On primordial equation of state transitions

Abstract

We revisit the physics of transitions from a general equation of state parameter to the final stage of slow-roll inflation. We show that it is unlikely for the modes comprising the cosmic microwave background to contain imprints from a pre-inflationary equation of state transition and still be consistent with observations. We accomplish this by considering observational consistency bounds on the amplitude of excitations resulting from such a transition. As a result, the physics which initially led to inflation likely cannot be probed with observations of the cosmic microwave background. Furthermore, we show that it is unlikely that equation of state transitions may explain the observed low multipole power suppression anomaly.