Related papers: Modified Lyth bound and implications of BICEP2 res…
We investigate inflation in modified gravity framework by introducing a direct coupling term between a scalar field $\phi$ and the trace of the energy momentum tensor $T$ as $f(\phi,T) = 2 \phi( \kappa^{1/2} \alpha T + \kappa^{5/2} \beta…
The inflationary Lyth bound relates the primordial tensor amplitude to the inflaton field excursion. There is no analogous universal relationship in the case of ekpyrotic, bouncing, and cyclic models because scalar and tensor perturbations…
We revisit large field inflation models with modulations in light of the recent discovery of the primordial B-mode polarization by the BICEP2 experiment, which, when combined with the Planck + WP + highL data, gives a strong hint for…
We study a class of N=1 Supergravity inflationary models in which the evolution of the inflaton dynamics is controlled by a single power in the inflaton field at the point where the observed density fluctuations are produced, in the context…
We study several extensions of the Starobinsky model of inflation, which obey all observational constraints on the inflationary parameters, by demanding that both the inflaton scalar potential in the Einstein frame and the $F(R)$ gravity…
This work explores the possibility of inflation in a scale-symmetric extension of the Standard Model Higgs sector, where the Higgs field $\phi_1$ is coupled to a singlet scalar, the dilaton $\phi_0$. The two-scalar theory is formulated…
We present a minimal axion inflation model which can generate a large tensor-to-scalar ratio while remaining sub-Planckian. The modulus of a complex scalar field $\Phi$ with a $\lambda |\Phi|^4$ potential couples directly to the gauge field…
Recent BICEP/Keck data on the cosmic microwave background, in combination with previous WMAP and Planck data, impose strong new constraints on the tilt in the scalar perturbation spectrum, $n_s$, as well as the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r$.…
We report on the implications for cosmic inflation of the 2018 Release of the Planck CMB anisotropy measurements. The results are fully consistent with the two previous Planck cosmological releases, but have smaller uncertainties thanks to…
We point out that the prediction of the minimal chaotic inflation model is altered if a scalar field takes a large field value close to the Planck scale during inflation due to a negative Hubble induced mass. In particular, we show that the…
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…
Inflationary potentials, with Planckian field excursions, described by a 6th degree polynomial are studied. We solve the Mukhanov-Sasaki equations exactly and employ a probabilistic approach as well as multinomial fitting to analyse the…
We provide an update on five relatively well motivated inflationary models in which the inflaton is a Standard Model singlet scalar field. These include i) the textbook quadratic and quartic potential models but with additional couplings of…
We study tachyon field inflation in the light of the Planck+WMAP+BICEP2+BAO joint data. While the minimally coupled tachyon field inflation is consistent with the Planck2013 data, it is not confirmed by the Planck+WMAP+BICEP2+BAO dataset.…
Combining Planck CMB temperature [1] and BICEP2 B-mode polarization data [2,3] we show qualitatively that, assuming inflationary consistency relation, the power-law form of the scalar primordial spectrum is ruled out at more than $3\sigma$…
Recent LHC data provides precise values of coupling constants of the Higgs field, however, these measurements do not determine its coupling with gravity. We explore this freedom to see whether Higgs field non-minimally coupled to…
We propose a class of inflation models with potential V(\phi)=\alpha \phi^n exp(-\beta^m \phi^m). We show that such kind of inflaton potentials can be realized in supergravity theory with a small shift symmetry breaking term in the K\"ahler…
In this paper we propose two simple minimal Higgs inflation scenarios through a simple modification of the Higgs potential, as opposed to the usual non-minimal Higgs-gravity coupling prescription. The modification is done in such a way that…
By using the relations between the slow-roll parameters and the power spectrum for the single field slow-roll inflation, we derive the scalar spectral tilt $n_s$ and the tensor to scalar ratio $r$ for the constant slow-roll inflation and…
We revisit the renormalizable polynomial inflection point model of inflation, focusing on the small field scenario which can be treated fully analytically. In particular, the running of the spectral index is predicted to be $\alpha = -1.43…