Related papers: Inflationary Correlation Functions without Infrare…
We consider perturbative expansions in theories with an infrared cutoff $\lambda$. The infrared sensitive pieces are defined as terms nonanalytic in the infinitesimal $\lambda^2$ and powers of this cutoff characterize the strength of these…
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…
Within an expansion in slow-roll inflation parameters, we derive the complete second-order expressions relating the ratio of tensor to scalar density perturbations and the spectral index of the scalar spectrum. We find that ``corrections''…
Inflation can occur near a point of inflection in the potential of flat directions of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. In this paper we elaborate on the complementarity between the bounds from Cosmic Microwave Background…
The primordial perturbation is widely accepted to be generated through the vacuum fluctuation of the scalar field which drives inflation. It is, however, not completely clear what is the natural vacuum in the inflationary universe…
We describe models of single-field inflation with small and sharp step features in the potential (and sound speed) of the inflaton field, in the context of the Effective Field Theory of Inflation. This approach allows us to study the…
There might be a light scalar field during inflation which is not responsible for the accelerating inflationary expansion. Then, its quantum fluctuation is stretched during inflation. This scalar field could be a curvaton, if it decays at a…
The correlation function measured in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions is strongly non-Gaussian. Using two different models we study which effects can influence its shape and how much. In particular, we focus on the parametrizations…
We compute the universal generic corrections to the inflationary power spectrum due to unknown high-energy physics. We arrive at this result via a careful integrating out of massive fields in the "in-in" formalism yielding a consistent and…
A second-order expansion for the quantum fluctuations of the matter field was considered in the framemork of the warm inflation scenario. The friction and Hubble parameters were expanded by means of a semiclassical approach. The…
Extremal scalar three-point correlators in the near-NHEK geometry of Kerr black holes have recently been shown to agree with the result expected from a holographically dual non-chiral two-dimensional conformal field theory. In this paper we…
The observed power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is consistent with inflationary cosmology, which predicts a nearly scale-invariant power spectrum of quantum fluctuations of the inflaton field as they exit the Hubble…
We discuss the additional perturbation introduced during inflation by quantum stress tensor fluctuations of a conformally invariant field such as the photon. We consider both a kinematical model, which deals only with the expansion…
Inflation universally produces classical almost scale free Gaussian inhomogeneities of any light scalars. Assuming the coupling constants at the time of inflation depend on some light moduli fields, we encounter the generation of modulated…
We compute correlation functions of the primordial density perturbations when they couple to a gapless, strongly coupled sector of spectator fields -- ``unparticles" -- during inflation. We first derive a four-point function of conformally…
During inflation, the geometry of spacetime is described by a (quasi-)de Sitter phase. Inflationary observables are determined by the underlying (softly broken) de Sitter isometry group SO(1, 4) which acts like a conformal group on R^3:…
We study a model of inflation with terms quadratic and logarithmic in the Ricci scalar, where the gravitational action is $f(R)=R+\alpha R^2+\beta R^2 \ln R$. These terms are expected to arise from one loop corrections involving matter…
We numerically calculate the evolution of second order cosmological perturbations for an inflationary scalar field without resorting to the slow-roll approximation or assuming large scales. In contrast to previous approaches we therefore…
We compute the spectrum of scalar and tensor metric perturbations generated, as amplified vacuum fluctuations, during an epoch of dilaton-driven inflation of the type occurring naturally in string cosmology. In the tensor case the…
The scalar and tensor fluctuations generated during inflation can be correlated, if arising from the same underlying mechanism. In this paper we investigate such correlation in the model of axion inflation, where the rolling inflaton…