Related papers: Natural Inflation and Quantum Gravity
We present an introduction to cosmic inflation in the context of Palatini gravity, which is an interesting alternative to the usual metric theory of gravity. In the latter case only the metric $g_{\mu\nu}$ determines the geometry of…
Recently, attempts have been made to understand the apparent near coincidence of the present dark energy and matter energy in terms of a dynamical attractor-like solution for the evolution of a scalar field. In these models the field…
The discovery of dark energy (DE) as the physical cause for the accelerated expansion of the Universe is the most remarkable experimental finding of modern cosmology. However, it leads to insurmountable theoretical difficulties from the…
We consider a novel model of cosmic inflation. In our model one does not need any specific matter field to drive inflation, but inflation stems from the microscopic, Planck scale structure of spacetime, thus being of quantum gravitational…
Scalar-tensor theories of gravity that embrace conformal coupling to the scalar curvature are the focal point of cosmology on discussions of inflation and late-time accelerating universe. Although there exists a stringent nucleo-synthesis…
We construct a hybrid-inflation model where the inflaton potential is generated radiatively, as gauge symmetries guarantee it to be accidentally flat at tree level. The model can be regarded as a small-field version of Natural Inflation,…
The standard model of cosmology is based on the hot Big Bang theory and the inflationary paradigm. Recent precise observations of the temperature and polarization anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background and the matter distribution…
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) provides a precious window on fundamental physics at very high energy scales, possibly including quantum gravity, GUTs and supersymmetry. The CMB has already enabled defect-based rivals to inflation to…
We investigate the question whether small quantum-gravitational effects can be observed in the anisotropy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation. An observation of such an effect is needed in order to discriminate between…
A gravity-driven inflation is shown to arise from a simple higher dimensional universe. In vacuum, the shear of $n>1$ contracting dimensions is able to inflate the remaining three spatial dimensions. Said another way, the expansion of the…
Models of cosmic inflation suggest that our universe underwent an early phase of accelerated expansion, driven by the dynamics of one or more scalar fields. Inflationary models make specific, quantitative predictions for several observable…
We study constraints on the natural inflation model from the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). Inflaton \phi for the natural inflation has a potential of the form V=\Lambda^4[1-\cos(\phi/\sqrt{2}f_\phi)], which is parametrized…
The isotropy and homogeneity of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) favors "scalar driven" early Universe inflationary models. Non-scalar fields, and in particular gauge fields, are on the other hand commonplace in all high energy…
The purpose of these lectures is to give a pedagogical introduction to inflation and the production of primordial perturbations, as well as a review of some of the latest developments in this domain. After a short introduction, we review…
We propose a model of inflation in the framework of brane cosmology driven by background supergravity. Starting from bulk supergravity we construct the inflaton potential on the brane and employ it to investigate for the consequences to…
The Big Bang singularity in standard model cosmology suggests a program of study in 'early universe' quantum gravity phenomenology. Inflation is usually thought to undermine this program's prospects by means of a dynamical diluting…
The particle production process is reviewed, through which cosmic inflation can produce a scale invariant superhorizon spectrum of perturbations of suitable fields starting from their quantum fluctuations. Afterwards, in the context of the…
We investigate the potential impact of mass inflation inside black holes on the dynamics of the Universe, considering a recent reformulation of general relativity, proposed in [1], which prevents the vacuum energy from acting as a…
Group field theory has shown to be a promising framework to derive cosmological predictions from full quantum gravity. In this brief note, we revisit the background dynamics when interaction terms are taken into account and conclude that,…
We analyse the implications for inflationary models of the cosmic microwave background (cmb) anisotropy measured by COBE. Vacuum fluctuations during inflation generate an adiabatic density perturbation, and also gravitational waves. The…