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We study an inflation mechanism based on attractor properties in cosmological evolutions of a spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime based on the Einstein-scalar field theory. We find a new way to get the Hamilton-Jacobi…
We consider the UV-protected inflation, where the inflaton potential is obtained by quantum (one-loop) breaking of a global symmetry into a discrete symmetry. In this model, all coupling scales are sub-Planckian. This is achieved by…
We investigate the dynamics of the recently proposed model of assisted inflation. In this model an arbitrary number of scalar fields with exponential potentials evolve towards an inflationary scaling solution, even if each of the individual…
Affine gravity, a gravity theory based on affine connection with no notion of metric, supports scalar field dynamics only if scalar fields have non-vanishing potential. The non-vanishing vacuum energy ensures that the cosmological constant…
We discuss some model-independent implications of embedding (aligned) axionic inflation in string theory. As a consequence of string theoretic duality symmetries the pure cosine potentials of natural inflation are replaced by modular…
Studies of the initial conditions for inflation have conflicting predictions from exponential suppression to inevitability. At the level of phase space, this conflict arises from the competing intuitions of CPT invariance and…
The QCD axion in the pre-inflation scenario faces a stringent isocurvature constraint, which requires a relatively low Hubble scale during inflation. If the axion was heavier than the Hubble scale during inflation, its isocurvature is…
Instanton and wormhole solutions are constructed in a d-dimensional gravity theory with an axion-dilaton pair of scalar fields. We discuss the cases of vanishing, positive and negative cosmological constant.
We develop a new class of chaotic inflation models with spontaneously broken conformal invariance. Observational consequences of a broad class of such models are stable with respect to strong deformations of the scalar potential. This…
In this paper a quantum N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory perturbed by dilaton-coupled scalars, is considered. The induced effective action for such a theory is calculated on a dilaton-gravitational background using the conformal anomaly found…
We develop methods for resummation of instanton lattice series. Using these tools, we investigate the consequences of the Weak Gravity Conjecture for large-field axion inflation. We find that the Sublattice Weak Gravity Conjecture implies a…
We consider the eternal inflation scenario of the slow-roll/chaotic type with the additional element of an objective collapse of the wave function. The incorporation of this new agent to the traditional inflationary setting might represent…
We reconsider the perturbative stability of Euclidean axion wormholes. The quadratic action that governs linear perturbations is derived directly in Euclidean gravity. We demonstrate explicitly that a stability analysis in which one treats…
In the context of Quantum Cosmology and the Wheeler-DeWitt equation we investigate the possible effects of a non semiclassical wave-function of the universe on the evolution of the inflationary perturbations. These are associated with the…
We show how the inclusion of non-perturbative, {\em dynamical} quantum effects on the evolution of the inflaton can allow for an inflationary phase that is both consistent with cosmological constraints {\em and} avoids the problems…
Obtaining a potential flat enough to provide slow roll inflation is often difficult when gravitational effects are included. Non-abelian discrete gauge symmetries can guarantee the flatness of the inflaton potential in this case, and also…
We construct a hybrid-inflation model where the inflaton potential is generated radiatively, as gauge symmetries guarantee it to be accidentally flat at tree level. The model can be regarded as a small-field version of Natural Inflation,…
We propose a new realization of axion monodromy inflation in which axion monodromy arises from torsional cycles in a type IIB compactification. A class of monomial potentials is obtained with specific values for the power index. Moreover,…
We investigate the potential impact of mass inflation inside black holes on the dynamics of the Universe, considering a recent reformulation of general relativity, proposed in [1], which prevents the vacuum energy from acting as a…
We analyze causality and unitarity constraints in graviton scattering amplitudes, aiming to establish new bounds on theories with $U(1)$-gravitational anomalies, such as axion models or strongly-coupled gauge theories. For this purpose, we…