Modifications to Cosmological Power Spectra from Scalar-Tensor Entanglement and their Observational Consequences

Understand

We consider the effects of entanglement in the initial quantum state of scalar and tensor fluctuations during inflation.

• We allow the gauge-invariant scalar and tensor fluctuations to be entangled in the initial state and compute modifications to the various cosmological power spectra.
• We compute the angular power spectra ($C_l$'s) for some specific cases of our entangled state and discuss what signals one might expect to find in CMB data.
• This entanglement also can break rotational invariance, allowing for the possibility that some of the large scale anomalies in the CMB power spectrum might be explained by this mechanism.