Is patience a virtue? Cosmic censorship of infrared effects in de Sitter

Ricardo Z. Ferreira*, McCullen Sandora, Martin S. Sloth

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

While the accumulation of long wavelength modes during inflation wreaks havoc on the large scale structure of spacetime, the question of even observability of their presence by any local observer has lead to considerable confusion. Though, it is commonly agreed that infrared effects are not visible to a single sub-horizon observer at late times, we argue that the question is less trivial for a patient observer who has lived long enough to have a record of the state before the soft mode was created. Though classically, there is no obstruction to measuring this effect locally, we give several indications that quantum mechanical uncertainties censor the effect, rendering the observation of long modes ultimately forbidden.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1743019
JournalInternational Journal of Modern Physics D
Volume26
Issue number12
Number of pages6
ISSN0218-2718
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Keywords

  • de Sitter
  • inflation
  • infrared effects

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