Related papers: Gauge-flation confronted with Planck
We investigate the scalar sector of linear cosmological perturbations in quadratic gravity. Working in the Einstein frame, we derive the equations of motion in a gauge-independent manner and express them in terms of three sets of…
The non-Gaussianity of inflationary perturbations, as encoded in the bispectrum (or 3-point correlator), has become an important additional way of distinguishing between inflation models, going beyond the linear Gaussian perturbation…
In single-field, slow-roll inflationary models, scalar and tensorial (Gaussian) perturbations are both characterized by a zero mean and a non-zero variance. In position space, the corresponding variance of those fields diverges in the…
We compute in detail how deviations from Einstein gravity at the inflation energy scale could appear as non-Gaussian features in the sky. To illustrate this we use multi-field $\alpha-$attractor models in the framework of supergravity to…
We study nonlinear cosmological perturbations and their possible non-Gaussian character in an extended non-minimal inflation where gravity is coupled non-minimally to both the scalar field and its derivatives. By expansion of the action up…
We study an extension of the natural inflation model comprising a non-Abelian gauge sector coupled to the axion-inflaton kinetic term. We show how such non-minimal coupling serves as a source of friction for the rolling inflaton granting…
We develop a cosmological model where primordial inflation is driven by a 'solid', defined as a system of three derivatively coupled scalar fields obeying certain symmetries and spontaneously breaking a certain subgroup of these. The…
Several models of inflation employing a triplet of SU(2) vectors with spatially orthogonal vacuum expectation values (VEVs) have been recently proposed. One (tensor) combination $t$ of the vector modes is amplified in some momentum range…
In the early Universe matter can be described as a conformal invariant ultra-relativistic perfect fluid, which does not contribute, on classical level, to the evolution of the isotropic and homogeneous metric. If we suppose that there is…
We study a variant of the Chromo-Natural Inflation (CNI) mechanism in which the inflaton interacts only gravitationally with the CNI fields. Integrating out all the non-dynamical scalar fields of the model results in a coupling between the…
We describe a general scenario where primordial non-Gaussian curvature perturbations are generated in models with extra scalar fields. The extra scalars communicate to the inflaton sector mainly through the tachyonic (waterfall) field…
In this work, we study inflation in a particular scalar-vector-tensor theory of gravitation without the $U(1)$ gauge symmetry. The model is constructed from the more general action introduced in Heisenberg et al. (Phys Rev D 98:024038,…
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…
In the very early Universe matter can be described as a conformal invariant ultra-relativistic perfect fluid, which does not contribute, on classical level, to the evolution of the isotropic and homogeneous metric. However, in this…
It is sometimes argued that observation of tensor modes from inflation would provide the first evidence for quantum gravity. However, in the usual inflationary formalism, also the scalar modes involve quantised metric perturbations. We…
An inflationary model can be constrained by non-gaussian statistics as a parameter in the LSS (Large Scale Structure) distribution, and in the radiation of CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) fluctuating temperature. Data on the CMB from…
We revisit the inflationary dynamics in detail for theories with Gauss-Bonnet gravity coupled to scalar functions, in light of the Planck data. Considering the chaotic inflationary scenario, we constrain the parameters of two models…
Models of inflation involving non-Abelian gauge field backgrounds can produce gravitational waves at an observable level with a preferred handedness. This asymmetry comes about because the non-Abelian background generates parity-violation…
In this paper, inflationary cosmology is reviewed, paying particular attention to its observational signatures associated with large-scale density perturbations generated from quantum fluctuations. In the most general scalar-tensor theories…
Recently, it was proposed that a small true vacuum universe can inflate spontaneously, in principle. Furthermore, there should be matter creation in vacuum inflation due to quantum fluctuations, and the matter created will influence the…