Related papers: UV-extending Ghost Inflation
We propose a new scenario for early cosmology, where an inflationary de Sitter phase is obtained with a ghost condensate. The transition to radiation dominance is triggered by the ghost itself, without any slow-roll potential. Density…
Within the framework of the scalar-tensor theory we consider a hill-climbing inflation, in which the effective Planck mass increases in time. We obtain the Einstein frame potential with infinitely long and flat plateau as we approach…
Extensions of the Standard Model and general relativity featuring a UV fixed point can leave observable implications at accessible energies. Although mass parameters such as the Planck scale can appear through dimensional transmutation, all…
In this work we introduce a new plateau-like inflationary model including a quadratic scalar potential coupled non-minimally to gravity. This potential has a dominant constant energy density at early times which can realize successful…
In the setup of ghost condensation model the generalized second law of black hole thermodynamics can be respected under a radiatively stable assumption that couplings between the field responsible for ghost condensate and matter fields such…
We consider the UV-protected inflation, where the inflaton potential is obtained by quantum (one-loop) breaking of a global symmetry into a discrete symmetry. In this model, all coupling scales are sub-Planckian. This is achieved by…
In this paper, we build upon the successes of the ultraviolet (UV) completion of the Starobinsky model of inflation. This involves an extension of the Einstein-Hilbert term by an infinite covariant derivative theory of gravity, which is…
We consider hybrid inflation for small couplings of the inflaton to matter such that the critical value of the inflaton field exceeds the Planck mass. It has recently been shown that inflation then continues at subcritical inflaton field…
We examine the consequences of Lorentz violation during slow-roll inflation. We consider a canonical scalar inflaton coupled, through its potential, to the divergence of a fixed-norm timelike vector field, or "aether." The vector is…
We consider cosmological inflation generated by a scalar field slowly rolling off from a de Sitter maximum of its potential. The models belong to the class of hilltop models and represent the most general model of this kind in which the…
Phantom Cosmology provides an unique opportunity to "connect" the phantom driven (low en- ergy meV scale) dark energy phase to the (high energy GUT scale) inflationary era. This is possible because the energy density increases in phantom…
We consider a Lorentz-violating theory of inflation consisting of Einstein-aether theory with a scalar inflaton coupled bilinearly to the expansion of the aether. We determine the conditions for linearized stability, positive energy, and…
A sizeable tensor-to-scalar ratio, such as recently claimed by BICEP2, would imply a scale of inflation at the typical scale of supersymmetric grand unification. This could be an accident, or strong support for supersymmetric theories.…
A particular extension of Einstein's General Relativity up to and including quartic terms in the curvature tensor is minimal in the sense that it has a unique maximally symmetric vacuum and only a massless spin-2 excitation in its spectrum…
We study implications of perturbative unitarity for quasi-single field inflation with the inflaton and one massive scalar. Analyzing high energy scattering, we show that non-Gaussianities with $|f_{\rm NL}|\gtrsim1$ cannot be realized…
We study the ultraviolet behaviour of Higgs inflation models above the apparent unitarity violation scale arising from the large non minimal coupling to gravity, by computing on-shell 4-point scattering amplitudes in the presence of a large…
Ghost inflation is a well-known framework in which cosmological fluctuations can generate enhanced primordial non-Gaussianity, typically of the equilateral type. In its original form, however, it is in tension with current observational…
Holographic considerations may provide a glimpse of quantum gravity beyond what is currently accessible by other means. Here we apply holography to inflationary cosmology. We argue that the appropriate holographic bound on the total entropy…
We present a model with a complex and a real scalar fields and a potential whose symmetry is explicitly broken by Planck-scale physics. For exponentially small breaking, the model accounts for the period of inflation in the early universe…
We describe a general scenario, dubbed "Inflatable Dark Matter", in which the density of dark matter particles can be reduced through a short period of late-time inflation in the early universe. The overproduction of dark matter that is…