Related papers: Topological Inflation with Large Tensor-to-scalar …
The recent BICEP2 detection of, what is claimed to be primordial $B$-modes, opens up the possibility of constraining not only the energy scale of inflation but also the detailed acceleration history that occurred during inflation. In turn…
Recently we have studied in great detail a model of Hybrid Natural Inflation (HNI) by constructing two simple effective field theories. These two versions of the model allow inflationary energy scales as small as the electroweak scale in…
In Aligned Natural Inflation, an alignment between different potential terms produces an inflaton excursion greater than the axion scales in the potential. We show that, starting from a general potential of two axions with two aligned…
A study of the slow-roll inflation for an exponential potential in the frame of the scalar-tensor theory is performed, where non-minimal kinetic coupling to curvature and non-minimal coupling of the scalar field to the Gauss-Bonnet…
It is commonly assumed that the stochastic background of gravitational waves on cosmological scales follows an almost scale-independent power spectrum, as generically predicted by the inflationary paradigm. However, it is not inconceivable…
We build an inflationary model based on Degenerate Higher Order Scalar Tensor (DHOST) theories in a de Sitter background. We determine the scale-dependent power spectrum of curvature perturbations in these theories and we show that such a…
We study the degree to which the cosmic microwave background (CMB) can be used to constrain primordial non-Gaussianity involving one tensor and two scalar fluctuations, focusing on the correlation of one polarization $B$ mode with two…
The possibility to have an infinite open inflationary universe inside a bubble of a finite size is one of the most interesting realizations extensively discussed in the literature. The original idea was based on the theory of tunneling and…
We show that S-dual inflationary potentials solve the unlikeliness problem manifested in Planck data and explain the excess B-mode power observed by the BICEP2 experiment as arising from primordial tensor fluctuations.
Natural (axionic) inflation can accommodate sizeable primordial tensor modes but suffers from the necessity of trans-Planckian variations of the inflaton field. This problem can be solved via the mechanism of aligned axions…
The inflationary cosmology paradigm is very successful in explaining the CMB anisotropy to the percent level. Besides the dependence on the inflationary model, the power spectra, spectral tilt and non-Gaussianity of the CMB temperature…
We have investigated inflation models that predict a very small value of the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r$. The spectral index $n_s$, and the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$, are strictly constrained by the Planck data. $n_s$ and $r$ are sensitive…
The recent indications for a tensor-to-scalar ratio $ r \simeq 0.2$ from BICEP2 measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-mode polarization present some tension with upper limits $r \lesssim 0.1$ from measurements of CMB…
The magnitude of primordial tensor perturbations reported by the BICEP2 experiment is consistent with simple models of chaotic inflation driven by a single scalar field with a power-law potential \propto \phi^n: n \simeq 2, in contrast to…
The determination of the inflationary energy scale represents one of the first step towards the understanding of the early Universe physics. The (very mild) non-Gaussian signals that arise from any inflation model carry information about…
In this paper, we demonstrate that a phenomenon described as "topological inflation" during which inflation occurs inside the core of topological defects, has a non-topological counterpart. This appears in a simple set-up containing…
Holographic inflation posits that the inflationary deSitter era of our universe is approximately described by a dual three-dimensional Euclidean CFT living on the spatial slice at the end of inflation. We point out that the BICEP2 results…
A B-mode polarization signal in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is widely regarded as smoking gun evidence for gravitational waves produced during inflation. Here, we demonstrate that tensor perturbations sourced during…
We consider the effect of a period of inflation with a high energy density upon the stability of the Higgs potential in the early universe. The recent measurement of a large tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r_T \sim 0.16$, by the BICEP-2 experiment…
Last year we argued that if slow-roll inflation followed the decay of a false vacuum in a large landscape, the steepening of the scalar potential between the inflationary plateau and the barrier generically leads to a potentially observable…