Related papers: Spotted Inflation
The dominant contribution to the primordial curvature perturbation may be generated at the end of inflation. Taking the end of inflation to be sudden, formulas are presented for the spectrum, spectral tilt and non-gaussianity. They are…
Nowadays cosmological inflation is the most accepted mechanism to explain the primordial seeds that led to the structure formation observed in the Universe. Current observations are in well agreement to initial adiabatic conditions, which…
We develop a set of controlled, analytic approximations to study the effects of bubble collisions on cosmology. We expand the initial perturbation to the inflaton field caused by the collision in a general power series, and determine its…
We study an inflationary scenario where thermal inflation is followed by fast-roll inflation. This is a rather generic possibility based on the effective potentials of spontaneous symmetry breaking in the context of particle physics models.…
We study the generation of the primordial curvature perturbation in multi-field inflation. Considering both the evolution of the perturbation during inflation and the effects generated at the end of inflation, we present a general formula…
In a variety of inflation models the motion of the inflaton may trigger the production of some non-inflaton particles during inflation, for example via parametric resonance or a phase transition. Particle production during inflation leads…
Perturbations in cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons and large scale structure of the universe are sourced primarily by the curvature perturbation which is widely believed to be produced during inflation. In this paper we present a…
Two extensions of ideas lying in the basis of the inflationary scenario of the early Universe and their effect on the large scale structure of the present-day Universe are discussed. The first of them is the possibility of fast phase…
Inflation models are compared with observation on the assumption that the curvature perturbation is generated from the vacuum fluctuation of the inflaton field. The focus is on single-field models with canonical kinetic terms, classified as…
Inflation may have been driven by a component which violated the Null-Energy Condition, thereby leading to {\it super inflation}. We provide the formalism to study cosmological perturbations when such a component is described by a scalar…
We review conceptual aspects of inflationary scenarios able to produce primordial black holes, by amplifying the size of curvature fluctuations to the level required for triggering black hole formation. We identify general mechanisms to do…
We study a model of inflation with multiple pseudo-scalar fields coupled to a $U(1)$ gauge field through Chern-Simons interactions. Because of parity violating interactions, one polarization of the gauge field is amplified yielding to…
Cosmological perturbations in warm inflation are conventionally described by an EFT. It consists of the inflaton field coupled to a radiation fluid and applies to energy scales of order Hubble $H$ and inflaton decay width $\gamma$, but well…
We investigate the circumstances under which cosmic inflation can arise from very inhomogeneous initial conditions using numerical relativity simulations. Previous studies have not considered cases with non-zero momentum density due to…
Heavy isocurvature fields may have a strong influence on the low energy dynamics of curvature perturbations during inflation, as long as the inflationary trajectory becomes non-geodesic in the multi-field target space (the landscape). If…
We calculate the primordial spectrum of scalar perturbations of the 3-form inflation and we find that the curvature perturbations decay at late times. As as result, although a non-minimally coupled massive 3-form field may drive inflation…
An inflationary scenario that leads to $\Omega _0<1$ today is presented. An epoch of `old' inflation during which the smoothness and horizon problems are solved is followed by a shortened epoch of `new' inflation. Old inflation exits…
While cosmological inflation can erase primordial inhomogeneities, it is possible that inflation may not begin in a significantly inhomogeneous universe. This issue is particularly pressing in multifield scenarios, where even the…
Quintessential inflation is studied using a string modulus as the inflaton - quintessence field. The modulus begins its evolution at the steep part of its scalar potential, which is due to non-perturbative effects (e.g. gaugino…
Inflation models can have an early phase of inflation where the evolution of the inflaton is driven by quantum fluctuations before entering the phase driven by the slope of the scalar field potential. For a Coleman-Weinberg potential this…