Related papers: Constraining fast-roll inflation
We show that theories of inflation with multiple, rapidly turning fields can generate large amounts of non-Gaussianity. We consider a general theory with two fields, an arbitrary field-space metric, and a potential that supports sustained,…
We discuss and clarify the validity of effective single field theories of inflation obtained by integrating out heavy degrees of freedom in the regime where adiabatic perturbations propagate with a suppressed speed of sound. We show by…
I examine the status of inflationary cosmology in light of the first-year data from the WMAP satellite, focusing on the simplest models of inflation: those driven by a single scalar field. The WMAP observation of the Cosmic Microwave…
We consider slow-roll inflation for a single scalar field with an arbitrary potential and an arbitrary nonminimal coupling to the Gauss-Bonnet term. By introducing a combined hierarchy of Hubble and Gauss-Bonnet flow functions, we…
We analyze the weak (2 sigma) evidence for a running spectral index seen in the three-year WMAP dataset and its implications for single field, slow roll inflation. We assume that the running is comparable to the central value found from the…
Many controlled realizations of chaotic inflation employ pseudo-scalar axions. Pseudo-scalars \phi are naturally coupled to gauge fields through c \phi F \tilde{F}. In the presence of this coupling, gauge field quanta are copiously produced…
We compute the non-Gaussianities that arise in single field, slow roll inflationary models arising from arbitrary homogeneous initial states, as well as subleading contributions to the power spectrum. Non Bunch-Davies vacuum initial states…
We derive a theoretical upper bound on the oscillation frequency in the scalar perturbation power spectrum of single-field inflation. Oscillations are most naturally produced by modified vacua with varying phase. When this phase changes…
We study the constraints on the inflationary parameter space derived from the 3 year WMAP dataset using ``slow roll reconstruction'', using the SDSS galaxy power spectrum to gain further leverage where appropriate. This approach inserts the…
Models of axion inflation are particularly interesting since they provide a natural justification for the flatness of the potential over a super-Planckian distance, namely the approximate shift-symmetry of the inflaton. In addition, most of…
We present a unified framework that simultaneously addresses the dynamics of early-time cosmic inflation and late-time cosmic acceleration within the context of a single scalar field non-minimally coupled to gravity. By employing an…
We derive semi-analytic formulae for the power spectra of two-field inflation assuming an arbitrary potential and non-canonical kinetic terms, and we use them both to build phenomenological intuition and to constrain classes of two-field…
We study the dynamics of inflation in a generalized scalar-torsion gravity scenario by assuming a canonical scalar field non-minimally coupled to torsion with a Galileon-type self-interaction. After obtaining the field equations for a flat…
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…
Using a principal component (PC) basis that accommodates order unity features in the slow roll parameters as fine as 1/10 of a decade across more than 2 decades of the inflationary expansion, we test slow roll and single field inflation…
A detection of large local form non-Gaussianity is considered to be able to rule out all single field inflation models. This statement is based on a single field consistency condition. Despite the awareness of some implicit assumptions in…
We construct effective supergravity theories from customized constrained superfields which provide a setup consistent both for the description of inflation and the subsequent reheating processes. These theories contain the minimum degrees…
We study slow-roll inflation with a Gauss-Bonnet term that is coupled to an inflaton field nonminimally. We investigate the inflationary solutions for a specific type of the nonminimal coupling to the Gauss-Bonnet term and inflaton…
The two swampland criteria are generically in tension with the single field slow-roll inflation because the first swampland criterion requires small tensor to scalar ratio while the second swampland criterion requires large tensor to scalar…
We investigate slow-roll inflation in a multi-field random Gaussian landscape. The landscape is assumed to be small-field, with a correlation length much smaller than the Planck scale. Inflation then typically occurs in small patches of the…