Related papers: Hybrid Natural Inflation
We show that a minimal extension of the Standard Model including a new complex scalar field can explain inflation and the observed effective number of neutrinos. The real part of the singlet plays the role of the inflaton field, while the…
We present an explicit string realisation of a cosmological inflationary scenario we proposed recently within the framework of type IIB flux compactifications in the presence of three magnetised D7-brane stacks. Inflation takes place around…
We consider hybrid inflation for small couplings of the inflaton to matter such that the critical value of the inflaton field exceeds the Planck mass. It has recently been shown that inflation then continues at subcritical inflaton field…
We propose a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone inflation where twin waterfall fields coupled to the inflaton are responsible for the graceful exit from inflation by a waterfall transition. In this scenario, the $Z_2$ symmetry for the waterfall fields…
Generalized slow roll conditions and parameters are obtained for a general form of scalar-tensor theory (with no external sources), having arbitrary functions describing a nonminimal gravitational coupling F(\phi), a Kahler-like kinetic…
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…
In this talk, I shall focus on theories beyond the Standard Model which predict massive neutrinos. Hybrid inflation emerges naturally in these theories: the slow-rolling inflaton field is a gauge singlet which couples with a GUT Higgs field…
In natural inflation models, the inflaton is a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson and the flatness of the potential is protected by shift symmetries. In this framework, a successful inflation requires the global symmetry to be spontaneously…
We critically examine the recent claim that the Standard Model Higgs boson ${\cal H}$ could drive inflation in agreement with observations if $|{\cal H}|^2$ has a strong coupling $\xi\sim 10^4$ to the Ricci curvature scalar. We first show…
We show that the seesaw mechanism as well as leptogenesis are natural outcomes of a viable chaotic inflation in supergravity. The inflation model contains two superfields, the inflaton and stabilizer fields, which, being singlets under the…
Chromo-natural inflation is a novel model of inflation which relies on the existence of non-abelian gauge fields interacting with an axion. In its simplest realization, an SU(2) gauge field is assumed to begin inflation in a rotationally…
Recently, a class of inflation models in supergravity with gauge non-singlet matter fields as the inflaton has been proposed. It is based on a `tribrid' structure in the superpotential and on a Heisenberg symmetry for solving the…
Inverted hybrid inflation (in which the inflaton field slowly rolls away from the origin, giving a spectral index $n\lsim 1$) is an appealing variant of the more usually studied hybrid model. Analysing the model alongside the ordinary…
We take a pragmatic, model independent approach to single field slow-roll canonical inflation by imposing conditions, not on the potential, but on the slow-roll parameter $\epsilon(\phi)$ and its derivatives $\epsilon^{\prime }(\phi)$ and…
We re-examine large scalar fields within effective field theory, in particular focussing on the issues raised by their use in inflationary models (as suggested by BICEP2 to obtain primordial tensor modes). We argue that when the large-field…
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.…
We present the first quantum field theory model of inflation that is renormalizable in the matter sector, with a super-Hubble inflaton mass and sub-Planckian field excursions, which is thus technically natural and consistent with a…
In this work we terminate inflation during a phase of Constant Roll by means of a waterfall field coupled to the inflaton and a spectator field. The presence of a spectator field means that inflation does not end at a single point,…
In quasi single field inflation there are massive fields that interact with the inflaton field. If these other fields are not much heavier than the Hubble constant during inflation ($H$) these interactions can lead to important consequences…
We investigate the possibility that the Universe may inflate due to moduli fields, corresponding to flat directions of supersymmetry, lifted by supergravity corrections. Using a hybrid-type potential we obtain a two-stage inflationary…