Related papers: Red and blue tilted tensor spectrum from Gibbons-H…
Generically, the gravitational-wave or tensor-mode contribution to the primordial curvature spectrum of inflation is tiny if the field-range of the inflaton is much smaller than the Planck scale. We show that this pessimistic conclusion is…
The recent Planck results and future releases on the horizon present a key opportunity to address a fundamental question in inflationary cosmology of whether primordial density perturbations have a quantum or thermal origin, i.e. whether…
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…
We propose a new version of the hybrid inflation scenario that produces a significantly tilted n>1 spectrum of curvature perturbations. This may happen in supersymmetric models where the inflaton field acquires a mass proportional to the…
The measurement of B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background at large angular scales by the BICEP experiment suggests a stochastic gravitational wave background from early-universe inflation with a surprisingly large amplitude.…
We study the tensor modes of linear metric perturbations within an effective framework of loop quantum cosmology. After a review of inverse-volume and holonomy corrections in the background equations of motion, we solve the linearized…
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…
By using the cubic spline interpolation method, we reconstruct the shape of the primordial scalar and tensor power spectra from the recently released {\it Planck} temperature and BICEP2 polarization cosmic microwave background data. We find…
We extend the method of Flow Equations to the Effective Field Theory framework of inflation, in order to investigate the observable predictions of a very broad class of inflationary models. Focusing our attention on the gravitational-wave…
BICEP2 observations, interpreted most simply, suggest an era of inflation with energy densities of order ($10^{16}\, {\rm GeV})^4$, not far below the Planck density. However, models of TeV gravity with large extra dimensions might allow a…
A primordial cosmic microwave background B-mode is widely considered a "smoking gun" signature of an early period of inflationary expansion. However, competing theories of the origin of structure, including string gases and bouncing…
This paper is devoted to study the warm inflation using vector fields in the background of locally rotationally symmetric Bianchi type I universe model. We formulate the field equations, slow-roll and perturbation parameters (scalar and…
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…
The recently relased \emph{Planck} data, emphasize that the background geometry of inflation is not pure de Sitter, but from the slow variation of Hubble parameter during the inflationary era, it can be quasi-de Sitter. This motivates us to…
To what extent can the Planck satellite observations be interpreted as confirmation of the quantum part of the inflationary paradigm? Has it "seen" the Bunch-Davies state? We compare and contrast the Bunch-Davies interpretation with one…
The recent BICEP2 detection of degree scale CMB B-mode polarization, coupled with a deficit of observed power in large angle temperature anisotropy, suggest that the slow-roll parameter $\epsilon_H$, the fractional variation in the Hubble…
We derive a general expression for the power spectra of scalar and tensor fluctuations generated during inflation given an arbitrary choice of boundary condition for the mode function at a short distance. We assume that the boundary…
The effect of the scalar spectral index on inflationary super-Hubble waves is to amplify/damp large wavelengths according to whether the spectrum is red ($n_{s}<1$) or blue ($n_{s}>1$). As a consequence, the large-scale temperature…
We revisit spectator field models including curvaton and modulated reheating scenarios, specifically focusing on their viability in the new Planck era, based on the derived expression for the spectral index in general spectator field…
Light scalar fields acquire isocurvature fluctuations during inflation. While these fluctuations could lead to interesting observable signatures at small scales, they are strongly constrained on large scales by cosmic microwave background…