QUANTUM FLUCTUATIONS IN THE OPEN UNIVERSE

We solve a continuing controversy when dealing with density fluctuatio ns in open Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universes, on the physical relevance of a class of exponential modes. We show explicitly and rig orously that these modes enter the expansion of quantum fields. In the maximally symmetric de Sitter case, encountered in inflationary model s, they are excited for fields with a mass below a critical value m(cr ),,. They are seen to be responsible for the breaking of the de Sitter symmetry for a massless field. We provide an exact calculation of the power spectrum for any mass. Our method is free of the divergences th at appear in earlier treatments. We extend the construction to a gener ic open FRW universe. [S0556-2821(98)01004-2].