- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
Access Provided by Xinjiang University

Physical Review D

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Access by Xinjiang University

Determining the outcome of cosmic bubble collisions in full general relativity

Matthew C. Johnson1,*, Hiranya V. Peiris3,†, and Luis Lehner1,2,‡

  • 1Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada
  • 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
  • 3Department of Physics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada

  • *mjohnson@perimeterinstitute.ca
  • †h.peiris@ucl.ac.uk
  • ‡llehner@perimeterinstitute.ca
PDF

Phys. Rev. D 85, 083516 – Published 19 April, 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.85.083516

Abstract

Cosmic bubble collisions provide an important possible observational window on the dynamics of eternal inflation. In eternal inflation, our observable universe is contained in one of many bubbles formed from an inflating metastable vacuum. The collision between bubbles can leave a detectable imprint on the cosmic microwave background radiation. Although phenomenological models of the observational signature have been proposed, to make the theory fully predictive one must determine the bubble collision spacetime, and thus the cosmological observables, from a scalar field theory giving rise to eternal inflation. Because of the intrinsically nonlinear nature of the bubbles and their collision, this requires a numerical treatment incorporating General Relativity. In this paper, we present results from numerical simulations of bubble collisions in full General Relativity. These simulations allow us to accurately determine the outcome of bubble collisions, and examine their effect on the cosmology inside a bubble universe. We confirm the validity of a number of approximations used in previous analytic work, and identify qualitatively new features of bubble collision spacetimes. Both vacuum bubbles and bubbles containing a realistic inflationary cosmology are studied. We identify the constraints on the scalar field potential that must be satisfied in order to obtain collisions that are consistent with our observed cosmology, yet leave detectable signatures.

View figure in article

Article Text

References (63)

  1. S. R. Coleman, Phys. Rev. D 15, 2929 (1977).
  2. S. R. Coleman and F. De Luccia, Phys. Rev. D 21, 3305 (1980).
  3. A. Aguirre, in Beyond the Big Bang (Springer, New York) 2008.
  4. A. Aguirre, M. C. Johnson, and A. Shomer, Phys. Rev. D 76, 063509 (2007).
  5. J. R. Gott and T. S. Statler, Phys. Lett. B 136, 157 (1984).
  6. J. Garriga, A. H. Guth, and A. Vilenkin, Phys. Rev. D 76, 123512 (2007).
  7. S. W. Hawking, I. G. Moss, and J. M. Stewart, Phys. Rev. D 26, 2681 (1982).
  8. Z.-C. Wu, Phys. Rev. D 28, 1898 (1983).
  9. I. G. Moss, arXiv:gr-qc/9405045.
  10. B. Freivogel, G. T. Horowitz, and S. Shenker, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2007) 090.
  11. A. Aguirre and M. C. Johnson, Phys. Rev. D 77, 123536 (2008).
  12. A. Aguirre, M. C. Johnson, and M. Tysanner, Phys. Rev. D 79, 123514 (2009).
  13. S. Chang, M. Kleban, and T. S. Levi, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 04 (2008) 034.
  14. S. Chang, M. Kleban, and T. S. Levi, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 04 (2009) 025.
  15. B. Czech, M. Kleban, K. Larjo, T. S. Levi, and K. Sigurdson, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 12 (2010) 023.
  16. B. Freivogel, M. Kleban, A. Nicolis, and K. Sigurdson, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 08 (2009) 036.
  17. R. Easther, J. T. Giblin, Jr., L. Hui, and E. A. Lim, Phys. Rev. D 80, 123519 (2009).
  18. J. T. Giblin, Jr., L. Hui, E. A. Lim, and I.-S. Yang, Phys. Rev. D 82, 045019 (2010).
  19. M. Kleban, T. S. Levi, and K. Sigurdson, arXiv:1109.3473.
  20. E. A. Lim and D. Simon, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 01 (2012) 048.
  21. A. Dahlen, Phys. Rev. D 81, 063501 (2010).
  22. M. C. Johnson and I.-S. Yang, Phys. Rev. D 82, 065023 (2010).
  23. A. Aguirre and M. C. Johnson, Rep. Prog. Phys. 74, 074901 (2011).
  24. C. L. Bennett et al. (WMAP Collaboration), Astrophys. J. 583, 1 (2003).
  25. E. Komatsu et al. (WMAP Collaboration), Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 192, 18 (2011).
  26. S. M. Feeney, M. C. Johnson, D. J. Mortlock, and H. V. Peiris, Phys. Rev. D 84, 043507 (2011).
  27. S. M. Feeney, M. C. Johnson, D. J. Mortlock, and H. V. Peiris, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 071301 (2011).
  28. L. Lehner, Classical Quantum Gravity 18, R25 (2001).
  29. F. C. Adams, K. Freese, and L. M. Widrow, Phys. Rev. D 41, 347 (1990).
  30. J. Garriga and A. Vilenkin, Phys. Rev. D 45, 3469 (1992).
  31. J. Garriga and A. Vilenkin, Phys. Rev. D 44, 1007 (1991).
  32. A. Aguirre and M. C. Johnson, Phys. Rev. D 72, 103525 (2005).
  33. J. J. Blanco-Pillado, M. Bucher, S. Ghassemi, and F. Glanois, Phys. Rev. D 69, 103515 (2004).
  34. C. D. Carone and A. H. Guth, Phys. Rev. D 42, 2446 (1990).
  35. W. Israel, Nuovo Cimento B 44S10, 1 (1966).
  36. A. Vilenkin, Phys. Lett. B 133, 177 (1983).
  37. J. Ipser and P. Sikivie, Phys. Rev. D 30, 712 (1984).
  38. D. Langlois, K.-i. Maeda, and D. Wands, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 181301 (2002).
  39. D. H. Lyth, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 1861 (1997).
  40. M. W. Choptuik, Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 9 (1993).
  41. A. Aguirre, T. Banks, and M. Johnson, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2006) 065.
  42. T. Banks and M. Johnson, arXiv:hep-th/0512141.
  43. T. Banks, arXiv:hep-th/0211160.
  44. X. Dong and D. Harlow, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 11 (2011) 044.
  45. G. Calabrese, L. Lehner, O. Reula, O. Sarbach, and M. Tiglio, Classical Quantum Gravity 21, 5735 (2004).
  46. L. Lehner, D. Neilsen, O. Reula, and M. Tiglio, Classical Quantum Gravity 21, 5819 (2004).
  47. L. F. Richardson, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 210, 307 (1911).
  48. E. J. Copeland, M. Gleiser, and H.-R. Muller, Phys. Rev. D 52, 1920 (1995).
  49. G. Fodor, P. Forgacs, and M. Mezei, Phys. Rev. D 81, 064029 (2010).
  50. M. A. Amin, R. Easther, H. Finkel, R. Flauger, and M. P. Hertzberg, arXiv:1106.3335.
  51. M. A. Amin, R. Easther, and H. Finkel, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 12 (2010) 001.
  52. M. A. Amin, arXiv:1006.3075.
  53. M. A. Amin and D. Shirokoff, Phys. Rev. D 81, 085045 (2010).
  54. I. Dymnikova, L. Koziel, M. Khlopov, and S. Rubin, Gravitation Cosmol. 6, 311 (2000).
  55. M. Hindmarsh and P. Salmi, Phys. Rev. D 77, 105025 (2008).
  56. M. Khlopov, R. Konoplich, S. Rubin, and A. Sakharov, arXiv:hep-ph/9807343.
  57. D. Baumann, A. Dymarsky, I. R. Klebanov, L. McAllister, and P. J. Steinhardt, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 141601 (2007).
  58. A. Linde and A. Westphal, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 03 (2008) 005.
  59. L. Boubekeur and D. H. Lyth, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 07 (2005) 010.
  60. M. W. Choptuik, Experiences With an Adaptive Mesh Refinement Algorithm in Numerical Relativity (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1989), pp. 206–221.
  61. S. J. Parke, Phys. Lett. B 121, 313 (1983).
  62. K. Copsey, arXiv:1108.2255.
  63. K. Copsey, arXiv:1109.4931.

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 85, 083516– Published 19 April, 2012
  • Received 16 January 2012

© 2012 American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation