Related papers: Confronting K\"ahler moduli inflation with CMB dat…
We develop a new class of supergravity cosmological models where inflation is induced by terms in the K\"ahler potential which mix a nilpotent superfield $S$ with a chiral sector $\Phi$. As the new terms are non-(anti)holomorphic, and hence…
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 background and perturbations in $k$-essence inflation models and show that a general $k$-essence exhibits a simple scaling property. In particular, we study two classes of $k$-inflation models with the potential characterized…
We investigate warm inflationary scenario in which the accelerated expansion of the early Universe is driven by chameleon-like scalar fields. Due to the non-minimal coupling between the scalar field and the matter sector, the…
Detailed analyses of the WMAP data indicate possible oscillatory features in the primordial curvature perturbation, which moreover appears to be suppressed beyond the present Hubble radius. Such deviations from the usual inflationary…
Perturbations from inflation evolve into large scale structure of the late universe, and encode abundant cosmic structure formation physics. We allow freedom in the primordial power spectrum, rather than assuming a power law scale…
This paper concludes our semi-analytic study of preheating in inflationary models comprised of multiple scalar fields coupled nonminimally to gravity. Using the covariant framework of paper I in this series, we extend the rigid-spacetime…
We propose a general scenario for moduli stabilization where low-energy supersymmetry can be accommodated with a high scale of inflation. The key ingredient is that the stabilization of the modulus field during and after inflation is not…
The weak gravity conjecture imposes severe constraints on natural inflation. A trans-Planckian axion decay constant can only be realized if the potential exhibits an additional (subdominant) modulation with sub-Planckian periodicity. The…
Standard CMB analysis assumes a direct deterministic mapping between the multipole probed by the CMB $\ell$ and the primordial wavenumber $k$. Since the recombination era has a finite duration, this mapping is probabilistic by construction.…
We survey recent calculations probing what constraints decoupling can put on the influence of very-high-energy physics on the predictions of inflation for the cosmic microwave background. Using garden-variety hybrid inflation models we…
We have proposed a new class of inflationary scenarios in which the first stage of expansion is driven by "old" false vacuum inflation. This ends by nucleation of a bubble, which then further inflates. Unlike the standard slow-roll…
If the inflationary era is preceded by a radiation dominated era in which the inflaton too was in thermal equilibrium at some very early time then the CMB data places an upper bound on the comoving temperature of the (decoupled) inflaton…
The inflationary paradigm is extremely successful regarding predictions of temperature anisotropies in the CMB. However, inflation also makes predictions for a CMB B-mode polarization, which has not been detected. Moreover, the standard…
Motivated by Planck confirmation of an anomalously low value of the CMB temperature fluctuations up to multipole $\ell<40$, we in this paper try to explain such feature by investigating case of punctuated inflation scenario. This form of…
Warm inflation includes inflaton interactions with other fields throughout the inflationary epoch instead of confining such interactions to a distinct reheating era. Previous investigations have shown that, when certain constraints on the…
The model of fresh inflation with increasing cosmological parameter provides sufficient e-folds to solve the flatness/horizon problem and the density fluctuations agree with experimental values. In this model the temperature increases…
We analyze an inflationary model in which part of the power in density perturbations arises due to particle production. The amount of particle production is modulated by an auxiliary field. Given an initial gradient for the auxiliary field,…
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 consider two-stage inflationary models in which a superheavy scale F-term hybrid inflation is followed by an intermediate scale modular inflation. We confront these models with the restrictions on the power spectrum P_R of curvature…