Bubble fluctuations in Omega less than 1 inflation

Abstract

In the context of the open inflationary universe, we calculate the amplitude of quantum fluctuations which deform the bubble shape. These give rise to scalar field fluctuations in the open Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe which is contained inside the bubble. One can transform to a new gauge in which matter looks perfectly smooth, and then the perturbations behave as tensor modes (gravitational waves of very long wave-length). For ( 1 − Ω ) ≪ 1 , where Ω is the density parameter, the microwave temperature anisotropies produced by these modes are of order δ T T ∼ H ( R 0 μ l ) − 1 2 ( 1 − Ω ) l 2 . Here, H is the expansion rate during inflation, R 0 is the intrinsic radius of the bubble at the time of nucleation, μ is the bubble wall tension, and l labels the different multipoles ( l > 1 ). The gravitational back reaction of the bubble has been ignored. In this approximation, G μ R 0 ≪ 1 , and the new effect can be much larger than the one due to ordinary gravitational waves generated during inflation (unless, of course, Ω gets too close to 1, in which case the new effect disappears).