A new approach to non-commutative inflation

We propose an inflationary scenario inspired by a recent formulation, in terms of coherent states, of non-commutative quantum field theory. We consider the semiclassical Einstein equations, and exploit the ultraviolet finiteness of the non-commutative propagator to construct the expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor associated with a generic scalar field. It turns out that the latter is always finite and dominated by an effective cosmological constant. By combining this general feature with the intrinsic fuzziness of spacetime, we show that non-commutativity governs the energy density of the early Universe in such a way that the strong energy condition is violated. Thus, there might be a bounce and a subsequent inflationary phase, which does not need any ad hoc scalar field. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd.