Figure 8

Figure 8: The evolution of the covariant variable P, defined in Equation (298View Equation) (and not to be confused with the Bardeen potential), along a fundamental world-line. This is a mode that is well beyond the Hubble horizon at N = 0, about 50 e-folds before inflation ends, and remains super-Hubble through the radiation era. A smooth transition from inflation to radiation is modelled by w = 13[(2 - 32e)tanh(N - 50) - (1 - 32e)], where e is a small positive parameter (chosen as e = 0.1 in the plot). Labels on the curves indicate the value of r0/c, so that the general relativistic solution is the dashed curve (r /c = 0 0). (Figure taken from [122].)