Related papers: Goldstone Inflation
The pseudo-conformal scenario is an alternative to inflation in which the early universe is described by an approximate conformal field theory on flat, Minkowski space. Some fields acquire a time-dependent expectation value, which breaks…
We construct a model of hybrid inflation within a controlled five-dimensional effective field theory framework. The inflaton and waterfall fields are realized as naturally light moduli of the 5D compactification. At the quantum level,…
Models of axion inflation based on a single cosine potential require the axion decay constant $f$ to be super-Planckian in size. However, $f > M_{Pl}$ is disfavored by the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC). It is then pertinent to ask if one…
We investigate non-Gaussian isocurvature perturbations generated by the evolution of Goldstone modes during inflation. If a global symmetry is broken ``before'' inflation, the resulting Goldstone modes are disordered during inflation in a…
Nonminimal coupling between the inflaton and the Ricci scalar plays a crucial role in shaping the predictions of single-field inflationary models. While a quartic potential with such coupling represents one of the simplest realizations…
The application of Effective Field Theory (EFT) methods to inflation has taken a central role in our current understanding of the very early universe. The EFT perspective has been particularly useful in analyzing the self-interactions…
We clarify classical inflaton models by considering them as effective field theories `a la Ginzburg-Landau. In this approach, the WMAP statement excluding the pure phi^4 potential implies the presence of an inflaton mass term at the scale m…
We examine the role of using symmetry and effective field theory in inflationary model building. We describe the standard formulation of starting with an approximate shift symmetry for a scalar field, and then introducing corrections…
We realize and study a model of hybrid inflation in the context of softly broken supersymmetry. The inflaton is taken to be a flat direction in the superfield space and, due to unsuppressed couplings, its soft supersymmetry breaking mass…
We consider a gauge inflation model in the simplest orbifold M4 x S1/Z2 with the minimal non-Abelian SU(2) hidden sector gauge symmetry. The inflaton potential is fully radiatively generated solely by gauge self-interactions. Following the…
We discuss the possibility that inflation is driven by the sgoldstino, the superpartner of the goldstino. Unlike in generic supergravity scenarios, the sgoldstino decouples from all other fields in the theory, which allows for a simple and…
We present a realistic non-supersymmetric inflation model based on a gauged U(1)$_{B-L}$ symmetry and a tree-level Higgs potential. The inflaton is identified with the scalar field which spontaneously breaks U(1)$_{B-L}$, and we include…
Slow-roll inflation is a successful paradigm. However we find that even a small coupling of the inflaton to other light fields can dramatically alter the dynamics and predictions of inflation. As an example, the inflaton can generically…
We consider here natural inflation in the low energy (two-derivative) metric-affine theory containing only the minimal degrees of freedom in the inflationary sector, i.e. the massless graviton and the pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson (PNGB).…
We suggest a path integral formulation for the tunneling cosmological state, which admits a consistent renormalization and renormalization group (RG) improvement in particle physics applications of quantum cosmology. We apply this…
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…
We provide a mechanism to obtain multiple inflection points for the inflaton potential based on the Coleman-Weinberg potential. The key ingredient is the existence of zeros of the inflaton quartic coupling beta function, which can be simply…
We explore a possibility that an inflaton, which drives the cosmological inflation in the early Universe, can be detected by the recently approved FASER at the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC). We consider nonminimal quartic inflation scenario…
We describe a two-field model that generalizes Natural Inflation, in which the inflaton is the pseudo-Goldstone boson of an approximate symmetry that is spontaneously broken, and the radial mode is dynamical. We analyze how the dynamics…
Inflation models can have an early phase of inflation where the evolution of the inflaton is driven by quantum fluctuations before entering the phase driven by the slope of the scalar field potential. For a Coleman-Weinberg potential this…