Related papers: Random Potentials and Cosmological Attractors
We consider cosmological inflation generated by a scalar field slowly rolling off from a de Sitter maximum of its potential. The models belong to the class of hilltop models and represent the most general model of this kind in which the…
We develop a framework to study the phase space of a system consisting of a scalar field rolling down an arbitrary potential with varying slope and a background fluid, in a cosmological setting. We give analytical approximate solutions of…
The quintessence field coupled to the cosmic neutrino background (CNB) has been widely discussed as an alternative mechanism to address the coincidence problem. As it is well known, it is possible to extend such models to obtain…
After inflation occurs, a weakly coupled scalar field will in general not be in thermal equilibrium but have a distribution of values determined by the inflationary Hubble parameter. If such a field subsequently undergoes discrete symmetry…
It is well known that light scalar fields present during inflation are coherently excited. We show that if the field couples to gravity in a non-minimal way, the fluctuations at large scales are suppressed with respect to the small scales…
We propose a new potential in brane inflation theory, which is given by the arctangent of the square of the scalar field. Then we perform an explicit computation for inflationary quantities. This potential has many nice features. In the…
We investigate the range of inflationary universe models driven by scalar fields possessing a general interaction potential of the form $V(\phi) = V_0 \phi^n \exp(-\lambda \phi^m)$. Power-law, de Sitter and intermediate inflationary…
It has been suggested that low energy effective field theories should satisfy given conditions in order to be successfully embedded into string theory. In the case of a single canonically normalized scalar field this translates into…
In the framework of a cosmological model of the Universe filled with a nonrelativistic particle soup, we easily reproduce inflation due to the quantum potential. The lightest particles in the soup serve as a driving force of this simple,…
Exact models for Bianchi VI0 spacetimes with multiple scalar fields with exponential potentials have been derived and analysed. It has been shown that these solutions, when they exist, attract neighbouring solutions in the two cases…
In this work we shall study $k$-inflation theories with non-minimal coupling of the scalar field to gravity, in the presence of only a higher order kinetic term of the form $\sim \mathrm{const}\times X^{\mu}$, with…
We reanalyze cosmology of a non-minimally coupled massive scalar field which was originally discussed by Futamase and Maeda in the context of chaotic inflation scenario. We find a new type of inflationary solution where inflation occurs…
A scalar field with an exponential potential has been proposed as a model of inflation (called power-law inflation). Although it admits an exact solution, the integrability of the system has not been shown.We uncover the hidden symmetries…
I review the present status of the problem of initial conditions for inflation and describe several ways to solve this problem for many popular inflationary models, including the recent generation of the models with plateau potentials…
The paradigm of the inflationary universe provides a possible explanation for several observed cosmological properties. In order for such solutions to be successful, the universe must convert the energy stored in the inflaton potential into…
The first aim of this lecture is to highlight two areas of recent progress in inflationary cosmology, namely reheating and the quantum theory of cosmological perturbations. The second aim is to discuss important conceptual problems for the…
Inflation in the early Universe is one of the most promising probes of gravity in the high-energy regime. However, observable scales give access to a limited window in the inflationary dynamics. In this essay, we argue that quantum…
There is considerable interest in inflationary models with multiple inflaton fields. The inflaton field $\boldsymbol\phi$ that has been postulated to drive accelerating expansion in the very early universe has a corresponding potential $V$,…
In effective supergravity theories following from the superstring, a modulus field can quite naturally set the neccessary initial conditions for successful cosmological inflation to be driven by a hidden sector scalar field. The leading…
Vector inflation is a newly established model where inflation is driven by non-minimally coupled massive vector fields with a potential term. This model is similar to the model of chaotic inflation with scalar fields, except that for vector…