11:30 am–12:00 pm ERC 401
A remarkable feature of the universe is that its large-scale structures are not randomly distributed but exhibit spatial correlations. The expansion of the universe means that these correlations retain a memory of the high energy processes that seeded them in the early universe. One such process is cosmological particle production, where the rapid, non-adiabatic expansion of the universe leads to the spontaneous creation of on-shell particles. In this thesis, I will explore how such particle production imprints its signature in cosmological correlation functions. This work is motivated by the recent advances made towards computing and understanding the properties of cosmological correlators. Following these works, I will formulate particle production in terms of the cosmological wavefunction and show that the resulting three-point functions exhibit additional oscillatory features and poles in the complex momentum plane. These features serve as distinctive signatures of on-shell particle production. If detected, such imprints could offer a rare glimpse into physics at energy scales far beyond the reach of current terrestrial experiments.
Advisor: Austin Joyce
