Observing the dimensionality of our parent vacuum
It seems generic to have vacua with lower dimensionality than ours. We consider the possibility that the observable universe originated in a transition from one of these vacua. Such a universe has anisotropic spatial curvature. This may be directly observable through its late-time effects on the CMB...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
American Physical Society
2011
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60577 |
| _version_ | 1811095289777356800 |
|---|---|
| author | Graham, Peter W. Harnik, Roni Rajendran, Surjeet |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics Graham, Peter W. Harnik, Roni Rajendran, Surjeet |
| author_sort | Graham, Peter W. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | It seems generic to have vacua with lower dimensionality than ours. We consider the possibility that the observable universe originated in a transition from one of these vacua. Such a universe has anisotropic spatial curvature. This may be directly observable through its late-time effects on the CMB if the last period of slow-roll inflation was not too long. These affect the entire sky, leading to correlations which persist up to the highest CMB multipoles, thus allowing a conclusive detection above cosmic variance. Further, this anisotropic curvature causes different dimensions to expand at different rates. This leads to other potentially observable signals including a quadrupolar anisotropy in the CMB which limits the size of the curvature. Conversely, if isotropic curvature is observed it may be evidence that our parent vacuum was at least 3+1 dimensional. Such signals could reveal our history of decompactification, providing evidence for the existence of vastly different vacua. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:14:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/60577 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:14:52Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/605772022-09-29T19:03:43Z Observing the dimensionality of our parent vacuum Graham, Peter W. Harnik, Roni Rajendran, Surjeet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Rajendran, Surjeet Rajendran, Surjeet It seems generic to have vacua with lower dimensionality than ours. We consider the possibility that the observable universe originated in a transition from one of these vacua. Such a universe has anisotropic spatial curvature. This may be directly observable through its late-time effects on the CMB if the last period of slow-roll inflation was not too long. These affect the entire sky, leading to correlations which persist up to the highest CMB multipoles, thus allowing a conclusive detection above cosmic variance. Further, this anisotropic curvature causes different dimensions to expand at different rates. This leads to other potentially observable signals including a quadrupolar anisotropy in the CMB which limits the size of the curvature. Conversely, if isotropic curvature is observed it may be evidence that our parent vacuum was at least 3+1 dimensional. Such signals could reveal our history of decompactification, providing evidence for the existence of vastly different vacua. United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Nuclear Physics (Grant No. DE-FG02-94ER40818) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant No. PHY-0600465) 2011-01-14T18:30:38Z 2011-01-14T18:30:38Z 2010-09 2010-03 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1550-7998 1550-2368 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60577 Graham, Peter W., Roni Harnik, and Surgeet Fajendran. "Observing the dimensionality of our parent vacuum." Physical Review D 82.6 (201): 063524. © 2010 The American Physical Society en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.82.063524 Physical Review D Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Physical Society APS |
| spellingShingle | Graham, Peter W. Harnik, Roni Rajendran, Surjeet Observing the dimensionality of our parent vacuum |
| title | Observing the dimensionality of our parent vacuum |
| title_full | Observing the dimensionality of our parent vacuum |
| title_fullStr | Observing the dimensionality of our parent vacuum |
| title_full_unstemmed | Observing the dimensionality of our parent vacuum |
| title_short | Observing the dimensionality of our parent vacuum |
| title_sort | observing the dimensionality of our parent vacuum |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60577 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT grahampeterw observingthedimensionalityofourparentvacuum AT harnikroni observingthedimensionalityofourparentvacuum AT rajendransurjeet observingthedimensionalityofourparentvacuum |