Gauge-invariant perturbation theory for trans-Planckian inflation

TL;DR

This paper develops a gauge-invariant framework for analyzing trans-Planckian effects in inflation, revealing new corrections to scalar perturbations and clarifying the role of non-linear effects, with implications for the inflationary power spectrum.

Contribution

It introduces a covariant, gauge-invariant approach to trans-Planckian inflation, explicitly calculating the stress-tensor and deriving modified perturbation equations.

Findings

Non-linear effects only affect energy density, vanishing on super-Hubble scales.

Scalar perturbations are generally non-adiabatic.

The Mukhanov-Sasaki equation differs from previous assumptions.

Abstract

The possibility that the scale-invariant inflationary spectrum may be modified due to the hidden assumptions about the Planck scale physics -- dubbed as trans-Planckian inflation -- has received considerable attention. To mimic the possible trans-Planckian effects, among various models, modified dispersion relations have been popular in the literature. In almost all the earlier analyzes, unlike the canonical scalar field driven inflation, the trans-Planckian effects are introduced to the scalar/tensor perturbation equations in an ad hoc manner -- without calculating the stress-tensor of the cosmological perturbations from the covariant Lagrangian. In this work, we perform the gauge-invariant cosmological perturbations for the single-scalar field inflation with the Jacobson-Corley dispersion relation by computing the fluctuations of all the fields including the unit time-like vector field which defines a preferred rest frame. We show that: (i) The non-linear effects introduce corrections only to the perturbed energy density. The corrections to the energy density vanish in the super-Hubble scales. (ii) The scalar perturbations, in general, are not purely adiabatic. (iii) The equation of motion of the Mukhanov-Sasaki variable corresponding to the inflaton field is different than those presumed in the earlier analyzes. (iv) The tensor perturbation equation remains unchanged. We perform the classical analysis for the resultant system of equations and also compute the power-spectrum of the scalar perturbations in a particular limit. We discuss the implications of our results and compare with the earlier results.