In single-field inflation, gravitational interactions mixing short-wavelength tensor and scalar modes decohere long-wavelength scalar perturbations at a rate proportional to (H/M_p)^2, with no suppression by the slow-roll parameter.
Decoherence of gauge-invariant metric fluctuations during inflation
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I study the gauge-invariant fluctuations of the metric during inflation. In the infrared sector the metric fluctuations can be represented by a coarse-grained field. We can write a Schroedinger equation for the coarse-grained metric fluctuations which is related to an effective Hamiltonian for a time dependent parameter of mass harmonic oscillator with a stochastic external force. I study the wave function for a power-law expanding universe. I find that the phase space of the quantum state for super Hubble scalar metric perturbations loses its coherence at the end of inflation. This effect is a consequence of interference between the super Hubble metric perturbations and its canonical conjugate variable, which is produced by the interaction of the coarse-grained scalar metric fluctuation with the environment.
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Tensor Catalyzed Decoherence of Primordial Scalar Fluctuations
In single-field inflation, gravitational interactions mixing short-wavelength tensor and scalar modes decohere long-wavelength scalar perturbations at a rate proportional to (H/M_p)^2, with no suppression by the slow-roll parameter.