Related papers: BICEP2 implications for single-field slow-roll inf…
Theories where the Planck scale is dynamically generated from dimensionless interactions provide predictive inflationary potentials and super-Planckian field variations. We first study the minimal single-field realisation in the low-energy…
We consider $R^p$ inflation with $p \approx 2$, allowing small deviation from $R^2$ inflation. Using the inflaton potential in the Einstein frame, we construct a consistency relation between the scalar spectral index, the tensor-to-scalar…
The slow-roll approximation to inflation is ultimately justified by the presence of inflationary attractors for the orbits of the solutions of the dynamical equations in phase space. There are many indications that the inflaton field…
We adopt the double field natural inflation model motivated by the non-perturbative effects of supergravity and superstring theory to do the slow roll analysis. We show that when the parameters are suitably chosen, there exist ranges of…
We construct a natural inflation model with the inflaton as a linear combination of the fifth components of Abelian gauge fields in a five-dimensional theory. A seesaw mechanism is introduced to provide a natural milli-charge for matter…
We consider single-field inflation in light of string-motivated "swampland" conjectures suggesting that effective scalar field theories with a consistent UV completion must have field excursion $\Delta \phi \lesssim M_{\rm Pl}$, in…
We analyse the implications of the Planck data for cosmic inflation. The Planck nominal mission temperature anisotropy measurements, combined with the WMAP large-angle polarization, constrain the scalar spectral index to $n_s = 0.9603 \pm…
Higgs field of particle physics can play the role of the inflaton in the early universe, if it is non-minimally coupled to gravity. The Higgs inflation scenario predicts a small tensor to scalar ratio: $r\simeq 0.003$. Although this value…
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…
We constrain slow-roll inflationary models using the recent WMAP data combined with data from the VSA, CBI, ACBAR and 2dF experiments. We find the slow-roll parameters to be $0 < \epsilon_1 < 0.032$ and $\epsilon_2 + 5.0 \epsilon_1 = 0.036…
In this paper, we explore the equivalence between two theories, namely f(R) and scalar-tensor theories of gravity. We use this equivalence to explore several f(R) toy models focusing on the inflation epoch of the early universe. The study…
We present constraints on canonical single-field inflation derived from WMAP five year, ACBAR, QUAD, BICEP data combined with the halo power spectrum from SDSS LRG7. Models with a non-scale-invariant spectrum and a red tilt n_s < 1 are now…
We analyze a two-field inflationary model consisting of the Ricci scalar squared ($R^2$) term and the standard Higgs field non-minimally coupled to gravity in addition to the Einstein $R$ term. Detailed analysis of the power spectrum of…
The CMB map provided by the Planck project constrains the value of the ratio of tensor-to-scalar perturbations, namely $r$, to be smaller than $0.11$ (95% CL). This bound rules out the simplest models of inflation. However, recent data from…
The PLANCK collaboration has determined values for the spectral parameters of the CMB radiation, namely the spectral index $n_s$, its running $\alpha_s$, the running of the running $\beta_s$, using a growing body of measurements of CMB…
Thanks to the Planck Collaboration, we know the value of the scalar spectral index of primordial fluctuations with unprecedented precision. In addition, the joint analysis of the data from Planck, BICEP2, and KEK has further constrained the…
The newly released Planck CMB data place tight constraints on slow-roll inflationary models. Some of commonly discussed inflationary potentials are disfavored due mainly to the large tensor-to-scalar ratio. In this paper we show that these…
Warm inflation is, as of today, one of the best motivated mechanisms for explaining an early inflationary period. In this paper, we derive and analyze the current bounds on warm inflation with a monomial potential $U\propto \phi^p$, using…
The BICEP2 collaboration has for the first time observed the B-mode polarization associated with inflationary gravitational waves. Their result has some discomfiting implications for the validity of an effective theory approach to…
The primordial power spectra of scalar and tensor perturbations during slow-roll inflation are usually calculated with the method of Bessel function approximation. For constant-roll or ultra slow-roll inflation, the method of Bessel…