Related papers: Simple exercises to flatten your potential
Current observations indicate that an inverse exponential form of the inflaton potential provides an excellent description of single-field inflation. This potential fits the SPA$+$BK$+$DESI data sets well with in the $1\sigma$ bound in the…
In this work we investigate a inflationary scenario generated by a large scalar field $\phi$ that non-minimally couples to a $f(R)$ modified gravity model. For a Starobinsky's like model, it is found that along a particular flat direction,…
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 study the post-inflationary energy transfer from the inflaton ($\phi$) into a scalar field ($\chi$) non-minimally coupled to gravity through $\xi R|\chi|^2$, considering models with inflaton potential $V_{\rm inf} \propto |\phi|^{\,p}$…
We propose new large field inflation scenarios built on the framework of F-term axion monodromy. Our setup is based on string compactifications where D-branes create potentials for closed string axions via F-terms. Because the source of the…
Recently, Cormier and Holman pointed out that fluctuations of an inflaton field $\phi$ are significantly enhanced in the model of {\it spinodal inflation} with a potential $V(\phi)$ for which the second derivative $V^{(2)}(\phi)$ changes…
We propose a large class of supergravity models in terms of a single chiral matter superfield, leading to (almost) arbitrary single-field inflationary scalar potentials similar to the F-term in rigid supersymmetry. Those scalar potentials…
We study slow-roll inflation model controlled by the modular flavor symmetry. In the model, the modulus field plays a role of inflaton and the introduction of the stabilizer field coupled to a modular form in the superpotential produces the…
Axion monodromy models can always be described in terms of an axion coupled to 3-form gauge fields with non-canonical kinetic terms. The presence of the saxions parametrising the kinetic metrics of the 3-form fields leads to backreaction…
We present an explicit cosmological model where inflation and dark energy both could arise from the dynamics of the same scalar field. We present our discussion in the framework where the inflaton field $\phi$ attains a nearly constant…
The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe microwave background data suggest that the primordial spectrum of scalar curvature fluctuations is suppressed at small wavenumbers. We propose a UV/IR mixing effect in small-field inflationary models…
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 theory of reheating of the Universe after inflation is developed. The transition from inflation to the hot Universe turns out to be strongly model-dependent and typically consists of several stages. Immediately after inflation the field…
We study an inflationary model developed by Kaloper and Sorbo, in which the inflaton is an axion with a sub-Planckian decay constant, whose potential is generated by mixing with a topological 4-form field strength. This gives a 4d…
We present an inflationary universe model which utilizes two coupled real scalar fields. The inflation field $\phi$ experiences a first order phase transition and its potential dominates the energy density of the Universe during the…
We investigate the range of inflationary universe models driven by scalar fields possessing a general interaction potential of the form $V(\phi) = V_0 \phi^n \exp(-\lambda \phi^m)$. Power-law, de Sitter and intermediate inflationary…
We study the back-reaction of moduli fields on the inflaton potential in generic models of F-term inflation. We derive the moduli corrections as a power series in the ratio of Hubble scale and modulus mass. The general result is illustrated…
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…
Slow-roll inflation can be studied as an effective field theory. The form of the inflaton potential consistent with the data is V(phi) = N M^4 w(phi/[sqrt{N} M_{Pl}]) where phi is the inflaton field, M is the inflation energy scale, and N ~…
In this paper, we investigate models where a scalar field driving inflation is minimally coupled with gravity and it is subjected to a scalar potential. We present several examples of coupling between the field and gravity, and we furnish…