Quantum Cosmology at the Cusp

Abstract

In top-down quantum gravity constructions, saxionic directions typically lead to cusps in moduli space, where the scalar potential and the axion decay constant asymptotically behave as $V\sim e^{-αϕ}$ and $f\sim e^{-γϕ}$ in reduced Planck units. Such cusps admit axion-supported scaling cosmologies that expand faster than the corresponding solutions with the axion held fixed, for the same scalar potential. In spatially compact universes, axionic momentum is quantized, and any semiclassical state in the cusp with a localized axion carries nonzero axionic kinetic energy. We show using the Wheeler-DeWitt equation that this contribution drives the late-time evolution towards the axion-supported scaling solution whenever $(d-2)α(α+2γ)>4(d-1)$ in $d$ spacetime dimensions. We derive an upper bound on the transition time. Long-lived accelerated expansion requires $2γ>(d-2)α$. The trans-Planckian censorship conjecture requires the opposite inequality, $2γ\leq(d-2)α$, which also follows independently from requiring the brane magnetically charged under the axion to remain heavier than the Hubble scale.