Assigning Quantum-Mechanical Initial Conditions to Cosmological Perturbations

Abstract

Quantum-mechanical initial conditions for the fluctuations of the geometry can be assigned in excess of a given physical wavelength. The two-point functions of the scalar and tensor modes of the geometry will then inherit corrections depending on which Hamiltonian is minimized at the initial stage of the evolution. The energy density of the background geometry is compared with the energy-momentum pseudo-tensor of the fluctuations averaged over the initial states, minimizing each different Hamiltonian. The minimization of adiabatic Hamiltonians leads to initial states whose back-reaction on the geometry is negligible. The minimization of non-adiabatic Hamiltonians, ultimately responsible for large corrections in the two-point functions, is associated with initial states whose energetic content is of the same order as the energy density of the background.