Related papers: Why concave rather than convex inflaton potential?
It is widely accepted that the primordial universe experienced a brief period of accelerated expansion called inflation. This scenario provides a plausible solution to the horizon and flatness problems. However, the particle physics…
The 2015 Planck data release has placed tight constraints on the class of in ationary models allowed. The current best fit region favors concave downwards in ationary potentials, since they produce a suppressed tensor to scalar index ratio…
The recent CMB data from Planck and BICEP2 observations have opened a new window for inflationary cosmology. In this Essay we compare three Starobinsky-like inflationary scenarios: (i) the original Starobinsky proposal; (ii) a family of…
In most current models of inflation based on a weakly self-coupled scalar matter field minimally coupled to gravity, the period of inflation lasts so long that, at the beginning of the inflationary period, the physical wavelengths of…
Our universe is born of a tunnelling from nothing in quantum cosmology. Nothing here can be interpreted as a state with zero entropy. As a reliable modification of the Hartle-Hawking wave function of the universe, the improved…
Classic inflation, the theory described in textbooks, is based on the idea that, beginning from typical initial conditions and assuming a simple inflaton potential with a minimum of fine-tuning, inflation can create exponentially large…
It has recently been suggested, by Firouzjahi, Sarangi, and Tye, that string-motivated modifications of the Hartle-Hawking wave function predict that our Universe came into existence from "nothing" with a de Sitter-like spacetime geometry…
We consider a novel model of cosmic inflation. In our model one does not need any specific matter field to drive inflation, but inflation stems from the microscopic, Planck scale structure of spacetime, thus being of quantum gravitational…
We describe an induced inflation, which refers to a class of inflationary models with a generalized non-minimal coupling $\xi g(\phi) R$ and a specific scalar potential. The defining property of these models is that the scalar field takes a…
We study the robustness of single-field inflation against inhomogeneities. We derive a simple analytic criterion on the shape of the potential for successful inflation in the presence of inhomogeneities, and demonstrate its validity using…
The early Universe inflation is well known as a promising theory to explain the origin of large scale structure of the Universe, a causal theory for the origin of primordial density fluctuations which may explain the observed density…
A recent paper argued that it is not possible to infer the energy scale of inflation from the amplitude of tensor fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background, because the usual connection is substantially altered if there are a large…
The early Universe inflation is well known as a promising theory to explain the origin of large scale structure of Universe and to solve the early universe pressing problems. For a resonable inflation model, the potential during inflation…
We propose a $\Lambda$-inflation model which explains a large fraction of the COBE signal by cosmic gravitational waves. The primordial density perturbations fulfil both the contraints of large-scale microwave background and galaxy cluster…
We analyze a class of generalized inflationary models proposed in Ref. [1], known as $\beta$-exponential inflation. We show that this kind of potential can arise in the context of brane cosmology, where the field describing the size of the…
We consider quantum corrections to a recently obtained perturbative form of Starobinsky model to extract information about the initial conditions of the universe leading to cosmological inflation. Integrating out graviton modes, we find…
We develop a quantum-cosmological framework in which the inflationary potential emerges from the structure of the wave function of the universe rather than being postulated. Starting from the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for a flat…
The Higgs field is an attractive candidate for the inflaton because it is an observationally confirmed fundamental scalar field. Importantly, it can be modeled by the most general renormalizable scalar potential. However, if the classical…
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…
The early stages of the universe evolution are discussed according to the hot big bang model and the grand unified theories. The shortcomings of big bang are summarized and their resolution by inflationary cosmology is sketched.…