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# Parametric Amplification of Metric Fluctuations During Reheating in Two Field Models

## I Introduction

It was recently suggested  that parametric resonance during the reheating phase of an inflationary Universe  may lead to an exponential amplification of super-Hubble scale gravitational fluctuations. If true, this would affect the usual predictions of inflationary models for observables such as the matter power spectrum and the spectrum of cosmic microwave anisotropies. In particular, it would require the coupling constants in the particle physics model of inflation to be exponentially smaller than previously thought in order that the theory does not generate a too large amplitude for the fluctuations.

In Ref.  it was shown that, although there are no causality constraints which prohibit the amplification of super-Hubble (but sub-horizon) modes during reheating, the effect does not occur in a simple massive scalar field model of chaotic inflation based on the potential $`V(\varphi )=m^2\varphi ^2/2`$ (Here, $`\varphi `$ is the inflaton field). This is true even beyond the linear analysis . Similarly, there is no effect for a quartic potential  $`V(\varphi )=\lambda \varphi ^4/4`$, nor for a potential containing both quadratic and quartic terms . These results agree with the earlier analyses in Refs.  and .

It was then suggested  that the amplification of super-Hubble-scale modes would occur for two field models of inflation, e.g. for a model with potential

$$V(\varphi ,\chi )=\frac{1}{2}m^2\varphi ^2+\frac{1}{2}g^2\varphi ^2\chi ^2,$$
(1)
where as before $`\varphi `$ is the inflaton field and $`\chi `$ is a second scalar matter field. This model had earlier been analyzed by Taruya and Nambu  who claimed that the isocurvature mode of the fluctuations will be parametrically amplified during reheating. However, as was shown in Refs.  and  (and more recently in ), the fluctuations in the $`\chi `$ field are exponentially suppressed during inflation for values of the coupling constant for which the equation of motion of the metric fluctuations corresponds to broad resonance, thus rendering the effect studied in Ref.  completely inefficient.

The suppression of fluctuations in the $`\chi `$ field which renders the parametric amplification of gravitational fluctuations ineffective in the model given by (1) occurs since during inflation the induced mass $`m_\chi `$ of the $`\chi `$ field which is given by $`m_\chi =g|\varphi |`$ is larger than the Hubble expansion parameter $`H`$, and hence, as can be easily seen by considering the equation of motion

$$\ddot{\delta }\chi +3H\dot{\delta }\chi +\left(\frac{k^2}{a^2}+g^2\varphi ^2\right)\delta \chi =\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}$$
(2)
for the linearized fluctuation of the $`\chi `$ field with comoving wave number $`k`$ (the scale factor is denoted by $`a(t)`$), $`\delta \chi `$ undergoes damped oscillatory motion.

A model in which $`m_\chi <H`$ during the stage of inflation when scales of cosmological interest today exit the Hubble radius was recently studied by Bassett and Viniegra . It is a two field model given by the potential

$$V(\varphi ,\chi )=\frac{1}{4}\lambda \varphi ^4+\frac{1}{2}g^2\varphi ^2\chi ^2.$$
(3)
In the absence of metric fluctuations, this model was studied in detail in Ref.  (see also ), where it was shown that for values of the coupling constants satisfying

$$g^2\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\lambda $$
(4)
long wavelength modes ($`k0`$) are in the first broad instability band of the Floquet-type equation of motion derived from (2) after field rescaling which describes the parametric resonance of matter fluctuations in an unperturbed expanding space-time. Bassett and Viniegra  showed that in this model the quantity $`\zeta `$  increases exponentially during the initial stages of reheating. Note that $`\zeta `$ is a measure of the curvature fluctuations and is believed to be conserved on super-Hubble scales in the absence of isocurvature fluctuations (see e.g.  for a review of the theory of cosmological fluctuations). However, since the model given by (3) admits isocurvature fluctuations, a growth of $`\zeta `$ on super-Hubble modes is expected also in the “usual” analysis of the evolution of fluctuations in inflationary cosmology.

In this paper we take a closer look at the theory given by the potential (3). Subject to certain assumptions on initial conditions of the background field dynamics we recover results similar to Bassett and Viniegra: exponential growth of $`\zeta `$ during the initial stages of reheating. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this effect is not taken into account by the conventional theory of isocurvature perturbations. We then discuss some criteria which an inflationary Universe model must satisfy in order to have substantial parametric growth of $`\zeta `$ during reheating via scalar field interactions. We argue that these conditions are naturally satisfied in some models of hybrid inflation, and we study a couple of concrete examples in which super-Hubble-scale gravitational fluctuations grow exponentially during reheating (some other examples where exponential growth of super-Hubble-scale modes could occur are given in ).

## II Massless Two Field Model Reconsidered

In this section we will consider the two-field model with potential (3) in which Bassett and Viniegra  showed the parametric resonance of super-Hubble scale gravitational modes. This model has been studied in detail in  in the absence of gravitational perturbations (see also ).

As in our previous paper , we shall work in longitudinal gauge in which the metric including linearized scalar metric fluctuations takes on the form

$$ds^2=(12\mathrm{\Phi })dt^2a^2(t)(1+2\mathrm{\Psi })dx^idx_i$$
(5)
where the $`x^i`$ are the comoving spatial coordinates and $`t`$ is physical time. Since for the matter model considered the off-diagonal components of the spatial part of the energy-momentum tensor vanish, the corresponding components of the Einstein equations imply  $`\mathrm{\Psi }=\mathrm{\Phi }`$. For the moment we will write down the equations for a general system with multiple scalar fields ($`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$), and only at a later stage will we specialize to the specific model considered in this section.

The remaining independent equations of motion for linearized perturbations in this Einstein-Higgs system are the perturbed energy constraint and momentum constraint equations as well as the equations of motion for the Higgs field perturbations $`\delta \varphi _i`$:

$`3H\dot{\mathrm{\Phi }}`$ $``$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{a^2}}+3H^2\right)\mathrm{\Phi }`$ (6)
$`=`$ $`4\pi G{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}[\dot{\varphi }_i\dot{\delta \varphi _i}\mathrm{\Phi }\dot{\varphi _i}^2+V,_i\delta \varphi _i],`$ (7)
$`\dot{\mathrm{\Phi }}`$ $`+`$ $`H\mathrm{\Phi }=4\pi G{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\dot{\varphi }_i\delta \varphi _i,`$ (8)
$`\ddot{\delta \varphi _i}`$ $`+`$ $`3H\dot{\delta \varphi _i}+[{\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{a^2}}\delta \varphi _i+{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}}V,_{ij}\delta \varphi _j]`$ (9)
$`=`$ $`4\dot{\mathrm{\Phi }}\dot{\varphi }_i2V,_i\mathrm{\Phi },`$ (10)
where $`k`$ denotes the comoving wavenumber, $`V,_i`$ indicates the derivative of $`V`$ with respect to $`\varphi _i`$, and $`G`$ is Newton’s constant.

The Sasaki-Mukhanov  variables for the $`n`$ matter fields are

$$Q_i=\delta \varphi _i+\frac{\dot{\varphi }_i}{H}\mathrm{\Phi }$$
(11)
and satisfy the following system of equations:

$$\ddot{Q}_i+3H\dot{Q}_i+\frac{k^2}{a^2}Q_i+\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}[V_{,ij}\frac{8\pi G}{a^3}(\frac{a^3}{H}\dot{\varphi }_i\dot{\varphi }_j)^.]Q_j=0.$$
(12)
We will now specialize to our two field model. If the homogeneous part of the second scalar field $`\chi `$ vanishes (which will not be true if parametric resonance is to excite gravitational fluctuations - see later), then the inflaton $`\varphi `$ during the initial stages of reheating (when back-reaction effects are negligible) oscillates as follows

$$\varphi (\eta )=a^1\varphi _0cn(xx_0,\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}),$$
(13)
where $`\varphi _0`$ is the amplitude of $`\varphi `$ at the end of the slow-rolling period, $`cn`$ is the Jacobi elliptic cosine function, $`\eta `$ is conformal time and $`x=\sqrt{\lambda }\varphi _0`$ is a rescaled dimensionless conformal time coordinate. Following , it is insightful to rescale all the fields $`f`$ by the scale factor and use new fields $`\stackrel{~}{f}=af`$. The equations of motion (12) then become

$`\stackrel{~}{Q_\varphi }^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ $`+`$ $`\left[\kappa ^2{\displaystyle \frac{a^{^{\prime \prime }}}{a}}+3cn^2(xx_0,{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}})\right]\stackrel{~}{Q_\varphi }`$ (14)
$`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle \frac{g^2}{\lambda \varphi _o}}cn(xx_0,{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}})\stackrel{~}{\chi }\stackrel{~}{Q_\chi }+M_{\varphi \varphi }\stackrel{~}{Q_\varphi }+M_{\varphi \chi }\stackrel{~}{Q_\chi }`$ (15)
$`\stackrel{~}{Q_\chi }^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ $`+`$ $`\left[\kappa ^2{\displaystyle \frac{a^{^{\prime \prime }}}{a}}+{\displaystyle \frac{g^2}{\lambda }}cn^2(xx_0,{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}})\right]\stackrel{~}{Q_\chi }`$ (16)
$`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle \frac{g^2}{\lambda \varphi _o}}cn(xx_0,{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}})\stackrel{~}{\chi }\stackrel{~}{Q_\varphi }+M_{\varphi \chi }\stackrel{~}{Q_\varphi }+M_{\chi \chi }\stackrel{~}{Q_\chi }`$ (17)
where, following the notation of  (up to a prefactor containing $`a`$), we have have used the abbreviation

$$M_{\varphi _1\varphi _2}=\frac{8\pi G}{a^2}\left[\frac{1}{aH}(\stackrel{~}{\varphi _1}^{^{}}\frac{a^{^{}}}{a}\stackrel{~}{\varphi _1})(\stackrel{~}{\varphi _2}^{^{}}\frac{a^{^{}}}{a}\stackrel{~}{\varphi _2})\right]^{},$$
(18)
and where

$$\kappa ^2=\frac{k^2}{\lambda \varphi _0^2}.$$
(19)
In the model considered, the time-averaged equation of state is that of radiation and hence the scale factor is linear in $`\eta `$ and thus $`a^{^{\prime \prime }}=0`$.

Neglecting for a moment the terms on the right hand side of the equations, both equations (14) and (16) are of the form of Lamé equations. Lamé equations in the context of reheating were first noticed in  and then studied in detail in ,  and . The coefficient in front of the $`cn^2`$ term (which in the case of (16) is $`g^2/\lambda `$) is crucial to the resonance structure of the equation. Since we are interested in super-Hubble modes, we need to know for which values of the coefficient the mode $`\kappa =0`$ lies in the first instability band of the equation. This is the case for values ***Note that this condition and the corresponding conditions in all the other examples discussed in this paper are stable against perturbative coupling constant renormalizations, the reason being that we consider $`g^2\lambda `$ and $`\lambda `$ should be constrained by the CMB anisotropy results to be a small number $`<<1`$. Thus, the perturbative correction terms which are of order $`g^4`$ are much smaller than either $`g^2`$ or $`\lambda `$.

$$1<\frac{g^2}{\lambda }<\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}.$$
(20)
This implies that resonance occurs only in the equation (16) for $`\stackrel{~}{Q_\chi }`$, and then only for values of $`g^2/\lambda `$ in the above range (or in the range corresponding to other instability bands). However, if the condition (20) is satisfied, and if the $`\chi `$ field is indeed excited, then parametric amplification of $`\stackrel{~}{Q_\chi }`$ is expected, and via the terms on the right hand side of (14), induced exponential growth of $`\stackrel{~}{Q_\varphi }`$ should occur.

Note, however, that it is not sufficient to show that an amplification of $`\stackrel{~}{Q_\varphi }`$ or $`\stackrel{~}{Q_\chi }`$ occurs in order to demonstrate that parametric resonance during reheating will have a crucial effect on the amplitude of gravitational fluctuations. Note that also in the conventional treatment of fluctuations  the amplitude of the $`\stackrel{~}{Q}`$ variable grows during the interval in which the equation of state of the background changes. As emphasized in , a straight forward way to check if the effect discussed here is a new effect is to consider the time evolution of the “traditional conserved quantity” $`\zeta `$ () which gives a measure of the adiabatic component of the metric fluctuations. In the multi-field case, $`\zeta `$ is given by

$$\zeta =\frac{H}{_j\dot{\varphi }_{j}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}\underset{i}{}\dot{\varphi }_iQ_i.$$
(21)
In the two field case, the evolution equation for $`\zeta `$ is

$`\dot{\zeta }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{H}{\dot{H}}}{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{a^2}}\mathrm{\Phi }`$ (22)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{H}{2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{Q_\varphi }{\dot{\varphi }}}{\displaystyle \frac{Q_\chi }{\dot{\chi }}}\right]{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\varphi }^2\dot{\chi }^2}{\dot{\varphi }^2+\dot{\chi }^2}}\right).`$ (23)
In the case of a single scalar field, the second term vanishes, but the equation cannot be applied during reheating since $`\dot{H}=0`$ at times when $`\dot{\varphi }=0`$.

In the single field case, the evolution equation for $`\zeta `$ which applies also during reheating is (for long-wavelength perturbations for which the spatial gradient term can be neglected)

$$(1+w)\dot{\zeta }=0.$$
(24)
This shows that $`\zeta `$ is conserved unless $`w=1`$. Unless matter is given by an oscillating scalar field (in which case $`w=1`$ will occur at the turnaround points when $`\dot{\varphi }=0`$), Eq. (24) implies that the variable $`\zeta `$ is conserved on scales outside the Hubble radius . However, reheating corresponds to an oscillating inflaton field, in which case the conclusion that $`\zeta `$ is constant may break down, as discussed in . Nevertheless, in the specific single field models which have been analyzed  it was found that no net increase of $`\zeta `$ occurs during the initial stages of reheating, and a general proof of the constancy of $`\zeta `$ in single field models was suggested in .

If matter is described, more realistically, in terms of multiple scalar fields (each of which is given by a conventional action), then it appears extremely unlikely that $`w=1`$ will occur at all, since at the points in time when $`\dot{\varphi }=0`$, the other fields will not all also be at rest, and thus the net value of $`w`$ will be greater than $`1`$. Therefore, the only realistic possibility for growth of $`\zeta `$ is as a consequence of the second term on the right hand side of (22), a term which corresponds to an isocurvature perturbation. Inspection of (22), however, immediately shows that during reheating there is the chance of having a very large increase in $`\zeta `$ as a consequence of the zeros in $`\dot{\varphi }`$ which arise periodically in time. This effect is missed if the scalar fields are treated in the slow-roll approximation, or if the change in the equation of state during reheating is modelled as a monotonic change from a nearly de-Sitter equation of state during inflation to a radiative equation of state after reheating.

However, to see if there is indeed an exponential growth of isocurvature perturbations, it is important to take a closer look at the equations. In the specific two field model of (3), symmetric initial conditions for the homogeneous part of $`\chi `$ give $`\chi =0`$ and $`\dot{\chi }=0`$. In this case, it follows from (21) that $`\zeta `$ only depends on $`Q_\varphi `$, and, since by (14) there is no parametric amplification of super-Hubble modes of $`Q_\varphi `$ given that the coupling to $`Q_\chi `$ vanishes, that there will therefore be no parametric amplification of $`\zeta `$. The same result can also be seen from (22) since for symmetric initial conditions, the time derivative on the right hand side of the equation acts on a constant. The result is confirmed by our numerical analysis (see Figure 1).

However, due to quantum fluctuations we expect that the average of $`\chi `$ over a volume corresponding to a particular super-Hubble (but sub-horizon) mode will not vanish. It is reasonable  to use for the homogeneous value of $`\chi `$ the r.m.s. value of the renormalized quantum fluctuations. It follows from (16) that $`Q_\chi `$ will experience parametric amplification during the initial stages of reheating. It will grow as $`exp[\mu _0\eta ]`$, where $`\mu _0`$ is the Floquet index of $`k=0`$ (which for continuity reasons cannot be too different from the Floquet exponent for long wavelengths). Via the non-vanishing source terms in (14), this will induce parametric growth of $`Q_\varphi `$, and this quantity mainly will contribute to the parametric growth of $`\zeta `$. Our numerical analysis confirms the above considerations. In Figure 2 we depict the growth of $`\zeta `$ during the initial stages of reheating for two different values of the homogeneous component of $`\chi `$, which shows how the onset of the parametric growth of $`\zeta `$ is dependent on the value of $`\chi `$. In Figure 3 we show how the growth of $`\zeta `$ is similar to the growth of $`Q_\varphi `$.

## III Isocurvature Perturbations

Having determined in the previous section that in the model (3) there is indeed amplification of $`\zeta `$ during reheating, we must now show that this effect is indeed a consequence of parametric resonance, and not just an effect due to the change in the equation of state between the inflationary era and the post-inflationary era, an effect which is already taken care of in the “usual” theory of isocurvature perturbations in inflationary cosmology, which we define as the results obtained when the transition in the equation of state between the inflationary slow-rolling phase ($`p\rho `$) and the post-inflationary radiation-dominated phase ($`p=\frac{1}{3}\rho `$) is taken to be monotonic. We will show that in the “usual” analysis there can be no exponential increase in the isocurvature perturbation, and that therefore the exponential increase we obtain here is a result of parametric resonance.

The fact that isocurvature perturbations can induce an adiabatic component on super-Hubble scales has been known for a long time . Entropy perturbations act as a source for $`\zeta `$ even on scales larger than the Hubble radius. This is true even in the case when matter is given by a single scalar field. In this case, the evolution equation for $`\zeta `$ becomes

$$\dot{\zeta }=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}H\left(\frac{\dot{p}}{\dot{\rho }}\frac{\delta p}{\delta \rho }\right).$$
(25)
These perturbations, however, are suppressed on scales larger than the Hubble radius.

In models with two or more scalar fields, the equation for $`\zeta `$ is given by (22), and it is thus clear that even on super-Hubble scales one should expect $`\dot{\zeta }0`$. In the approximation in which both fields are slowly rolling, the time evolution of $`\zeta `$ on scales larger than the Hubble radius was studied in detail in , with particular emphasis on calculating the deviations from scale-invariance of the resulting power spectrum of density fluctuations. However, since the analyses made use of the slow-rolling approximation, no effects of the dynamics of reheating were considered.

More recently, Taruya and Nambu  and Bassett et al.  considered the effect of reheating on the spectrum of density fluctuations and discovered a large growth of $`\zeta `$ due to the initial isocurvature perturbations, however in a model in which the necessary initial $`\chi `$ field fluctuations are exponentially suppressed during inflation. Bassett and Viniegra  then pointed out that the suppression would be absent in the model (3).

It has been known for a long time that isocurvature perturbations can be produced in inflationary models with more than one scalar field. This issue was initially considered in the context of axion perturbations in , extended to more general two field models in  and studied in detail in . It was discovered that initial super-Hubble-scale isocurvature perturbations induce an adiabatic component by the time that the scales re-enter the Hubble radius.

The gauge invariant expression for the total isocurvature perturbation in a multi-fluid system is

$$p\mathrm{\Gamma }\underset{i}{}(\delta p_i^{\mathrm{gi}}c_s^2\delta \rho _i^{\mathrm{gi}}),$$
(26)
where $`\delta p_i^{\mathrm{gi}}`$ and $`\delta \rho _i^{\mathrm{gi}}`$ are the gauge invariant pressure and density perturbations with respect to the total matter rest frame and the total speed of sound $`c_s^2`$ is defined as the weighted sum of the i-th speed of sound :

$$c_s^2\frac{\dot{p}}{\dot{\rho }}=\frac{1}{_j\dot{\varphi }_j^2}\underset{i}{}c_{si}^2\dot{\varphi }_i^2$$
(27)
with

$$c_{si}^2=1+2\frac{V,_i}{3H\dot{\varphi }_i}$$
(28)
The total isocurvature perturbation can be written as the sum of the non-adiabatic pressure component of the single component and of the relative isocurvature perturbation $`S_{ij}`$ as:

$$p\mathrm{\Gamma }=\underset{i}{}(\delta p_ic_{si}^2\delta \rho _i)+\frac{1}{_i\dot{\varphi }_i^2}\underset{i,j}{}\frac{\dot{\varphi }_i^2\dot{\varphi }_j^2}{2}S_{ij}(c_{si}^2c_{sj}^2)$$
(29)
where

$$S_{ij}\frac{\delta \rho _i^{\mathrm{gi}}}{\dot{\varphi }_i^2}\frac{\delta \rho _j^{\mathrm{gi}}}{\dot{\varphi }_j^2}.$$
(30)
The relative isocurvature perturbation $`S_{ij}`$ with respect to the total matter frame can be written for our two field model as

$`S_{\varphi \chi }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta \rho _\varphi }{\dot{\varphi }^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\delta \rho _\chi }{\dot{\chi }^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{av}{k}}Q_\varphi \left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\dot{\varphi }^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\dot{\chi }^2}}\right)`$ (31)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta \rho _\varphi }{\dot{\varphi }^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\delta \rho _\chi }{\dot{\chi }^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{3g^2}{8\pi G}}{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi \chi }{\dot{\varphi }^2\dot{\chi }^2}}(\dot{\varphi }\chi \dot{\chi }\varphi ){\displaystyle \frac{\dot{H}}{H}}(\zeta \mathrm{\Phi }),`$ (32)
where $`v`$ is the total perturbed velocity for matter, $`Q_\varphi `$ is the homogeneous energy transfer to the $`\varphi `$ component ($`Q_\varphi +Q_\chi =0`$ because of total energy conservation), and now $`\delta \rho _i`$ are the density perturbations in the longitudinal gauge:

$$\delta \rho _i=\dot{\varphi }_i\delta \dot{\varphi }_i\mathrm{\Phi }\dot{\varphi }_i^2+V,_i\delta \varphi _i.$$
(33)
From Equation (32) it follows that the parametric resonance from the matter sector of the theory (the $`Q`$ variables to be specific) induces exponential growth of the relative isocurvature perturbation, and hence also of the total isocurvature perturbation (see Figure 4).

In turn, isocurvature perturbations determine the change in $`\zeta `$ via Eq. (22). This shows that in the presence of scalar field interaction terms, there is a correlated exponential growth of $`\zeta `$ and of the relative isocurvature perturbation $`S_{\varphi \chi }`$. This exponential growth is a consequence of parametric resonance and is absent if the phase transition is modelled with a monotonically increasing value of $`w`$.

Analogously to Eq. (21) for the Bardeen parameter, the total non adiabatic pressure $`p\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ can be expressed in terms of the Sasaki-Mukhanov variables in the following way:

$$p\mathrm{\Gamma }=\underset{i}{}[\frac{\dot{V}}{\rho }\dot{\varphi }_iQ_i2V,_iQ_i2\frac{\dot{V}}{3H_i\dot{\varphi }_i^2}(\dot{\varphi }_i\dot{Q}_i+V,_iQ_i)].$$
(34)
As mentioned above, the exponential growth of $`S_{\varphi \chi }`$ and $`\zeta `$ during reheating is a new effect due entirely to parametric resonance. The growth of fluctuations in inflationary models with two uncoupled fields were studied in  in an approximation in which the oscillations of the inflaton field were neglected. In this case there is no growth of $`S_{\varphi \chi }`$. An initial isocurvature perturbation does induce the growth of an adiabatic component on super-Hubble scales, but the final amplitude of the adiabatic mode is not much larger than the initial amplitude of the isocurvature perturbation, in agreement with the earlier analysis in .

## IV Three Golden Rules

Based on the analysis of Section 2, it appears that several conditions are required in order to have efficient parametric resonance of super-Hubble-scale metric fluctuations.

1. In the absence of gravitational perturbations there must be broad-band parametric resonance in the matter sector of the theory corresponding to isocurvature fluctuations, and $`k=0`$ must be part of the resonance band.

2. The fluctuations in the matter field which undergoes parametric resonance must be effectively massless during inflation. More precisely, there should be no large net suppression of these fluctuations before the phase of parametric resonance.

3. The homogeneous value of the matter field which undergoes resonance must be non-vanishing. This is the weakest of the three conditions since it is only required if we work strictly to first order in perturbations.

We show how these three rules are satisfied in another model with massless fields, but now based on negative coupling instability . The potential is the following:

$$V(\varphi ,\chi )=\frac{1}{4}\lambda \varphi ^4\frac{1}{2}g^2\varphi ^2\chi ^2+\frac{1}{4}\lambda _\chi \chi ^4$$
(35)
with the parameter $`r\lambda \lambda _\chi /g^4>1`$ in order to have a potential bounded from below . This model has an attractor for $`\chi `$ in the point which minimize the potential for $`\chi `$

$$\overline{\chi }(t)\frac{g}{\sqrt{\lambda _\chi }}\varphi (t).$$
(36)
In this way even the third and weakest of the above conditions is satisfied. The second one is easily satisfied because of the negative effective mass for the $`\chi `$ fluctuations when the background $`\chi `$ is small. In order to find the unstable bands one can use the attractor solution and estimate the frequency of the inflaton $`\varphi `$ and of the fluctuations $`\delta \chi `$ during the period of coherent oscillations:

$`\omega _\varphi ^2`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda \varphi ^2g^2\chi ^2\lambda \varphi ^2(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r}})\stackrel{~}{\lambda }\varphi ^2`$ (37)
$`\omega _{\delta \chi }^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{a^2}}+3\lambda _\chi \chi ^2g^2\varphi ^2{\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{a^2}}+2g^2\varphi ^2.`$ (38)
If $`\chi `$ is small compared to the inflaton $`\varphi `$, then an unstable band for $`k=0`$ should be located at $`2g^2=2\stackrel{~}{\lambda }`$. This gives a second order equation for $`g^2`$ whose positive root is:

$$g^2=\lambda _\chi \frac{1+\sqrt{1+4\lambda /\lambda _\chi }}{2}$$
(39)
We confirm numerically this analytical estimate in Figure 5 for two allowed values of $`g^2`$: $`g^2=\lambda `$ with $`\lambda \lambda _\chi `$ and $`g^2=\lambda /2(\sqrt{5}1)`$ with $`\lambda =\lambda _\chi `$. The reason for the growth of $`\zeta `$ is similar to the previous case: $`Q_\chi `$ is parametrically amplified, feeds the growth of $`Q_\varphi `$ and in this case both contribute to the growth of $`\zeta `$.

## V A Model Motivated by Hybrid Inflation

Another natural scenario in which the above conditions can all be satisfied is hybrid inflation . Hybrid inflation is also an attractive framework for implementing inflation in the context of supergravity models . Since (at least) two fields are involved in the dynamics of hybrid inflation, the generation of isocurvature perturbations is rather natural. In hybrid models, the phase of inflation during which the inflaton field $`\varphi `$ is slowly rolling towards $`\varphi =0`$ is terminated by a phase transition in the second scalar field $`\chi `$, a field with the double-well potential. This implies that during the oscillations of $`\varphi `$, the background value of $`\chi `$ is non-vanishing, leading to an obvious realization of condition (3) above.

Parametric resonance in the matter sector of hybrid inflation models was studied in detail by Garcia-Bellido and Linde , and, in supersymmetric hybrid inflation, by Bastero-Gil et al. . The resonance of the fluctuations of the two fields $`\varphi `$ and $`\chi `$ is inefficient for a large set of the parameter space since both the $`\delta \varphi `$ and $`\delta \chi `$ fields are effectively massive during the regime of coherent oscillations ($`\delta \chi `$ becomes massive through the Higgs mechanism). Quite generically, parametric resonance could be much more efficient if there is a third field $`\psi `$ which couples to both $`\varphi `$ and $`\chi `$. Another interesting possibility is to consider a doublet for the field $`\chi `$. Then, even in the phase of coherent oscillations, there is a massless degree of freedom, namely the “Goldstone” mode. Such a situation arises naturally in supergravity models .

Therefore, as a toy model we will consider the following potential for the inflaton field $`\varphi `$ and the doublet $`\chi =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(\chi _1,\chi _2)`$:

$`V`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda ({\displaystyle \frac{M^2}{2\lambda }}|\chi |^2)^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m^2\varphi ^2+g^2\varphi ^2|\chi |^2`$ (40)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m^2\varphi ^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g^2\varphi ^2(\chi _1^2+\chi _2^2)+{\displaystyle \frac{M^4}{4\lambda }}`$ (41)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}M^2(\chi _1^2+\chi _2^2)+{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{2}}\chi _1^2\chi _2^2`$ (42)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{4}}(\chi _1^4+\chi _2^4).`$ (43)
For supersymmetric hybrid inflation, there is only one independent coupling constant since

$$\lambda =\frac{g^2}{2}.$$
(44)
The values of the masses and coupling constants are constrained by the amplitude of density fluctuations at Hubble radius crossing, which is given by

$$\frac{\delta \rho }{\rho }\frac{g}{\lambda ^{3/2}}\left(\frac{M}{M_{pl}}\right)^3\left(\frac{M}{m}\right)^2$$
(45)
which should be about $`10^5`$. In our numerical simulations, we choose $`g^2=10^3`$, $`\lambda =g^2/2`$ (as in a supersymmetric model), $`M^2/M_{pl}^2=10^{12}`$ and $`M^2/m^2=10^{10}`$. With these values, the Hubble parameter during the late stages of inflation is much larger than $`m`$ which ensures slow rolling of $`\varphi `$.

In this model, slow-roll inflation takes place while the value of the inflaton $`\varphi `$ is larger than $`\varphi _c=M/g`$. For these values, the effective square mass $`m_\chi ^2`$ of $`\chi `$ (evaluated at $`\chi =0`$) is positive. Once $`\varphi `$ drops below $`\varphi _c`$, the $`m_\chi ^2`$ turns negative and inflation ends (at time $`t_c`$) via a symmetry breaking transition in the matter sector. We choose the basis of the $`\chi `$ fields such that the order parameter of the transition is $`\chi _1`$. However, since in general the initial ratio of $`\chi `$ fields and $`\chi `$ velocities at $`t_c`$ is not the same

$$\frac{\dot{\chi }_2}{\dot{\chi }_1}(t_c)\frac{\chi _2}{\chi _1}(t_c),$$
(46)
we can with no loss of generality assume that the value of $`\chi _2`$ at the time $`t_r`$, when the $`\chi `$ transition is complete and the $`\varphi `$ oscillations start, does not vanish (as in the previous case a reasonable value for $`\chi _2`$ is the r.m..s. of the renormalized quantum fluctuations). Thus, we have argued that the third of the conditions mentioned at the beginning of this section (non-vanishing background matter fields) is naturally satisfied in this model (in contrast to the model considered in Section 2). The initial values of the matter fields at the beginning of the period of oscillation will be

$`\chi _1(t_r)`$ $``$ $`M/\sqrt{\lambda }`$ (47)
$`0\chi _2(t_r)`$ $``$ $`M/\sqrt{\lambda }.`$ (48)
In contrast to the model (1) in which the matter fluctuations are exponentially suppressed during inflation, the effective negative coupling instability in the matter fields in the time interval between $`t_c`$ and $`t_r`$ leads to the conclusion that the $`\chi `$ fluctuations are not suppressed. In fact, they are suppressed during slow-roll inflation, but build up again exponentially fast in the time interval $`t_c<t<t_r`$. To see this, we focus on the evolution of the fluctuations in of the $`\chi `$ field since, as we shall see below, these are essential for the effectiveness of parametric resonance. We will consider field fluctuations neglecting metric perturbations and the mixing terms deriving from particle interactions (even if in the hybrid models these mixing terms are not perturbatively small and their importance has been emphasized in ). Under these approximations the evolution equation for $`\delta \chi _2`$ is

$$\ddot{\delta }\chi _2+3H\dot{\delta }\chi _2=\left(\frac{k^2}{a^2}+g^2\varphi ^2+\lambda \chi _1^2+3\lambda \chi _2^2M^2\right)\delta \chi _2$$
(49)
For $`\varphi >\varphi _c`$, the effective square mass is larger than $`H^2`$ and positive, thus leading to damped oscillatory solutions

$$\delta \chi _2a^{3/2}(t)exp(i\omega t),$$
(50)
with $`\omega =g\varphi `$ (in the adiabatic limit). During this time interval, however, the homogeneous components of the matter fields are also damped. The evolution equation for the order parameter $`\chi _1`$ is

$$\ddot{\chi }_1+3H\dot{\chi }_1=\left(g^2\varphi ^2+\lambda \chi _1^2+\lambda \chi _2^2M^2\right)\chi _1$$
(51)
Since (up to the contributions from $`\chi _2^2`$ which are negligible during inflation) the effective masses in (51) and (49) are the same, the damping rates of $`\chi _1`$ and $`\delta \chi _2`$ are also the same for $`t<t_c`$. In the time interval between $`t_c`$ and $`t_r`$, the signs of the effective square masses in both Equation (51) for $`\chi _1`$ and Equation (49) for $`\delta \chi _2`$ are reversed. In both cases, the effective $`m^2`$ is now $`M^2`$, leading to exponential increase in both $`\chi _1`$ and $`\delta \chi _2`$. This period ends when $`\chi _1`$ reaches the minimum of the potential at time $`t_r`$. To summarize the above discussion, the evolution of $`\chi _1`$ follows

$`{\displaystyle \frac{M}{\sqrt{\lambda }}}\chi _1(t_r)`$ $``$ $`e^{M(t_rt_c)}\chi _1(t_c)`$ (52)
$``$ $`e^{M(t_rt_c)}e^{\frac{3}{2}H(t_ct_i)}\chi _1(t_i)`$ (53)
where $`t_i`$ is the time at the beginning of inflation and $`H`$ is the Hubble constant during inflation, assumed to be constant to make the equation simple (this assumption does not affect the basic point we are making). In comparison, the evolution of $`\delta \chi _2`$ obeys

$`\delta \chi _2(t_r)`$ $``$ $`e^{M(t_rt_c)}\delta \chi _2(t_c)`$ (54)
$``$ $`e^{M(t_rt_c)}e^{\frac{3}{2}H(t_ct_i)}\delta \chi _2(t_i)`$ (55)
which shows that the exponential growth of $`\delta \chi _2`$ for $`t_c<t<t_r`$ precisely makes up for the exponential decay during the period $`t_1<t<t_c`$, exactly as it does for the evolution of $`\chi _1`$. Equations (52) and (54) can be combined to give

$$\delta \chi _2(t_r)\frac{M/\sqrt{\lambda }}{\chi _1(t_i)}\delta \chi _2(t_i).$$
(56)
This demonstrates that there is no overall suppression of the fluctuations in $`\delta \chi _2`$ before the onset of parametric resonance, showing that the second condition for the effectiveness of parametric amplification of super-Hubble gravitational modes mentioned at the beginning of this section is satisfied.

The final conditions to discuss are the criteria for parametric resonance of the $`k=0`$ modes of the matter perturbations. To do this, we consider the mode equation for $`\delta \chi _2`$ during the period in which the inflaton $`\varphi `$ oscillates. For general hybrid models, the background dynamics is chaotic since both $`\varphi `$ and $`\chi _1`$ oscillate with different frequencies. However, in the supersymmetric case , the frequencies coincide and the background dynamics becomes non-chaotic. Both $`\varphi `$ and $`\chi _1`$ oscillate with the frequency $`\sqrt{2}M`$. To simplify the analysis, we shall neglect the back-reaction of particle production and expansion on the inflaton, and neglect the Hubble damping term in the equation of motion (this is a good approximation since we are considering a case in which $`H<<\sqrt{2}M`$ and the fields oscillation are not damped by the expansion of the universe). Therefore, we take the inflaton to oscillate with amplitude $`\varphi _a<\varphi _c`$, and $`\chi _1`$ will oscillate about its ground state as

$$\chi _1(z)=\frac{M}{\sqrt{\lambda }}(1+f(z)),$$
(57)
where $`f(z)`$ is periodic with period $`2\pi `$. It is convenient to introduce the dimensionless time $`z=\sqrt{2}Mt`$. Denoting the derivative with respect to $`z`$ by a prime, the equation for the Fourier mode $`\chi _{2k}`$ of $`\delta \chi _2`$ becomes

$$\chi _{2k}^{^{\prime \prime }}+\chi _{2k}\left(\frac{k^2}{2a^2M^2}+\frac{g^2\varphi _a^2}{4M^2}+\frac{g^2\varphi _a^2}{4M^2}cos(2z)+f+\frac{f^2}{2}\right)=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},$$
(58)
where we have neglected the terms in $`\chi _2`$. In the absence of the final term (the term containing $`f(z)`$), this has the form of the Mathieu equation

$$\chi _{2k}^{^{\prime \prime }}+\chi _{2k}\left(A(k)2qcos(2z)\right)=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}.$$
(59)
The value of $`q`$ is $`q1/8`$, the maximal value being taken on if $`\varphi _a=\varphi _c`$, and for long wavelengths $`A(k)2q`$. As can be seen from the Floquet instability charts (see e.g. Fig. 1 in ), these values do not correspond to efficient resonance. From the evolution of the background fields obtained from the full numerical solution of the background field equations (see Figure 6) it follows that the amplitude of oscillation $`\varphi _a`$ is in fact substantially smaller than $`\varphi _c`$. In contrast, $`\chi _1`$ oscillates with a large amplitude. Hence, the term containing $`f(z)`$ in Equation (58) is more important. This term leads to negative coupling instability (see  for a general discussion of resonant particle production by negative coupling instability) for small values of $`k`$. Hence, we expect parametric amplification of long wavelength gravitational fluctuations in our model.

The above considerations are supported by our numerical results. In Figure 6 we show the evolution of the background fields $`\varphi `$, $`\chi _1`$, $`\chi _2`$ and $`H`$ as a function of time in a simulation with parameters mentioned after Equation (45), and with initial conditions $`\varphi _0=3M_{\mathrm{pl}}`$, $`\chi _1=.01M_{\mathrm{pl}}`$, $`\chi _2=.0001M_{\mathrm{pl}}`$.

As is evident, following an initial transient period the three scalar fields oscillate with the same frequency. The results for the fluctuation variables $`Q_\varphi `$, $`Q_{\chi _1}`$, $`Q_{\chi _2}`$ and $`\zeta `$ are shown in Figure 7. The initial perturbation amplitudes were chosen to be $`Q_\varphi (t_0)=1`$, $`Q_{\chi _1}(t_0)=Q_{\chi _1}(t_0)=10^4`$, and all their derivatives set to zero for a wavelength outside the Hubble radius ($`k=0`$). As is evident, after the initial transient period, all four quantities grow almost with the same Floquet exponent, as expected from our analytical analysis.

At this point, an obvious question is whether the field $`\chi _2`$ is essential in order to obtain parametric resonance of super-Hubble-scale cosmological fluctuations. In fact, the field fluctuations $`\delta \chi _1`$ also will experience an effective negative coupling instability , and therefore the presence of $`\chi _2`$ is not essential for this supersymmetric choice of the parameters. The equation of motion for $`\delta \chi _1`$ for a hybrid model with two field is

$$\ddot{\delta }\chi _1+3H\dot{\delta }\chi _1=\left(\frac{k^2}{a^2}+g^2\varphi ^2+3\lambda \chi _1^2M^2\right)\delta \chi _1.$$
(60)
The effective squared mass is large and positive during slow-rolling. At the beginning of the transient period (when $`\chi _1`$ starts rolling down its potential but is not yet close to the minimum of the potential) the effective squared mass turns negative. Once $`\chi _1`$ gets close to its equilibrium position, the effective squared mass will again be large and positive (the factor $`3`$ in the third term on the r.h.s. of (60) is crucial). However, since $`\chi _1`$ is oscillating with a large amplitude, the effect of the large mass will be periodically cancelled out by these oscillations. Neglecting the expansion of the background, Eq. (60) can be written as

$$\chi _{1k}^{^{\prime \prime }}+\chi _{1k}\left(\frac{k^2}{2a^2M^2}+\frac{g^2\varphi ^2}{2M^2}+1+3f(z)+\frac{3}{2}f^2\right)=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}.$$
(61)
From our numerical results (Figure 6) we expect that the amplitude of $`f(z)`$ will be only slightly smaller than 1. Hence, we expect negative coupling instability for long wavelength metric perturbations also in the two field case . However, as demonstrated below for values of the coupling constants which do not correspond to the supersymmetric point, the Floquet index in the two field case will be smaller than in the three field model.

Other interesting effects happen if we go away from the supersymmetric point $`g^2=2\lambda `$. In analogy with the results of  which show that random noise in the inflaton leads to an increase in the strength of the parametric instability, we expect that the chaotic background dynamics will not eliminate but rather strengthen the resonance. Chaotic background dynamics is expected for $`g^2\lambda `$ in hybrid models . This effect is shown by our numerical simulations (Figure 8 and Figure 9) which show that the parametric resonance of super-Hubble-scale gravitational fluctuations for the choice $`g^2=\lambda `$ is larger than in the supersymmetric case, where no chaoticity is present . Figure 10 shows how the presence of the “Goldstone” mode $`\chi _2`$ changes the development of the resonance in this chaotic case. In the two field case the Floquet index with which $`\zeta `$ grows is smaller than the corresponding index in the three field case.

## VI Discussion

We have studied the parametric amplification of long wavelength gravitational fluctuations during reheating in two field inflationary Universe models. We have partially confirmed the results of Bassett and Viniegra  and shown that this effect is possible for certain models. We have established criteria under which an exponential increase in the amplitude of cosmological perturbations during the period when the inflaton field oscillates should be expected. It is crucial that there must be either broad-band parametric instability or negative coupling instability in the matter sector of the theory (i.e., in the absence of gravitational perturbations). This will excite isocurvature fluctuations during reheating. It is important that there be no net exponential damping in the amplitude of the isocurvature fluctuations before reheating. The resonance in the matter sector then induces a resonance in the gravitational sector provided that the background values of the matter fields do not vanish. Since large coupling constants are not necessary in order to have efficient resonance, the effect is stable against perturbative coupling constant renormalizations. We have shown that in this case the resulting increase in the amplitude of the adiabatic mode, conveniently tracked in terms of the variable $`\zeta `$, and of isocurvature fluctuations, tracked in terms of the non adiabatic pressure $`p\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, is exponential and is due to the oscillations in the inflaton field. This means that the effect is absent if the phase transition is modelled by a monotonic change in $`w=p/\rho `$.

We then argue that the conditions under which parametric amplification of long wavelength gravitational fluctuations occurs are naturally satisfied in a class of models of hybrid inflation. The presence of a complex matter scalar field enhances the resonance, since it ensures the existence of a field which is massless in the true vacuum of the theory, but it is not crucial if there is negative coupling instability. However, note that the existence of massless modes is helpful for the effect to occur. Such massless modes arise quite generically in string theory (see e.g.  for a recent review). Thus, the parametric amplification of long wavelength fluctuations may be also present in models of inflation based on string theory.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Bruce Bassett, Serguei Khlebnikov, Lev Kofman and Bill Unruh for stimulating discussions, and Jim Zibin for comments on the draft. R.B. wishes to thank Bill Unruh for hospitality at the University of British Columbia where this work was completed. F. F. wishes to thank Brown University for hospitality. The research was supported in part (at Purdue) by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-FG02-91ER40681, TASK B, and (at Brown) by DE-FG02-91ER40688, TASK A.


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# A note on asymptotically isometric copies of 𝑙¹ and 𝑐₀

## Abstract.

Nonreflexive Banach spaces that are complemented in their bidual by an L-projection - like preduals of von Neumann algebras or the Hardy space $`H^1`$ \- contain, roughly speaking, many copies of $`l^1`$ which are very close to isometric copies. Such $`l^1`$-copies are known to fail the fixed point property. Similar dual results hold for $`c_0`$.

###### Key words and phrases:

asymptotically isometric copies of $`l_1`$, James’ distortion, L-summands, L-embedded, M-ideals, fixed point property

In  it is shown that an isomorphic $`l^1`$-copy does not necessarily contain asymptotically isometric $`l^1`$-copies although by James’ classical distortion theorem it always contains almost isomorphic $`l^1`$-copies. (For definitions see below.) Within this context and the context of the fixed point property Dowling and Lennard  show that the presence of an asymptotic $`l^1`$-copy makes a Banach space fail the fixed point property. Then they prove that every nonreflexive subspace of $`L^1[0,1]`$ fails the fixed point property by observing that the proof of a theorem of Kadec and Pełczyński \[10, Th. 6\] yields an asymptotic $`l^1`$-copy inside such supspaces of $`L^1[0,1]`$. Alspach’s example  may be considered as an early forerunner of these results.

In the present note we modify a construction of Godefroy in order to show that every nonreflexive subspace of any L-embedded Banach space contains an asymptotic $`l^1`$-copy and thus, in particular, fails the fixed point property. Analogous results hold for $`c_0`$ and M-embedded spaces.
Let $`(x_n)`$ be a sequence of nonzero elements in a Banach space $`X`$.
We say that $`(x_n)`$ spans $`l^1`$ $`r`$-isomorphically or just isomorphically if there exists $`r>0`$ (trivially $`r1`$) such that $`r\left(_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}|\alpha _n|\right)_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}\alpha _nx_n_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}|\alpha _n|`$ for all scalars $`\alpha _n`$. We say that $`(x_n)`$ spans $`l^1`$ almost isometrically if it is such that there exists a sequence $`(\delta _m)`$ in $`[0,1[`$ tending to $`0`$ such that $`(1\delta _m)\left(_{n=m}^{\mathrm{}}|\alpha _n|\right)_{n=m}^{\mathrm{}}\alpha _nx_n\left(_{n=m}^{\mathrm{}}|\alpha _n|\right)`$ for all $`m\mathrm{I}N`$. Trivially the property of spanning $`l^1`$ almost isometrically passes to subsequences. Analogously, we say that $`(x_n)`$ spans $`c_0`$ almost isometrically if there exists a sequence $`(\delta _m)`$ as above such that $`(1\delta _m)sup_{mnm^{}}|\alpha _n|_{n=m}^m^{}\alpha _nx_n(1+\delta _m)sup_{mnm^{}}|\alpha _n|`$ for all $`mm^{}`$.

Recall that James distortion theorem  (or , ) for $`l^1`$ and $`c_0`$ says that every isomorphic copy of $`l^1`$ (of $`c_0`$) contains an almost isometric copy of $`l^1`$ (of $`c_0`$).

Following  we say that $`(x_n)`$ spans $`l^1`$ asymptotically isometrically (or just that $`(x_n)`$ spans $`l^1`$ asymptotically) if there is a sequence $`(\delta _n)`$ in $`[0,1[`$ tending to $`0`$ such that $`_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}(1\delta _n)|\alpha _n|_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}\alpha _nx_n_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}|\alpha _n|`$ for all scalars $`\alpha _n`$. A sequence $`(x_n)`$ is said to span $`c_0`$ asymptotically isometrically (or just to span $`c_0`$ asymptotically) if there is a sequence $`(\delta _n)`$ as above such that $`sup_{nm}(1\delta _n)|\alpha _n|_{n=1}^m\alpha _nx_nsup_{nm}(1+\delta _n)|\alpha _n|`$ for all $`m\mathrm{I}N`$. (Note that in the definition of asymptotic $`c_0`$’s and $`l^1`$’s in  the sequence $`(\delta _n)`$ is supposed to be decreasing but that this difference is not essential.) Finally we say that a Banach space is isomorphic (respectively almost isometric, respectively asymptotically isometric) to $`l^1`$ (to $`c_0`$) if it has a basis with the corresponding property. Clearly a sequence spanning $`l^1`$ asymptotically spans $`l^1`$ almost isometrically. The main result of  states that the converse does not hold because there are almost isometric copies of $`l^1`$ which do not contain $`l^1`$ asymptotically. Analogously, it was proved in \[4, Th. 3\] that there exist almost isometric copies of $`c_0`$ which do not contain asymptotic $`c_0`$-copies.

Some notation: The results are stated for complex scalars but hold also for real Banach spaces. Operator means linear bounded map. As usual, we consider a Banach space as a subspace of its bidual omitting the canonical embedding. $`[x_n]`$ denotes the complete linear hull of $`(x_n)`$, $`(e_n)`$ is the standard basis of $`l^1`$. Basic properties and definitions of Banach space theory can be found in  or in .

A Banach space $`X`$ is said to have the fixed point property if any contractive (not necessarily linear) map $`f:CC`$ on any non-empty closed bounded convex subset $`CX`$ has a fixed point where contractive means that $`f(x)f(y)<xy`$ for all $`x,yX`$.

Let $`Y`$ be a subspace of a Banach space $`X`$ and $`P`$ be a projection on $`X`$. $`P`$ is called an L-projection provided $`x=Px+(\mathrm{id}_XP)x`$ for all $`xX`$. A subspace $`YX`$ is called an M-ideal in $`X`$ if its annihilator $`Y^{}`$ in $`X^{}`$ is the range of an L-projection on $`X^{}`$. $`Y`$ is called an L-summand in $`X`$ if it is the range of an L-projection on $`X`$. In the special case where $`X=Y^{\prime \prime }`$ and where $`Y`$ is an M-summand (respectively an L-summand) in $`Y^{\prime \prime }`$ we say that $`Y`$ is M-embedded (respectively L-embedded). As examples we only mention that preduals of von Neumann algebras, in particular $`l^1`$ and $`L^1`$-spaces, furthermore the Hardy space $`H_0^1`$ and the dual of the disc algebra are L-embedded. The sequence space $`c_0`$, the space of compact operators on a Hilbert space, and the quotient $`C/A`$ of the continuous functions on the unit circle by the disc algebra $`A`$ are examples among M-embedded spaces. The dual of an M-embedded space is L-embedded; the converse is false \[8, III.1.3\]. Throughout this note, if $`X`$ is an L-embedded Banach space we will write $`X_s`$ for the complement of (the canonical embedding of) $`X`$ in $`X^{\prime \prime }`$ that is $`X^{\prime \prime }=X_1X_s`$. In this case $`P`$ (or $`P_X`$ to avoid confusion) will denote the L-projection from $`X^{\prime \prime }`$ onto $`X`$. There is a useful criterion for L-embeddedness of subsapces of L-embedded spaces due to Li ( or \[8, Th. IV.1.2\]):  A closed subspace $`Y`$ of an L-embedded Banach space $`X`$ is L-embedded if and only if $`PY^{}=Y`$.  In this case if $`Y`$ is L-embedded and if one identifies $`Y^{\prime \prime }=Y_1Y_s`$ and $`Y^{}X^{\prime \prime }`$ then $`Y_s=Y^{}X_s`$. Since biduals of L-embedded spaces are quite ”big” and therefore difficult to handle we mention in passing that a theorem of Buhvalov-Lozanovskii (, \[8, IV.3.4\]) provides a characterisation of L-embeddedness of subspaces of $`L^1[0,1]`$ only in terms of the spaces themselves: Subspaces of $`L^1[0,1]`$ are L-embedded if and only if their unit balls are closed with respect to the measure topology \[8, IV.3.5\].
The standard reference for M- and L-embedded spaces is the monograph .

There are few stability results for L-embeddedness: Neither subspaces nor quotients inherit this property \[8, IV.1\]. Therefore the following lemma reveals a nice exception. In particular it underlines the idea that $`l^1`$-copies are the building blocks of L-embedded spaces.

###### Lemma 1.

Almost isometric copies of $`l^1`$ which are subspaces of L-embedded Banach spaces are L-embedded.

Proof: Consider first the L-embedded subspaces $`U_m=[e_n]_{nm}`$ of $`l^1`$, $`m\mathrm{I}N`$. We have $`U_m^{}=U_m_1(c_0U_m^{})`$. An element $`\mu (l^1)_s=c_0^{}`$ belongs to each $`U_m^{}`$. \[Denote by $`\rho _m`$ the projection $`(\alpha _n)(0,\mathrm{},0,\alpha _{m+1},\alpha _{m+2})`$ on $`l^1`$. Then $`\mu `$ annihilates $`\text{ker}\rho _m^{}`$ because $`\text{ker}\rho _m^{}c_0`$. Thus $`\mu \text{ran}(\rho ^{\prime \prime })`$ and $`\mu \overline{[e_n]}_{nm}^w^{}c_0^{}`$.\]

Let $`X`$ be an L-embedded Banach space with L-decomposition $`X^{\prime \prime }=X_1X_s`$ and with L-projection $`P`$ from $`X^{\prime \prime }`$ onto $`X`$. Let $`(x_n)`$ be a sequence spanning an almost isometric copy $`Y`$ of $`l^1`$ in $`X`$, put $`Y_m=[x_n]_{nm}`$, $`m\mathrm{I}N`$. Via the isomorphism between $`Y`$ and $`l^1`$ induced by $`x_ne_n`$ the situation described for $`l^1`$ carries over to $`Y`$. That is, there is $`ZY^{}X^{\prime \prime }`$ such that $`Y^{}=YZ`$, $`Y_m^{}=Y_m(ZY_m^{})`$ and $`zZY_m^{}`$ for all $`m\mathrm{I}N`$, $`zZ`$.

Since $`(x_n)`$ is supposed to span $`Y`$ almost isometrically, there are numbers $`\eta _m0`$ tending to $`0`$ such that $`y+z(1\eta _m)(y+z)`$ for all $`yY_m`$, $`zZY_m^{}`$.

Let $`zZ`$. In order to show that $`Y`$ is L-embedded it is enough to show that $`Pz=0`$ because then Li’s criterion $`PY^{}=Y`$ is fulfilled. But $`zZY_m^{}`$ and by a quantitative version of Li’s result (see \[8, IV.1.4\] or \[14, Lem. 2\]) applied to $`X`$ and $`Y_m`$, we have $`Pz3\eta _m^{1/2}z`$ for all $`m\mathrm{I}N`$. Hence $`Pz=0`$.

In passing we note (for Corollary 3 below) that a $`w^{}`$-accumulation point of $`\{e_n|n\mathrm{I}N\}`$ belongs to $`c_0^{}U_m^{}`$ and has norm one. Accordingly, if $`z`$ is a $`w^{}`$-accumulation point of $`\{x_n|n\mathrm{I}N\}`$, then $`zX_sY_m^{}`$ and $`z=1`$, the latter because each $`Y_m^{}`$ is $`(1\delta _m)`$-isomorphic to $`(l^1)^{\prime \prime }`$ with $`\delta _m0`$.

In addition to Lemma 1 we note that if $`Y`$ is an almost isometric $`l^1`$-copy in an L-embedded space $`X`$ then $`X/Y`$ is L-embedded, too, by \[8, IV.1.3\].

Here is a way of constructing asymptotically isometric $`l^1`$-copies in L-embedded Banach spaces. It is essentially due to Godefroy \[8, IV.2.5\]:

###### Theorem 2.

Let $`X`$ be an L-embedded Banach space with L-decomposition $`X^{\prime \prime }=X_1X_s`$, $`(\mathrm{\Gamma },)`$ a directed set and $`(x_\gamma )_{\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }}`$ a net in the unit ball of $`X`$. If $`x_\gamma \stackrel{w^{}}{}x_sX_s`$ in the $`w^{}`$-topology of $`X^{\prime \prime }`$ and $`x_s=1`$ then there is a sequence $`(x_{\gamma _n})_{nN}`$ which spans $`l^1`$ asymptotically.

Proof: Let $`(\delta _n)`$ be a sequence of strictly positive numbers converging to $`0`$. Set $`\eta _1=\frac{1}{3}\delta _1`$ and $`\eta _{n+1}=\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{min}(\eta _n,\delta _{n+1})`$ for $`n\mathrm{I}N`$. By induction over $`n\mathrm{I}N`$ we will construct $`\gamma _n\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ such that

(1) $`\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}(1\delta _i)|\alpha _i|\right)+\eta _n{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}|\alpha _i|{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\alpha _ix_{\gamma _i}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}|\alpha _i|n\mathrm{I}N,\alpha _i\mathrm{C}.`$
(The last inequality is trivial because $`x_\gamma 1`$.) We recall that the norm is $`w^{}`$-lower semicontinuous. Thus $`lim\; infx_\gamma x_s=1`$ and for the first induction step we choose $`x_{\gamma _1}`$ such that $`x_{\gamma _1}>1\delta _1+\eta _1`$.
For the induction step $`nn+1`$ we suppose $`x_{\gamma _1},\mathrm{},x_{\gamma _n}`$ to be constructed such that (1) holds. Fix an element $`\alpha =(\alpha _i)_{i=1}^{n+1}`$ in the unit sphere of $`l_{n+1}^1`$ such that $`\alpha _{n+1}0`$. The $`w^{}`$-convergence (along $`\gamma `$) of $`(_{i=1}^n\alpha _ix_{\gamma _i})+\alpha _{n+1}x_\gamma `$ to $`(_{i=1}^n\alpha _ix_{\gamma _i})+\alpha _{n+1}x_s`$ yields

$`\underset{\gamma }{lim\; inf}\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\alpha _ix_{\gamma _i}\right)+\alpha _{n+1}x_\gamma `$ $``$ $`\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\alpha _ix_{\gamma _i}\right)+\alpha _{n+1}x_s`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\alpha _ix_{\gamma _i}+\alpha _{n+1}x_s`$
$`\stackrel{(\text{1})}{}`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}(1\delta _i)|\alpha _i|\right)+\eta _n\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}|\alpha _i|\right)+|\alpha _{n+1}|`$
$`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}(1\delta _i)|\alpha _i|\right)+\eta _n\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}|\alpha _i|\right)`$
$`(\eta _n\delta _{n+1})|\alpha _{n+1}|`$
$``$ $`\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}(1\delta _i)|\alpha _i|\right)+\mathrm{min}(\eta _n,\delta _{n+1})`$
because $`\alpha =1`$ and $`|\alpha _{n+1}|1`$. Thus there is an index $`\gamma _0\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ such that $`inf_{\gamma \gamma _0}\left(_{i=1}^n\alpha _ix_{\gamma _i}\right)+\alpha _{n+1}x_\gamma >\left(_{i=1}^{n+1}(1\delta _i)|\alpha _i|\right)+2\eta _{n+1}`$; note that the subnet $`(x_\gamma )_{\gamma \gamma _0}`$ still $`w^{}`$-converges to $`x_s`$.

Choose a finite $`\eta _{n+1}`$-net $`(\alpha ^l)_{l=1}^{L_{n+1}}`$ in the unit sphere of $`l_{n+1}^1`$ in the sense that for each $`\alpha `$ in the unit sphere of $`l_{n+1}^1`$ there is $`lL_{n+1}`$ such that $`\alpha \alpha ^l=_{i=1}^{n+1}|\alpha _i\alpha _i^l|<\eta _{n+1}`$. Then we may repeat the reasoning above finitely many times for $`l=1,\mathrm{},L_{n+1}`$ in order to get $`x_{\gamma _{n+1}}`$ such that

$`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}\alpha _i^lx_{\gamma _i}>\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}(1\delta _i)|\alpha _i^l|\right)+2\eta _{n+1}lL_{n+1}.`$
For an arbitrary $`\alpha `$ in the unit sphere of $`l_{n+1}^1`$ choose $`lL_{n+1}`$ such that $`\alpha \alpha ^l<\eta _{n+1}`$. Then

(2) $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}\alpha _ix_{\gamma _i}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}\alpha _i^lx_{\gamma _i}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}(\alpha _i\alpha _i^l)x_{\gamma _i}`$
$``$ $`\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}(1\delta _i)|\alpha _i|\right)+2\eta _{n+1}\alpha \alpha ^l`$
$``$ $`\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}(1\delta _i)|\alpha _i|\right)+\eta _{n+1}`$
$`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}(1\delta _i)|\alpha _i|\right)+\eta _{n+1}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}|\alpha _i|.`$
This extends to all $`\alpha l_{n+1}^1`$ and thus ends the induction and the proof.

Within L-embedded spaces James’ distortion theorem is more efficient:

###### Corollary 3.

A sequence spanning $`l^1`$ almost isometrically in an L-embedded Banach space admits of a subsequence which spans $`l^1`$ asymptotically.

Proof: We use the notation of the proof of Lemma 1 and the remark in the end of it. Hence there is a net $`(x_{n_\gamma })`$ which $`w^{}`$-converges to a normalized $`w^{}`$-accumulation point $`x_s`$ of $`\{x_n|n\mathrm{I}N\}`$. Proposition 2 applies.

###### Corollary 4.

Every nonreflexive subspace of an L-embedded Banach space contains an asymptotic copy of $`l^1`$.
In particular, every nonreflexive subspace of an L-embedded Banach space fails the fixed point property.

Proof: L-embedded spaces are $`w`$-sequentially complete (, or \[8, IV.2.2\]). Hence the first assertion follows from theorems of Eberlein-Šmuljan, Rosenthal, James and from Corollary 3. Combine this with \[5, Th. 1.2\] to get the second assertion.

By  (or \[8, IV.2.7\]) the basis $`(x_{\gamma _n})`$ in Proposition 2 admits a subsequence whose closed linear span is complemented in $`X`$. In this way Corollary 4 recovers the theorem of Kadec and Pełczyński mentioned in the introduction.

From Lemma 1 we see that both almost isometric and asymptotically isometric $`l^1`$-copies are L-embedded provided they are contained in an L-embedded Banach space. But at the time of this writing it is not clear whether asymptotic $`l^1`$-copies are always L-embedded (or whether asymptotic $`c_0`$-copies are M-embedded). For almost isometric $`l^1`$-copies the situation is clearer:

###### Corollary 5.

There are almost isometric copies of $`l^1`$ which are not L-embedded.

Proof: Combine Corollary 3 or 4 and the counterexample of .

Now we briefly turn to $`c_0`$. Some straightforward modifications of the proof of  (or \[8, IV.2.7\]) show that the dual of a nonreflexive L-embedded space contains asymptotic copies of $`c_0`$ although, of course, not every nonreflexive subspace in the dual of an L-embedded space contains $`c_0`$-copies. (Take $`l^{\mathrm{}}`$ for example.) M-embedded spaces provide a more natural frame:

###### Proposition 6.

Every nonreflexive subspace of an M-embedded space contains an asymptotic $`c_0`$-copy.

Proof: The result could be obtained by appropriate modifications of the proof of \[8, III.3.4, 3.7a\] but we suggest a more direct (and shorter) argument.

Since M-embeddedness passes to subspaces it is enough to prove that every nonreflexive M-embedded space $`Z`$ contains an asymptotic $`c_0`$-copy. Let $`(\delta _m)`$ be a sequence in $`]0,1[`$ converging to $`0`$. By induction over $`n\mathrm{I}N`$ we will construct a sequence $`(z_n)`$ in $`Z`$ such that

(3) $`\underset{in}{\mathrm{max}}(1(12^n)\delta _i)|\alpha _i|{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\alpha _iz_i\underset{in}{\mathrm{max}}(1+(12^n)\delta _i)|\alpha _i|\alpha _i\mathrm{C}.`$
For the beginning of the induction we choose $`z_1`$ in the unit sphere of $`Z`$. Suppose that $`z_1,\mathrm{},z_n`$ have been constructed and satisfy (3). Let $`P`$ denote the L-projection on $`Z^{\prime \prime \prime }`$ with range $`Z^{}`$. We have $`P^{}|_Z=\mathrm{id}_Z`$ and $`Z^{\prime \prime \prime \prime }=Z^{}_{\mathrm{}}Z^{}^{}`$. There exists an element $`z^{}{}_{}{}^{}Z^{}^{}`$ with $`z^{}{}_{}{}^{}=1`$ because $`Z`$ is not reflexive. Put $`E=\text{lin}(\{z_i|in\}\{z^{}{}_{}{}^{}\})`$ and choose $`\eta >0`$ such that

$`(1\eta )(1(12^n)\delta _i)`$ $`>`$ $`(1(12^{(n+1)})\delta _i)`$
$`(1+\eta )(1+(12^n)\delta _i)`$ $`<`$ $`(1+(12^{(n+1)})\delta _i)`$
for all $`in`$. The principle of local reflexivity provides an operator $`T_1:EZ^{\prime \prime }`$ and an operator $`T_2:T_1(E)Z`$ such that $`T=T_2T_1`$ fulfills

(4) $`T|_{EZ}=\mathrm{id}_{EZ}\text{and}(1\eta )eTe(1+\eta )eeE.`$
Put $`z_{n+1}=Tz^{}^{}`$. Then we get (3, $`n+1`$):

$`\underset{in+1}{\mathrm{max}}(1(12^{(n+1)})\delta _i)|\alpha _i|`$ $`<`$ $`(1\eta )\mathrm{max}(\underset{in}{\mathrm{max}}(1(12^n)\delta _i)|\alpha _i|,|\alpha _{n+1}|)`$
$`\stackrel{(\text{3})}{}`$ $`(1\eta )\mathrm{max}({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\alpha _iz_i,\alpha _{n+1}z^{}{}_{}{}^{})`$
$`=`$ $`(1\eta )\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\alpha _iz_i\right)+\alpha _{n+1}z^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$
$`\stackrel{(\text{4})}{}`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n+1}{}}}\alpha _iz_i`$
$`\stackrel{(\text{4})}{}`$ $`(1+\eta )\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\alpha _iz_i\right)+\alpha _{n+1}z^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$
$`=`$ $`(1+\eta )\mathrm{max}({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\alpha _iz_i,|\alpha _{n+1}|)`$
$`<`$ $`\underset{in+1}{\mathrm{max}}(1+(12^{(n+1)})\delta _i)|\alpha _i|.`$
This ends the induction and the proof.

It is now immediate that every nonreflexive subspace of an M-embedded space fails the fixed point property (see \[6, Prop. 7\]).

The analogue of Lemma 1 holds trivially, simply because M-embeddedness passes to subspaces \[8, III.1.6\]; thus every $`c_0`$-copy inside an M-embedded space is M-embedded. And similarly as for Corollary 5, the counterexample of  combined with Proposition 6 provides an almost isometric $`c_0`$-copy which is not M-embedded.