Related papers: On Squeezed Limits in Single-Field Inflation - Par…
Until recently our knowledge of the primordial curvature perturbation was relatively modest. Ever since COBE delivered its map of data we know the scalar spectrum of primordial perturbations is approximately flat, with the power being only…
The BICEP2 collaboration has for the first time observed the B-mode polarization associated with inflationary gravitational waves. Their result has some discomfiting implications for the validity of an effective theory approach to…
We point out the existing confusions about the slowroll parameters and conditions for multifield inflation. If one requires the fields to roll down the gradient flow, we find that only articles adopting the Hubble slowroll expansion are on…
Last year we argued that if slow-roll inflation followed the decay of a false vacuum in a large landscape, the steepening of the scalar potential between the inflationary plateau and the barrier generically leads to a potentially observable…
Stochastic effects in multi-field inflationary scenarios are investigated. A hierarchy of diffusion equations is derived, the solutions of which yield moments of the numbers of inflationary $e$-folds. Solving the resulting partial…
We show explicitly some exciting features of double-inflation: (i) it can often lead to strongly correlated adiabatic and entropy (isocurvature) power spectra. (ii) The two-field slow-roll consistency relations can be violated when the…
In light of BICEP2, we reexamine single field inflationary models in which the inflaton is a composite state stemming from various four-dimensional strongly coupled theories. We study in the Einstein frame a set of cosmological parameters,…
In this note we present a simple but exact model of quasi-single field inflation \cite{Chen:2009zp, Chen:2009we}, in which the couplings between perturbations are completely controlled, and for instance can be made constant with any desired…
By a careful implementation of gauge transformations involving long-wavelength modes, we show that a variety of effects involving squeezed bispectrum configurations, for which one Fourier mode is much shorter than the other two, cannot be…
Particle production in de Sitter spacetime arises from the exponential expansion of space, rendering the Bunch-Davies vacuum perceived as a particle-containing state by late-time observers. For states defined as eigenstates of both momentum…
Planck data has not found the 'smoking gun' of non-Gaussianity that would have necessitated consideration of inflationary models beyond the simplest canonical single field scenarios. This raises the important question of what these results…
Various inflationary scenarios can often be distinguished from one another by looking at the squeezed limit behavior of correlation functions. Therefore, it is useful to have a framework designed to study this limit in a more systematic and…
In this short note we translate the best available observational bounds on the CMB bispectrum amplitudes into constraints on a specific scale-invariant New Physics Hypersurface (NPH) model of vacuum state modifications, as first proposed by…
We summarize our work on a consistency condition for inflation in two-field cosmological models, in the regime of rapid turn and third-order slow roll. To ensure a sustained inflationary period of this type, one needs to satisfy a certain…
We study models of inflation with two scalar fields and non-canonical kinetic terms, focusing on the case in which the curvature and isocurvature perturbations are strongly coupled to each other. In the regime where a heavy mode can be…
We place observational constraints on slow-variation single-field inflationary models by carrying out the cosmological Monte Carlo simulation with the recent data of Planck combined with the WMAP large-angle polarization, baryon acoustic…
We explore the effects of heavy degrees of freedom on the evolution and perturbations of light modes in multifield inflation. We use a simple two-field model as an example to illustrate the subtleties of integrating out massive fields in a…
By using the Bogoliubov perturbation theory we describe the self-bound ground state and excited breathing states of $N$ two-dimensional bosons with zero-range attractive interactions. Our results for the ground state energy $B_N$ and size…
We compare the standard single scalar field inflationary predictions with those of an inflationary phase driven by a tachyon field. A slow-roll formalism is defined for tachyon inflation, and we derive the spectra of scalar and tensor…
Single-field models of inflation are analysed in light of the WMAP five-year data. Assuming instantaneous reheating, we find that modular/new inflation models with small powers in the effective inflaton self-interaction are more strongly…