Related papers: A Back-reaction Induced Lower Bound on the Tensor-…
If observations confirm BICEP2's claim of a tensor-scalar ratio $r\approx 0.2$ on CMB scales, then the inflationary consistency relation $n_{t}=-r/8$ predicts a small negative value for the tensor spectral index $n_t$. We show that future…
The form of the inflationary potential is severely restricted if one requires that it be natural in the technical sense, i.e. terms of unrelated origin are not required to be correlated. We determine the constraints on observables that are…
We show that density perturbations seeded by the inflaton can be suppressed when having additional light degrees of freedom contributing to the production of perturbations. The inflaton fluctuations affect the light field dynamics by…
We propose a test of single-scalar inflation based on using the well-measured scalar power spectrum to reconstruct the tensor power spectrum, up to a single integration constant. Our test is a sort of integrated version of the single-scalar…
In cosmic inflation driven by a scalar gauge singlet field with a tree level Higgs potential, the scalar to tensor ratio r is estimated to be larger than 0.036, provided the scalar spectral index n_s >= 0.96. We discuss quantum smearing of…
We study the tensor modes of linear metric perturbations within an effective framework of loop quantum cosmology. After a review of inverse-volume and holonomy corrections in the background equations of motion, we solve the linearized…
Supersymmetry is the most natural framework for physics above the TeV scale, and the corresponding framework for early-Universe cosmology, including inflation, is supergravity. No-scale supergravity emerges from generic string…
We study inflation with the most general non-degenerate gravitational action that depends on the symmetric part of the Ricci tensor coupled to a scalar field in the Palatini formulation of gravity. We use field redefinitions to shift the…
We revisit the possibility of producing observable tensor modes through a continuous particle production process during inflation. Particularly, we focus on the multi-field realization of inflation where a spectator pseudo-scalar $\sigma$…
If primordial scalar or tensor perturbations are enhanced on short scales, it may lead to the production of observable gravitational wave signals. These waves may be sourced by scalar-scalar, scalar-tensor or tensor-tensor interactions.…
We show that the scalar-tensor $\sigma$-model action is conformally equivalent to general relativity with a minimally coupled wavemap with a particular target metric. Inflation on the source manifold is then shown to occur in a natural way…
We propose a new class of inflation model, G-inflation, which has a Galileon-like nonlinear derivative interaction of the form $G(\phi, (\nabla\phi)^2)\Box\phi$ in the Lagrangian with the resultant equations of motion being of second order.…
The amplitude and spectrum of the scalar and tensor perturbations depend upon the shape of the inflationary potential in the small interval where the scalar field responsible for inflation was between about 46 and 54 e-folds before the end…
Supersolid inflation is a class of inflationary theories that simultaneously breaks time and space reparameterization invariance during inflation, with distinctive features for the dynamics of cosmological fluctuations. We investigate…
Loop quantum cosmology (LQC) provides promising resolutions to the trans-Planckian issue and initial singularity arising in the inflationary models of general relativity. In general, due to different quantization approaches, LQC involves…
The (large-scale) structures we observe in the Universe are classical, but within the inflationary scenario they do originate from quantum fluctuations. This leads to the question: ''How did this quantum-to-classical transition occur?''. A…
We demonstrate that the latest constraints on inflationary observables, namely the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and the scalar spectral index $n_{_S}$, from the Cosmic Background Radiation (CMB) observations are already strong enough to rule…
We study classes of inflation models driven by antisymmetric tensor field, with minimal and nonminimal couplings to gravity, that address known issues of such models considered in the past. First we show that with a different choice of the…
We consider the linear perturbations for the single scalar field inflation model interacting with an additional triad of scalar fields. The background solutions of the three additional scalar fields depend on spatial coordinates with a…
We propose new classes of inflation models based on the modular symmetry, where the modulus field $\tau$ serves as the inflaton. We establish a connection between modular inflation and modular stabilization, wherein the modulus field rolls…