Abstract:

The simplest single-field inflationmodels capture all the relevant contributions to the patterns in the CosmicMicrowave Background (CMB) observed today. A key assumption in these models isthat the quantum inflationary fluctuations that source such patterns aregenerated by a particular quantum state—the Bunch-Davies (BD) state. While thisis a well-motivated choice from a theoretical perspective, the question arisesof whether current data can rule out other, also well motivated, choices ofstates. In particular, as demonstrated in arXiv:2104.13410 and arXiv:2211.11079,entanglement is naturally and inevitably dynamically generated during inflationgiven the presence of a “rolling” spectator scalar field—and theresulting entangled state will yield a primordial power spectrum withpotentially measurable deviations compared to the canonical BD result. After brieflydiscussing previous work with my collaborators presenting the entangled statesformalism and constraints on such states from CMB data via Monte Carlo analysis,in this talk I will discuss results from the Higgs case study in arXiv:2307.00709—whereI investigate whether these dynamically generated entangled states can be usedto answer other questions about early universe history. Using a Higgs-likepotential as the spectator field, I explore whether distinguishing features ofphase transitions and/or the inflationary energy scale can be imprinted oncosmological observables due to entanglement during inflation. As a consequenceof this analysis, I also present results that illustrate the variety offeatures a Higgs-like potential can imprint on the primordial power spectrumdue to entanglement, as well as how easy it might be to distinguish suchspectra from other similar scalar field results at the level of CMB residuals.

 https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/94928022788?pwd=emVQWG1mTnhSbHVqekVuenk0VEVQZz09