Related papers: Massive Fields as Systematics for Single Field Inf…
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…
We revisit axion monodromy inflation in the context of UV-inspired models and point out that its cosmological observables are sensitive to heavy fields with masses far above the Hubble scale, such as the moduli of flux compactifications. By…
We consider a phenomenological model of inflation where the inflaton is the phase of a complex scalar field $\Phi$. Planck-suppressed operators of $\mathcal O(f^5/M_\mathrm{pl})$ modify the geometry of the vev $\langle \Phi \rangle$ at…
We study the quantum fluctuations of scalar fields with a variable effective mass during an inflationary phase. We consider the situation where the effective mass depends on a background scalar field, which evolves during inflation from…
We review the effects of heavy scalar fields during inflation in the framework of $\mathcal N = 1$ supergravity. Such heavy scalars can be geometric moduli from string compactifications or stabilizer fields from a different sector of the…
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…
Models of axion inflation are particularly interesting since they provide a natural justification for the flatness of the potential over a super-Planckian distance, namely the approximate shift-symmetry of the inflaton. In addition, most of…
We calculate the primordial spectrum of scalar perturbations of the 3-form inflation and we find that the curvature perturbations decay at late times. As as result, although a non-minimally coupled massive 3-form field may drive inflation…
We study linear scalar perturbations in single-field models of inflation featuring a non-attractor phase. These models lead to a peak in the curvature power spectrum that may result in the formation of primordial black holes. We develop a…
We study the metric perturbations produced during inflation in models with two scalar fields evolving simultaneously. In particular, we emphasize how the large-scale curvature perturbation $\zeta$ on fixed energy density hypersurfaces may…
I investigate the possibility that the observed curvature perturbation is due to a massive vector field. To avoid generating a large scale anisotropy the vector field is not taken to be driving inflation. Instead it is assumed to become…
Attempts to construct string derived effective field theory models realizing large field inflation are plagued by control issues. Targeted at a broader audience, in this article we review recent progress in isolating the underlying…
Large-field inflation is a major class of inflation models featuring a near- or super-Planckian excursion of the inflaton field. We point out that the large excursion generically introduces significant scale dependence to spectator fields…
Motivated by the possibility of inflation in the cosmic landscape, which may be approximated by a complicated potential, we study the density perturbations in multi-field inflation with a random potential. The random potential causes the…
We study an inflationary model driven by a single minimally coupled standard kinetic term scalar field with a step in its mass modeled by an Heaviside step function. We present an analytical approximation for the mode function of the…
In multifield inflation driven by $d$ scalar fields, $O (d)$ symmetry renders the number of fields irrelevant at classical level. This ceases to be the case once stochastic effects are accommodated. The statistical quantities such as the…
Multi-field inflation models include a variety of scenarios for how inflation proceeds and ends. Models with the same potential but different kinetic terms are common in the literature. We compare spiral inflation and Dante's inferno-type…
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…
The background evolution in two-field inflation can feature two distinct stages, corresponding to the evolution along two successive field directions. When the second stage occurs at a significantly lower energy scale, the inflationary…
We introduce a new method for calculating density perturbations in hybrid inflation which avoids treating the fluctuations of the "waterfall" field as if they were small perturbations about a classical trajectory. We quantize only the…