On the breaking of statistical isotropy through inflationary relics

Abstract

We explore a mechanism to generate local contributions to the curvature perturbation in isolated patches of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The mechanism, based on the generation of an out-of-equilibrium configuration of a fluctuating scalar field of mass m [Formula: see text]H during a sustained stage of fast-roll inflation, has been recently shown to be capable of accounting for some of the most robust large-angle anomalies detected in the CMB. In this paper, we show in detail how the embedding of the mechanism into models including vector fields can result in the breaking of statistical isotropy in isolated patches of the CMB.