Related papers: A New Angle on Chaotic Inflation
Dynamical models of inflation are given with composite inflatons by means of massive supersymmetric gauge theory. Nearly flat directions and stable massive ones in the potential are identified and slow-roll during inflation is examined.…
In this paper we consider inflation as a probe of new physics near the string or Planck scale. We discuss how new physics can be captured by the choice of vacuum, and how this leads to modifications of the primordial spectrum as well as the…
We study an extension of the natural inflation model comprising a non-Abelian gauge sector coupled to the axion-inflaton kinetic term. We show how such non-minimal coupling serves as a source of friction for the rolling inflaton granting…
We consider the possibility of realizing inflation in nonlocal field theories containing infinitely many derivatives. Such constructions arise naturally in string field theory and also in a number of toy models, such as the p-adic string.…
The recent BICEP2 measurements of B-modes indicate a large tensor-to-scalar ratio in inflationary cosmology, which points towards trans-Planckian evolution of the inflaton. We propose possible string-theory realizations thereof. Schemes for…
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 construct a model of inflation in string theory after carefully taking into account moduli stabilization. The setting is a warped compactification of Type IIB string theory in the presence of D3 and anti-D3-branes. The inflaton is the…
Many controlled realizations of chaotic inflation employ pseudo-scalar axions. Pseudo-scalars \phi are naturally coupled to gauge fields through c \phi F \tilde{F}. In the presence of this coupling, gauge field quanta are copiously produced…
We present viable F-term realizations of the hybrid inflationary scenario in the context of supergravity addressing at the same time the well-known problems of the initial conditions and of the adequate suppression of the inflaton mass. An…
We propose that under certain conditions the universal open string tachyon can drive topological inflation in moduli stabilised frameworks. Namely, the presence of electric field in the world volume of the D-brane can slow down its decay…
An inflationary stage dominated by a $D$-term avoids the slow-roll problem of inflation in supergravity and may emerge in theories with a non-anomalous or anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry. The most intriguing and commonly invoked possibility…
We consider slow-roll inflationary models in a class of modified theories of gravity which contains non-minimal curvature-inflaton couplings, i.e., the $f(R,T)$ gravity, where $R$ is the Ricci scalar and $T$ is the trace of the inflaton…
Assuming the space dimension is not constant but decreases during the expansion of the Universe, we study chaotic inflation with the potential $m^2\phi^2/2$. Our investigations are based on a model Universe with variable space dimensions.…
We explain why the concept of a spontaneously broken superconformal symmetry is useful to describe inflationary models favored by the Planck. Non-minimal coupling of complex scalars to curvature, N(X, X*) R, is compulsory for superconformal…
On compactification from higher dimensions, a single free massive scalar field gives rise to a set of effective four-dimensional scalar fields, each with a different mass. These can cooperate to drive a period of inflation known as assisted…
We present a new model of large field inflation along a winding trajectory in the field space of two axionic fields, where the 'axions' originate from the complex structure moduli sector of a Calabi-Yau 3-fold at large complex structure.…
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…
Slow-roll inflation is a successful paradigm. However we find that even a small coupling of the inflaton to other light fields can dramatically alter the dynamics and predictions of inflation. As an example, the inflaton can generically…
In the framework of superstring compactifications with N=1 supersymmetry spontaneously broken, (by either geometrical fluxes, branes or else), we show the existence of new inflationary solutions. The time-trajectory of the scale factor of…
We consider an O(N) model coupled self-consistently to gravity in the semiclassical approximation, where the field is subject to `new inflation' type initial conditions. We study the dynamics self-consistently and non-perturbatively with…