Related papers: New developments on embedding inflation in gauge t…
We point out some of the outstanding challenges for embedding inflationary cosmology within string theory studying the process of reheating for models where the inflaton is a closed string mode parameterising the size of an internal cycle…
We construct a model of inflation based on a low-energy effective theory of spontaneously broken global scale invariance. This provides a shift symmetry that protects the inflaton potential from quantum corrections. Since the underlying…
Many models of supersymmetry breaking involve particles with weak scale mass and Planck mass suppressed couplings. Coherent production of such particles in the early universe destroys the successful predictions of nucleosynthesis. We show…
We review the main aspects of the warm inflation scenario, focusing on the inflationary dynamics and the predictions related to the primordial spectrum of perturbations, to be compared with the recent cosmological observations. We study in…
We examine the particle production via preheating at the end of inflation in supersymmetric theories. The inflaton and matter scalars are now necessarily complex fields, and their relevant interactions are restricted by holomorphy. In…
Inflation is nowadays a well-established paradigm consistent with all the observations. The precise nature of the inflaton is however unknown and its role could be played by any candidate able to imitate a scalar condensate in the slow-roll…
Low scale inflation has many virtues and it has been claimed that its natural realisation in supersymmetric standard model can be achieved rather easily. In this letter we have demonstrated that also in this case the dynamics of the hidden…
We show how to enlarge the $\nu$MSM (the minimal extension of the standard model by three right-handed neutrinos) to incorporate inflation and provide a common source for electroweak symmetry breaking and for right-handed neutrino masses.…
Inflationary scenarios motivated by the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) where five scalar fields are non-minimally coupled to gravity are considered. The potential of the model and the function of non-minimal coupling are…
We show that simple strongly coupled supersymmetric gauge theories with quantum moduli spaces can naturally lead to hybrid inflation. These theories contain no input dimensionful or small parameters. The effective superpotential is linear…
We explore a new class of supersymmetric models of inflation where the inflaton is realised as a combination of a Higgs field and (gauge non-singlet) matter fields, using a "tribrid" structure of the superpotential. Inflation is associated…
We argue that the Higgs boson of the Standard Model can lead to inflation and produce cosmological perturbations in accordance with observations. An essential requirement is the non-minimal coupling of the Higgs scalar field to gravity; no…
We investigate, in a model-independent way, the conditions required to obtain a satisfactory model of extended inflation in which inflation is brought to an end by a first-order phase transition. The constraints are that the correct present…
We argue that inflationary dynamics may support a scenario where significant matter-antimatter asymmetry is generated from initially small-scale quantum fluctuations that are subsequently stretched out over large scales. This scenario can…
We revisit some questions in supersymmetric hybrid inflation (SHI). We analyze the amount of fine tuning required in various models, the problem of decay at the end of inflation and the generation of baryons after inflation. We find that…
The BICEP2 observations, if confirmed, point to a high scale of inflation and large field excursions during the inflationary era. Non-compact string moduli spaces are a suggestive setting for these phenomena. While unlikely to be described…
Motivated by the flavored Peccei-Quinn symmetry for unifying flavor physics and string theory, we investigate a supersymmetric extension of standard model (SM) for an explanation of inflation and leptogenesis by introducing $U(1)$…
This article provides an introductory review of inflation and cosmological perturbation theory. I begin by motivating the need for an epoch of inflation during the early stages of the radiation dominated era, and describe how inflation is…
Despite the fact that experimentally with a high degree of statistical significance only a single Standard Model--like Higgs boson is discovered at the LHC, extended Higgs sectors with multiple scalar fields not excluded by combined fits of…
The smallness of the neutrino masses may be related to inflation. The minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with small Dirac neutrino masses already has all the necessary ingredients for a successful inflation. In this model the…