Related papers: The Quantum Corrected Mode Function and Power Spec…
If the beginning of inflation is defined at the moment when the vacuum energy of the inflaton starts to dominate, the energy density of the other fields at that moment is (by definition) comparable to the inflaton. Although the fraction…
If the conformal invariance of electromagnetism is broken during inflation, then primordial magnetic fields may be produced. If this symmetry breaking is generated by the coupling between electromagnetism and a scalar field---e.g. the…
The recent BICEP2 B-mode polarization determination of an inflationary tensor-scalar ratio $r=0.2^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$ is in tension with simple scale-free models of inflation due to a lack of a corresponding low multipole excess in the…
This thesis is centered on three main subjects within the theory of inflation and cosmological perturbations: loop corrections to the power spectrum of curvature fluctuations generated during inflation; evolution of cosmological…
A sufficiently rigid relativistic elastic solid can be stable for negative pressure values and thus is capable of driving a stage of accelerated expansion. If a relativistic elastic solid drove an inflationary stage in the early Universe,…
We define a scalar measure of the local expansion rate based on how astronomers determine the Hubble constant. Our observable is the inverse conformal d'Alembertian acting on a unit ``standard candle.'' Because this quantity is an integral…
We study linear scalar perturbations in single-field models of inflation featuring a non-attractor phase. These models lead to a peak in the curvature power spectrum that may result in the formation of primordial black holes. We develop a…
Inflation is most often described using quantum field theory (QFT) on a fixed, curved spacetime background. Such a description is valid only if the spatial volume of the region considered is so large that its size and shape moduli behave…
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…
How many canonical degrees of freedom does a quantum field theory actually use during its Hamiltonian evolution? For a UV/IR-regularised classical scalar field, we address this question directly at the level of phase-space dynamics by…
We study corrections to the power spectra of curvature and tensor perturbations and the tensor-to-scalar ratio in single field slow roll inflation due to initial conditions imprinted by a fast-roll stage prior to slow roll. For a wide range…
My project computed the one loop fermion self-energy for massless Dirac + Einstein in the presence of a locally de Sitter background. I employed dimensional regularization and obtain a fully renormalized result by absorbing all divergences…
The evolution of a scalar field is explored taking into account the presence of a background fluid in a positively curved Universe in the framework of loop quantum cosmology. Though the mechanism that provides the initial conditions for…
Considering the conformal scaling gauge symmetry as a fundamental symmetry of nature in the presence of gravity, a scalar field is required and used to describe the scale behavior of universe. In order for the scalar field to be a physical…
We consider an analogue de Sitter cosmos in an expanding quasi-two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate with dominant dipole-dipole interactions between the atoms or molecules in the ultracold gas. It is demonstrated that a hallmark…
In this work we use the Loop Quantum Cosmology modified scalar-tensor reconstruction techniques in order to investigate how bouncing and inflationary cosmologies can be realized. With regard to the inflationary cosmologies, we shall be…
Many, if not most, inflationary models predict the power-law index of the spectrum of density perturbations is close to one, though not precisely equal to one, |n-1| \sim O(0.1), implying that the spectrum of density perturbations is…
We first derive the primordial power spectra, spectral indices and runnings of both scalar and tensor perturbations of a flat inflationary universe to the second-order approximations of the slow-roll parameters, in the framework of loop…
We study inflation for a quantum scalar electrodynamics model in curved space-time and for higher-derivative quantum gravity (QG) coupled with scalar electrodynamics. The corresponding renormalization-group (RG) improved potential is…
We investigate the inflationary implications of extensions of Poincare symmetry. The simplest constructions with local scale invariance lead to universal predictions: the spectral index is $n_s = 1-2/N$, in excellent agreement with Planck…