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Inflation produces nearly Harrison-Zel'dovich scalar and tensor perturbation spectra which lead to anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The amplitudes and shapes of these spectra can be parametrized by $Q_S^2$, $r\equiv…
The statistical properties of the primordial density perturbations has been considered in the past decade as a powerful probe of the physical processes taking place in the early universe. Within the inflationary paradigm, the properties of…
Cosmological $\alpha$-attractors stand out as particularly compelling models to describe inflation in the very early universe, naturally meeting tight observational bounds from cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. We investigate…
We construct supersymmetric unified models which automatically lead to a period of inflation. The models all involve a U(1) symmetry which does not belong to the MSSM. We consider three different types of models depending on whether this…
We explore conformal-anomaly driven inflation in $F(R)$ gravity without invoking the scalar-tensor representation. We derive the stress-energy tensor of the quantum anomaly in the flat homogeneous and isotropic universe. We investigate a…
We compute the primordial scalar, vector and tensor metric perturbations arising from quantum field inflation. Quantum field inflation takes into account the nonperturbative quantum dynamics of the inflaton consistently coupled to the…
We present a review of vector field models of inflation and, in particular, of the statistical anisotropy and non-Gaussianity predictions of models with SU(2) vector multiplets. Non-Abelian gauge groups introduce a richer amount of…
This paper investigates Starobinsky's model of inflation driven by the trace anomaly of conformally coupled matter fields. This model does not suffer from the problem of contrived initial conditions that occurs in most models of inflation…
Noncommutative geometry can provide effective description of physics at very short distances taking into account generic effects of quantum gravity. Inflation amplifies tiny quantum fluctuations in the early universe to macroscopic scales…
We show that if the $\alpha$-attractor model is realized by the spontaneous breaking of the scale symmetry, then the stability and the dynamics of the vector field that gauges the scale symmetry can severely constrain the $\alpha$-parameter…
We compute the primordial scalar, vector and tensor metric perturbations arising from quantum field inflation. Quantum field inflation takes into account the nonperturbative quantum dynamics of the inflaton consistently coupled to the…
One of the firm predictions of inflationary cosmology is the consistency relation between scalar and tensor spectra. It has been argued that such a relation -if experimentally confirmed- would offer strong support for the idea of inflation.…
In a recent paper [17], we studied the evolution of the background geometry and scalar perturbations in an inflationary, spatially closed Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) model having constant positive spatial curvature and…
A new inflationary scenario whose exponential potential $V(\Phi)$ has a quadratic dependence on the field $\Phi$ in addition to the standard linear term is confronted with the tree-year observations of the Wilkinson-Microwave Anisotropy…
Various data analyses of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) provide observational hints of statistical isotropy breaking. Some of these features can be studied within the framework of primordial vector fields in inflationary theories…
We develop a possibility of generating tensor non-Gaussianity in a kind of anisotropic inflation, where a $U(1)$ gauge field is kinetically coupled to a spectator scalar field. Owing to this coupling, the coherent mode of the electric field…
A no-go theorem for parity-violation in even $D$-dimensional spacetimes invariant under $ISO(d)$ and dilatations (as well as the implications for odd $D$) is derived. For the case of real massless scalar and gravitons (as well as any…
Using an effective field theory approach to inflation, we examine novel properties of the spectrum of inflationary tensor fluctuations, that arise when breaking some of the symmetries or requirements usually imposed on the dynamics of…
The interplay between string theory and early-universe cosmology offers promising avenues to explore high-energy regimes where the standard single-field slow-roll model may no longer provide an accurate description. One intriguing scenario…
Standard inflationary models yield a characteristic signature of a primordial power spectrum with a red tensor and scalar tilt. Nevertheless, Cannone et al recently suggested that, by breaking the assumption of spatial diffeomorphism…