Gauss-Bonnet Inflation
High Energy Physics - Theory
2015-09-02 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract
We consider an Einstein-Scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravitational theory, and argue that at early times the Ricci scalar can be safely ignored. We then demonstrate that the pure scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theory, with a quadratic coupling function, naturally supports inflationary -- de Sitter -- solutions. During inflation, the scalar field decays exponentially and its effective potential remains always bounded. The theory contains also solutions where these de Sitter phases possess a natural exit mechanism and are replaced by linearly expanding -- Milne -- phases.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1503.01579,
title = {Gauss-Bonnet Inflation},
author = {Panagiota Kanti and Radouane Gannouji and Naresh Dadhich},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.01579},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
6 pages, Revtex, 3 figures, introduction updated, a section added, typos corrected, accepted as a Rapid Communications article in Physical Review D