No Arabic abstract
We revisit the question of how to calculate correlations of the curvature perturbation, $zeta$, using the $delta N$ formalism when one cannot employ a truncated Taylor expansion of $N$. This problem arises when one uses lattice simulations to probe the effects of isocurvature modes on models of reheating. Working in real space, we use an expansion in the cross-correlation between fields at different positions, and present simple expressions for observables such as the power spectrum and the reduced bispectrum, $f_{rm NL}$. These take the same form as those of the usual $delta N$ expressions, but with the derivatives of $N$ replaced by non-perturbative $delta N$ coefficients. We test the validity of this expansion and argue that our expressions are particularly well suited for use with simulations.
We develop a theory of nonlinear cosmological perturbations on superhorizon scales for a multi-component scalar field with a general kinetic term and a general form of the potential in the context of inflationary cosmology. We employ the ADM formalism and the spatial gradient expansion approach, characterised by O(epsilon^2), where epsilon=1/(HL) is a small parameter representing the ratio of the Hubble radius to the characteristic length scale L of perturbations. We provide a formalism to obtain the solution in the multi-field case. This formalism can be applied to the superhorizon evolution of a primordial non-Gaussianity beyond the so-called delta N formalism which is equivalent to O(epsilon^0) of the gradient expansion. In doing so, we also derive fully nonlinear gauge transformation rules valid through O(epsilon^2). These fully nonlinear gauge transformation rules can be used to derive the solution in a desired gauge from the one in a gauge where computations are much simpler. As a demonstration, we consider an analytically solvable model and construct the solution explicitly.
According to the equivalence principal, the long wavelength perturbations must not have any dynamical effect on the short scale physics up to ${cal O} (k_L^2/k_s^2)$. Their effect can be always absorbed to a coordinate transformation locally. So any physical effect of such a perturbation appears only on scales larger than the scale of the perturbation. The bispectrum in the squeezed limit of the curvature perturbation in single-field slow-roll inflation is a good example, where the long wavelength effect is encoded in the spectral index through Maldacenas consistency relation. This implies that one should be able to derive the bispectrum in the squeezed limit without resorting to the in-in formalism in which one computes perturbative corrections field-theoretically. In this short paper, we show that the $delta N$ formalism as it is, or more generically the separate universe approach, when applied carefully can indeed lead to the correct result for the bispectrum in the squeezed limit. Hence despite the common belief that the $delta N$ formalism is incapable of recovering the consistency relation within itself, it is in fact self-contained and consistent.
We derive the exact supergravity profile for the twisted scalar field emitted by a system of fractional D3 branes at a Z2 orbifold singularity supporting N=2 quiver gauge theories with unitary groups and bifundamental matter. At the perturbative level this twisted field is dual to the gauge coupling but it is corrected non-perturbatively by an infinite tower of fractional D-instantons. The explicit microscopic description allows to derive the gravity profile from disk amplitudes computing the emission rate of the twisted scalar field in terms of chiral correlators in the dual gauge theory. We compute these quantum correlators using multi-instanton localization techniques and/or Seiberg-Witten analysis. Finally, we discuss a non-perturbative relation between the twisted scalar and the effective coupling of the gauge theory for some simple choices of the brane set ups.
Large-scale clustering of highly biased tracers of large-scale structure has emerged as one of the best observational probes of primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type (i.e. f_{NL}^{local}). This type of non-Gaussianity can be generated in multifield models of inflation such as the curvaton model. Recently, Tseliakhovich, Hirata, and Slosar showed that the clustering statistics depend qualitatively on the ratio of inflaton to curvaton power xi after reheating, a free parameter of the model. If xi is significantly different from zero, so that the inflaton makes a non-negligible contribution to the primordial adiabatic curvature, then the peak-background split ansatz predicts that the halo bias will be stochastic on large scales. In this paper, we test this prediction in N-body simulations. We find that large-scale stochasticity is generated, in qualitative agreement with the prediction, but that the level of stochasticity is overpredicted by ~30%. Other predictions, such as xi independence of the halo bias, are confirmed by the simulations. Surprisingly, even in the Gaussian case we do not find that halo model predictions for stochasticity agree consistently with simulations, suggesting that semi-analytic modeling of stochasticity is generally more difficult than modeling halo bias.
Recently, Saad, Shenker and Stanford showed how to define the genus expansion of Jackiw-Teitelboim quantum gravity in terms of a double-scaled Hermitian matrix model. However, the models non-perturbative sector has fatal instabilities at low energy that they cured by procedures that render the physics non-unique. This might not be a desirable property for a system that is supposed to capture key features of quantum black holes. Presented here is a model with identical perturbative physics at high energy that instead has a stable and unambiguous non-perturbative completion of the physics at low energy. An explicit examination of the full spectral density function shows how this is achieved. The new model, which is based on complex matrix models, also allows for the straightforward inclusion of spacetime features analogous to Ramond-Ramond fluxes. Intriguingly, there is a deformation parameter that connects this non-perturbative formulation of JT gravity to one which, at low energy, has features of a super JT gravity.