Related papers: A Back-reaction Induced Lower Bound on the Tensor-…
The simple $m^2\phi^2$ potential as an inflationary model is coming under increasing tension with limits on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and measurements of the scalar spectral index $n_s$. Cubic Galileon interactions in the context of…
We show that if inflation lasted just longer than the required 60 or so e-folds $N$ both scalar and tensor contributions to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) power spectra are expected to show a cut-off. However the behaviour of the…
Future cosmic microwave background polarization experiments will search for evidence of primordial tensor modes at large angular scales, in the multipole range $4 \leq \ell \leq 50.$ Because in that range there is some mild evidence of…
We introduce the scalar and tensor modes of the gravitational perturbation in the presence of a scalar field which describes inflation. We investigate the back-reaction of the perturbations to the background by studying the effective…
We consider the polynomial inflation with the tensor-to-scalar ratio as large as possible which can be consistent with the Quantum Gravity (QG) corrections and Effective Field Theory (EFT). To get a minimal field excursion $\Delta\phi$ for…
For a narrow band of values of the top quark and Higgs boson masses, the Standard Model Higgs potential develops a false minimum at energies of about $10^{16}$ GeV, where primordial Inflation could have started in a cold metastable state. A…
Inflation is often described through the dynamics of a scalar field, slow-rolling in a suitable potential. Ultimately, this inflaton must be identified as the expectation value of a quantum field, evolving in a quantum effective potential.…
The scalar and tensor fluctuations generated during inflation can be correlated, if arising from the same underlying mechanism. In this paper we investigate such correlation in the model of axion inflation, where the rolling inflaton…
Recently we have studied in great detail a model of Hybrid Natural Inflation (HNI) by constructing two simple effective field theories. These two versions of the model allow inflationary energy scales as small as the electroweak scale in…
We investigate the Lyth relationship between the tensor-scalar ratio, r, and the variation of the inflaton field, Delta phi, over the course of inflation. For inflationary models that produce at least 55 e-folds of inflation, there is a…
Next-to-leading order expressions related to Stewart-Lyth inverse problem are used to determine the inflationary models with a tensorial power spectrum described by a scale-invariant spectral index. Beyond power-law inflation, solutions are…
Recently, it was proposed that a small true vacuum universe can inflate spontaneously, in principle. Furthermore, there should be matter creation in vacuum inflation due to quantum fluctuations, and the matter created will influence the…
Thanks to the Planck Collaboration, we know the value of the scalar spectral index of primordial fluctuations with unprecedented precision. In addition, the joint analysis of the data from Planck, BICEP2, and KEK has further constrained the…
We consider a subclass of Horndeski theories for studying cosmic inflation. In particular, we investigate models of inflation in which the derivative self-interaction of the scalar field and the non-minimal derivative coupling to gravity…
Power-law inflation with $a(t) \propto t^m$ is conceptually simple and predicts a scalar tilt $n_s = 1 - 2/m$ compatible with CMB data, but in four-dimensional Einstein gravity it typically yields a tensor-to-scalar ratio $r = 16/m$ that is…
We consider inflationary models with the inflaton coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet term assuming a special relation $\delta_1=2\lambda\epsilon_1$ between the two slow-roll parameters $\delta_1$ and $\epsilon_1$. For the slow-roll inflation, the…
The low-frequency gravitons correspond to typical wavelengths that left the Hubble radius during the early inflationary stages of expansion and reentered after matter radiation equality. Consequently the temperature and the polarization…
Recently observational lower bounds on the strength of cosmic magnetic fields were reported, based on gamma-ray flux from distant blazars. If inflation is responsible for the generation of such magnetic fields then the inflation energy…
Building on Weinberg's approach to effective field theory for inflation, we construct an effective Lagrangian for a pseudo scalar (axion) inflaton field with shift symmetry. In this Lagrangian we allow the axion field to couple to…
We consider inflation in a universe with a positive cosmological constant and a nonminimally coupled scalar field, in which the field couples both quadratically and quartically to the Ricci scalar. When considered in the Einstein frame and…