Classical behavior of a scalar field in the inflationary universe

Extending the coarse-graining approach of Starobinsky, we formulate a theory to deal with the dynamics of a scalar field in inflationary universe models. We find a set of classical Langevin equations which describes the large-scale behavior of the scalar field. The corresponding Fokker-Planck equation is also derived which is defined on the phase space of the scalar field. We show that our theory is essentially equivalent to the one-loop field theory in de Sitter space and reduces to that of Starobinsky in a strong limit of the slow roll-over condition. Analysis of a simple Higgs-potential model is done and the implications are discussed. (orig.)