Related papers: Desensitizing Inflation from the Planck Scale
The eta problem is one of the most significant obstacles to building a successful inflationary model in string theory. Planck mass suppressed corrections to the inflaton potential generally lead to inflaton masses of order the Hubble scale…
We argue that strong dynamics at the Planck scale can solve the cosmological moduli problem. We discuss its implications for inflation models, and find that a certain type of multi-field inflation model is required for this mechanism to…
F-term hybrid inflation models in the context of supergravity generically have corrections to the inflaton mass squared of the order of H^{2} (the \eta-problem). In addition they have a problem with large deviations of the spectrum of…
Effective field theory is a powerful organizing principle that allows to describe physics below a certain scale model-independently. Above that energy scale, identified with the cutoff, the EFT description breaks down and new physics is…
We examine the role of using symmetry and effective field theory in inflationary model building. We describe the standard formulation of starting with an approximate shift symmetry for a scalar field, and then introducing corrections…
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…
If the inflaton is a pseudo-scalar axion, the axion shift symmetry can protect the flatness of its potential from too large radiative corrections. This possibility, known as natural inflation, requires an axion scale which is greater than…
We argue that the eta-problem in supergravity inflation cannot be solved without knowledge of the ground state of hidden sectors that are gravitationally coupled to the inflaton. If the hidden sector breaks supersymmetry independently, its…
An appealing explanation for the Planck data is provided by inflationary models with a singular non-canonical kinetic term: a Laurent expansion of the kinetic function translates into a potential with a nearly shift-symmetric plateau in…
Because the inflationary mechanism is extremely sensitive to UV-physics, the construction of theoretically robust models of inflation provides a unique window on Planck-scale physics. We review efforts to use an axion with a shift symmetry…
A Lorentz violating vector "{\ae}ther" field in five dimensional spacetime can give rise to an inflation model in which the eta problem can be avoided. By identifying the inflaton field with the moduli field describing the radius of the…
We consider models of inflation in supergravity with a shift symmetry. We focus on models with one moduli and one inflaton field. The presence of this symmetry guarantees the existence of a flat direction for the inflaton field. Mildly…
We study the supergravity hybrid inflation model of Ref.[1] in the presence of a modulus field. The eta-problem is solved by a shift symmetry for the inflaton, which protects the inflaton mass even in the presence of the modulus field.…
Constructing models of inflation and/or baryogenesis in the context of N=1 supergravity is known to be difficult as the finite energy density during inflation typically generates large (order the Hubble scale) mass terms. This is the…
We consider a phenomenological model of inflation where the inflaton is the phase of a complex scalar field $\Phi$. Planck-suppressed operators of $\mathcal O(f^5/M_\mathrm{pl})$ modify the geometry of the vev $\langle \Phi \rangle$ at…
We investigate an inflationary scenario driven by a complex scalar field nonminimally coupled to gravity and subject to a non-symmetric complex potential. The real part of the potential controls the cosmological background and realizes a…
We present the first quantum field theory model of inflation that is renormalizable in the matter sector, with a super-Hubble inflaton mass and sub-Planckian field excursions, which is thus technically natural and consistent with a…
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…
We examine the consequences of Lorentz violation during slow-roll inflation. We consider a canonical scalar inflaton coupled, through its potential, to the divergence of a fixed-norm timelike vector field, or "aether." The vector is…
The angular power spectrum is investigated in the model of supergravity, incorporating the target-space duality and the non-perturbative gaugino condensation in the hidden sector. The inflation and supersymmetry breaking occur at once by…