Coarse-grained field wave function in stochastic inflation

Abstract

The wave function for the matter field fluctuations in the infrared sector is studied within the framework of inflationary cosmology. These fluctuations are described by a coarse-grained field which takes into account only the modes with wavelength much bigger than the size of the Hubble horizon. The case of a power-law expanding universe is considered and it is found that the relevant phase-space remains coherent under certain circumstances. In this case the classical stochastic treatment for matter field fluctuations is not valid, however, for $p>4.6$, the system loses its coherence and a classical stochastic approximation is allowed.

Comments: to appear in Nuclear Physics B (version with some changes and some references added)