Related papers: Dynamically Induced Planck Scale and Inflation
Inflation in the framework of $f(R)$ modified gravity is revisited. We study the conditions that $f(R)$ should satisfy in order to lead to a viable inflationary model in the original form and in the Einstein frame. Based on these criteria…
We investigate the cosmological inflation in a class of supergravity models that are generalizations of non-supersymmetric $R^2$ models. Although such models have been extensively studied recently, especially after the launch of the PLANCK…
In this work, we show that, in the presence of non-minimal coupling to gravity, it is possible to generate sizeable tensor modes in single-field models without transplanckian field values. These transplanckian field values apparently needed…
In the quest for unification of the Standard Model with gravity, classical scale invariance can be utilized to dynamically generate the Planck mass $M_\mathrm{Pl}$. Then, the relation of Planck scale physics to the scale of electroweak…
Observational missions have provided us with a reliable model of the evolution of the universe starting from the last scattering surface all the way to future infinity. Furthermore given a specific model of inflation, using quantum field…
During inflation explicit perturbative computations of quantum field theories which contain massless, non-conformal fields exhibit secular effects that grow as powers of the logarithm of the inflationary scale factor. Starobinskii's…
We investigate a standard minimally-coupled scalar-field inflationary scenario, which is based on a new potential, with suitably generalized plateau features, that leads to extra small tensor-to-scalar ratios. In particular, we consider a…
We use the PLANCK 2018 and the WMAP data to constraint inflation models driven by a scalar field $\phi$ in the presence of the non-minimal scalar-curvature mixing term $\frac{1}{2}\xi R \phi^2$. We consider four distinct scalar field…
We investigate the pre-inflationary dynamics of inflation with the Starobinsky potential, favored by recent data from the Planck mission, using techniques developed to study cosmological perturbations on quantum spacetimes in the framework…
Vector inflation is a newly established model where inflation is driven by non-minimally coupled massive vector fields with a potential term. This model is similar to the model of chaotic inflation with scalar fields, except that for vector…
Holographic considerations may provide a glimpse of quantum gravity beyond what is currently accessible by other means. Here we apply holography to inflationary cosmology. We argue that the appropriate holographic bound on the total entropy…
The evolution of the quintessence field during a phase of chaotic inflation is studied. The inflaton and the quintesssence field are described in a supergravity framework where the coupling between the inflaton and quintessence is induced…
We study the evolution of quantum fluctuations of gravity around an inflationary solution in renormalizable quantum gravity, in which the initial scalar-fluctuation dominance is shown by the background-free nature expressed by a special…
We study stochastic inflation in the presence of a dynamical gravitational constant. We describe the Arnowitt--Deser--Misner formalism for Jordan--Brans--Dicke theory of gravity with an inflaton field. The inflaton and dilaton scalar fields…
We consider Supersymmetric (SUSY) and non-SUSY models of chaotic inflation based on the simplest power-law potential with exponents n=2 and 4. We propose a convenient non-minimal coupling to gravity and a non-minimal kinetic term which…
We consider inflation in a universe with a positive cosmological constant and a nonminimally coupled scalar field, in which the field couples both quadratically and quartically to the Ricci scalar. When considered in the Einstein frame and…
We study chaotic inflation driven by a real, massive, homogeneous minimally coupled scalar field in a flat Robertson-Walker spacetime. The semiclassical limit for gravity is considered, whereas the scalar field is treated quantum…
Starting with a theory of the discrete space-time at the Planck scale, we developed a Gravi-Weak Unification (GWU) - a $Spin(4,4)$-invariant model unified gravity with weak $SU(2)$ gauge and Higgs fields in the visible and invisible sectors…
We consider Weyl-invariant quadratic Einstein-Cartan gravity coupled to a scalar field and study the inflationary behaviour of the coupled system of the scalar field and the pseudoscalar associated with the Holst invariant. We find that the…
These lecture notes have been written for a short introductory course on the status of inflation after Planck and BICEP2, given at the Xth Modave School of Mathematical Physics. The first objective is to give an overview of the theory of…