Related papers: Consistency condition for inflation from (broken) …
We present the constraints on inflationary parameters in a flat $\Lambda$CDM universe obtained by WMAP three year data release, plus smaller scale CMB and two LSS data sets, 2dF and SDSS (treated separately). We use a Markov Chain Monte…
We examine the importance of second order corrections to linearized cosmological perturbation theory in an inflationary background, taken to be a spatially flat FRW spacetime. The full second order problem is solved in the sense that we…
We present a new mechanism for slow-roll inflation based on higher dimensional supersymmetric gauge theory compactified to four dimensions with twisted (supersymmetry breaking) boundary conditions. These boundary conditions lead to a…
An appealing feature of inflationary cosmology is the presence of a phase-space attractor, "slow roll", which washes out the dependence on initial field velocities. We investigate the robustness of this property under backreaction from…
We consider inflation driven near a saddle point in a higher dimensional field space, which is the most likely type of slow roll inflation on the string theoretical landscape; anthropic arguments need to be invoked in order to find a…
The usual description of inflationary fluctuations uses the framework of quantum field theory (QFT) in curved spacetime, in which quantum fluctuations are superimposed on a classical background spacetime. Even for large fluctuations, such…
We derive a closed-form, analytical expression for the spectrum of long-wavelength density perturbations in inflationary models with two (or more) inflaton degrees of freedom that is valid in the slow-roll approximation. We illustrate…
We identify a two-parameter family of excited states within slow-roll inflation for which either the corrections to the two-point function or the characteristic signatures of excited states in the three-point function -- i.e. the…
Slow-roll inflation can become eternal if the quantum variance of the inflaton field around its slowly rolling classical trajectory is converted into a distribution of classical spacetimes inflating at different rates, and if the variance…
We study the effects of a general type of features of the inflaton potential on the spectrum and bispectrum of primordial curvature perturbations. These features correspond to a discontinuity in the $n$-th order derivative of the potential…
Using the constant-roll approach, DBI inflationary scenario will be studied and it is sought to compare the result with observational data. By considering the cosmological perturbations of the model, it is realized that some extra terms…
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…
We derive general analytic formulae for the power spectrum and spectral index of the curvature perturbation produced during inflation driven by a multi-component inflaton field, up to the second order in the slow-roll approximation. We do…
We constrain cosmological models where the primordial perturbations have both an adiabatic and a (possibly correlated) cold dark matter (CDM) or baryon isocurvature component. We use both a phenomenological approach, where the primordial…
In addition to generating the appropriate perturbation power spectrum, an inflationary scenario must take into account the need for inflation to end subsequently. In the context of single-field inflation models where inflation ends by…
We study inflationary dynamics within the framework of fractal cosmology, where space is characterized by an effective non-integer dimension $D$. In our work, fractal effects are sourced through thermodynamic modifications at the…
We study the equivalence of two - order-by-order Einstein's equation and Reduced action - approaches to cosmological perturbation theory at all orders for different models of inflation. We point out a crucial consistency check which we…
We put forward novel extensions of Starobinsky inflation, involving a class of 'geometric' higher-curvature corrections that yield second-order Friedmann-Lema\^itre equations and second-order-in-time linearized equations around cosmological…
The observation of primordial correlators by cosmological surveys is a very promising avenue to probe high energies and the perturbative regime of quantum gravity. Hence, it is imperative that we understand how these observables are shaped…
An important property of the three-point functions generated in the early universe is the so-called consistency condition. According to the condition, in the squeezed limit wherein the wavenumber of one of the three modes (constituting the…