English

Non-Gaussianity in rapid-turn multi-field inflation

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2024-06-21 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

We show that theories of inflation with multiple, rapidly turning fields can generate large amounts of non-Gaussianity. We consider a general theory with two fields, an arbitrary field-space metric, and a potential that supports sustained, rapidly turning field trajectories. Our analysis accounts for non-zero field cross-correlation and does not fix the power spectra of curvature and isocurvature perturbations to be equal at horizon crossing. Using the δN\delta N formalism, we derive a novel, analytical formula for bispectrum generated from multi-field mixing on super-horizon scales. Rapid-turn inflation can produce a bispectrum with several potentially large contributions that are not necessarily of the local shape. We exemplify the applicability of our formula with a fully explicit model and show that the new contributions indeed can generate a large amplitude of local non-Gaussianity, fNLlocO(1)f_{\rm NL}^{\rm loc}\sim {\cal O}(1). These results will be important when interpreting the outcomes of future observations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2303.14156,
  title  = {Non-Gaussianity in rapid-turn multi-field inflation},
  author = {Oksana Iarygina and M. C. David Marsh and Gustavo Salinas},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.14156},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

33 pages, 9 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T09:32:38.205Z