Bounds on non-adiabatic evolution in single-field inflation

Abstract

We examine the regime of validity of $N$-point spectra predictions of single field inflation models that invoke transient periods of non-adiabatic evolution. Such models generate oscillatory features in these spectra spanning frequencies up to the inverse time scale of the transient feature. To avoid strong coupling of fluctuations in these theories this scale must be at least $\sim 10^{-2}/c_s$ of the Hubble time during inflation, where $c_s$ is the inflaton sound speed. We show that, in such models, the signal-to-noise ratio of the bispectrum is bounded from above by that of the power spectrum, implying that searches for features due to non-adiabatic evolution are best focussed first on the latter.