Related papers: Pole N-flation
We study the possibility that inflation is driven by a scalar field together with a vector field minimally coupled to gravity. By assuming an effective potential that incorporates both fields into the action, we explore two distinct…
Tribrid inflation is a class of supersymmetric inflation models where the scalar component of a matter superfield, or a $D$-flat direction of matter fields, drives inflation. Similar to Hybrid inflation, the end of inflation is reached when…
We build a number of integrable one--scalar spatially flat cosmologies, which play a natural role in inflationary scenarios, examine their behavior in several cases and draw from them some general lessons on this type of systems, whose…
We discuss a realization of a small field inflation based on string inspired supergravities. In theories accompanying extra dimensions, compactification of them with small radii is required for realistic situations. Since the extra…
Inflection-point inflation is an interesting possibility to realize a successful slow-roll inflation when inflation is driven by a single scalar field with its initial value below the Planck mass ($\phi_I \lesssim M_{Pl}$). In order for a…
In a recent paper we proposed a new model of inflation based on the soft-breaking of N=2 supersymmetric SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. The advantage of such a model is the fact that we can write an exact expression for the effective scalar…
We consider a scenario of cosmological inflation coming from a grand unified theory in higher dimensional orbifold. Flatness of the potential is automatically guaranteed in this orbifold setup thanks to the nonlocality of the Wilson line on…
The electric Weak Gravity Conjecture demands that axions with large decay constant $f$ couple to light instantons. The resulting large instantonic corrections pose problems for natural inflation. We explore an alternative argument based on…
Models of axion inflation based on a single cosine potential require the axion decay constant $f$ to be super-Planckian in size. However, $f > M_{Pl}$ is disfavored by the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC). It is then pertinent to ask if one…
We study the scalar sector of type IIB superstring theory compactified on Calabi-Yau orientifolds as a place to find a mechanism of inflation in the early universe. In the large volume limit, one can stabilize the moduli in stages using…
We study the inflationary scenarios driven by a Wilson line field - the fifth component of a 5D gauge field and corresponding modulus field, within S^1/Z_2 orbifold supergravity (SUGRA). We use our off shell superfield formulation and give…
We discuss inflation models within supersymmetry and supergravity frameworks with a landscape of chiral superfields and one $U(1)$ shift symmetry which is broken by non-perturbative symmetry breaking terms in the superpotential. We label…
Inflation is well known to be difficult in the context of supergravity, if the potential is dominated by the $F$ term. Non-renormalizable terms generically give $|V''|\sim V/M^2$, where $V(\phi)$ is the inflaton potential and $M$ is the…
Cosmological alpha-attractors give a natural explanation for the spectral index n_s of inflation as measured by Planck while predicting a range for the tensor-to-scalar ratio r, consistent with all observations, to be measured more…
We study quintessential inflation in the framework of metric-affine gravity. It is well known that non-minimal couplings with the Holst invariant can generate a quasi-pole inflationary behaviour resulting in a Starobinsky-like…
We show that in supersymmetry one can obtain inflationary potentials in the observable sector that are sufficiently flat at sub-Planckian field values. Structure of the supersymmetric scalar potential along a flat direction combined with…
The continuous shift symmetry of axions is at the heart of several realizations of inflationary models. In particular, axion monodromy inflation aims at achieving super-Planckian field ranges for the inflaton in the context of string…
We show how observations of the perturbation spectra produced during inflation may be used to constrain the parameters of general scalar-tensor theories of gravity, which include both an inflaton and dilaton field. An interesting feature of…
Treating inflation as an effective theory, we expect the effective Lagrangian to contain higher-dimensional kinetic operators suppressed by the scale of UV physics. When these operators are powers of the inflaton kinetic energy, the scalar…
Inflation near a maximum of the potential is studied when non-local derivative operators are included in the inflaton Lagrangian. Such terms can impose additional sources of friction on the field. For an arbitrary spacetime geometry, these…