Related papers: Fine Tuning May Not Be Enough
We revisit models of natural inflation and show that the single-field effective theory described by the potential $V(a)\sim \cos\frac{a}{f}$ breaks down as the inflaton $a$ makes large-field excursions, even for values of $f$ smaller than…
The evolution of high order correlation functions of a test scalar field in arbitrary inflationary backgrounds is computed. Whenever possible, exact results are derived from quantum field theory calculations. Taking advantage of the fact…
During inflation, the geometry of spacetime is described by a (quasi-)de Sitter phase. Inflationary observables are determined by the underlying (softly broken) de Sitter isometry group SO(1, 4) which acts like a conformal group on R^3:…
We revisit arguments that simple models of inflation with a small red tilt in the scalar power spectrum generically yield an observable tensor spectrum. We show that criteria for fine-tuning based upon the algebraic simplicity of the…
We investigate general scalar field potentials \hbox{$V\left(\phi\right)$} for inflationary cosmology arising from spontaneous symmetry breaking. We find that potentials which are dominated by terms of order $\phi^m$ with \hbox{$m > 2$} can…
We investigate the possibility of obtaining inflationary solutions of the slow roll type from a low energy Lagrangian coming from superstrings. The advantage of such an approach is that in these theories the scalar potential has only one…
We study inflationary scenarios driven by a scalar field in the presence of a non-minimal coupling between matter and curvature. We show that the Friedmann equation can be significantly modified when the energy density during inflation…
I describe a recently derived stochastic approach to inflaton dynamics which can address some serious problems associated with conventional inflationary theory. Using this theory I derive an exact solution to the stochastic dynamics for the…
Inflation is often described through the dynamics of a scalar field, slow-rolling in a suitable potential. Ultimately, this inflaton must be identified as the expectation value of a quantum field, evolving in a quantum effective potential.…
We investigate an inflationary scenario driven by a complex scalar field nonminimally coupled to gravity and subject to a non-symmetric complex potential. The real part of the potential controls the cosmological background and realizes a…
We investigate the feasibility of models of inflation with a large Gauss-Bonnet coupling at late times, which have been shown to modify and prevent the end of inflation. Despite the potential of Gauss-Bonnet models in predicting favourable…
We continue the development of axion monodromy inflation, focussing in particular on the backreaction of complex structure moduli. In our setting, the shift symmetry comes from a partial large complex structure limit of the underlying type…
We propose an inflationary scenario, M-flation, in which inflation is driven by three $N\times N$ hermitian matrices $\Phi_i, i=1,2,3$. The inflation potential of our model, which is strongly motivated from string theory, is constructed…
We investigate the possibility of preheating in hybrid inflation. This scenario involves at least two scalar fields, the inflaton field $\phi$, and the symmetry breaking field $\sigma$. We found that the behavior of these fields after…
We study inflationary constraints from reheating on two classes of single-field inflationary models: a generalized $\alpha$-attractor with potential $V(\phi) = V_0 \!\left(1 - \sech^p\!\left[\phi/(\sqrt{6\alpha}\,M_{Pl})\right]\right)$ and…
Although natural inflation is a theoretically well-motivated model for cosmic inflation, it is in tension with recent Planck cosmic microwave background anisotropy measurements. We present a way to alleviate this tension by considering a…
Within an expansion in slow-roll inflation parameters, we derive the complete second-order expressions relating the ratio of tensor to scalar density perturbations and the spectral index of the scalar spectrum. We find that ``corrections''…
The inflaton field responsible for inflation may not be a canonical fundamental scalar. It is possible that the inflaton is a composite of fermions or it may have a decay width. In these cases the standard procedure for calculating the…
Inflation is studied in the context of induced gravity (IG) $\gamma \sigma^2 R$, where $R$ is the Ricci scalar, $\sigma$ a scalar field and $\gamma$ a dimensionless constant, and diverse symmetry-breaking potentials $V(\sigma)$ are…
We investigate preheating of an inflaton field $\phi$ coupled nonminimally to a spacetime curvature. In the case of a self-coupling inflaton potential $V(\phi)=\lambda \phi^4/4$, the dynamics of preheating changes by the effect of the…