Related papers: The Scale Factor Potential Approach to Inflation
Because the scale of inflation is conformal frame dependent, in order to fully characterize it one should quote its value in terms of all the independent equal-time dimensionless ratios in the theory. We argue that when couplings depend on…
We propose a scalar inflationary potential as $V(\phi)=M^4\phi^{2n-2}(\phi^{2n}+m^{2n})^{1/n-1}$. This potential is similar to the shaft inflation one. However, they satisfy the $Z_2$ symmetry for all $n$. The potential may come from the…
Observations of the cosmic microwave background do not yet determine whether inflation was driven by a slowly-rolling scalar field or involved another physical mechanism. In this paper we discuss the prospects of using the power spectra of…
The values of, and connection between, the cosmological observables of the primordial power spectrum tilt $n_s$ and the inflationary tensor to scalar ratio $r$ are key guideposts to the physics of inflation. Universality classes can be…
We provide a formula for the scaling behaviour of the inflationary bispectrum in the 'squeezed' limit where one momentum becomes much smaller than the other two. This determines the scaling of the halo bias at low wavenumber and will be an…
The scalar-tensor Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) inflation scenario provides a simple mechanism to reduce the large values of the boost factor associated with single field models with DBI action, whilst still being able to drive 60 efolds of…
We explore the inflationary phase of a scalar field with a kinetic term non-minimally coupled to gravity. We find that one of the slow-roll conditions is naturally consequence of the equation of motion of the scalar field. Thus, slow-roll…
Nonminimally coupled inflation models based on a nonminimal coupling $\xi \phi^{2} R$ and a $\phi^{4}$ potential are in excellent agreement with the scalar spectral index observed by Planck. Here we consider the modification of these models…
A new family of inflation models is introduced and studied. The models are characterised by a scalar potential which, far from the origin, approaches an inflationary plateau in a power-law manner, while near the origin becomes monomial, as…
Inflation is often described through the dynamics of a scalar field, slow-rolling in a suitable potential. Ultimately, this inflaton must be identified as the expectation value of a quantum field, evolving in a quantum effective potential.…
The slow-roll approximation is the usual starting point to study the constraints imposed on the inflaton potential parameters by the observational data. We show that, for a potential exhibiting at least two extrema and giving rise to a…
One of the fundamental questions in inflation is how to characterize the structure of different types of models in the field theoretic landscape. Proposals in this direction include attempts to directly characterize the formal structure of…
We consider inflation in a universe with a positive cosmological constant and a nonminimally coupled scalar field, in which the field couples both quadratically and quartically to the Ricci scalar. When considered in the Einstein frame and…
For the inflaton field we determine a new exact solution by using the Lie symmetry analysis. Specifically, we construct a second-order differential master equation for arbitrary scalar field potential by assuming that the spectral index for…
We propose new versions of the slow-roll approximation for inflationary models with nonminimally coupled scalar fields. We derive more precise expressions for the standard slow-roll parameters as functions of the scalar field. To verify the…
We discuss the dynamics of multiple scalar fields and the possibility of realistic inflation in the maximal gauged supergravity. In this paper, we address this problem in the framework of recently discovered 1-parameter deformation of ${\rm…
We reconsider non-minimal \lambda \phi^4 chaotic inflation which includes the gravitational coupling term \xi \mathcal{R} \phi^2, where \phi denotes a gauge singlet inflaton field and \mathcal{R} is the Ricci scalar. For \xi >> 1 we…
The increasingly stringent observational bounds on primordial gravitational waves strongly constrain inflationary model building, favoring scenarios that predict highly suppressed tensor perturbations. While many viable constructions rely…
We investigate models of `intermediate' inflation, where the scale factor $a(t)$ grows as $a(t) = \exp (A t^f)$, $0 < f < 1$, $A$ constant. These solutions arise as exact analytic solutions for a given class of potentials for the inflaton…
We present a new approximation scheme that allows us to increase the accuracy of analytical predictions of the power spectra of inflationary perturbations for two specific classes of inflationary models. Among these models are chaotic…