Analog simulations of early universe pre-heating and the back-reaction effect

Butera, S. and Carusotto, I. (2023) Analog simulations of early universe pre-heating and the back-reaction effect. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2533, 012031. (doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/2533/1/012031)

Abstract

We theoretically propose a ring-shaped, two-dimensional atomic Bose-Einstein condensate as analog model to investigate back-reaction effects during the pre-heating of the early universe. We study the out-of-equilibrium dynamics by which the inflaton field decays by parametrically exciting the vacuum fluctuations that initially populate the matter fields. By working at the level of the truncated Wigner approximation, our numerical simulations show how a signature of back-reaction beyond the semiclassical level is encoded in the effective friction experienced by the analog of the inflaton field, as well as in the spatial de-phasing of its oscillations and in the entanglement between the inflaton and matter fields degrees-of-freedoms.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: S. B. acknowledges funding from the Leverhulme Trust Grant No. ECF-2019461, and from University of Glasgow via the Lord Kelvin/Adam Smith (LKAS) Leadership Fellowship. I.C. acknowledges support from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 820392 (PhoQuS) and from the Provincia Autonoma di Trento.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Butera, Dr Salvatore
• Authors: Butera, S., and Carusotto, I.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Journal of Physics: Conference Series
• Publisher: IOP Publishing Ltd.
• ISSN: 1742-6596
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2533:012031
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a creative commons licence