Related papers: The Inflaton Effective Potential for General $\eps…
We obtain the effective inflaton potential during slow roll inflation by including the one loop quantum corrections to the energy momentum tensor from scalar curvature and tensor perturbations as well as quantum fluctuations from light…
We construct a model of inflation based on a low-energy effective theory of spontaneously broken global scale invariance. This provides a shift symmetry that protects the inflaton potential from quantum corrections. Since the underlying…
We study ``hilltop'' curvatons that evolve on a convex potential. Hilltop curvatons evolving on the Hubble-induced potential are generic if supergravity is assumed in the theory. We do not consider curvatons whose potential is protected…
Effective field theories (EFTs) of heavy particles coupled to the inflaton are rife with operator redundancies, frequently obscured by sensitivity to both boundary terms and field redefinitions. We initiate a systematic study of these…
We discuss the correlation function for the metric for homogeneous and isotropic cosmologies. The exact propagator equation determines the correlation function as the inverse of the second functional derivative of the quantum effective…
We investigate inflation in modified gravity framework by introducing a direct coupling term between a scalar field $\phi$ and the trace of the energy momentum tensor $T$ as $f(\phi,T) = 2 \phi( \kappa^{1/2} \alpha T + \kappa^{5/2} \beta…
In a general single field inflationary model we consider the effects of long wavelength scalar fluctuations on the effective expansion rate and equation of state seen by a class of free falling observers, using a physical gauge invariant…
This article is devoted to the study of scalar perturbations in loop quantum cosmology. It aims at clarifying the situation with respect to the way initial conditions are set and to the specific choice of an inflaton potential. Several…
I show that a classical scalar potential with $ V''/V \sim 1 $ can be sufficiently flattened by quantum corrections to give rise to slow-roll inflation. This provides perhaps the simplest way to generate an inflationary potential without…
We investigate the impact of inhomogeneous inflaton perturbations on primordial magnetic fields within the framework of generalized inflationary magnetogenesis models. Extending the Ratra model to general spacetime backgrounds, we analyze…
We define a scalar measure of the local expansion rate based on how astronomers determine the Hubble constant. Our observable is the inverse conformal d'Alembertian acting on a unit ``standard candle.'' Because this quantity is an integral…
Quantum fluctuations of an inflaton field, slow-rolling during inflation are coupled to metric fluctuations. In conventional four dimensional cosmology one can calculate the effect of scalar metric perturbations as slow-roll corrections to…
We describe models of single-field inflation with small and sharp step features in the potential (and sound speed) of the inflaton field, in the context of the Effective Field Theory of Inflation. This approach allows us to study the…
We clarify classical inflaton models by considering them as effective field theories `a la Ginzburg-Landau. In this approach, the WMAP statement excluding the pure phi^4 potential implies the presence of an inflaton mass term at the scale m…
We study an inflationary scenario where thermal inflation is followed by fast-roll inflation. This is a rather generic possibility based on the effective potentials of spontaneous symmetry breaking in the context of particle physics models.…
We re-examine large scalar fields within effective field theory, in particular focussing on the issues raised by their use in inflationary models (as suggested by BICEP2 to obtain primordial tensor modes). We argue that when the large-field…
We show how observations of the density perturbation (scalar) spectrum and the gravitational wave (tensor) spectrum allow a reconstruction of the potential responsible for cosmological inflation. A complete functional reconstruction or a…
The idea of the strongly interacting field theories constitutes one of the pillars of the standard model of particle physics. The goal of this work is to export such theories to cosmology. Here we are interested in models in which the…
Several results related to flat Friedmann-Lema\^{\i}tre-Robertson-Walker models in the conformal (Einstein) frame of scalar-tensor gravity theories are extended. Scalar fields with arbitrary (positive) potentials and arbitrary coupling…
We develop methods to calculate the curvature power spectrum in models where features in the inflaton potential nonlinearly excite modes and generate high frequency features in the spectrum. The first nontrivial effect of excitations…