No Arabic abstract
We consider warped compactifications in (4+d)-dimensional theories, with four dimensional de Sitter dS_4 vacua (with Hubble parameter H) and with a compact internal space. After introducing a gauge-invariant formalism for the generic metric perturbations of these backgrounds, we focus on modes which are scalar with respect to dS_4. The physical eigenmasses of these modes acquire a large universal tachyonic contribution -12d/(d+2) H^2, independently of the stabilization mechanism for the compact space, in addition to the usual KK masses, which instead encode the effects of the stabilization. General arguments, as well as specific examples, lead us to conjecture that, for sufficiently large dS curvature, the compactified geometry becomes gravitationally unstable due to the tachyonic growth of the scalar perturbations. This mean that for any stabilization mechanism the curvature of the dS geometry cannot exceed some critical value. We relate this effect to the anisotropy of the bulk geometry and suggest the end points of the instability. Of relevance for inflationary cosmology, the perturbations of the bulk metric inevitably induce a new modulus field, which describes the conformal fluctuations of the 4 dimensional metric. If this mode is light during inflation, the induced conformal fluctuations will be amplified with a scale free spectrum and with an amplitude which is disentangled from the standard result of slow-roll inflation. The conformal 4d metric fluctuations give rise to a very generic realization of the mechanism of modulated cosmological fluctuations, related to spatial variation of couplings during (p)reheating after inflation.
We study the instability of de Sitter space-time (dS) under thermal radiation in different vacua. For this purpose we model the interaction between thermal radiation and unknown ultraviolet physics as a scattering process inside the horizon. Then we argue that the mode function solution of a scalar field in four-dimensional dS can be separated into the incoming and outgoing modes. Different vacua for dS are realized by different combinations of positive frequency modes assigned to each solution. For a minimally coupled massless scalar field, we explicitly compute the behavior of the mode function and the corresponding energy-momentum tensor in the Unruh vacuum near the horizon, and find that the horizon area increases (decreases) in time when the incoming (outgoing) mode contributes to thermal flux.
We have shown that higher dimensional Reissner-Nordstrom-de Sitter black holes are gravitationally unstable for large values of the electric charge and cosmological constant in $D geq 7$ space-time dimensions. We have found the shape of the slightly perturbed black hole at the threshold point of instability. Why only $D=4, 5$ and 6 dimensional worlds are favorable as to the black stability remains unknown.
An effective string theory in physically relevant cosmological and black hole space times is reviewed. Explicit computations of the quantum string entropy, partition function and quantum string emission by black holes (Schwarzschild, rotating, charged, asymptotically flat, de Sitter dS and AdS space times) in the framework of effective string theory in curved backgrounds provide an amount of new quantum gravity results as: (i) gravitational phase transitions appear with a distinctive universal feature: a square root branch point singularity in any space time dimensions. This is of the type of the de Vega - Sanchez transition for the thermal self-gravitating gas of point particles. (ii) There are no phase transitions in AdS alone. (iii) For $dS$ background, upper bounds of the Hubble constant H are found, dictated by the quantum string phase transition.(iv) The Hawking temperature and the Hagedorn temperature are the same concept but in different (semiclassical and quantum) gravity regimes respectively. (v) The last stage of black hole evaporation is a microscopic string state with a finite string critical temperature which decays as usual quantum strings do in non-thermal pure quantum radiation (no information loss).(vi) New lower string bounds are given for the Kerr-Newman black hole angular momentum and charge, which are entirely different from the upper classical bounds. (vii) Semiclassical gravity states undergo a phase transition into quantum string states of the same system, these states are duals of each other in the precise sense of the usual classical-quantum (wave-particle) duality, which is universal irrespective of any symmetry or isommetry of the space-time and of the number or the kind of space-time dimensions.
A general framework for studying compactifications in supergravity and string theories was introduced by Candelas, Horowitz, Strominger and Witten. This was further generalised to take into account the warp factor by de Wit, Smit and Hari Dass. Though the prime focus of the latter was to find solutions with nontrivial warp factors (shown not to exist under a variety of circumstances), it was shown there that de Sitter compactifications are generically disfavoured. In this note we place these results in the context of a revived interest in de Sitter spacetimes .
Calculating the quantum evolution of a de Sitter universe on superhorizon scales is notoriously difficult. To address this challenge, we introduce the Soft de Sitter Effective Theory (SdSET). This framework holds for superhorizon modes whose comoving momentum is far below the UV scale, which is set by the inverse comoving horizon. The SdSET is formulated using the same approach that yields the Heavy Quark Effective Theory. The degrees of freedom that capture the long wavelength dynamics are identified with the growing and decaying solutions to the equations of motion. The operator expansion is organized using a power counting scheme, and loops can be regulated while respecting the low energy symmetries. For massive quantum fields in a fixed de Sitter background, power counting implies that all interactions beyond the horizon are irrelevant. Alternatively, if the fields are very light, the leading interactions are at most marginal, and resumming the associated logarithms using (dynamical) renormalization group techniques yields the evolution equation for canonical stochastic inflation. The SdSET is also applicable to models where gravity is dynamical, including inflation. In this case, diffeomorphism invariance ensures that all interactions are irrelevant, trivially implying the all-orders conservation of adiabatic density fluctuations and gravitational waves. We briefly touch on the application to slow-roll eternal inflation by identifying novel relevant operators. This work serves to demystify many aspects of perturbation theory outside the horizon, and has a variety of applications to problems of cosmological interest.