Evolution of curvature perturbation in generalized gravity theories

Abstract

Using the cosmological perturbation theory in terms of the δN formalism, we find the simple formulation of the evolution of the curvature perturbation in generalized gravity theories. Compared with the standard gravity theory, a crucial difference appears in the end-boundary of the inflationary stage, which is due to the non-ideal form of the energy–momentum tensor that depends explicitly on the curvature scalar. Recent study shows that ultraviolet-complete quantum theory of gravity (Hořava–Lifshitz gravity) can be approximated by using a generalized gravity action. Our paper may give an important step in understanding the evolution of the curvature perturbation during inflation, where the energy–momentum tensor may not be given by the ideal form due to the corrections from the fundamental theory.