Robust predictions for the large-scale cosmological power deficit from primordial quantum nonequilibrium

• Published in: International journal of modern physics. D, Gravitation, astrophysics, cosmology Vol. 25; no. 6; p. 1650068
• Main Authors: Colin, Samuel, Valentini, Antony
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore World Scientific Publishing Company 01.05.2016; World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte., Ltd
• Subjects: Dependence; Field theory; Initial conditions; Predictions; Quantum theory; Robustness; Universe; tests of quantum theory; de Broglie–Bohm; CMB anomalies; pilot-wave theory
• ISSN: 0218-2718; 1793-6594
• DOI: 10.1142/S0218271816500681

The de Broglie–Bohm pilot-wave formulation of quantum theory allows the existence of physical states that violate the Born probability rule. Recent work has shown that in pilot-wave field theory on expanding space relaxation to the Born rule is suppressed for long-wavelength field modes, resulting in a large-scale power deficit ξ ( k ) which for a radiation-dominated expansion is found to have an approximate inverse-tangent dependence on k (assuming that the width of the initial distribution is smaller than the width of the initial Born-rule distribution and that the initial quantum states are evenly-weighted superpositions of energy states). In this paper, we show that the functional form of ξ ( k ) is robust under changes in the initial nonequilibrium distribution — subject to the limitation of a subquantum width — as well as under the addition of an inflationary era at the end of the radiation-dominated phase. In both cases, the predicted deficit ξ ( k ) remains an inverse-tangent function of k . Furthermore, with the inflationary phase the dependence of the fitting parameters on the number of superposed pre-inflationary energy states is comparable to that found previously. Our results indicate that, for the assumed broad class of initial conditions, an inverse-tangent power deficit is likely to be a fairly general and robust signature of quantum relaxation in the early universe.