We study thermally induced density perturbations during inflation. This scenario is characterized by two thermodynamic conditions: (i) the primordial perturbations originate in the epoch when the inflationary universe contains a thermalized heat bath; (ii) the perturbations of the inflationary scalar field are given by the fluctuation-dissipation relation. We show that (1) the power spectrum of the primordial density perturbations follows a tilted power law behavior; (2) the relation between the amplitude and the power index of the spectrum exhibits a "thermodynamic" feature--it depends mainly on the thermodynamic variable M, the inflation energy scale; (3) both the adiabatic mode and the isocurvature mode of density perturbations appear during the inflation epoch, and the resultant power spectrum on super-horizon scales is substantially suppressed. These results are found to be very consistent with observations of the temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background if the energy scale of the inflation is about 10¹⁵-10¹⁶ GeV.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/282821 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Wo-Lung, Lee, 1962- |
| Contributors | Fang, Li-Zhi |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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