Related papers: Lyth bound revisited
Simple monomial inflationary scenarios have been ruled out by recent observations. In this work we revisit the next simplest scenario, a single--field model where the scalar potential is a polynomial of degree four which features a concave…
During inflation, there is a preferred reference frame in which the expansion of the background spacetime is spatially isotropic. In contrast to Minkowski spacetime, observables can depend on the velocity of the system with respect to this…
The simple $m^2\phi^2$ potential as an inflationary model is coming under increasing tension with limits on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and measurements of the scalar spectral index $n_s$. Cubic Galileon interactions in the context of…
We construct a model of inflation based on a low-energy effective theory of spontaneously broken global scale invariance. This provides a shift symmetry that protects the inflaton potential from quantum corrections. Since the underlying…
In this paper, we consider two case examples of Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) generalizations of canonical large-field inflation models, characterized by a reduced sound speed, $c_{S} < 1$. The reduced speed of sound lowers the tensor-scalar…
The recently measured cutoff, k_min=[4.34(+/-)0.50]/r_cmb (with r_cmb the comoving distance to the last scattering surface), in the fluctuation spectrum of the cosmic microwave background, appears to disfavor slow-roll inflation and the…
Inflection-point inflation is an interesting possibility to realize a successful slow-roll inflation when inflation is driven by a single scalar field with its initial value below the Planck mass ($\phi_I \lesssim M_{Pl}$). In order for a…
In Aligned Natural Inflation, an alignment between different potential terms produces an inflaton excursion greater than the axion scales in the potential. We show that, starting from a general potential of two axions with two aligned…
The minimal supersymmetric (or F-term) hybrid inflation is defined by a unique renormalizable superpotential, fixed by a $U(1)$ R-symmetry, and it employs a canonical K\"{a}hler potential. The inflationary potential takes into account both…
Recently, we have shown that scalar spectra with lower power on large scales and certain other features naturally occur in {\it punctuated inflation}, i.e. the scenario wherein a brief period of rapid roll is sandwiched between two stages…
In slow roll inflation, the running of the spectral tilt is generically proportional to the square of the deviation from scale invariance, $\alpha_s \propto (n_s-1)^2$, and it is therefore currently undetectable. We present a mechanism able…
The observational constraints on the primordial power spectrum have tightened considerably with the release of the first year analysis of the WMAP observations, especially when combined with the results from other CMB experiments and galaxy…
The possibility to have an infinite open inflationary universe inside a bubble of a finite size is one of the most interesting realizations extensively discussed in the literature. The original idea was based on the theory of tunneling and…
The latest Planck results are in excellent agreement with the theoretical expectations predicted from standard normal inflation based on slow-roll approximation which assumes equation-of-state $\omega \geq-1$. In this work, we study the…
We study quintessential inflation with an inverse hyperbolic type potential $V(\phi) = {V_0}/{\cosh \left( {\phi^n}/{\lambda^n} \right)}$, where $V_0$, $\lambda$ and "n" are parameters of the theory. We obtain a bound on $\lambda$ for…
An interacting scalar field with largish coupling to curvature can support a distinctive inflationary universe scenario. Previously this has been discussed for the Standard Model Higgs field, treated classically or in a leading log…
We consider the most minimal scale invariant extension of the standard model that allows for successful radiative electroweak symmetry breaking and inflation. The framework involves an extra scalar singlet, that plays the r\^ole of the…
The recent data from the Boomerang and MAXIMA-1 balloon flights have marked the beginning of the precision era of Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropy (CMB) measurements. We investigate the observational constraints from the current CMB…
Recently BICEP2 found that the vanishing of the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ is excluded at $7\sigma$ level, and its most likely value is $r=0.2^{+0.07}_{-0.05}$ at $1 \sigma$ level. This immediately causes a tension with the Planck…
We study the perspectives to extract information about the microphysical parameters that governed the reheating process after cosmic inflation from CMB data. We identify conditions under which the inflaton coupling to other fields can be…