English

Resurrecting Quadratic Inflation in No-Scale Supergravity in Light of BICEP2

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2015-06-19 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

The magnitude of primordial tensor perturbations reported by the BICEP2 experiment is consistent with simple models of chaotic inflation driven by a single scalar field with a power-law potential \propto \phi^n: n \simeq 2, in contrast to the WMAP and Planck results, which favored models resembling the Starobinsky R + R^2 model if running of the scalar spectral index could be neglected. While models of inflation with a quadratic potential may be constructed in simple N=1 supergravity, these constructions are more challenging in no-scale supergravity. We discuss here how quadratic inflation can be accommodated within supergravity, focussing primarily on the no-scale case. We also argue that the quadratic inflaton may be identified with the supersymmetric partner of a singlet (right-handed) neutrino, whose subsequent decay could have generated the baryon asymmetry via leptogenesis.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1403.7518,
  title  = {Resurrecting Quadratic Inflation in No-Scale Supergravity in Light of BICEP2},
  author = {John Ellis and Marcos A. G. Garcia and Dimitri V. Nanopoulos and Keith A. Olive},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1403.7518},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

24 pages, 14 figures