Related papers: Strongly Coupled Inflaton

In quasi-single field inflation models, massive isocurvature modes, that are coupled to the inflaton and have mass of order the Hubble parameter, can have nontrivial impacts on density perturbations, especially non-Gaussianities. We study a…

We consider a non-minimally coupled inflaton, in a higher order curvature background, leading to a potential which evolves with the curvature scalar of the Universe, and which describes two regimes. The first one is a de Sitter phase, where…

The problems of attempting inflationary model-building in a theory containing a dilaton are explained. In particular, I study the shape of the dilaton potential today and during inflation, based on a weakly-coupled heterotic string model…

Inflation near a maximum of the potential is studied when non-local derivative operators are included in the inflaton Lagrangian. Such terms can impose additional sources of friction on the field. For an arbitrary spacetime geometry, these…

This thesis is dedicated to studying cosmological inflation, which is a period of accelerated expansion in the very early Universe that is required to explain the observed anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. Inflation, when…

We study single-field slow-roll inflation embedded in Palatini $F(R)$ gravity where $F(R)$ grows faster than $R^2$. Surprisingly, the consistency of the theory requires the Jordan frame inflaton potential to be unbounded from below. Even…

We study in detail a new model of quintessential inflation where the inflaton field is coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet term. This coupling ensures that the variation of the field is kept sub-Planckian, which avoids the 5th force problem as well…

Slow-roll inflation is studied as an effective field theory.We find as consistent form of the inflaton potential V(phi)=N M^4 w(phi/[sqrt{N}M_P]) where phi is the inflaton field, M the inflation energy scale, M_P the Planck mass, and N~50…

We revisit the notion of slow-roll in the context of general single-field inflation. As a generalization of slow-roll dynamics, we consider an inflaton $\phi$ in an attractor phase where the time derivative of $\phi$ is determined by a…

Supersymmetric compactification with moderately large radius (${\rm Re}< T > \sim {\cal O}(10)$ or more) not only accommodates supersymmetric unification, but also provides candidates for an inflaton in the form of geometric moduli; the…

We study a radion model for inflation and density perturbation identifying the scalar field arising from the five-dimensional gravity on $M_4 x S^1$ with the inflaton. The inflaton potential arising from 5D graviton and matter one-loop…

We explore a new class of supersymmetric models of inflation where the inflaton is realised as a combination of a Higgs field and (gauge non-singlet) matter fields, using a "tribrid" structure of the superpotential. Inflation is associated…

We study the possibility that particle production during inflation could source observable gravity waves on scales relevant for Cosmic Microwave Background experiments. A crucial constraint on such scenarios arises because particle…

We study the robustness of single-field inflation against inhomogeneities. We derive a simple analytic criterion on the shape of the potential for successful inflation in the presence of inhomogeneities, and demonstrate its validity using…

We consider an inflationary scenario where the rate of inflaton roll defined by $\ddot\phi/H\dot \phi$ remains constant. The rate of roll is small for slow-roll inflation, while a generic rate of roll leads to the interesting case of…

We derive the general formulae for the the scalar and tensor spectral tilts to the second order for the inflationary models with non-minimally derivative coupling without taking the high friction limit. The non-minimally kinetic coupling to…

Several models of inflection point inflation with the volume modulus as the inflaton are investigated. Non-perturbative superpotentials containing two gaugino condensation terms or one such term with threshold corrections are considered. It…

Slow-roll inflation is analyzed in the context of modified gravity within the Palatini formalism. As shown in the literature, inflation in this framework requires the presence of non-traceless matter, otherwise it does not occur just as a…

I review two classes of strong coupling problems in condensed matter physics, and describe insights gained by application of the AdS/CFT correspondence. The first class concerns non-zero temperature dynamics and transport in the vicinity of…

We develop a frame-covariant formulation of inflation in the slow-roll approximation by generalizing the inflationary attractor solution for scalar-curvature theories. Our formulation gives rise to new generalized forms for the potential…