Related papers: The scalar bi-spectrum in the Starobinsky model: T…
[Abridged] A sharp cut-off in the primordial scalar power spectrum on large scales has been known to improve the fit to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data when compared to the more standard, nearly scale invariant power spectrum…
As is well known, the non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{_{\rm NL}}$, which is often used to characterize the amplitude of the scalar bi-spectrum, can be expressed completely in terms of the scalar spectral index $n_{\rm s}$ in the squeezed…
Sharp shapes in the inflaton potentials often lead to short departures from slow roll which, in turn, result in deviations from scale invariance in the scalar power spectrum. Typically, in such situations, the scalar power spectrum exhibits…
In canonical scalar field inflation, the Starobinsky model (with a linear potential but discontinuous slope) is remarkable in that though slow-roll is violated, both the power-spectrum and bi-spectrum can be calculated exactly analytically.…
We compute analytically the dominant contribution to the tree-level bispectrum in the Starobinsky model of inflation. In this model, the potential is vacuum energy dominated but contains a subdominant linear term which changes the slope…
We investigate inflationary scenarios driven by a class of potentials which are similar in form to those that arise in certain minimal supersymmetric extensions of the standard model. We find that these potentials allow a brief period of…
The simplest models of inflation based on slow roll produce nearly scale invariant primordial power spectra (PPS). But there are also numerous models that predict radically broken scale invariant PPS. In particular, markedly cuspy dips in…
The standard structure formation scenario is successful on linear scales. Several apparent problems affect it however at galactic scales, such as the small scale problems at low redshift and more recent issues involving early massive galaxy…
A scalar field rolling down a potential with a large initial velocity results in inflation of a finite duration. Such a scenario suppresses the scalar power on large scales improving the fit to the cosmological data. We find that the…
We examine the power-law Starobinsky model, a generalized version of the Starobinsky inflation model, characterized by a power-law correction to Einstein gravity. Employing the $f(R)$ formalism, the scalar and tensor power spectra were…
In the slow-roll inflationary scenario, the amplitude of the curvature perturbations approaches a constant value soon after the modes leave the Hubble radius. However, relatively recently, it was shown that the amplitude of the curvature…
We investigate the spectrum of cosmological perturbations in a bounce cosmos modeled by a scalar field coupled to the string tachyon field (CSTB cosmos). By explicit computation of its primordial spectral index we show the power spectrum of…
In this work we revisit $\alpha$-Starobinsky inflation, also know as $E$-model, in the light of current CMB and LSS observations. The inflaton potential in the Einstein frame for this model contains a parameter $\alpha$ in the exponential,…
[Abridged] The primordial scalar power spectrum is well constrained on large scales, primarily by the observations of the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Over the last few years, it has been recognized that a sharp…
Current measurements of the temperature and polarization anisotropy power spectra of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) seem to indicate that the naive expectation for the slow-roll hierarchy within the most simple inflationary paradigm…
The discovery of gravitational waves from merging binary black holes has generated considerable interest in examining whether these black holes could have a primordial origin. If a significant number of black holes have to be produced in…
Using the most recent data from the WMAP, ACT and SPT experiments, we update the constraints on models with oscillatory features in the primordial power spectrum of scalar perturbations. This kind of features can appear in models of…
Recently, we have shown that scalar spectra with lower power on large scales and certain other features naturally occur in {\it punctuated inflation}, i.e. the scenario wherein a brief period of rapid roll is sandwiched between two stages…
Recently, there has been some interest for building supersymmetric models of double inflation. These models, realistic from a particle physics point of view, predict a broken-scale-invariant power spectrum of primordial cosmological…
We show that models of `just enough' inflation, where the slow-roll evolution lasted only $50-60$ e-foldings, feature modifications of the CMB power spectrum at large angular scales. We perform a systematic and model-independent analysis of…