Ekpyrotic perturbations with small non-Gaussian corrections

The entropic mechanism for producing nearly scale-invariant density perturbations in a contracting ekpyrotic universe relies on having an unstable scalar potential. Here we develop a variant of this mechanism (recently proposed by Qiu, Gao and Saridakis, and by Li), in which there exists a nontrivial coupling between adiabatic and entropic fields, and where an unstable potential is not required. In the model nearly scale-invariant entropy perturbations are generated first. Remarkably, we find that the bispectrum of these perturbations vanishes, with the values of the non-Gaussianity parameters of local, equilateral and orthogonal type all exactly zero. Subsequently, the entropy perturbations can be converted into curvature perturbations by a variety of mechanisms. The bispectrum of the curvature perturbations depends on the nonlinearity of the conversion process and is thus more model-dependent-however, for an efficient conversion process the final bispectrum remains small. The only distinguishing feature compared to single-field slow-roll inflationary models is that the ekpyrotic phase does not generate significant primordial gravitational waves. Thus the present model provides a perfect match to current data from the PLANCK satellite.