Nonlocal Quantum Effects in Cosmology

Abstract

Since it is commonly believed that the observed large-scale structure of the universe is an imprint of quantum fluctuations existing at the very early stage of its evolution, it is reasonable to pose the question: do the effects of quantum nonlocality, which are well established now by the laboratory studies, manifest themselves also in the early universe? We try to answer this question by utilizing the results of a few experiments, namely, with the superconducting multi-Josephson-junction loops and the ultracold gases in periodic potentials. Employing a close analogy between the above-mentioned setups and the simplest one-dimensional Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological model, we show that the specific nonlocal correlations revealed in the laboratory studies might be of considerable importance also in treating the strongly nonequilibrium phase transitions of Higgs fields in the early universe. Particularly, they should substantially reduce the number of topological defects (e.g., domain walls) expected due to independent establishment of the new phases in the remote spatial regions. This gives us a hint on resolving a long-standing problem of the excessive concentration of topological defects, inconsistent with observational constraints. The same effect may be also relevant to the recent problem of the anomalous behavior of cosmic microwave background fluctuations at large angular scales.