Related papers: A new perspective on supersymmetric inflation
We investigate theoretical and observational aspects of a warm inflation scenario driven by the $\beta$-exponential potential, which generalizes the well-known power law inflation. In such a scenario, the decay of the inflaton field into…
In models of natural inflation, the inflaton is an axion-like particle. Unfortunately, axion potentials in UV-complete theories appear to be too steep to drive inflation. We show that, even for a steep potential, natural inflation can occur…
We consider second order inflationary perturbations in the case of two scalar fields, $\sigma$ and the inflaton $\phi$. We derive an expression for the non-Gaussianity of perturbations and apply the results to hybrid inflation. We isolate…
It is shown that, in supergravity models of inflation where the gauge kinetic function of a gauge field is modulated by the inflaton, we can obtain a new inflationary attractor solution, in which the roll-over of the inflaton suffers…
Spectator field models such as the curvaton scenario and the modulated reheating are attractive scenarios for the generation of the cosmic curvature perturbation, as the constraints on inflation models are relaxed. In this paper, we discuss…
We estimate large-scale curvature perturbations from isocurvature fluctuations in the waterfall field during hybrid inflation, in addition to the usual inflaton field perturbations. The tachyonic instability at the end of inflation leads to…
We study models of inflation where the inflaton corresponds to a flat direction in field space and its mass term is generated by gravity mediated soft supersymmetry breaking at high scale. Assuming the inflaton to have non negligible…
There is strong evidence from cosmological data that the universe underwent an epoch of superluminal expansion called inflation. A satisfactory embedding of inflation in fundamental physics has been an outstanding problem at the interface…
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.…
Slow-roll inflation is a successful paradigm. However we find that even a small coupling of the inflaton to other light fields can dramatically alter the dynamics and predictions of inflation. As an example, the inflaton can generically…
We propose an open hybrid inflation scenario that produces an open universe with a `tilted' n>1 spectrum of metric perturbations. The model contains a symmetry breaking field that tunnels to its true vacuum, producing a single bubble inside…
Dissipative effects can lead to a friction term in the equation of motion for an inflaton field during the inflationary era. The friction term may be linear and localised, in which case it is described by a dissipation coefficient. The…
We examine extended inflation models enhanced by the addition of a coupling between the inflaton field and the space-time curvature. We examine two types of model, where the underlying inflaton potential takes on second-order and…
We show that inflation can naturally occur at a finite temperature T>H that is sustained by dissipative effects, when the inflaton field corresponds to a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson of a broken gauge symmetry. Similarly to "Little Higgs"…
Predictions of inflationary schemes can be influenced by the presence of extra dimensions. This could be of particular relevance for the spectrum of gravitational waves in models where the extra dimensions provide a brane-world solution to…
We investigate the possibility that fields coupled to the inflaton can influence the primordial spectrum of density perturbations through their coherent motion. For example, the second field in hybrid inflation might be oscillating at the…
We study the effect of inflation on gaugino condensation in supergravity. Unless the Hubble scale H is significantly below the gaugino condensation scale, the gaugino condensate is a dynamical variable which cannot be integrated out. For a…
We propose a possibility that the inflaton potential is significantly modified after inflation due to heavy field dynamics. During inflation there may be a heavy scalar field stabilized at a value deviated from the low-energy minimum. As…
Cosmological inflation is discussed in the realm of Einstein-Cartan-Brans-Dicke (ECBD) gravity by constructing an effective inflaton potential and computing the number of e-folds.It is shown that spin-torsion density contributes to a…
We consider a class of multi-component hybrid inflation models whose evolution may be analytically solved under the slow-roll approximation. We call it multi-brid inflation (or $n$-brid inflation where $n$ stands for the number of inflaton…