The quantum origin of quasi de Sitter: a model independent quantum cosmological tilt

Abstract

Abstract The most robust prediction of inflation driven by a single field is the existence of a red tilt for the spectrum of curvature fluctuations that is experimentally of order 0.04. The tilt is derived solving the exact equation for quantum fluctuations in a quasi de Sitter background with first slow-roll parameter ϵ small but non vanishing. The experimental data selects among the different inflaton potentials. The origin of the lack of scale invariance associated with the tilt is however classical in essence and parametrized by the slow roll parameter of the inflaton potential. Here we present a purely quantum mechanical and model independent derivation of the tilt. This derivation is based on two basic observations: first, the correlator for the Mukhanov-Sasaki gauge invariant variables is related to the quantum Fisher function measuring the quantum dependence of the family of pure de Sitter vacua on the energy scale parameter; second, this quantum Fisher function has a non vanishing scale dependent red tilt that, at the energy scales of physical interest, fits the effective quasi de Sitter prediction as well as the experimental value. This is a result that is model independent and only based on the quantum features of the family of de Sitter vacua.