When the Environment Speaks: Quantum Signatures in Non-Attractor Inflation
Mattia Cielo, Simone Scarlatella, Gianpiero Mangano, Ofelia Pisanti
astro-ph.CO, gr-qc, hep-th
Submitted: 2026-07-08
Comments: 12 pages, 4 figures
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: We study the open quantum dynamics of the adiabatic curvature perturbation interacting with a massive entropic scalar environment during an inflationary scenario featuring a transient Ultra-Slow-Roll
Terminology
Abstract
We study the open quantum dynamics of the adiabatic curvature perturbation interacting with a massive entropic scalar environment during an inflationary scenario featuring a transient Ultra-Slow-Roll phase. Working within a Gaussian two-field effective Lagrangian, we employ the exact Transport Equations Method to track the full non-unitary, non-Markovian evolution of the system's covariance matrix across the SR-USR-SR transition. We find that the efficiency of decoherence is sensitive to the background kinematics at horizon crossing. Most importantly, the interaction with the environment leaves distinct observable imprints on the primordial scalar power spectrum: the characteristic interference dip preceding the USR-driven enhancement can be partially or completely erased, the growth slope modified, and oscillatory features induced near the peak. Propagated to second order, these distortions further imprint on the stochastic background of Scalar-Induced Gravitational Waves, breaking single-field predictions and yielding unique spectral signatures potentially accessible to LISA. Our results demonstrate that the quantum environment is not a passive spectator during inflation, but an active agent whose imprint on the primordial universe may be within reach of the next generation of cosmological observations.
Sources
- The Effective Field Theory of Inflation
- Inflation, Cosmic Perturbations and Non-Gaussianities
- Primordial Black Hole Formation in Starobinsky's Linear Potential Model
- Density Perturbations and Black Hole Formation in Hybrid Inflation
- Quantum diffusion during inflation and primordial black holes
- Seven Hints for Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter
- The Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter - LISA Serendipity
- Primordial black holes and their gravitational-wave signatures
- Inflation and Primordial Black Holes
- Primordial black hole dark matter from single field inflation
- Enhancement of superhorizon scale inflationary curvature perturbations
- Horizon crossing and inflation with large \eta
- Steepest growth of the power spectrum and primordial black holes
- Steepest Growth in the Primordial Power Spectrum from Excited States at a Sudden Transition
- Semiclassicality and Decoherence of Cosmological Perturbations
- Quantum-to-classical transition for fluctuations in the early Universe
- On the Decoherence of Primordial Fluctuations During Inflation
- Discord and Decoherence
- Minimal decoherence from inflation
- Quantum recoherence in the early universe
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