Related papers: Further refining the de Sitter swampland conjectur…
In the context of quintessence, the concept of tracking solutions allows to address the fine-tuning and coincidence problems. When the field is on tracks today, one has $Q\approx m_{\rm Pl}$ demonstrating that, generically, any realistic…
We consider an Einstein-Scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravitational theory, and argue that at early times the Ricci scalar can be safely ignored. We then demonstrate that the pure scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theory, with a quadratic coupling function,…
We study cosmological inflation and its dynamics in the framework of the Randall-Sundrum II brane model. In particular, we analyze in detail four representative small-field inflationary potentials, namely Natural inflation, Hilltop…
The string theory swampland proposes that there is no UV-completion for an effective field theory with an exact (metastable) de Sitter vacua, thereby ruling out standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmology if the conjecture is taken seriously. The…
Finding string backgrounds with de Sitter spacetime, where all approximations and corrections are controlled, is an open problem. We revisit the search for de Sitter solutions in the classical regime for specific type IIB supergravity…
We analyze a simple extension of the Schwinger model, which we refer to as the $p$-Schwinger model, on a de Sitter background. In this theory, the charged massless fermions carry non-unit integer charge $p$. In Minkowski space, the…
Cosmological models of the early or late universe exhibit (quasi) de Sitter space-times with different stability properties. Considering models derived from string theory, the swampland program does not provide for now a definite…
In the framework of scalar-tensor theories of gravity, we construct a new kind of cosmological model that conflates inflation and ekpyrosis. During a phase of conflation, the universe undergoes accelerated expansion, but with crucial…
Dynamical systems methods are used to investigate dynamics of a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological model with the non-minimally coupled scalar field and a potential function. Performed analysis distinguishes the value of…
We explain why the concept of a spontaneously broken superconformal symmetry is useful to describe inflationary models favored by the Planck. Non-minimal coupling of complex scalars to curvature, N(X, X*) R, is compulsory for superconformal…
In hep-th/0506040 we discussed a classically constrained model of gravity. This theory contains known solutions of General Relativity (GR), and admits solutions that are absent in GR. Here we study cosmological implications of some of these…
Multi-field inflation with a curved scalar geometry has been found to support background trajectories that violate the slow-roll, slow-turn conditions and thus have the potential to evade the swampland constraints. In order to understand…
We consider D-term hybrid inflation in the framework of superconformal supergravity. In part of the parameter space, inflation continues for subcritical inflaton field value. Consequently, a new type of inflation emerges, which gives…
Typical de Sitter (dS) vacua of gauged supergravity correspond to saddle points of the potential and often the unstable mode runs into a singularity. We explore the possibility to obtain dS points where the unstable mode goes on both sides…
We consider asymptotically anti de Sitter gravity coupled to a scalar field with mass slightly above the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound. This theory admits a large class of consistent boundary conditions characterized by an arbitrary function…
A unified approach to quintessence and inflation is investigated with the use of a single scalar field. It is argued that successful potentials have to approximate a combination of exponential and inverse power-law decline in the limit of…
We consider a non-standard generalized model of gravity coupled to a neutral scalar "inflaton" as well as to the fields of the electroweak bosonic sector. The essential new ingredient is employing two alternative non-Riemannian space-time…
We present a new model of inflation in which the inflaton is the extra component of a gauge field in a 5d theory compactified on a circle. The chief merit of this model is that the potential comes only from non-local effects so that its…
We consider the supergravity origin of the recently proposed MSSM inflationary model, which relies on the existence of a saddle point along a dimension six flat direction. We derive the conditions that the Kahler potential has to satisfy…
We consider an additional fine-tuning problem which afflicts scalar-driven models of inflation. The problem is that successful reheating requires the inflaton be coupled to ordinary matter, and quantum fluctuations of this matter induces…