Related papers: Revisiting the modified Starobinsky model with cos…
Cosmological solutions derived by Nariai and Tomita (1971) and by Starobinsky (1980) are compared, and it is shown that the former derived de Sitter expansion in the R^2 modified gravity (without cosmological constant) at the earliest…
The theory of inflation is one of the fundamental and revolutionary developments of modern cosmology that became able to explain many issues of early universe in the context of the standard cosmological model (SCM). However, the initial…
The solution for an inflationary universe without singularities is derived from the Einstein-Lemaitre equations. The present state of the universe evolved from a steady state solution for a tiny, but classical micro-universe with large…
We develop a string-inspired model for particle cosmology, based on a flipped SU(5)$\times$U(1) gauge group formulated in a no-scale supergravity framework. The model realizes Starobinsky-like inflation, which we assume to be followed by…
This review article aims at presenting the theory of inflation. We first describe the background spacetime behavior during the slow-roll phase and analyze how inflation ends and the Universe reheats. Then, we present the theory of…
We consider supersymmetric inflation models in which inflation occurs at an intermediate scale and which provide a solution to the $\mu$ problem and the strong CP problem. Such models are particularly attractive since inflation,…
We propose a novel non-singular cosmological scenario within the framework of Horndeski gravity, consisting of three successive stages: (i) a Genesis phase, in which the Universe slowly expands from an asymptotically flat spacetime; (ii) a…
The inflationary scenario has become the paradigm of early universe cosmology, and - in conjuction with ideas from superstring theory - has led to speculations about an "inflationary multiverse". From a point of view of phenomenology, the…
We elaborate on the predictions of the imaginary Starobinsky model of inflation coupled to matter, where the inflaton is identified with the imaginary part of the inflaton multiplet suggested by the Supergravity embedding of a pure R + R^2…
In this paper we develop the formalism for the stochastic approach to inflation at all order in slow-roll parameters. This is done by including the momentum and Hamiltonian constraints into the stochastic equations. We then specialise to…
We probe the cosmological consequences of a recently proposed class of solutions to the cosmological constant problem. In these models, the universe undergoes a long period of inflation followed by a contraction and a bounce that sets the…
Cosmological inflation models with modifications to include recent cosmological observations has been an active area of research after WMAP 3 results, which have given us information about the composition of dark matter, normal matter and…
We study the evolution of spatially flat Friedmann-Lema\^{i}tre-Robertson-Walker universe for chaotic and Starobinsky potentials in the framework of modified loop quantum cosmologies. These models result in a non-singular bounce as in loop…
Models of inflation are tightly constrained by the PLANCK satellite data. Among them, Starobinsky's model with an exponential type potential seems to be challenged by the recent BICEP2 results. The model is based on the existence of $\,~…
We consider the Standard Models of particle physics and hot big bang cosmology, and review the theoretical and experimental motivations for extending these models to include supersymmetry and inflation. An obvious extension would be to…
Inflation has been the leading early universe scenario for two decades, and has become an accepted element of the successful `cosmic concordance' model. However, there are many puzzling features of the resulting theory. It requires both…
We revisit Starobinsky inflation in a quantum gravitational context, by means of the exact Renormalisation Group (RG). We calculate the non-perturbative beta functions for Newton's `constant' G and the dimensionless R^2 coupling, and show…
Based on the current experimental data, the Standard Model predicts that the current vacuum state of the Universe is metastable, leading to a non-zero rate of vacuum decay through nucleation of bubbles of true vacuum. Our existence implies…
We consider cosmological inflation generated by a scalar field slowly rolling off from a de Sitter maximum of its potential. The models belong to the class of hilltop models and represent the most general model of this kind in which the…
Inflation is a promising solution to many problems of the standard Big-Bang cosmology. Nevertheless, inflationary models have proved less compelling. In this chapter, we discuss why supersymmetry has led to more natural models of inflation.…