Related papers: The (relative) size does not matter in inflation
We consider $R^p$ inflation with $p \approx 2$, allowing small deviation from $R^2$ inflation. Using the inflaton potential in the Einstein frame, we construct a consistency relation between the scalar spectral index, the tensor-to-scalar…
Within General Relativity, a minimally coupled scalar field governed by a quadratic potential is able to produce an accelerated expansion of the universe provided its value and excursion are larger than the Planck scale. This is an…
We reevaluate the predictions of inflation regarding primordial gravity waves, which should appear as B-modes in the CMB, in light of the fact that the standard inflationary paradigm is unable to account for the transition from an initially…
We propose a class of inflation models in which the coefficient of the inflaton kinetic term rapidly changes with energy scale. This may occur especially if the inflaton moves over a long distance during inflation as in the case of…
We consider scalar field inflation in the Palatini formulation of general relativity. The covariant derivative of the metric is then non-zero. From the effective theory point of view it should couple to other fields. We write down the most…
In this paper we propose a new inflation model named (p,q) inflation model in which the inflaton potential contains both positive and negative powers of inflaton field in the polynomial form. We will show that such a simple model can easily…
While moving down the potential on its classical slow roll trajectory, the inflaton field is subject to quantum jumps, which take it up or down the potential at random. In "stochastic inflation", the impact of these quantum jumps is modeled…
It was pointed out that brane-anti-brane inflation without warped geometry is not viable due to compactification effects (in the simplified scenario where the inflaton is decoupled from the compactification moduli). We show that the…
Whereas preheating after chaotic and hybrid inflation models has been abundantly studied in the literature, preheating in small field inflation models, where the curvature of the inflaton potential is negative during inflation, remains less…
Natural inflation is an attractive model for primordial inflation, since the potential for the inflaton is of the pseudo Nambu-Goldstone form, $V(\phi)=\Lambda^4 [1+\cos (\phi/f)]$, and so is protected against radiative corrections.…
It is shown that a large class of higher-order (i.e. non-quadratic) scalar kinetic terms can, without the help of potential terms, drive an inflationary evolution starting from rather generic initial conditions. In many models, this…
Inflation can occur in the cores of topological defects, where the scalar field is forced to stay near the maximum of its potential. This topological inflation does not require fine-tuning of the initial conditions.
Motivated by the recent `Higgs-inflation' scenario based on a single inflaton field, we consider more generic two-field inflation with non-minimal coupling term. The generic analytic expressions are derived for cosmological observables with…
Attractor inflation is a particularly robust framework for developing inflationary models that are insensitive to the details of the potential. Such models are most often considered in the metric formulation of gravity. However, non-minimal…
We re-examine the importance of slow-roll corrections during the evolution of cosmological perturbations in models of multi-field inflation. We find that in many instances the presence of light degrees of freedom leads to situations in…
The influence of Inflation on initial (i.e. at Planck's epoch) large anisotropy of the Universe is studied, considering a more general metric than the isotropic one: the locally rotationally symmetric (L.R.S.) Bianchi IX metric. We find,…
In this work we investigate a inflationary scenario generated by a large scalar field $\phi$ that non-minimally couples to a $f(R)$ modified gravity model. For a Starobinsky's like model, it is found that along a particular flat direction,…
The possibility that the non-minimal coupling inflation could be eternal is investigated. We calculate the quantum fluctuation of the inflaton in a Hubble time and find that it has the same value as in the minimal case in the slow-roll…
We consider small-field models which invoke the usual framework for the effective field theory, and large-field models which go beyond that. Present and future possibilities for discriminating between the models are assessed, on the…
A field kinetic coupling with the Einstein tensor leads to a gravitationally enhanced friction during inflation, by which even steep potentials with theoretically natural model parameters can drive cosmic acceleration. In the presence of…