Related papers: Charting an Inflationary Landscape with Random Mat…
We carry out numerical investigations of the dynamics and perturbations in the Nflation model of Dimopoulos et al. (2005). This model features large numbers of scalar fields with different masses, which can cooperate to drive inflation…
We generalize the Effective Field Theory of Inflation to include additional light scalar degrees of freedom that are in their vacuum at the time the modes of interest are crossing the horizon. In order to make the scalars light in a natural…
In the framework of effective field theories with prominent helicity-0 and helicity-1 fields coupled to each other via a dimension-3 operator, we study the dynamics of inflation driven by the helicity-0 mode, with a given potential energy,…
We reconsider a string theoretic inflationary model, where inflation is driven by $n$ multiple coincident $D3$-branes in the finite $n$ limit. We show that the finite $n$ action can be continued to the limit of large $n$, where it converges…
We study the possibility that inflation is driven by a massive vector field with SO(3) global symmetry nonminimally coupled to gravity. From an E^3-invariant Robertson-Walker metric we propose an Ansatz for the vector field, allowing us to…
We revisit the resulting bispectrum of inflation with kinetic-coupled vector fields by organizing the dynamics in terms of $h$, which measures the vector kinetic contribution relative to that of the scalar field. We evaluate the bispectrum…
We investigate the non-Gaussianities of inflation driven by a single scalar field coupling non-minimally to the Einstein Gravity. We assume that the form of the scalar field is very general with an arbitrary sound speed. For convenience to…
Inflation is often described through the dynamics of a scalar field, slow-rolling in a suitable potential. Ultimately, this inflaton must be identified as the expectation value of a quantum field, evolving in a quantum effective potential.…
A perturbative strategy for inflation described by two-inflaton fields is developed using a mathematical analogy with the renormalization-group. Two small quantities, $\alpha$ and $\lambda$, corresponding to standard slow-roll parameters…
Recently multi-field inflation models that can produce large scalar fluctuations on small scales have drawn a lot of attention, primarily because they could lead to primordial black hole production and generation of large second-order…
In this work, we study constant-roll inflation driven by a scalar field with non-minimal derivative coupling to gravity, via the Einstein tensor. This model contains a free parameter, $\eta$, which quantifies the non-minimal derivative…
We examine the classical dynamics of multifield inflation models with quadratic potentials. Such models are shown to have inflationary attractors in phase space, consistent with the stretching of phase space trajectories along the volume…
We revisit inflation with non-canonical scalar fields by applying deformed-steepness exponential potentials. We show that the resulting scenario can lead to inflationary observables, and in particular to scalar spectral index and…
The original model of axion natural inflation produces a tensor-to-scalar ratio above the experimental limit. Aligned axion inflation admits inflationary trajectories that originate near a saddle point of the two-field potential, and…
We revisit perturbative unitarity in scalar field inflation with a nonminimal coupling, with Higgs inflation serving as the most prominent example. Although such models are phenomenologically successful, it is critical to examine whether or…
An interacting scalar field with largish coupling to curvature can support a distinctive inflationary universe scenario. Previously this has been discussed for the Standard Model Higgs field, treated classically or in a leading log…
We elucidate the counting of the relevant small parameters in inflationary perturbation theory. Doing this allows for an explicit delineation of the domain of validity of the semi-classical approximation to gravity used in the calculation…
We reconsider the dynamical systems approach to analyze inflationary universe in the Jordan frame models of scalar field nonminimally coupled to curvature. The adopted set of variables allows us to clearly distinguish between different…
The presence of multiple fields during inflation might seed a detectable amount of non-Gaussianity in the curvature perturbations, which in turn becomes observable in present data sets like the cosmic microwave background (CMB) or the large…
In this thesis we will primarily demonstrate how additional scalar degrees of freedom - which are motivated from many high-energy embeddings - open up new observational windows onto the physics of inflation. We construct a Bayesian…