The cosmological Slavnov-Taylor identity from BRST symmetry in single-field inflation

Abstract

The cosmological Slavnov-Taylor (ST) identity of the Einstein-Hilbert action coupled to a single inflaton field is obtained from the Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) symmetry associated with diffeomorphism invariance in the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) formalism. The consistency conditions between the correlators of the scalar and tensor modes in the squeezed limit are then derived from the ST identity, together with the softly broken conformal symmetry. Maldacena's original relations connecting the 2- and 3-point correlators at horizon crossing are recovered, as well as the next-to-leading corrections, controlled by the special conformal transformations.