Inflationary tensor fluctuations, as viewed by Ashtekar variables and their imaginary friends

Understand

We investigate tensor modes in inflationary scenarios from the point of view of Ashtekar variables and their generalizations labelled by Immirzi parameter \gamma, which we'll assume imaginary.

• By defining the classical perturbed Hamiltonian, we reproduce, on-shell, the usual expression found in cosmological perturbation theory.
• However the quantum Hamiltonian displays significant differences, namely in the vacuum energy and fluctuations of the various modes.
• Graviton states are represented by combinations of metric and connection variables.