Related papers: Preinflationary dynamics of $\alpha-$attractor in …
We consider the presence and evolution of primordial density perturbations in a cosmological model based on a simple ansatz which captures -- by providing a set of effective gravitational field equations -- the strength of the enhanced…
We show that models of `just enough' inflation, where the slow-roll evolution lasted only $50-60$ e-foldings, feature modifications of the CMB power spectrum at large angular scales. We perform a systematic and model-independent analysis of…
We propose a scenario of the beginning of inflation in which the non-vacuum value of the scalar field that drives inflation develops dynamically due to the non-minimal coupling to gravity. In this scenario, inflation emerges as an…
The early universe need not be described by an incomplete inflationary phase connected to a separate, more exotic prehistory. Recent results show that, within non-static FRW cosmology, only positive spatial curvature permits a nonsingular,…
We show that on the average, homogeneous and isotropic scalar field and on the average homogeneous and isotropic ensembles of classical and quantum gravitational waves generate the de Sitter expansion of the empty (with no matter)…
For the first time, we investigate the non-perturbative dynamics of single field inflation with a departure from slow-roll. Using simulations, we find that oscillatory features in the potential can drastically alter the course of inflation,…
Inflation models can have an early phase of inflation where the evolution of the inflaton is driven by quantum fluctuations before entering the phase driven by the slope of the scalar field potential. For a Coleman-Weinberg potential this…
Using numerical solutions of the full Einstein field equations coupled to a scalar inflaton field in 3+1 dimensions, we study the conditions under which a universe that is initially expanding, highly inhomogeneous and dominated by gradient…
We consider a polymer quantization of a free massless scalar field in a homogeneous and isotropic cosmological spacetime. This quantization method assumes that field translations are fundamentally discrete, and is related to but distinct…
Within the framework of scalar-tensor theories, we study the conditions that allow single field inflation dynamics on small cosmological scales to significantly differ from that of the large scales probed by the observations of cosmic…
We show that the quantum dynamics of a real scalar field for a large class of potentials in the symmetric Gaussian state, where the nonperturbative quantum contributions are taken into account, can be described equivalently by a…
We study a nonsingular bounce inflation model, which can drive the early universe from a contracting phase, bounce into an ordinary inflationary phase, followed by the reheating process. Besides the bounce that avoided the Big-Bang…
Since the standard inflationary paradigm is based on quantum field theory on classical space-times, it excludes the Planck era. Using techniques from loop quantum gravity, the paradigm is extended to a self-consistent theory from the Planck…
A self-consistent pre-inflationary extension of the inflationary scenario with the Starobinsky potential, favored by Planck data, is studied using techniques from loop quantum cosmology (LQC). The results are compared with the quadratic…
We consider a k-essence model in which a single scalar field can be responsible for both primordial inflation and the present observed acceleration of the cosmological background geometry, while also admitting a nonsingular de Sitter…
We propose a cosmological framework in which neutrino masses evolve dynamically through coupling with a scalar field that simultaneously drives inflation. The neutrino mass is modeled as a power-law, exponential, or hybrid function of the…
Qualitative dynamics of three different loop quantizations of spatially flat isotropic and homogeneous models is studied using effective spacetime description of the underlying quantum geometry. These include the standard loop quantum…
A static non-singular 10-dimensional closed Friedmann universe of Planck size, filled with a perfect fluid with an equation of state with w = -2/3, can arise spontaneously by a quantum fluctuation from nothing in 11-dimensional spacetime. A…
A model for a flat isotropic universe with a negative cosmological constant $\Lambda$ and a massless scalar field as sole matter content is studied within the framework of Loop Quantum Cosmology. By application of the methods introduced for…
An investigation is undertaken into the properties and effects of a preinflationary era during at least part of which semiclassical gravity was valid. It is argued that if the Universe (or our part of it) was approximately homogeneous and…