Related papers: Generalized Slow Roll for Tensors
The next generation of cosmological observations will be sensitive to small deviations from a pure power law in the primordial power spectrum of the curvature perturbations. In the context of slow-roll inflation, these deviations are…
We analyze the effects of the holographic dark energy model in a single field slow-roll inflation, taking into account both the holographic and the dark radiation components. In particular, we obtain the background evolution and compute the…
We use some of the recently released observational data to test the viability of two classes of minimally coupled scalar field models of quintessence with exponential potentials for which exact solutions of the Einstein equations are known.…
We show that the standard model Higgs field can realize the quadratic chaotic inflation, if the kinetic term is significantly modified at large field values. This is a simple realization of the so-called running kinetic inflation. The point…
Recent work has emphasised the importance of vector and tensor contributions to the large scale microwave anisotropy fluctuations produced by cosmic defects. In this paper we provide a general discussion of these contributions, and how…
The implications of the WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) third year data for inflation are investigated using both the slow-roll approximation and an exact numerical integration of the inflationary power spectra including a…
It was recently shown that a large value of the tensor to scalar ratio $r$ implies a constraint on the minimum value of the sound speed $c_s$ of primordial curvature perturbations during inflation that is stronger than current bounds coming…
By demanding the validity of an effective field theory description during inflation, in this note we derive some peculiar inequalities among the three interesting stringy and cosmological parameters, namely the tensor-to-scalar ratio ($r$),…
A detection of excess cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-mode polarization on large scales allows the possibility of measuring not only the amplitude of these fluctuations but also their scale dependence, which can be parametrized as the…
BICEP1 is a millimeter-wavelength telescope designed specifically to measure the inflationary B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at degree angular scales. We present results from an analysis of the data acquired…
The CMB's B-mode polarization provides a handle on several cosmological parameters most notably the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r$, and is sensitive to parameters which govern the growth of large scale structure (LSS) and evolution of the…
The cosmological evolution of a scalar field is shaped by Hubble damping. Any non-gravitational couplings of the scalar with the primordial thermal bath generically contribute additional damping. Although rarely considered, such thermal…
Extending our previous work on the robustness of inflation to perturbations in the scalar field, we investigate the effects of perturbations in the transverse traceless part of the extrinsic curvature on the evolution of an inhomogeneous…
A principal component analysis of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy measurements is used to investigate degeneracies among cosmological parameters. The results show that a degeneracy with tensor modes -- the `tensor degeneracy'…
Search for the statistical anisotropy in the CMB data is a powerful tool for constraining models of the early Universe. In this paper we focus on the recently proposed cosmological scenario with conformal rolling. We consider two…
We evaluate the dimensionless non-Gaussianity parameter $h_{_{\rm NL}}$, that characterizes the amplitude of the tensor bispectrum, numerically for a class of two field inflationary models such as double inflation, hybrid inflation and…
The meaning of the inflationary slow-roll approximation is formalised. Comparisons are made between an approach based on the Hamilton-Jacobi equations, governing the evolution of the Hubble parameter, and the usual scenario based on the…
An inflationary gravitational wave background consistent with BICEP2 is difficult to reconcile with a simple power-law spectrum of primordial scalar perturbations. Tensor modes contribute to the temperature anisotropies at multipoles with…
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…
We provide a compact and unified treatment of power spectrum observables for the effective field theory (EFT) of inflation with the complete set of operators that lead to second-order equations of motion in metric perturbations in both…