Primordial Fluctuations from Inflation: a Consistent Histories Approach

TL;DR

This paper applies the consistent histories framework to describe the quantum-to-classical transition of inflationary cosmological fluctuations, including the effects of decaying modes through coarse-grained histories.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of the consistent histories approach to inflationary fluctuations, extending it to include decaying modes with coarse-graining.

Findings

Histories in the infinite squeezing limit correspond to classical fluctuations.

Extension to coarse-grained histories accounts for decaying modes.

Provides a consistent quantum-to-classical transition description.

Abstract

We show how the quantum-to-classical transition of the cosmological fluctuations produced during an inflationary stage can be described using the consistent histories approach. We identify the corresponding histories in the limit of infinite squeezing. To take the decaying mode into account, we propose an extension to coarse-grained histories.