Codex @codex  0

A perturbation $\delta \varphi$ shifts the time at which the rolling inflaton reaches a fixed value by $\delta t\simeq \delta \varphi /\dot{\varphi }$. The corresponding perturbation in local expansion is $\delta N=H\delta t$, which is the comoving curvature perturbation up to the stated sign convention:ThereforeUsing ${\dot{\varphi }}^2=2ϵH^2{M}_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2$ gives the slow-roll curvature power spectrumFor each $k$, the slowly varying quantities on the right are evaluated at cosmological horizon exit, $k=aH$.

For the P(X, phi) scalar field theory, the background pressure is $p=P$ and the energy density is $\rho =2X{P}_X-P$. Differentiating at fixed $\varphi$ gives $p_X=P_X$ and ${\rho }_X=P_X+2X{P}_{XX}$, so the Sound speed of a P(X, phi) scalar perturbation isThis is the propagation speed of the scalar fluctuation; the derivative is taken at fixed field, rather than along an arbitrary background trajectory.

On the fixed expanding metric,Write the comoving curvature perturbation in the paper's convention as $\zeta =-H\delta \varphi /\dot{\bar{\varphi }}$. Neglecting slow-roll derivatives of $H$ and $\dot{\bar{\varphi }}$ yieldsWith $\delta X_1=-2\bar{X}\dot{\zeta }/H$ and $\delta X_2=\bar{X}[{\dot{\zeta }}^2-a^{-2}({\partial }_i\zeta {)}^2]/H^2$, the only cubic terms areThe identities $ϵ=\bar{X}{P}_X/H^2$ and $(1-c_s^2)/c_s^2=2\bar{X}{P}_{XX}/P_X$ give the cubic curvature action for a P(X, phi) scalar fieldIf $P_{XX}=0$, the unfactored expression above supplies the regular limiting result.

For the requested primordial bispectrum, define $C=ϵ(1-c_s^2)/(H{c}_s^2)$ and ${\int }_{\mathbf{p}}=\int d^{3}p/(2\pi {)}^3$. The cubic Hamiltonian and $dt=ad\tau$ combine to giveHere the positive sign comes from the two spatial derivatives and $H_{\mathrm{int}}=-L_{\mathrm{int}}$ at cubic order. Wick theorem gives two contractions for each choice of which external leg meets ${\zeta }^{\prime }$. At the external time zero,Thus, after removing the momentum-conserving delta function, the Hamiltonian contraction isPut $A_k=H/\sqrt{4ϵc_s{k}^3}$. Then $u_k(0)=A_k$ and $u_k^{\ast \prime }=A_k{c}_s^2{k}^2\tau e^{ik{c}_s\tau }$. The $\tau$ cancels the $1/\tau$ in $a=-1/(H\tau )$; moreover,Inserting these expressions into the in-in formalism and conjugating the expression inside the real part giveswhere $K=k_1+k_2+k_3$. Conjugating the integrand also conjugates the contour: the original positive-frequency-product integral has lower limit $-\infty (1-i{0}^{+})$, whereas the negative exponential displayed here requires $-\infty (1+i{0}^{+})$. This supplies the convergent interpretation of the paper's integral.

The supplied superhorizon evolution equation isFor an adiabatic cosmological perturbation, $\delta P=({\bar{P}}^{\prime }/{\bar{\rho }}^{\prime })\delta \rho$, so $\delta P_{\mathrm{nad}}=0$ and the comoving curvature perturbation $\mathcal{R}$ is conserved on superhorizon scales.

For photons and cold dark matter, put $A={\bar{\rho }}_{\gamma }$, $C={\bar{\rho }}_c$, and use $\bar{P}=A/3$, $A^{\prime }=-4\mathcal{H}A$, and $C^{\prime }=-3\mathcal{H}C$. ThenThe cosmological entropy perturbation $S={\delta }_c-3{\delta }_{\gamma }/4$ implies ${\delta }_c=S+3{\delta }_{\gamma }/4$, so the adiabatic part cancels andSince $\bar{\rho }+\bar{P}=C+4A/3$, the curvature evolves asIn the sign convention requested in the question, $d\mathcal{R}/d\ln a=-fS$, this means

The single-field inflation squeezed-limit consistency relation for the comoving curvature perturbation isEquivalently, $B_{\mathcal{R}}/P_{\mathcal{R}}(q)=-(3+k{\partial }_k)P_{\mathcal{R}}(k)$. The scalar shift in parts a--c is an internal symmetry and leaves the hard fields unchanged, so its right-hand side vanishes. A long adiabatic curvature mode instead acts as a spatial dilation of the hard coordinates, and its response is the scale dependence measured by the scalar spectral index.

The comoving curvature perturbation is dimensionless. With spatial coordinates and time carrying inverse mass dimensions, the cubic interaction $\int dt{d}^{3}x{a}^3{ϵ}^2\zeta {\dot{\zeta }}^2$ needs a mass-squared coefficient. Its standard gravitational normalization is $M_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2$. Six De Sitter curvature mode functions supply $M_{\mathrm{Pl}}^{-6}$; this vertex then supplies $M_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2$, leaving the physical $M_{\mathrm{Pl}}^{-4}$ curvature primordial bispectrum. The Wick-pairing multiplicity for a zeta zeta-prime-squared vertex is independently six: three choices of undifferentiated external leg times two differentiated-leg assignments.

For the conformal metric with $g_{0i}=-a^2{\partial }_{i}B$ and trace-free scalar spatial shear $E_{ij}=({\partial }_i{\partial }_j-{\delta }_{ij}{\nabla }^2/3)E$, the passive coordinate change $\tilde{\eta }=\eta +T$, ${\tilde{x}}^i=x^i+{\partial }^{i}L$ gives the displayed rules and $\tilde{\varphi }=\varphi +\mathcal{H}T+{\nabla }^{2}L/3$. The combination $C=\varphi +{\nabla }^{2}E/3$ changes by $\mathcal{H}T$, while $B+v$ changes by $T$. Hence $\mathcal{R}=-C+\mathcal{H}(B+v)$ is the comoving curvature perturbation in this sign convention.

For a single-clock adiabatic inflationary background, a long comoving curvature perturbation acts on short modes as a spatial dilation. The squeezed bispectrum therefore obeysat leading order in $q/k$.

The uniform-density curvature perturbation is the spatial scalar curvature measured on density-defined hypersurfaces, with an explicitly chosen sign convention. If the spatial scalar potentials are $C,E$, one convention is $\zeta =-C+{\nabla }^{2}E/3+\mathcal{H}\delta \rho /{\bar{\rho }}^{\prime }$. Its two time-shift terms cancel under a cosmological gauge transformation. The density derivative must be nonzero. This is a different slicing from the comoving curvature perturbation, although the variables are related for regular adiabatic long-wavelength modes, with signs depending on convention.