Did Phase Transitions Drive Inflation in the Early Universe?

[Vrbic]

Hello,
I have heard that one of most acceptable theory (or hypothesis) describing the inflation phase of universe is that energy to this stage is drawn from phase transition when strong interaction is separated from "preinteraction" (when all interactions were undistinguishable)
Do you agree?
And my second question is: If this phase transition caused inflation, what happened when were separated electromagnetic and weak interactions? I suppose it was also phase transition no?
Thank you for comments.

 

[ISamson]

Hello,
I have heard that one of most acceptable theory (or hypothesis) describing the inflation phase of universe is that energy to this stage is drawn from phase transition when strong interaction is separated from "preinteraction" (when all interactions were undistinguishable)
Do you agree?
And my second question is: If this phase transition caused inflation, what happened when were separated electromagnetic and weak interactions? I suppose it was also phase transition no?
Thank you for comments.

They say that the Higgs Boson is responsible for the inflation of space.

 

[Orodruin]

Do you agree?

There can be no such thing as "agree" without explicit experimental tests.

In general, energy is not conserved in an expanding universe (you run into problems already defining the total energy). Can you give an explicit reference to where you have read these things. Otherwise it is hard to judge what you have read actually says.

They say that the Higgs Boson is responsible for the inflation of space.

The inflaton field is "responsible" for inflation. There may be a possibility that the Higgs can act as an inflaton field, but it is far from the only possibility. As above, please provide references instead of making blanket statements.

 

[bapowell]

There was much interest in the early days of inflation theory in associating the inflationary expansion with phase transitions. Some of the first models of inflation attempted to use the SU(5) and similar GUT "Higgs" fields as the inflaton. These early attempts failed. The difficulty is finding a scalar field that is flat enough to drive inflation for long enough (and one that generates acceptable density perturbations), while coupling to other fields (as required by the appropriate particle physics model), since couplings tend to spoil flatness (through quantum corrections). But the idea that inflation is a sort of phase transition I think is a powerful one, and is what guided much of Guth's thinking in his original work.

 

[Vrbic]

There can be no such thing as "agree" without explicit experimental tests.

In general, energy is not conserved in an expanding universe (you run into problems already defining the total energy). Can you give an explicit reference to where you have read these things. Otherwise it is hard to judge what you have read actually says.

"agree" I mean, did I formulate that right?
Unfortunately it was a lecture of some profesor in our language. So without any sources. It isn't my field but it seems to me interesting.

So there isn't any well known hypotese which connecting inflation and separation of strong interaction?

 

[Vrbic]

There was much interest in the early days of inflation theory in associating the inflationary expansion with phase transitions. Some of the first models of inflation attempted to use the SU(5) and similar GUT "Higgs" fields as the inflaton. These early attempts failed. The difficulty is finding a scalar field that is flat enough to drive inflation for long enough (and one that generates acceptable density perturbations), while coupling to other fields (as required by the appropriate particle physics model), since couplings tend to spoil flatness (through quantum corrections). But the idea that inflation is a sort of phase transition I think is a powerful one, and is what guided much of Guth's thinking in his original work.

Is there any hypotese which connecting inflation and separation of strong interaction?
And thank you for response.

 

[bapowell]

Is there any hypotese which connecting inflation and separation of strong interaction?
And thank you for response.

Early attempts to associate inflation with the GUT transition (in which the strong interaction separated from electroweak) failed.

 

[Vrbic]

Early attempts to associate inflation with the GUT transition (in which the strong interaction separated from electroweak) failed.

So we are capable to test some of these theories? What did this hypotese excluded? What experiment?

 

[bapowell]

We use a wide range of cosmological observations to test models of primordial inflation, most notably measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large scale structure (LSS) surveys. We observe temperature anisotropies in the CMB, and the pattern of this isotropy depends on the inflationary hypothesis. We can therefore test models by comparing their predictions for these isotropies with what we see in the CMB. There are many, many CMB experiments, including space probes, balloons, and ground based observatories. I would recommend googling a bit to find out more, then come back here with more specific questions.

 

[Vrbic]

We use a wide range of cosmological observations to test models of primordial inflation, most notably measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large scale structure (LSS) surveys. We observe temperature anisotropies in the CMB, and the pattern of this isotropy depends on the inflationary hypothesis. We can therefore test models by comparing their predictions for these isotropies with what we see in the CMB. There are many, many CMB experiments, including space probes, balloons, and ground based observatories. I would recommend googling a bit to find out more, then come back here with more specific questions.

Ok, thank you.