Related papers: Optimizing future experimental probes of inflation
We study a model where two scalar fields, that are subdominant during inflation, decay into radiation some time after inflation has ended but before primordial nucleosynthesis. Perturbations of these two curvaton fields can be responsible…
We propose one way to regularize the fluctuations generated during inflation, whose infrared (IR) corrections diverge logarithmically. In the case of a single field inflation model, recently, we proposed one solution to the IR divergence…
Multi-field models of inflation typically assume that interactions between particles can be treated perturbatively. Strongly-coupled models provide an intriguing alternative and may offer novel inflationary phenomenology. We study the…
Reasonable-looking models of inflation are compared, taking into account the possibility that the curvature perturbation might originate from some "curvaton" field different from the inflaton.
Current bounds from the polarization of the CMB predict the scale-invariant gravitational wave (GW) background of inflation to be out of reach for upcoming GW interferometers. This prospect dramatically changes if the inflaton is a…
We comprehensively explore the quadratic curvaton models in the chaotic inflation. In the light of the BICEP2 result $r \approx 0.2$, all model parameters and relevant observables are computed. It is found the curvaton field value is…
We compute the leading order contribution to the four-point function of the primordial curvature perturbation in a class of single field models where the inflationary Lagrangian is a general function of the inflaton and its first…
We present a gauge-invariant formalism to study the evolution of the curvature and entropy perturbations in the case in which spatial and time variations of the inflaton decay rate into ordinary matter are present. During the reheating…
We propose a new mechanism to generate density perturbations in inflationary models. Spatial fluctuations in the decay rate of the inflaton field to ordinary matter lead to fluctuations in the reheating temperature. We argue that in most…
If an adiabatic density perturbation is responsible for large scale structure and the cmb anisotropy, its spectral index $n$ will be measured in the forseeable future with an accuracy $\Delta n\sim .01$. This is precisely the kind of…
The prediction of a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of curvature and tensor fluctuations is among the main features of cosmic inflation. The current measurements of the primordial fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB)…
Simple curvaton models can generate a mixture of of correlated primordial adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations. The baryon and cold dark matter isocurvature modes differ only by an observationally null mode in which the two…
Dynamics of long-wave isocurvature perturbations during an inflationary stage in multiple (multi-component) inflationary models is calculated analytically for the case where scalar fields producing this stage interact between themselves…
Inflation is an early period of accelerated cosmic expansion, thought to be sourced by high energy physics. A key task today is to use the influx of increasingly precise observational data to constrain the plethora of inflationary models…
We investigate the CMB $\mu$ distortion in models where two uncorrelated sources contribute to primordial perturbations. We parameterise each source by an amplitude, tilt, running and running of the running. We perform a detailed analysis…
Recent results from cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments verify several of the predictions of inflation, while ruling out a number of alternative structure-formation scenarios. Given the successes of the theory, the obvious next…
The standard model of cosmology with nearly Gaussian, isotropic, scale invariant and adiabatic initial conditions describes the cosmological observations well. However, the study of any deviation from the mentioned conditions will open up a…
We investigate the phenomenology of warm inflation and present generic results about the evolution of the inflaton and radiation fields. The general conditions required for warm inflation to take place are derived and discussed. A…
We assess two potential signals of the formation of our universe by the decay of a false vacuum. Negative spatial curvature is one possibility, but the window for its detection is now small. However, another possible signal is a suppression…
We discuss the principles governing the selection of inflationary models for which preheating can affect the CMB. This is a (fairly small) subset of those models which have non-negligible entropy/isocurvature perturbations on large scales…