Related papers: $\phi^2$ or Not $\phi^2$: Testing the Simplest Inf…
Extensions of the Standard Model typically contain ``flaton fields" defined as fields with large vacuum expectation values and almost flat potentials where scalar self-coupling is small or vanishes at tree level. Such potentials have been…
We present counter examples to the claim that the $\lambda \phi^4$ inflaton potential is excluded by recent cosmological data. Finding counter examples requires that the actually observed primordial fluctuations are generated at the onset…
Polynomial inflation is a very simple and well motivated scenario. A potential with a concave ``almost'' saddle point at field value $\phi = \phi_0$ fits well the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data and makes testable predictions for the…
In view of the recent BICEP2 results [arXiv:1403.3985] which may be attributed to the observation of B-modes polarization of the CMB with tensor-to-scalar ratio $r=0.2_{-0.05}^{+0.07}$, we revisit M-flation model. Gauged M-flation is a…
We point out that the prediction of the minimal chaotic inflation model is altered if a scalar field takes a large field value close to the Planck scale during inflation due to a negative Hubble induced mass. In particular, we show that the…
We study constraints on the natural inflation model from the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). Inflaton \phi for the natural inflation has a potential of the form V=\Lambda^4[1-\cos(\phi/\sqrt{2}f_\phi)], which is parametrized…
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…
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…
Recent observations from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) indicate a moderate upward shift in the scalar spectral index $n_s$ compared to Planck $2018$, thereby placing tighter constraints on inflationary scenarios. Motivated by these…
The prospects for direct measurements of inflationary gravitational waves by next generation interferometric detectors inferred from the possible detection of B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background are studied. We compute…
The detection of an oscillating pattern in the bispectrum of density perturbations could suggest the existence of a high-energy second minimum in the Higgs potential. If the Higgs field resided in this new minimum during inflation and was…
We consider a class of multi-component hybrid inflation models whose evolution may be analytically solved under the slow-roll approximation. We call it multi-brid inflation (or $n$-brid inflation where $n$ stands for the number of inflaton…
The curvaton scenario predicts an almost scale-invariant spectrum of perturbations in most inflation models. We consider the possibility that renormalisable phi^4 or Planck scale-suppressed non-renormalisable curvaton potential terms may…
In this work we investigate a inflationary scenario generated by a large scalar field $\phi$ that non-minimally couples to a $f(R)$ modified gravity model. For a Starobinsky's like model, it is found that along a particular flat direction,…
Generalized slow roll conditions and parameters are obtained for a general form of scalar-tensor theory (with no external sources), having arbitrary functions describing a nonminimal gravitational coupling F(\phi), a Kahler-like kinetic…
We study inflationary models in which the effective potential of the inflaton field does not have a minimum, but rather gradually decreases at large $\phi$. In such models the inflaton field does not oscillate after inflation, and its…
Using a principal component (PC) basis that accommodates order unity features in the slow roll parameters as fine as 1/10 of a decade across more than 2 decades of the inflationary expansion, we test slow roll and single field inflation…
In the standard inflationary scenario with inflaton potential $V(\Phi)=M^4-{1\over4}\lambda\Phi^4$, the resulting density perturbations $\delta\rho/\rho$ are proportional to $\lambda^{1/2}$. Upper bounds on $\delta\rho/\rho$ require…
Tensor non-Gaussianity represents an important future probe of the physics of inflation. Inspired by recent works, we elaborate further on the possibility of significant primordial tensor non-Gaussianities sourced by extra fields during…
The latest ACT data release disfavors the attractor $n_s=1-2/N$. In inflationary models with nonminimal coupling, such attractors typically arise in the strong coupling limit. To align with observational constraints, we focus on nonminimal…