

Findings

Primordial spectrum matches standard predictions and observations.

Collapse mechanism successfully breaks initial symmetries.

Model uses simplest choices for collapse parameters and operators.

Abstract

In this work we analyzed the physical origin of the primordial inhomogeneities during the inflation era. The proposed framework is based, on the one hand, on semiclassical gravity, in which only the matter fields are quantized and not the spacetime metric. Secondly, we incorporate an objective collapse mechanism based on the Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL) model, and we apply it to the wavefunction associated with the inflaton field. This is introduced due to the close relation between cosmology and the so-called ``measurement problem'' in Quantum Mechanics. In particular, in order to break the homogeneity and isotropy of the initial Bunch-Davies vacuum, and thus obtain the inhomogeneities observed today, the theory requires something akin to a ``measurement'' (in the traditional sense of Quantum Mechanics). This is because the linear evolution driven by Schr\"odinger's equation does not break any initial symmetry. The collapse mechanism given by the CSL model provides a satisfactory mechanism for breaking the initial symmetries of the Bunch-Davies vacuum. The novel aspect in this work is that the constructed CSL model arises from the simplest choices for the collapse parameter and operator. From these considerations, we obtain a primordial spectrum that has the same distinctive features as the standard one, which is consistent with the observations from the Cosmic Microwave Background.