Related papers: Fat Inflatons, Large Turns and the $\eta$-problem
In single field slow-roll inflation, one expects that the spectral index $n_s -1$ is first order in slow-roll parameters. Similarly, its running $\alpha_s = dn_s/d \log k$ and the running of the running $\beta_s = d\alpha_s/d \log k$ are…
We study multifield contributions to the scalar power spectrum in an ensemble of six-field inflationary models obtained in string theory. We identify examples in which inflation occurs by chance, near an approximate inflection point, and we…
Usual inflation is realized with a slow rolling scalar field minimally coupled to gravity. In contrast, we consider dynamics of a scalar with a flat effective potential, conformally coupled to gravity. Surprisingly, it contains an attractor…
We introduce a simple string model of inflation, in which the inflaton field can take trans-Planckian values while driving a period of slow-roll inflation. This leads naturally to a realisation of large field inflation, inasmuch as the…
Heavy isocurvature fields may have a strong influence on the low energy dynamics of curvature perturbations during inflation, as long as the inflationary trajectory becomes non-geodesic in the multi-field target space (the landscape). If…
Cosmological inflation gives a natural answer for a variety of cosmological questions, including the horizon problem, the flatness problem, and others. However, inflation yields new questions relating to the flatness of the inflaton…
The general structure of Hybrid Inflation remains a very well-motivated mechanism for lower-scale cosmic inflation in the face of improving constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio. However, as originally modeled, the "waterfall" field in…
We examine a wide class of multi-field inflationary models based on fields that decay or stabilize during inflation in a staggered fashion. The fields driving assisted inflation are on flat, short stretches, before they encounter a sharp…
Inflation, as currently understood, requires the presence of fields with very flat potentials. Supersymmetric models in which supersymmetry breaking is communicated by supergravity naturally yield such fields, but the scales are typically…
We explore some issues in slow roll inflation in situations where field excursions are small compared to $M_p$. We argue that for small field inflation, minimizing fine tuning requires low energy supersymmetry and a tightly constrained…
It is known that if the standard slow-roll inflation is followed by a power-law inflationary regime, then the trans-Planckian modes may be safely be contained in the Hubble horizon and never exit it during inflation. In this work we…
Precise cosmological data from WMAP and forthcoming CMB experiments motivate the study of the quantum corrections to the slowroll inflationary parameters.We find the quantum (loop) corrections to the equations of motion of the classical…
Due to intra-field gravitational interactions, field configurations have a strong negative component to their energy density at the planckian and transplanckian scales, conceivably resulting in a sequestration of the transplanckian field…
We propose a simple but effective mechanism to realize an inflationary early universe consistent with the observed WMAP, Planck and/or BICEP2 data, which would be incorporated in various supersymmetric models of elementary particles…
We study the supergravity hybrid inflation model of Ref.[1] in the presence of a modulus field. The eta-problem is solved by a shift symmetry for the inflaton, which protects the inflaton mass even in the presence of the modulus field.…
In this paper we wish to point out the possibility of using a complex scalar field in a constant roll inflationary model, as needed for observational viability. We extend the idea of real field inflaton with constant rate of roll to a…
We obtain cosmological constraints on models of inflation which exhibit rapid roll solutions. Rapid roll attractors exist for potentials with large mass terms and are thus of interest for inflationary model building within string theory. We…
There are well-known criteria on the potential and field-space geometry for determining if slow-roll, slow-turn, multi-field inflation is possible. However, even though it has been a topic of much recent interest, slow-roll, rapid-turn…
We present the first quantum field theory model of inflation that is renormalizable in the matter sector, with a super-Hubble inflaton mass and sub-Planckian field excursions, which is thus technically natural and consistent with a…
We present a new class of two-field inflationary attractor models, known as `shift-symmetric orbital inflation', whose behaviour is strongly multi-field but whose predictions are remarkably close to those of single-field inflation. In these…