Related papers: Observational Constraints on Gauge Field Productio…
In order to gain new insights into the gauge field couplings in the early universe, we consider the constraints on gauge field production during inflation imposed by requiring that their effect on the CMB anisotropies are subdominant. In…
Axions play a central role in many realizations of large field models of inflation and in recent alternative mechanisms for generating primordial tensor modes in small field models. If these axions couple to gauge fields, the coupling…
We present new constraints on spectator axion-${\rm U}(1)$ gauge field interactions during inflation using the latest $Planck$ (PR4) and BICEP/Keck 2018 data releases. This model can source tensor perturbations from amplified gauge field…
Models of inflation based on axions, which owe their popularity to the robustness against UV corrections, have also a very distinct class of signatures. The relevant interactions of the axion are a non-perturbative oscillating contribution…
The original axion natural inflation model predicts a tensor-to-scalar ratio exceeding experimental limits. Conversely, in aligned axion inflation, inflation can proceed along trajectories emerging from near a saddle point of the two-field…
The motion of a pseudo-scalar field $X$ during inflation naturally induces a significant amplification of the gauge fields to which it is coupled. The amplified gauge fields can source characteristic scalar and tensor primordial…
The inflationary paradigm has enjoyed phenomenological success, however, a compelling particle physics realization is still lacking. The key obstruction is that the requirement of a suitably flat scalar potential is sensitive to…
Models of large-field inflation based on axion-like fields with shift symmetries can be simple and natural, and make a promising prediction of detectable primordial gravitational waves. The Weak Gravity Conjecture is known to constrain the…
In any realistic particle physics model of inflation, the inflaton can be expected to couple to other fields. We consider a model with a dilaton-like coupling between a U(1) gauge field and a scalar inflaton. We show that this coupling can…
The natural inflation model with a periodic cosine potential is ruled out by recent Planck 2018 data for the decay constant $f \lesssim 5.5~M_{\rm Pl}$. If the Planck data is combined with the BICEP Keck array and BAO data, the model is…
$SU(2)$ gauge fields can generate large gravitational waves during inflation, if they are coupled to an axion which can be either the inflaton or a spectator field. The shape of the produced tensor power spectrum $\mathcal{P}_h$ depends on…
We study scalar-tensor-tensor and tensor-scalar-scalar three point cross correlations generated by the dynamics of a transiently rolling spectator axion-$\mathrm U(1)$ gauge field model during inflation. In this framework, tensor and scalar…
We consider the presence of an axion like particle, $\sigma$, with a generic $CP$ violating axial coupling of the form $ (\alpha \, \sigma/f) F \tilde{F}$, where $F_{\mu\nu}$ is the gauge field strength of a generic abelian $U(1)$ gauge…
We revisit the possibility of producing observable tensor modes through a continuous particle production process during inflation. Particularly, we focus on the multi-field realization of inflation where a spectator pseudo-scalar $\sigma$…
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…
In a variety of inflation models the motion of the inflaton may trigger the production of some non-inflaton particles during inflation, for example via parametric resonance or a phase transition. Particle production during inflation leads…
We analyze the dynamics of inflationary models with a coupling of the inflaton $\phi$ to gauge fields of the form $\phi F \tilde{F}/f$, as in the case of axions. It is known that this leads to an instability, with exponential amplification…
In axion gauge field inflation an axion-like particle driving cosmic inflation is coupled to the Chern-Simons density of an Abelian or non-Abelian gauge group. In the case of a non-Abelian gauge group, this can lead to the formation of a…
Inspired by the chromo-natural inflation model of Adshead&Wyman, we reshape its scalar content to relax the tension with current observational bounds. Besides an inflaton, the setup includes a spectator sector in which an axion and SU(2)…
We study how Abelian-gauge-field production during inflation affects scalar perturbations in the case when the gauge field interacts with the inflaton directly (by means of generic kinetic and axial couplings) and via gravity. The…