Related papers: Inflation, Universality and Attractors
Inflationary models within string theory exhibit unusual scalar field dynamics involving non-minimal kinetic terms and generically referred to as k-inflation. In this situation, the standard slow-roll approach used to determine the behavior…
We study the possibility that inflation is driven by a scalar field together with a vector field minimally coupled to gravity. By assuming an effective potential that incorporates both fields into the action, we explore two distinct…
Recently it was found that a broad class of existing inflationary models based on supergravity can be significantly simplified if some of the standard, unconstrained chiral superfields are replaced by nilpotent superfields, associated with…
In this paper we show that the new approach to the embedding of the inflationary potentials into supergravity, presented in a quite recent paper [11] of Ferrara, Kallosh, Linde and Porrati can be formulated within the framework of standard…
Inflationary scenarios in string theory often involve a large number of light scalar fields, whose presence can enrich the post-inflationary evolution of primordial fluctuations generated during the inflationary epoch. We provide a simple…
We investigate inflation and its scalar perturbation driven by a massive scalar field in the unimodular theory of gravity. We introduce a parameter $\xi$ with which the theory is invariant under general unimodular coordinate…
We investigate the extent to which the Swampland Conjecture can be employed to constrain large-field inflationary models from the perspective of quantum gravity consistency. In particular, we focus on the Swampland Distance Conjecture,…
Recent years have seen the introduction of various multi-field inflationary scenarios in which the curvature and geodesics of the scalar manifold play a crucial role. We outline a simple description that unifies these different proposals…
We consider models of chaotic inflation driven by the real parts of a conjugate pair of Higgs superfields involved in the spontaneous breaking of a grand unification symmetry at a scale assuming its supersymmetric value. Employing quadratic…
Theories where the Planck scale is dynamically generated from dimensionless interactions provide predictive inflationary potentials and super-Planckian field variations. We first study the minimal single-field realisation in the low-energy…
Following the 2015 Planck release, we briefly comment on the status and some ongoing opportunities in the interface between inflationary cosmology, string theory, and CMB data. The constraints in the $r$-$n_s$ plane introduce a new…
Inflation may have been driven by a component which violated the Null-Energy Condition, thereby leading to {\it super inflation}. We provide the formalism to study cosmological perturbations when such a component is described by a scalar…
Most models of inflation have small parameters, either to guarantee sufficient inflation or the correct magnitude of the density perturbations. In this paper we show that, in supersymmetric theories with weak scale supersymmetry breaking,…
An important unsolved problem that affects practically all attempts to connect string theory to cosmology and phenomenology is how to distinguish effective field theories belonging to the string landscape from those that are not consistent…
An inflationary scenario is expected to be embedded into an ultraviolet (UV) complete theory such as string theory. The effect of UV complete theories may appear as nontrivial kinetic terms in the low energy effective field theory, which…
It is shown that, when the inflaton field modulates the gauge kinetic function of the gauge fields in supergravity realisations of inflation, the dynamic backreaction leads to a new inflationary attractor solution, in which the inflaton's…
We analyze F-term hybrid inflation (FHI) within various grand unified theories (GUTs) in the presence of a K\"ahler potential for the inflaton field which parameterizes the K\"ahler manifolds $SU(1,1)/U(1)$ or $SU(2)/U(1)$. We take into…
From a model-building perspective, the inflationary sector might very well have no direct couplings to other species, apart from inevitable gravitational interactions. Within the context of General Relativity, a thermal universe can still…
In this lecture I will review the present status of inflation within string-based brane-world scenarios. The idea is to start from a supersymmetric configuration with two parallel static Dp-branes, and slightly break the supersymmetry…
We study multifield contributions to the scalar power spectrum in an ensemble of six-field inflationary models obtained in string theory. We identify examples in which inflation occurs by chance, near an approximate inflection point, and we…