Space-time correlations within pairs produced during inflation, a wave-packet analysis

TL;DR

This paper uses wave-packet analysis to uncover the space-time structure of quantum correlations during inflation, revealing how partner particles are initially hidden behind the horizon but become accessible as the universe expands.

Contribution

It introduces a wave-packet method to analyze space-time correlations in quantum fields during inflation, highlighting the emergence of coherence as the horizon grows.

Findings

Correlations are hidden behind the Hubble horizon initially.

Coherence is recovered when the horizon encompasses the partner.

Applicable to both rare pair creation and highly squeezed states.

Abstract

In homogeneous universes the propagation of quantum fields gives rise to pair creation of quanta with opposite momenta. When computing expectation values of operators, the correlations between these quanta are averaged out and no space-time structure is obtained. In this article, by an appropriate use of wave packets, we reveal the space-time structure of these correlations. We show that every pair emerges from vacuum configurations which are torn apart so as to give rise to two semi-classical currents: that carried by the particle and that of its `partner'. The partner's current lives behind the Hubble horizon centered around the particle. Hence any measurement performed within a Hubble patch would correspond to an uncorrelated density matrix, as for Hawking radiation. However, when inflation stops, the Hubble radius grows and eventually encompasses the partner. When this is realized the coherence is recovered within a patch. Our analysis applies to rare pair creation events as well as to cases leading to arbitrary high occupation numbers. Hence it might be applied to primordial gravitational waves which evolve into highly squeezed states.